Gun Control, Part The Latest
Jun. 13th, 2016 10:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chris_gerribIn thinking of the events of Orlando, it seems we in America have two inter-related problems. The first problem is areas of our country have high rates of violence, which at the moment get expressed with guns. To be more clear, if you wave your magic wand and all the guns on the south side of Chicago stop working, the gangbangers will be banging each other with bats and knives by lunchtime. Removing guns may marginally reduce the body count, but it won't stop violence.
The second problem we have is crazies with guns. And yes, the Orlando shooter was crazy. Anybody who has to call 911 to pledge allegiance to ISIS is crazy. The FBI (per linked article) found no evidence he was linked to ISIS, other than a general desire to kill people. The shooter was born in America of Afghan parents, AKA "not Syrian" AKA "possibly not even the same branch of Islam as ISIS."
At any rate, we know exactly how to greatly reduce the "crazies with guns" problem, which is uniquely American. The answer is to reduce the number of guns available and make them generally harder to get. Of special interest is to reduce the number of high-capacity semiautomatic rifles and pistols. These weapons make it entirely too easy to go from a 4-person shooting to a 24-person shooting.
I'm personally and generally against banning these weapons, and any ban would have to involve a buy-back. Having said that, we have two choices - mass shootings or reductions in guns. I suspect that sooner or later a gun ban will happen. This is the nation that wrote a Constitutional amendment banning booze.
The second problem we have is crazies with guns. And yes, the Orlando shooter was crazy. Anybody who has to call 911 to pledge allegiance to ISIS is crazy. The FBI (per linked article) found no evidence he was linked to ISIS, other than a general desire to kill people. The shooter was born in America of Afghan parents, AKA "not Syrian" AKA "possibly not even the same branch of Islam as ISIS."
At any rate, we know exactly how to greatly reduce the "crazies with guns" problem, which is uniquely American. The answer is to reduce the number of guns available and make them generally harder to get. Of special interest is to reduce the number of high-capacity semiautomatic rifles and pistols. These weapons make it entirely too easy to go from a 4-person shooting to a 24-person shooting.
I'm personally and generally against banning these weapons, and any ban would have to involve a buy-back. Having said that, we have two choices - mass shootings or reductions in guns. I suspect that sooner or later a gun ban will happen. This is the nation that wrote a Constitutional amendment banning booze.
