We need to ban automatic, military assault-type rifles in this country, PERIOD. There is absolutely no mention in the 2nd amendment of anyone’s right to walk around with a weapon of mass murder. And don’t argue that people will just buy these guns on the black market if they can’t get them legally: people do a lot of illegal things even when they are illegal, but that doesn’t mean that we should just have no laws!!! People commit murder even though it is illegal, should we just throw up our hands and make murder legal? Of course not. States that have tougher gun laws have fewer gun deaths, that is just a FACT. Countries that have tougher gun laws have far fewer of these horrific massacres.
We need to attack our gun violence problem in this country from many angles. There is no one magic solution. We need to fight it like you would fight any disease: attack the symptoms, attack the root cause, and try to make the patient healthier in a holistic way. But just because banning assault rifles isn’t going to completely fix our inherent, systemic and highly intractable gun violence problem in this country/culture, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it. On the contrary: automatic assault weapons can mow down hundreds of people in SECONDS. This is madness!!! There is absolutely NO justification—least of all a constitutional one—for citizens to be legally able to get one of these weapons, PERIOD!
We, the people, ARE more powerful than the NRA. I don’t care how much money they throw at our elected representatives, if WE make it crystal clear to said representatives that WE WILL NOT VOTE FOR THEM UNLESS THEY ENACT SANE, SENSIBLE GUN CONTROL LAWS, INCLUDING BANNING AUTOMATIC ASSAULT WEAPONS COMPLETELY, AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL, then they will do it. Because, last time I checked (and, with our current president, you never know if this could be changing!), it is still one person, one vote. WE still have the power, people! So pick up that cell phone with the long-distance included in the price you pay anyway, and CALL YOUR CONGRESSPERSON, AND YOUR SENATOR. We need to heal our culture from this crazy love affair that we have with guns, and that will take approaching it from many, many disparate angles, as I said. But one thing we can do IMMEDIATELY is BAN AUTOMATIC ASSAULT WEAPONS. We can demand this and make it happen. Rhymes-with-DUCK the NRA! Call your representatives now: (202) 224-3121.
