Twenty six people, 20 of them children, shot down in an elementary school in Connecticut, by a young man who is reported to be suffering from Asperger syndrome. How did a person come to be in possession of these weapons?
I own handguns.
I have a permit to carry in Indiana.
But there is no place for assault weapons and weapons designed for war and rapid fire in private hands. I believe every American has the right to own hand guns, shot guns, rifles, for hunting and personal protection.
I also believe that the Federal government must put legislation in place to forbid the private ownership of assault weapons and weapons of war, and forbid high capacity magazines; and legislation must be enforced nationally to insure that no one with a criminal record or a history of mental illness can legally purchase and own and carry a gun. There must be national rules put in place, and enforced.
Reports are now coming out about the guns the 20 year old shooter used at the school, including this automatic .223 rifle.
There is no rational reason such weapons should be in the hands of private citizens. None. Yet the extremists who think they should be allowed to own everything, including a tank, advocate this weapon as a viable and acceptable means of home defense.
Guns and Ammo has made the case for why AR-15 guns are ideal “home defense” weapons, saying that military-style guns like the AR-15 have always been popular in the U.S. The guns are certainly popular on YouTube, where children of various ages can be seen firing them. For more information on the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, see the Atlantic Wire’s live updates.
By the way, that remark about owning your own tank alludes to Rep. John Hostetler, who was Congressman from IN-09 for several terms. He was once caught having forgotten he could not carry his handgun onto an airplane. And in a press conference he was once directly asked whether he considered it appropriate for private citizens to any weapons, up to and including a tank, and he would not take a position saying private citizens should not own their own tank.
That is how insane these people are.
I do not belong to the NRA, although I have owned guns my entire life, because that group is composed of evil, absolutist fanatics, who have perpetrated a great wrong on the citizens of this nation, mainly by lying constantly to their members about the threats that all their guns will be taken away. They are scum, with blood on their hands.
The leadership of the NRA cares about one thing, and one thing only: maintaining a flood of money from their members that will allow them to maintain their extremely wealthy standard of living. They are not conservationists, they are deniers of science and global climate change. Supporting hunting is just incidental to their real agenda as an arm of the gun manufacturing lobby.
Worst of all, their primary technique is the spreading of lies, disinformation, and FUD (Fear and Doubt) among their members. They are responsible for the constant litany I hear from friends and acquaintances on the conservative fringe, all of whom insist constantly, despite any factual evidence to support their assertions, that Obama is coming to take away all of their guns. It is a myth that ranks right up there with Birtherism and Muslimness of Obama, all the insane lies and myths the ignorant and violent right wing have perpetrated for years now.
Members of Congress are tools and toadies of the NRA. They take their money, because they fear the opposition of the NRA at the ballot box. They are cowards, moral failures, who allow their lust for office and money to rule their every action.
It is sickening. It is morally reprehensible. It is time to put a stop to it.
It is time that this nation put an end to the influence of the NRA and gun manufacturing lobby, and actually confront this issue.
