The Florida school shootings have led to a youth uprising against assault rifles like the Ar-15. Calls for gun control in the wake of mass shootings at Columbine High School, Sandy Hook Elementary School and in Las Vegas all faded away, but this time it seems different. Once you get high schoolers energized on a cause designed to protect them from gun violence, their fervor will not fade away for months to come. And don’t think that parents aren’t listening.
The students are mobilizing a ‘March For Our Lives’ rally in Washington on March 24. This march will be well funded. George Clooney and his wife have pledged $500,000 to support the march and Oprah said she will match that. Other celebrities are sure to follow suit. And look for George Soros to toss in a substantial amount from his billions.
Soros will also outspend the NRA by pouring millions of dollars into the campaigns of congressional candidates that favor strict gun controls. Those scoffing at the calls for gun control better think twice. The Florida school shooting is a game changer.
President Trump says he now favors expanded background checks and he has ordered the Justice Department to outlaw bump stocks like those used by the Las Vegas shooter. Several Republican congressmen have said they would now support an assault weapons ban. Of course, if the Democrats had their way, they would ban civilian ownership of all firearms.
We should remember that Congress has once before passed an ‘assault weapons ban’ law which prohibited the sales of semi-automatic rifles like the AR-15. That law became effective in 1994, but it expired in 2004. It is quite possible that like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Congress will pass a similar assault weapons ban in 2019 with bipartisan support. And if that bipartisan support is strong, President Trump is unlikely to exercise his veto.
So if you want an AR-15, you better buy it by the end of the year.
The AR-15 is the most popular rifle in the U.S. Congress is not likely to enact a total ban on assault weapons. That would make instant criminals out of more than 5 million law abiding citizens because sure as shit, they are not going to turn in their beloved AR-15s and AK-47s. Paraphrasing the late Charlton Heston: “I’ll give you my AR-15 when you take it from my cold, dead hands”
Will a ban on the sales of assault rifles prevent future school shootings? Of course not! Such a ban would only serve as feel-good legislation. How many of those more than 5 million AR-15 gun owners are nut jobs, or will become nut jobs, and decide to take out a bunch of school children? Only God knows the answer.
I wasn’t going to comment on this but Howie and I are in general agreement. Defining an “assault weapon” is difficult in the extreme. I own a true assault weapon but it probably won’t meet the definition of assault weapon because it is a semi-automatic rifle with an 8-round clip not a 15-round magazine. On the other hand, a whole lot of people used rifles lime my M-1 Garand to assault Omaha Beach and many other places.
Feel good things like that won’t stop abuse of firearms. The mass murders in Las Vegas and Florida were committed by people who would pass any reasonable background check. I don’t know how we can stop mentally ill people from doing crazy things. After all, many mentally persons are crazy.
Just because a person is a SOB like the Cruz kid in Florida can’t reasonably be used as a means of denying him access to firearms. He was never arrested, never convicted of a crime and never adjudicated mentally ill. Thinking like the lawyer I am, I can’t think of a way to define SOBs who shouldn’t own guns even though they have never been convicted of crimes.
And, what were the police and FBI to do with Cruz, even if they knew he was a dangerous person. Lock him up in a psych ward? That’s what the Soviet Union used to do to dissenters and folks the powers that be didn’t like.
I do know one thing. I don’t criminals and the dangerous mentally ill to have access to firearms. And, I want people who have access to firearms to be trained in their safe handling. And, I’ll bet that 99 percent of the people reading this blog agree with me. The problem is what can we agree on to accomplish what we want to accomplish.
I don’t have the answer but people should be talking about doing that rather than just talking about banning assault weapons or background checks at gun shows. All of us, gun owners like me who are not NRA members, the NRA, conservative Republicans, liberal Democrats and the anti-gun folks should be sitting down to work out a way we can keep firearms away from felons, dangerous mentally ill and people who don’t know how to handle them safely. I am sure it will happen.
On the other hand, I also believe in Peter Pan, Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny. I have some doubts about the Great Pumpkin.
I wasn’t going to comment on this either but Tom doesn’t seem to know what the phrase “shall not be infringed” means. It means shall not be infringed.
Demandind, your interpretation of ‘infringed’ is different from that of the Supreme Court. In several Second Amendment rulings, SCOTUS has ruled that although citizens have the right to bear arms, the states can impose gun restrictions, including a ban on assault rifles like the AR-15 and AK-47. And that’s exactly what California has done, among a long list of gun buying restrictions.
Neither does Howie…
Hey Wish, what part of the above paragraph don’t you understand?
The AR-15 is a popular weapon with lots of folks, just not me. Soldiers complained for years about the unreliability of the AR platform. Don’t get me wrong the AR has killed a lot of people and seems to be preferred by active shooters. I think movies made the AR fashionable as the go to mean looking killing machine.
The Ruger Mini 14 or the M-14 are much better rifles. I carried a Mini 14 for years on the job. It was reliable and being the stainless steel model it could better handle the Gulf Coast climate.
That being said all firearms have one single purpose and that is to wound and kill.
However, I don’t believe anyone can predict what kind of or if any weapons ban is forthcoming.
The most used weapon in these mass shootings are pistols. Taking these away will be the next step for the left.