Ban assault weapons
It’s interesting – every time there’s a mass shooting, we see letters, like the one from Ed McCauley in the June 19 Observer-Reporter, restating the old saw that guns don’t kill people; or, in McCauley’s case, adding that it is “hatred” that kills people.
Hatred is sometimes involved in the process, or mental illness, or bizarre adolescent ideations based on movies and computer games, or any other number of reasons. It’s obvious to most everyone that guns don’t fire on their own.
Therefore, why don’t we keep guns away from folks who have such issues so that they can’t use them to implement their hatred? All we have to do is proactively identify all such individuals and refuse to sell arms and ammunition to them. Guns are just a tool in the wrong person’s hands. So, if we keep them out of those hands, the issue is resolved.
There’s one small problem here. How do we go about proactively identifying these potential abusers of gun privileges? Do we require every person in the nation submit to highly intrusive personality and mental examinations before they can own a gun? My guess is that this would not be acceptable to Second Amendment supporters.
Then again, perhaps the best solution is to make some effort to keep assault weapons away from everyone not in the military or police SWAT teams. I have many friends who hunt and I don’t know any of them who use assault weapons for that purpose.
I know, they all claim arming themselves to the hilt will protect their family and friends from an American totalitarian regime, and I don’t question that this is a real possibility given our current options for president. However, anyone who truly believes that they can withstand the American military by being armed with assault weapons is perhaps more delusional than most would care to imagine.
And, when the Second Amendment was drafted, the musket was the standard high-tech weapon. Things have changed quite a bit since then.
Advocates of gun control are not suggesting that gun ownership should be banned – only certain classes of weapons. But we do need real, serious background checks without massive loopholes for gun shows and private sales.
Yes, of course we all understand that there are already more guns than people in this country and that criminals will still be able to get guns. But let’s at least try to do more to keep the most lethal weapons out of the hands of those who hate, are mentally ill or otherwise unstable.
John E. Hemington Jr.
McMurray