To get right to the
point: It’s time for assault rifles to
come off the shelves of America’s sporting goods store and gun shops. It’s time
for America to leave military style weapons to the military, and for the rest of us
to get along with rifles developed for hunting four-legged mammals, not rifles
specifically designed for waging war against other humans. If I haven’t yet
lost you, here’s why I’m putting my personal stake in the ground on this issue.
Point
1:
I support the 2nd Amendment that protects my right to own firearms.
And I do own several of them: a deer rifle, two shotguns, a 22 caliber plinker
rifle, and several black powder weapons. Only the 22 is semi-automatic and I
own two 8-round clips for it. I got guns.
Point
2:
I served as the principal of small town public high school for nine years. I
was an assistant principal in a large urban public high school for five years.
I was one of those for whom the mass murders at Columbine High School in 1999
was a deeply troubling event that we feared foretold a horrifying new aspect of
school management—Dealing with a shooter loose in the building who is intent on
murdering our children.
To be clear: When
I am the principal of a school, all the students there are MY children, no less
so than my sons and my precious grandchildren. In loco parentis—in the place of parents.
Point
3:
If, God forbid, a crazed person is roaming the halls of MY school trying to run
up a body count of MY students—my children, the very last weapon I want the murdering sonofabitch to use is a
military-style automatic or semi-automatic rifle with high-velocity ammunition and
large fast-change clips.
Why? Because the AR-AK styles are easy to aim, quick
to reload after spewing out a 30-round clip in just seconds. The murdering school
terrorists want to fire the most lead possible in the shortest amount of time
to reach the highest possible body count.
To be sure, AR’s and AK’s are beautiful firearms,
well designed to do their job of inflicting the most possible enemy casualties in
the shortest amount of time. That's why they are the last weapon I want a mass-murderer to use.
Point
5:
I want the school shooter to carry a 5-foot-tall muzzle-loading Civil War
musket. Too long to aim quickly, and very slow to reload after just one shot. But
that’s not likely, is it? No, the murdering sonofabitch is going to have a
high-velocity, semi-auto or full-auto military-style rifle, like the last three
back-to-back mass-murderers have used in the past six months, causing the
deaths of over 100 innocents.
Point
6:
No serious deer hunter in America uses those weapons. Hunters are marksmen who want
a heavy stock and barrel, a steadying sling, and a good scope to fire a single
well-placed bullet to take down their prey. Bird hunters do nicely with three
shells before the prey flies out of range.
Point
7:
Those serious about self-protection at home do not depend on AR or AK style
rifles. A shotgun or pistol is a better choice. The high-velocity rifle bullets zip
through wall after wall, maybe even reaching into the house next door. In a car
or truck, a rifle is too long to manipulate quickly for defense.
I know the arguments
for open access to AR and AK style rifles. My head is not in the sand on this
deal. Still and all, after considering all the arguments for anyone legally
owning an AR/AK style rifle, I simply do not see a credible reason for that
ownership. There are better hunting alternatives, there are better self-defense
alternatives, there are better target shooting alternatives.
Point 8: The AR/AK is not the firearm
of choice for any civilian purpose except mass murders. Unless maybe you choose
to live in a mountain-top bunker and expect to repel a large number of home
invaders launching a banzai charge.
Point
9:
We cannot prevent mass murderers from committing their violent acts of
terrorism. But we can and should take away their most preferred murder tool, a
weapon which serves no valid civilian purpose other than committing mass
murders. If we cannot prevent the mass murders, we can at least lower the body count. It ain’t rocket
science to figure that one out.
Point
10:
Sporting goods stores do not sell machine guns or rocket propelled grenade
launchers. It’s time to add assault rifles to that list.
Good start. Once illegalized, we can then move onto all fire arms. A real hunter (man) hunts with a spear.
ReplyDelete“…semi-automatic rifle with high-velocity ammunition and large fast-change clips.”
ReplyDeleteDoes this includes your.22 caliber semi-automatic high-velocity "plinker" with two 8 round clips? Please note that the semi-automatic rifles you speak of take magazines not clips.
As to point 8, I'll let you go into the brush after hogs with your 5 foot muzzle loader. I'll stick with my M1A scout.
Well said. AGREED. AGREED. AGREED. I bet if we took an actual poll of gun owners, we'd come out on the right side of this. There is a small vocal minority fueled by the NRA and misinformation. Thank you for this well-thought out and well-written piece!
ReplyDeleteWell said my friend. Amen!!
ReplyDeleteI agree. It seems like common sense to me, but it seem like people get a little emotional when it comes to guns, and can not look at the facts rationally.
ReplyDelete