The following post is from a BRO reader. The sentiments expressed align with our own, and we felt that the words needed to be heard, and discussed in a hopefully civil manner. The time is now to make a decision about what is most important when it comes to the choice of defending our liberties or defending our lives.
Author: Scott O’Connor
This may not be liked by some of my own friends, but at this point their self-righteous opinions on this particular topic no longer hold merit. I shot my 1st gun at 8, and got a shotgun for my 16th birthday. I dreamed of hunting, and the guns that I would own, and use, for most of my life. I’ve owned at least 30 guns throughout the years, all sporting guns for hunting. I’ve shot a wide variety of firearms ar-15s, AKs, Garands. I have a wealth of knowledge of firearms, ballistics, bullet design etc. I’m am not some uninformed liberal taking advantage of a tragic situation to make a statement. We live in a country that has taken the stance that the personal right to bear arms includes guns that were manufactured with the only purpose to kill people. I call bullshit.
There should be a ban on all semi and automatic military arms, period. There should also be stricter registration of all firearms and ammo, including implementing nationwide waiting periods. As we can plainly see, someone with an approved background check can purchase guns on the fly, and modify them into rapid fire artillery weapons. Purchasing a gun should be a well thought out decision, not an impulse buy. There needs to be assault weapon laws, magazine capacity restrictions, firearm registrations, background checks, waiting periods, owner licenses, etc.
As for the semis and automatics, we need to get these guns out of people’s hands who already possess them. Australia, Canada and all of Europe did it without a lot of violence and stomping on people’s rights i.e. kicking in their doors. It began with voluntary turn-ins of the weapons. But instead, there are still those in the US who continue to push for more gun rights, instead of more gun controls.
I’ve been thinking about this for a while and decided now is the time to voice my opinion. At this point, nothing will change my mind. Our leaders/elected officials (take your pick) need to make the right and just decisions that the safety of our nation, of our families, children, etc., is more important than the rights of gun owners. We live according to an archaic system that does not belong in the modern world. The right to live without fear of becoming a statistic in this disgusting gun crazy world outweighs anybody’s right to own killing machines the likes that we recently witnessed in Vegas.
Lead image: Sheron2482