Ever heard "Be careful for what you wish" or "what you think about, you bring about"? Clichés, yes, but where there is smoke, there is fire. Okay, enough with the old sayings. We have a growing problem with mass shootings that needs to be solved. With each editorial and Letter to the Editor (of which there have been many recently), those old sayings pop up in my mind.
What are we going to do to protect the average American from the new plague of mass shootings?
When it looked as though Obama might be elected a friend of mine, who is a definite gun enthusiast, went out and purchased 10+ semi-automatic weapons because he was convinced the Obama administration would somehow have the power to ban everything that fired more than a six-shooter or double-barrel rifle.
And there is the first of many concerns, namely the lack of understanding many Americans have about our legislative system and what it takes to get a bill passed into law. There is no way anyone in America with our current checks and balances is going to be able to pass legislation to ban guns back to the muskets of yore.
Gun enthusiast or not, I think most of us would agree that Americans have the right to own firearms for personal defense, hunting, and sport.
Then the issues get MUCH more complicated.
What is a thorough background check?
Should there be a waiting period, if so how long?
How many rounds per minute should a civilian gun be able to fire? A quick google estimates 45-60 rounds per minute depending on the strength of your trigger finger.
What limit should be enforced on magazine size (number of bullets held in one clip)?
First, let's get some definitions on the page to establish what it is we are discussing.
From the web site www.thefirearms.guide:
"Basically, when we’re talking about Semi Auto vs Full Auto, we’re talking about the action of the firearm. The action, put simply, is how a bullet round is fired, ejected and a new round loaded into the firing chamber of a gun. This process is also referred to as “cycling” a firearm. You can read more about those different types of actions in our Glossary of Firearms Terms. In this case, we’re talking about Semi Auto vs Full Auto.
Semi Auto or Semi Automatic means that the action is semi-automatic. What that means is that once you have a round in the firing chamber, when you pull the trigger, that round will fire. As the bullet exits the firearm, the gases expelled from the cartridge eject the spent bullet casing and springs load the next round into the chamber from either an internal or external magazine. That’s it. One trigger pull = one bullet fired. It’s referred to as “semi-automatic” because the round is automatically cycled with a single trigger pull.
With Full Auto or Fully Automatic both the action and the trigger pull creates a fully automatic cycle. This means that once a round is loaded into the chamber, if you pull and hold the trigger, the firearm will continue to fire until you let go of the trigger or run out of ammunition. Fully automatic firearms are sometimes called “machine guns”."
AR-15 Semi-auto. AR = ArmaLite Rifle. The civilian semi-auto version of the fully-auto M4.
M16 Full-auto. Colt bought the rights to the AR-15 in 1959 and developed the M16.
AK-47 Full-auto. Developed by Mikhail Kalashnikov in the Soviet Union in the mid-1940s. AK= Avtomat Kalashnikova (a fully automatic device).
I chose these particular weapons because there is quite a bit of confusion about what the A in AR and AK stands for versus the M. Most readers not educated in gun evolution think A always stands for automatic. Clearly, it depends upon where the gun was developed as to what the name indicates. The A in AR = ArmaLite, whereas the A in AK = Automatic. As far as I can determine M is always Military.
What do concerned citizen's mean when they say they would like gun control?
It varies greatly, but let's start a list and find some common ground. These are the suggestions I've heard recently.
Ban semi-auto weapons
Ban assault weapons. This was tried in the Clinton era and actually increased sales, because "enthusiast" panicked and began stocking up (just as my friend did almost 10 years later)
Limit size/capacity of clips
Limit the number of weapons per person or per household
Require any semi-auto weapons to be held at a gun club/range and not at home. This solution builds in a cooling-off period or a "think before you pull the trigger" buffer.
Require all grips for all firearms to require fingerprint-access gun technology (biometrics)
Establish state-run gun stores (like the state-run liquor stores which some states still have)
Track how many guns and number of bullets are purchased by any one individual (same as we do now for decongestion medication because of mass pill purchasing for methamphetamine production)
Expand background checks (extent time allotted for checks, better cross-systems checks)
Raise the age to purchase guns
Bump stock ban (an add-on that allows a semi-auto to act as an auto) - California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Washington, Florida, Vermont, Maryland, Hawaii, Connecticut, Delaware, and Rhode Island currently have banned sales of bump stock mechanisms (most in-acted since the mass murder in Las Vegas in 2017)
In-act "Red flag" laws. Laws that would temporarily allow "authorities" to confiscate weapons from or prevent the purchase of weapons by someone considered unsafe to themselves or others.
Arming teachers
Close "gun show" loophole
Mandatory training and licensing for owners
Require safe & secure gun storage
Limit monthly gun purchase
Gun liability insurance
Where to now?
Keep the lines of communications open and discuss what our next step might be. Ask that both "sides" please keep an open mind and remember that we all come from very different backgrounds with varying levels of exposure to firearms. Give explanations and education instead of snarky comments.
Challenge: Think about what you consider safe gun management and email your solutions to your local, state, and federal representatives. Ask to be kept apprised of legislation in the area of gun control. Your representatives will pay attention to you when they realize you, personally, are paying attention to them.
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