Dear Editor,
Tough times for America’s gun owners, huh? Everywhere there are calls for “sensible” gun control. Seems like the one thing that they all have in common is that they don’t actually have an answer to what “sensible” gun control is. The main thrust right now is to ban what the media calls assault weapons and high capacity magazines. So, in typical Washington political fashion, our politicians up there are immersed in their typical political wrangling for some kind of political advantage, oh well, you get my drift.
Back to my original point, sensible gun control. I would challenge anyone to come up with a sensible (note the word “sensible”) plan for gun control. Banning a type of weapon will do absolutely nothing. If a gun is banned for a shooting, then alcohol has to be banned for causing the drunk driver to hit the van carrying a family. The same can be said for the magazine. Should we sell beer in 6 ounce bottles instead of 12 ounce? It accomplishes nothing. It’s a people problem. Banning a tool is not going to make it go away. You can take any type of gun you want, load it, lay it on a table in a crowded place, and it will just lay there forever without shooting anyone unless a person pulls the trigger.
Everyone agrees that something should be done to try to prevent another horrible tragedy like Sandy Hook. I happen to agree with the NRA’s proposal to put armed guards in schools. Is it the ideal solution? Of course not. No one likes to think we need to have our children under armed guard. But until we can come up with another solution it seems like the best move, at least in the short term.
There are currently in excess of 20,000 guns laws in this country. To think that another law or two or a ban on something will make any difference is silly. All it will do is impact the honest gun owner. The majority of who, I suspect, would have gladly stood in the way of that monster in Connecticut.
I know there are a lot of people who don’t understand why anyone needs to own an AR style rifle. The term we use now is “modern sporting rifle”, or MSR. It’s for the same reason people want the latest i-phone, or TV, or anything else. Sure the tried and true bolt action rifle works just fine. So does the regular cell phone, or CD player. Gun owners are just like everyone else, we want the latest innovations. Also, for those of you who don’t know much about guns, semi-auto rifles with high capacity magazines have been around a very long time.
We are the problem. People are the problem. We have allowed God to be removed from just about everything. Political correctness has gotten completely out of hand. Pretty much anything goes on TV with the so called “reality shows”. The fix for what ails this nation is going to have to come from us, not Washington .
One last point. Get on your computer and look up school attacks in China. You will see that in the past few years there have been well over 100 kids and teachers killed and maimed in those attacks. Care to guess what types of weapons were used? Knives, hammers, cleavers, etc. Still think it’s a gun problem?
John Clayton
Ellinwood