Hi. I’m actually surprised by the number of apparent shooters on a religious website. It seems to me that the people who are the most pro-gun are people who shoot and the people who are the most anti- are the people who just don’t have much experience with guns but address them in a more theoretic way. The question everyone must act before acting in any capacity about anything is – how will this action address the issue? Will it help or will it prevent the problem we are trying to address. We also need to recognize that any law change affects only law abiding citizens, not criminals. So all laws passed regarding this emotional subject will affect good guys, not bad guys. It is unlikely any proposed law will affect the shooters in recent history. So we must be honest and accept that this is all theater, designed to make us feel good and not designed to stop shootings.
If you are serious about stopping gun shootings, from FBI statistics, relatively few deaths come from rifles. Most come from handguns. So if you are serious about gun deaths you are talking about government seizure of all guns, not “assault rifles.” Of all deaths from guns, the vast majority, almost 3/4, are suicides. So we are not talking about those. The vast majority of the remainder are gang-on-gang or similar (criminal on criminal) shootings. So in terms of real, horrible, scary gun deaths, this is a tiny minority of the recorded gun deaths. If you are serious about stopping gun deaths, and as relatively few are of the sensational deaths in the recent news, we should look at what really causes death in America. Cars. Knives. Televisions (falling on people – actual FBI statistics). Hands. Feet. We should consider outlawing those too.
Regarding the following statements:
1. No more sales of assault-style weapons.
People have already addressed that assault weapons are fiction. The definition is rifles that have two or more features. Features include adjustable stock and pistol grip. Everyone knowledgeable in firearms agrees this does not alter lethality of the weapon and these features are purely cosmetic. So this does not address any current issue.
2. No more sales of high-capacity magazines
Magazine, like guns, are nearly forever. They don’t disintegrate. There are probably somewhere around 300 million guns in the country. Without the military or police doing house-to-house searches and home invasions they are not going away. Second, it takes under two seconds to switch out a magazine and place a new one. Restricting magazines therefore will only affect good guys, not bad guys. It will affect only those who obey the law, not someone with murder in his heart. And even if magically all the standard size magazines (not high capacity – standard size) went away, it still does not change that it takes under two seconds to change magazines and that will not alter how many people die.
3. No gun sales to anyone under 21
In CA at least, the law is you must be over 18 to purchase rifles and over 21 to purchase handguns. I think most of the recent shooters either have been over 21 or obtained their weapons illegally and so this really would not affect much. In addition, if you are over 18, have a job, are independent, etc., how can the government justify restricting your constitutional rights? Can you restrict free speech until you are 21? Unreasonable search and seizure?
They also called on lawmakers to pass legislation to make background checks universal on all public or private gun sales,
Would not have affected any recent shooter.
the creation of a national database of people banned from buying guns,
There are lots and lots of people who are just regular people on the national no-fly list. Prominent journalists. Ted Kennedy (when he was alive). It is easy to get on the list without reason and nearly impossible to get off. If this list is anything like the no fly list, there will be many people who lose their constitutional rights because of an incompetent government. And again, people knew the Parkland shooter was unstable but no one followed up on it. This would not have affected any of the recent shootings.
sale of guns to those under 21,
See above.
and a ban on assault-style weapons,
Just silly and from people who don’t understand firearms. See above. An unserious response.
high capacity magazines
See above. Not something a serious or logical person would consider.
and bump stocks .
“Bump stocks” is a technique to obtain rapid fire. There is no special stock necessary. Recently a company or companies came up with a special stock to make this easier. It is simply a way of holding a rifle to allow it to bump against you and use the reaction force to bounce the gun against the trigger. Again, for someone who knows about firearms, this is a silly argument. Bump stock is a technique, not a device. You can’t outlaw a technique.