I believe in the Constitution of the United States. I believe in the second amendment to that constitution. It reads: A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Ok then. Every state actually has a National Guard and also we've got a relatively well supplied Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines... so we're pretty good on the security front.
There's no doubt, in my mind, that people should be allowed to own guns for hunting, fun and even personal protection, but it's time to bring some common sense into this fight.
First off, yes, assault weapons are really fun to shoot, but they're also really dangerous in the wrong hands and there's no reason for anyone outside of the military to have them. If you need one to hunt, then you're a really crap hunter. If you can't take down your prey with a single shot from a nice, high powered rifle, you shouldn't be hunting in the first place. Sorry.
Second, high volume clips have got to go. They're talking about a limit of 10. That sounds fine. When would you need more than that. Again, as a crap hunter? Sorry. Because you're too lazy when you are sport shooting. Take the extra 10 seconds, drop your first clip and put in the next one.
Third, universal background checks. That's for buying and selling guns anywhere, any time and for people buying ammunition. Also, every state needs to update and make complete their lists of felons, the mentally ill and anyone else who should not be eligible to purchase guns and gun related material. This means, for private sales, gun shows... anything, the background check needs to happen. The government needs to facilitate a more efficient system to the checks. It should be a simple process of typing in a name, social security number and driver's license and the information should be there. Perhaps by adding taxes to gun and ammo sales, they could pay a nice, private company to do actually do this efficiently.
Finally, it's time for real licensing laws for guns. I know some gun owners fear a government trying to control their lives. Trying to get that information so they can take them out in some amazing ATF led shootout... but yeah, it's time to shut the fuck up and go get a real license. The reason everyone is required to have a license to drive a car is because it's so dangerous to have drivers on the street who don't know what they are doing and cars are big, heavy things that can kill someone if no handled correctly.
Guns, shockingly, work in similar fashion. Much like they do with cars, people need to take a written test and a physical test to show they understand the safety rules and how to safely operate a gun. I understand there's a "freedom" issue that many will scream about but that's simply because those folks don't understand what freedom is. Freedom isn't about being able to do whatever you want, whenever you want. Otherwise I'd just drive up to the nicest house in town and take all their nice stuff and keep it, you know, because I like nice things. Freedom gives us the chance to speak our minds, to do many things that people all over the world long for, but it doesn't mean you get do have anything you want, how you want it, whenever you want it. We, as a nation, should be acting in the best interests of the nation.
Look, no one is trying to take all of your guns. It's likely that everyone would be grandfathered into any legislation that passed because, let's be honest, the government literally coming to get people's guns would get ugly. It's time to get in line and understand that there's a world outside your own, one that suffered from more than 6000 gun related homicide in 2010. And it's not just about gun ownership, there's a whole other side to this about mental health and that's a much longer article, but this is a start.
And by the way, to reinforce the idea that it's not just about the guns, Switzerland has one the highest rates of gun ownership in the world (basically 20-30% of the country has a gun) yet in 2010 they had a total of 34 murders or attempted murders with a gun. Let's start fixing this today. Please.
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