There is hope...
MaKala S.
Gun Control’s Ill Effects and Imminent Failure
28 January 2013
Have you ever asked me what my father and I do on the weekends? We shoot. Rifles, bows, and even our muzzleloaders, they all are fun to shoot and to hunt with. You should try it sometime.
Recently there has been a lot of discussion about the Second Amendment and what it should or should not allow. These discussions have been focused on the semiautomatic class of weaponry more commonly called by liberal mass media “assault weapons.” There have been discussions on how many bullets a person should be able to load at once, what the weapons people buy should look like, and even what new rules can be imposed upon those who, like me, enjoy shooting my rifles legally and safely. If I had not been barred from this type of research on school computers, I would have needed only a few moments to prove the foolishness of any action against the Second Amendment.
My family is a firm believer in the right to bear arms as the Second Amendment protects the rest of our rights. I inherited that belief honestly and so I stand firm in my belief that the right to bear arms should never be infringed. I wish to simply present some points for those who wish to strip lawful citizens of their right to bear arms to consider. I will be proving that banning "assault weapons" is foolish. There is no sense in increasing ineffective firearm regulations. I will explain how so called “Gun Free Zones” are killing Americans more than the magazine capacity of a weapon. I will let you know why we will never be registering our firearms, and why we are against background checks on private sales. I am to the point so forgive me, but it is only the truth.
Banning "assault weapons" is foolish. The total number of murders committed with all rifles total is less than that of many other instruments. Blunt objects are more commonly used as murder weapons. In fact, several states report no rifles used in homicides in 2010. The state with the most murders committed by rifles is actually California, which has an Assault Weapons Ban (AWB) in place already. That alone proves the uselessness of such a law. Connecticut, it might be worth pointing out, had an AWB in place, and it failed to prevent the tragedy in Newtown. You might also wish to note that you are many times as likely to die today in a car accident than in this whole year by a gun of any kind.
Increasing firearm regulations is also ineffective. The states with the strictest restrictions on firearms are also the ones in which most of the murders occurs. If this is looked at at the local level, those areas with the strictest laws are the most crime prone areas in the country. This can be seen in Detroit, Chicago, New York City, and many other areas. I would think that trying such a failed tactic would seem doomed to fail on a national level. Meanwhile in Kennesaw, Georgia every household is required to own a firearm and crime dropped 89% after passing the law. The crime rate remains lower than any other city of its size in the nation.
“Gun Free Zones” are killing Americans. My father is a Marine, sworn by Honor to defend those who cannot defend themselves. Yet, he has been stripped of that right in his own nation for his own children, for me right here, right now. I hate to think that this is true, but it is. If you look at the shootings the government is so focused on, every single one since 1950 has occurred in a place where firearms are barred. Meanwhile, there are many stories that are not drawing attention that show that having firearms present in such situations actually saves lives. I would feel much better about my brother, sister, and I attending a school where teachers are allowed to protect them properly than us being easy victims of an evil man.
Magazine capacity has little or nothing to do with lethality. I tested this myself. My father can change a magazine in his personal AR 15 in less than one second. Being that he is trained as a Marine, I asked my eleven year old sister to try it. After two tries she could consistently reload in less than two seconds. I can do it in one second myself. I can tell you that that will not save lives. Also consider that if you ban them, who will have them? The criminal element the government is trying to protect us against. They again will fail. It only limits our rights as lawful gun owners.
Registering every firearm is not likely to succeed and will be resisted by many. We will not register our rightfully owned firearms on a list that could be later used to confiscate them. There is no nation that has registered firearms and not later confiscated most or all of them. In all of those countries, the strong soon after preys upon the weak. This can be seen in the per capita crime rate in Great Britain and Australia. It can be seen melodramatically in the former Soviet Union, last century Germany, and early 20th century Turkey. I could find no nation that successfully registered firearms without a seizure and then a drastic increase in violent crimes.
