In recent days and weeks, more funerals have taken place for murdered children. This time at a Newtown, CT elementary school. An extremely sad and tragic loss, perpetrated by a mentally sick young man, who murdered his own mother, took her guns, went to a school and murdered an additional 26 unarmed adults and children. There is no amount of reasoning that can ever understand such an act.
With such acts, we (society) rush to seek answers and solutions to such an act. In this case, one of the weapons used was a so-called "assault weapon", and the call for a renewed ban is under way, believing that will stop the next such tragedy. We've had one of those before, and it had NO measurable affect on the crime rates, and the 10 year run of that ban was let to expire because it had no affect.
This is a complex discussion, with many sides and issues to take into consideration. First and foremost, is the 2nd amendment, with calls to repeal it, or to re-define it. In either case, the whole purpose for the 2nd amendment would be tossed out in such a process. It was put into our Bill of RIGHTS, as a safeguard over possible government tyranny, not just your personal defense. An "armed" populace, would not be an easily controlled populace. The "right" to bear arms, "shall NOT be infringed". And NO, it isn't about "hunting".
Freedoms are a delicate thing. Freedoms come with responsibilities. Freedoms comes with the freedom of choices. Freedoms, come with risks. To circumvent our responsibilities, to restrict our choices, to attempt to protect us against all risks, would require the elimination of most all our freedoms. So we have to ask ourselves, Is freedom worth the risk of abuses that can go with them? As sad it it can be at times, Yes, I believe so. It is our LAWS that are to handle the abuses, not curtail our freedoms.
The so-called "assault weapons", those by prior definition as civilian versions of current military arms, could hold clips and/or magazines of over 10 rounds of ammo, and/or had a bayonet lug (just silly), and/or were semi-automatic in actions. (Full automatic firearms are already heavily regulated, and not part of this issue.) A lot of weapons were included, and people were surprised at what those were, because aside from lacking the cosmetic features of a military weapon, many fired the same way, fired the same ammunition, and could hold and/or reload in much the same way. Those weapons were far more common for sport shooters and hunters than people first thought. (An Henry Repeating Rifle, holding 15 rounds in the tube, could be classified as an assault rifle!)
But what are AR-15 and other civilian versions of military weapons really used for today? WHY would anyone need an AR-15, is the common mantra of the anti-gun folks.
To start with, they have been and are "legal" to own, by law abiding citizens. And of the MILLIONS of such firearms in civilian hands, those used in crimes are barely measurable. That's MILLIONS of such firearms, in law abiding civilian hands! And while any murder, is tragic and senseless, those murdered by such weapons measure very few by comparison.
The military style weapons, rifles for the most part, have become a huge sporting firearm, used for sport shooting and plinking, and even to more serious competitions around the country. One such sport, known as "3-gun" competition shooting, has grown all over the country. Civilians, police, and military have teams that compete in this shooting sport.
http://3gunnation.com/
http://www.uspsa-nationals.org/
Most people likely don't know, but there has been a Civilian Marksmanship Program for many years. In 1871, the National Rifle Association, backed by the War Department, began a civilian marksmanship program in order to have men become proficient in the use of and marksmanship with firearms of the day. That program continued on, to include the WWII battle rifle, the M1 Garand. The M1 Garand was even offered at a government "at cost" rate to civilians who applied to participate in that program. http://www.odcmp.co/about_us.htm
(A word about the NRA. The NRA was started by a group of National Guardsmen, and it's first president was retired Army General Winfred Scott Hancock, and was followed in later years by General Ulysses S. Grant, General Sheridan, and Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt himself was a Life Member of the NRA. Also, the NRA has been the premiere driver behind Law Enforcement firearms training standards, as well as training armorers for police departments, and is also instrumental in marksmanship programs and competitions for all levels of law enforcement, and branches of the military.)
I would also submit that the AR-15 type firearms of today, are just an extension of the growing technology of firearms development, used largely by the military, but have always been adopted for use by the civilian population. This has always been true, dating back to the Springfield Trap-door that vastly improved the rate of fire in war time of that day, and was adopted by civilians to use. Most such firearm development has grown by the needs of the military, and then have been adopted for use by citizens for sport, hunting, and competition. (Much of the technology we use today, began by the needs of our military in one form or another!)
I find it almost humorous to imagine, but does anyone actually believe that a Minutemen at Lexington would not have chosen an AR-15 to own, had one been developed in that day? The AR-15 types of today, are the muskets of yesteryear.
I think it is important to know that the US, because we do have a "gun culture", likely has the best civilian marksmen in the world. China, who by the way is in favor of more gun control in the US, has NO legal firearms ownership for the citizens, and has about 2.4 million military members. (China, who also has one of the worse human rights records in the world, but hey, they have gun control!) The US has about 2 million military, and over 70 MILLION legal firearms owners. Wow. Now that's a potential "militia" to draw upon!
In the end, there are those who are genuinely trying to find answers to this horrid problem of such mass murders, but I believe are looking at the wrong solution. Mass murder is not new. Even mass murders at schools are not new. A very thorough look at WHY such people, armed with anything, would want to kill a bunch of defenseless children, is a must. No amount of gun laws will answer that or correct that. With over 22,000 gun laws across the country, chasing that dog will not get us anywhere.
With freedom, comes responsibility. And as for such mass murders, our responsibility is do what we reasonably can to protect our children and citizens, to deal with the reasons such perpetrators do such things, and to punish those who abuse our rights, which includes our right to bear arms. I DO NOT support arming everyone. Most people, are ill-equipped to be responsible enough to be proficient. But every law abiding citizen, should never be curtailed from taking advantage of enjoying the benefits of even one of our rights.
Honestly, IF we, as a nation, really cared more about our kids safety, than some political end-game, we would include a good "firearms safety" program in every elementary school. The NRA's "Eddie Eagle" program does NOT support gun ownership, but safety for our children when they encounter a firearm. (If you haven't seen the program, then don't even bother criticising it!) This isn't about teaching them to shoot. It's about how NOT to get shot by a found gun!
As it is, I stand firmly against any "assault weapons ban", and ask for ALL the laws currently on the books, be enforced, while we seek answers as to how and why some people are so mentally deranged, that they would kill innocent children!
By the way - I can verbally demonstrate how a 7 shot pistol, can be used for a high death toll, before the police could ever get to me. See http://american1st.blogspot.com/2012/08/tic-toc-tic-toc-tic-toc.html
