I’ll admit I am far from a gun savant. I have never fired a gun nor have any desire to. After the tragedy in Newton, Connecticut this past Friday the topic of gun control has been the rage in the media. Everyone has been providing their opinions on the matter. As someone who didn’t know much about guns I was glad a fellow blogger posted some information on the topic. His post entitled: “What is an AR-15 style assault rifle?” was both enlightening and disturbing. The corresponding video of a child firing a semi-automatic weapon was eye-opening. Another video showed a man acting as if the weapon was a toy.
It is utterly sickening that it has become culturally acceptable to maintain not only lax guns laws, but a glorification of owning such artillery. Some pro-gun advocates like to use the 2nd amendment as if it justifies ownership of such weapons. Well you know what? It doesn’t! These weapons weren’t even invented when that law was passed. If people were able to hunt back then without such weapons then they can sure as hell hunt without them now. There is no excuse why it is legal in America to purchase weapons that are used in the war in Afghanistan. NO EXCUSE!
My opinion on the matter does not impede in your right to own a gun and more importantly to protect yourself. You are certainly entitled to own a handgun for protection and certain rifles/and or shotguns for hunting purposes. My rant is towards semi-automatic weapons that can fire rapid amounts of ammunition in minutes. Those weapons aren’t used for hunting. They are used for maximum damage. They were used to kill innocent children. Most of them were in 1st grade. They were eager to grow up one day and pursue their dreams. Unfortunately they never got the chance.
I also found out through that blogger than the old assault weapon ban that expired in 2004 did not in fact ban such weapons used in this year’s massacres. That is because of the technicality that they are deemed as pistols! Our Congress needs to pass substantive gun control laws that eliminate the selling of such weapons.
And for those who disagree with me I ask you one simple question.
Is your right to “bear arms” with assault weapons more important than the lives of these two girls?