Background checks on private sales will accomplish nothing as well. Many of the firearms used in crime are stolen. Those bought lawfully are by and large used that way. It is a near impossible law to enforce without registration, and would save no lives. Regulating the rifles my father has purchased for my sister and I would not stop anyone from stealing them and performing horrible acts with them.
I hate to repeat cliché terms, but the Second Amendment protects the rest of our rights. Without it we have no others. There is a direct line between that amendment and our freedom as citizens of a free nation. One of the hallmarks of the United States has always been that the people are stronger than the government. That is in place for a reason and should never be tampered with. It is the same reason that our nation still stands despite hardships that have broken other nations. This one right gives us all the power to keep things that way. Without it we become subjects rather than citizens.
If you wish to know what I would suggest, it would be simple. Leave us alone. Lawful gun owners cause no problems and save lives that are not tracked on many occasions. We are most often able to take care of ourselves. It is not us who ask for government help, but instead are always willing to offer it to anyone who may need it. We enjoy our sport shooting, hunting, and our right to self defense. We cause little trouble unless it is brought to us, and are in general the most patriotic of citizens. We need less interference rather than more.
Another idea would be to ask the media to not release the name(s) of any shooter involved with a mass shooting. They want fame and denying them that would go farther than anything shy of getting rid of “gun free zones” in reducing the occurrence of these heinous crimes. Denying these evil people the availability of easy victims like we are right now, and the fame they seek from their act would be the greatest deterrents I could imagine.
I believe in the Second Amendment even more than any other of the rights we enjoy. I simply want a life where I can enjoy those freedoms promised to me by my country. The right to bear arms guarantees that. As I have proven, no law can add such a guarantee, and in fact, undermines my freedom and safety, by infringing upon that right. You cannot regulate away crime by regulating weapons. You cannot expect more regulations to do anything other than make the problem worse. I want to end by asking a simple question: What does anyone stand to gain by stripping me my rights because of a wrong I did not commit?
MaKala S.
Gun Control’s Ill Effects and Imminent Failure
28 January 2013
Have you ever asked me what my father and I do on the weekends? We shoot. Rifles, bows, and even our muzzleloaders, they all are fun to shoot and to hunt with. You should try it sometime.
Recently there has been a lot of discussion about the Second Amendment and what it should or should not allow. These discussions have been focused on the semiautomatic class of weaponry more commonly called by liberal mass media “assault weapons.” There have been discussions on how many bullets a person should be able to load at once, what the weapons people buy should look like, and even what new rules can be imposed upon those who, like me, enjoy shooting my rifles legally and safely. If I had not been barred from this type of research on school computers, I would have needed only a few moments to prove the foolishness of any action against the Second Amendment.
My family is a firm believer in the right to bear arms as the Second Amendment protects the rest of our rights. I inherited that belief honestly and so I stand firm in my belief that the right to bear arms should never be infringed. I wish to simply present some points for those who wish to strip lawful citizens of their right to bear arms to consider. I will be proving that banning "assault weapons" is foolish. There is no sense in increasing ineffective firearm regulations. I will explain how so called “Gun Free Zones” are killing Americans more than the magazine capacity of a weapon. I will let you know why we will never be registering our firearms, and why we are against background checks on private sales. I am to the point so forgive me, but it is only the truth.
Banning "assault weapons" is foolish. The total number of murders committed with all rifles total is less than that of many other instruments. Blunt objects are more commonly used as murder weapons. In fact, several states report no rifles used in homicides in 2010. The state with the most murders committed by rifles is actually California, which has an Assault Weapons Ban (AWB) in place already. That alone proves the uselessness of such a law. Connecticut, it might be worth pointing out, had an AWB in place, and it failed to prevent the tragedy in Newtown. You might also wish to note that you are many times as likely to die today in a car accident than in this whole year by a gun of any kind.
