I don't think it's necessary to eliminate guns altogether. The countries who have strict gun control laws still allow gun ownership - just not unfettered ownership.
People like to hunt or shoot for sport. I'm not one of them, but I have no problem with their right to do that.
That being said, you do not need an AR-15 or an AK-47 to bring down a deer. Those weapons are modified military weapons, and military weapons are designed for one purpose - to kill humans as quickly as possible.
There is no reason for a civilian to own a weapon like that other than the fact that the gun manufacturers make them, they want them, and they firmly but mistakenly believe the Second Amendment says they can have them. In the Heller decision, Justice Scalia (himself a gun owner) wrote that the 2nd Amendment does NOT give the right to own any gun for any reason, that the government could restrict certain weapons or deny certain individuals the right to own a gun. Heller was not about gun ownership in general; it was about a law that had unreasonable restrictions about how people could keep the guns they had.
Beyond the gun itself, why are extended magazines needed? I think a standard magazine on an AR-15 holds 10 rounds. If you need 10 rounds to take down one deer, you should probably be looking into other sports, because you suck at this one. You miss on the first shot and the deer is gone. A 40-round magazine is bad enough, but the guy in Dayton had a drum magazine that held 100 rounds - why should those be legal?
You and I both live in an open-carry state, and I'm sure we've both seen people swaggering around with an AR-15 strapped to their back. Why? What do they think what they're going to be able to do with that weapon in an emergency when they're carrying it that way? If I'm standing behind you in line, all I have to do is hit the button to eject the magazine and the rifle is useless.
I have a Jewish friend who went to Israel back in the 70s to fight in one of their wars, and he often posts pictures on Facebook of members of the Israeli Defense Force who walk around Israel carrying their weapons. Every single one of them has the rifle slung on their shoulder with the rifle at their side within easy reach. Some of the pics are of couples walking hand in hand - and it's usually the woman carrying a rifle, slung on her shoulder, with the gun at her side. THEY know how to carry a weapon they might need to use in an emergency. If you sling it over your back, all you're saying is "Look how cool I am - I have a gun!"
If you remember the Dallas police shootings a couple of years ago, there were a large number of people marching who were carrying AR-15s on their backs just to show off. When the shooting started, those people headed in the other direction; some of them actually turned their guns over to the nearest police officer. NOT ONE of them went to where the shooting was happening. NOT ONE of them tried to be "the good guy with the gun". They all ran away. All of them. Every single civilian carrying a gun during that march in Dallas that night ran away from the gunfight. So what was the reason for bringing the guns?
You believe guns are needed for personal defense? Really? Look what happened in Dallas. |
