Gun Control . . . Again!


  • Everyone (including the NRA) is opposed to the wrong people getting guns

  • One issue (and this is large) surrounds the definition of “assault rifle”. (Kind of like the question of what is a “hate crime” (there are no “love crimes”))

  • So if we conclude that the AR-15 family is an assault rifle that should be banned … what do we do with the untold millions of them out-there? (Consider the issue of the 10-15 million illegal immigrants that we can’t round up and deport. If it would take a police state (the ICE becomes a Gestapo-like organization in size and authority) to round up illegals … what kind of organization would the ATF have become to hunt down citizens who bought the guns legally (and to them it’s a “sport’s rifle”)

  • Another issue is that we have existing gun laws that are not enforced. The Texas church shooter should have been prohibited from buying a gun … our own government botched that!

  • Finally: demonizing the NRA doesn’t help. You have an organization that legally kills people - Planned Parenthood - that’s loved by the Left … the NRA has killed nobody!


He assumes that the kind of weapon used in recent attacks is the same kind of weapons available to the military and law enforcement, and that’s flat out false. Fully automatic weapons like those issued to infantry and police have a fairly stiff registration requirement, including a tax of about $200, and are rarely if ever used in crimes.

And with regards to the atrocity in mind, it’s worth noting that not only was his gun not military grade, but he also had three full minutes to do his killing. There are a lot of weapons that are not “scary black rifles” that could leave that kind of body count in that amount of time, right down to bolt action rifles and revolvers. Unless you’re willing to go back to black powder muzzleloaders, you’re kinda stuck.

Never mind the fact that if someone reads the papers, he’ll learn that trucks, poison gas, explosives, and knives can also be tremendously lethal in the wrong hands.

I’m going to have to suggest that maybe, just maybe, we can start asking about the other facts we’re learning about the case. He was under care for mental illness; why wasn’t that acted on? There were tips to the FBI; why weren’t they acted on? Odds are that some of those teachers had either carry permits or military training; why do we continue to keep schools as gun-free zones 30 years after Florida demonstrated that carry permit holders have incredibly low rates of crime? Any of these could have stopped the shooter cold.

Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.

The numbers Jim presents from Ian Bremmer suggest that the end of the assault weapons ban led to an additional 20 murders per year nationwide—overall there were about 17,250 murders and non-negligent manslaughters in the U.S. in 2017. But to put this rise in perspective, the # of murders in the city of Baltimore alone (population 621,000 in 2015 ) rose by over 100 murders per year after the Freddie Gray incident.

If I’ve got a few million bucks to spend, and I want to maximize the number of lives saved, do I decide to ban assault rifles (good luck enforcing it, by the way), or do I hire some officers in Baltimore and maybe some consultants to help them figure out what on earth went wrong there?

You have limited resources; make your choice.

Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.

Here’s a link about how the perp’s school had decided to “help” minorities by handling discipline issues that were also criminal offenses in-house. This includes a case when the perp brought live ammunition to school in his backpack. The local police also responded in like manner, refusing to arrest even when he was recklessly discharging a firearm in his backyard, among 38 other police calls to his home.

And then, you also have the FBI not exactly covering themselves in glory, either. But of course, when multiple government agencies fail to do their jobs, what really needs to change is that the law-abiding need to give up some of their rights.

Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.