Increasing firearm regulations is also ineffective. The states with the strictest restrictions on firearms are also the ones in which most of the murders occurs. If this is looked at at the local level, those areas with the strictest laws are the most crime prone areas in the country. This can be seen in Detroit, Chicago, New York City, and many other areas. I would think that trying such a failed tactic would seem doomed to fail on a national level. Meanwhile in Kennesaw, Georgia every household is required to own a firearm and crime dropped 89% after passing the law. The crime rate remains lower than any other city of its size in the nation.
“Gun Free Zones” are killing Americans. My father is a Marine, sworn by Honor to defend those who cannot defend themselves. Yet, he has been stripped of that right in his own nation for his own children, for me right here, right now. I hate to think that this is true, but it is. If you look at the shootings the government is so focused on, every single one since 1950 has occurred in a place where firearms are barred. Meanwhile, there are many stories that are not drawing attention that show that having firearms present in such situations actually saves lives. I would feel much better about my brother, sister, and I attending a school where teachers are allowed to protect them properly than us being easy victims of an evil man.
Magazine capacity has little or nothing to do with lethality. I tested this myself. My father can change a magazine in his personal AR 15 in less than one second. Being that he is trained as a Marine, I asked my eleven year old sister to try it. After two tries she could consistently reload in less than two seconds. I can do it in one second myself. I can tell you that that will not save lives. Also consider that if you ban them, who will have them? The criminal element the government is trying to protect us against. They again will fail. It only limits our rights as lawful gun owners.
Registering every firearm is not likely to succeed and will be resisted by many. We will not register our rightfully owned firearms on a list that could be later used to confiscate them. There is no nation that has registered firearms and not later confiscated most or all of them. In all of those countries, the strong soon after preys upon the weak. This can be seen in the per capita crime rate in Great Britain and Australia. It can be seen melodramatically in the former Soviet Union, last century Germany, and early 20th century Turkey. I could find no nation that successfully registered firearms without a seizure and then a drastic increase in violent crimes.
Background checks on private sales will accomplish nothing as well. Many of the firearms used in crime are stolen. Those bought lawfully are by and large used that way. It is a near impossible law to enforce without registration, and would save no lives. Regulating the rifles my father has purchased for my sister and I would not stop anyone from stealing them and performing horrible acts with them.
I hate to repeat cliché terms, but the Second Amendment protects the rest of our rights. Without it we have no others. There is a direct line between that amendment and our freedom as citizens of a free nation. One of the hallmarks of the United States has always been that the people are stronger than the government. That is in place for a reason and should never be tampered with. It is the same reason that our nation still stands despite hardships that have broken other nations. This one right gives us all the power to keep things that way. Without it we become subjects rather than citizens.
If you wish to know what I would suggest, it would be simple. Leave us alone. Lawful gun owners cause no problems and save lives that are not tracked on many occasions. We are most often able to take care of ourselves. It is not us who ask for government help, but instead are always willing to offer it to anyone who may need it. We enjoy our sport shooting, hunting, and our right to self defense. We cause little trouble unless it is brought to us, and are in general the most patriotic of citizens. We need less interference rather than more.
Another idea would be to ask the media to not release the name(s) of any shooter involved with a mass shooting. They want fame and denying them that would go farther than anything shy of getting rid of “gun free zones” in reducing the occurrence of these heinous crimes. Denying these evil people the availability of easy victims like we are right now, and the fame they seek from their act would be the greatest deterrents I could imagine.
I believe in the Second Amendment even more than any other of the rights we enjoy. I simply want a life where I can enjoy those freedoms promised to me by my country. The right to bear arms guarantees that. As I have proven, no law can add such a guarantee, and in fact, undermines my freedom and safety, by infringing upon that right. You cannot regulate away crime by regulating weapons. You cannot expect more regulations to do anything other than make the problem worse. I want to end by asking a simple question: What does anyone stand to gain by stripping me my rights because of a wrong I did not commit?
MaKala S.
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