The #GunControlNow hashtag has been trending in the US of A recently, a hashtag I have been using a lot myself in the fallout of the recent Paris and San Bernardino attacks, something that the NRA and conservatives have been fighting tooth and nail against. Being a British national, I don’t feel that the general public need guns… and certainly not assault rifles, guns have been banned in the UK for years.
Of course, I would like to live in a gun free society, but that is not practical for the USA, there are almost as many registered guns as people in the United States. But I do want guns more tightly regulated to remove current loopholes and make it generally harder to obtain a firearm. At this time; in some states it is harder to obtain a drivers license than purchase a gun, something that I truly fail to understand the logic of.
I’ve been called all sorts of names on the Internet because of my stance of gun regulation. The first amendment gives them the right to do that and it really doesn’t affect me in the slightest; but you have to question many of the gun advocates intelligence as they can not come up with a counter-argument, let alone a good one, instead they throw insults at anyone that disagrees with their opinion on gun control.
I believe that we need to ensure thorough background checks and psychological evaluations are done before a firearm is handed over, mandatory registration with significant fees should be levied in all 50 states on a yearly basis and home inspections done to ensure guns are secured. Now this is the one that the NRA nuts will lose their minds over, a total ban of automatic and semi-automatic rifles. I understand why people would want a hand gun to protect themselves and family, but assault weapons, seriously?
Why the need for assault weapons? To defend against a government or military uprising? are you freaking serious, the government and/or military will have better weapons than you can buy. Some will say I need my AR-15 for hunting, seriously? hunting with an automated weapon, that’s not hunting, that’s a massacre. You might as well use a tank to hunt, there’s no sport in hunting with automatic weapons.
Finally, I need my AR-15 to defend myself against terrorism; to a certain extent that is valid argument. But in the current climate of fear generated by the right wing media, it will lead to people pulling guns on and shooting innocent people perceived to be of Muslim descent. I have seen plenty of videos of people yelling at Muslims calling them terrorists with no grounds for the verbal attack. The vast majority of Muslims have zero interest in terrorism and often denounce ISIS and other terrorist organizations.
Infact, I believe the (mostly) Christian right to be almost as bad as the terrorists themselves. Using these terror attacks to strip everyday Americans of their civil liberties and their right to a fair trial under the Patriot Act while they push their GUNS, GUNS, GUNS agenda. The NRA spent an average of $2.340,000 per year since 2006, $3,400,000 in 2013 alone lobbying government to block any sort of gun reform.
After each attack, terrorist or otherwise, we always see a spike in gun sales while President Obama is on television saying how he wants to bring in gun reform. Before everyone forgets until the next mass shooting. These politicians are supposed to be representing the people, but the more money that flows into Washington DC, “we, the people’s” voices get more and more distant to the legislators ears.
How the rest of the world sees America with their Guns and Bibles…
There’s so much truth to what you’re writing Jason, that it’s really embarrassing to see how blind the gun toting idiots are. A hunter needs 2 guns maximum, a good hunting rifle and a shotgun. No more, no less. Automatic weapons while hunting would yield only for every other bite to be half-meat/half-lead. where’s the fun in eating that???