I have a sad, and what seems to be a little known fact that I want to share with all of you. Criminals don't care about laws - that's why they are known as "criminals" and not "law-abiding" citizens. Shocking, I know.
Here's another shocker. Murder is already illegal in all 50 states of the union. Amazing. Carrying a gun into the Aurora, Colorado movie theatre was also illegal, but surprisingly enough this did not stop James Holmes from breaking both laws - the one against murder as well as the one against carrying a gun into a movie theatre.
We were all horrified to hear of the massacre by this lunatic, but already this action has been used as another example of why guns are bad and why we need more laws against them. So many out there, conservatives as well as liberals, are saying the stupidest things proving once again that you don't need to know anything about a subject in order to have an opinion.
'Ban assault weapons' seems to be a favorite phrase. Sure, can anyone tell me what the definition of an 'assault' weapon is? Is it defined by how scary it looks? Defined by what material it's made out of?
Let me clear up a misconception. There is no difference between a so-called "assault" weapon and any other gun in the way that they function. They are all semi-automatics, which means that when the trigger is pulled - one bullet comes out. That's it. Fully automatic guns, meaning that as long as the trigger is pulled the bullets continue to come out, have been illegal to own in the United States for almost 100 years without express permission of the government. Let me repeat, they have been illegal to own for a long time.
An assault weapon ban is stupid simply because it's done based on how "scary" the gun looks, not on how it actually operates.
The argument that a potential gun owner should have to pass a test proving that they know how to use a gun safely is also quite ignorant. Don't drivers also have to pass road safety tests? Does that guarantee that there are no drunk drivers or speed demons on the road? That there will be no car accidents or vehicular homicides occurring? Of course not.
All that we know about the movie theatre massacre is that there were no previous indicators pointing to Holmes plans that evening. There was no way to stop him - the laws on the books were obviously not deterrents, only another person with a gun would have been able to - but unfortunately, as we started with, only "law-abiding" citizens care about laws. and wouldn't have been armed since the law forbade it. Since Holmes is a "criminal" no law stopped him.
Let us stop with the punditry and the posturing - especially from those who have never held or shot a gun in their life - and mourn for those who lost their lives last week and pray for those who were injured. Taking advantage of such a horrible situation is unnecessary - humanity already took a hit last week, let's take the time to rebuild and stand by each other in this time of need.
The Media Botches Aurora - by Robert VerBruggen
The Colorado Shooting and the Media - by Thomas Sowell
P.S. Blaming that pro-lobby also seems to be a good idea. That big, bad, all-powerful, gun lobby (aka the National Rifle Association) is made of individuals, people like me, who care about their gun rights. I don't have the time or ability to go to Washington DC and talk to my congressman - I have other things to do. Therefore, like what happens in every other lobby, I make my donation to the NRA and let them do the talking for me. Welcome to democracy at work.
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