The Hard Truth From Orlando

GUN LEGISLATION

I’m former military. I have worked with law enforcement all my career. I support the 2^nd Amendment. I support “Stand Your Ground” legislation and responsible gun ownership. I don’t believe that every American should own a gun any more than I believe that every American has to own a house, drive a car or go to church.

I am vehemently anti-assault type weapons for private ownership and/or access to the multi-round, extended magazines. These weapons and ammo accessories have nothing to do with home protection, hunting or any other legitimate civilian purpose. It’s time we acknowledge that allowing these types of weapons to be sold, exchanged, or bartered by any Joe Snuffy the Ragman has little to do with personal ownership rights or safety and everything to do with profiteering by gun manufacturers at the expense of the American public, under a spurious claim of protection by our Constitution.

This Sandy Hook nightmare is just the latest example of the damage done by these weapons being readily accessible to mentally damaged individuals with no oversight, no regulation – and the only real consequences for those unfortunate enough to be on the front sights of the barrel end.

The knucklehead politician from Texas proposed that the Sandy Hook massacre wouldn’t have happened, or would’ve been mitigated, if the principal of the school had had her own assault weapon with which to defend herself and her school. What century does this twit live in? He’s apparently an idiot with no real sense of community or civic responsibility.

I’ve lived in countries were firearms were few and far between. The sense of community was astonishing because everyone felt they could stop and help without being worried about someone else misconstruing their intent and shooting them. Americans don’t come out to help someone being victimized because they don’t know if the other guy is armed. Americans don’t step up because they risk more than a punch in the eye. Americans live in isolated little “forts” and prepare for an apocalyptic future that is self-generated because of the promotion of violence by a paranoid gun-culture, sponsored by the weapons manufacturers’ burgeoning profits camouflaged by the façade of the NRA’s massive propaganda and lobbying machine that purports to protect the right to bear arms.

I propose that the NRA address its public perception of being pro-violence, anti-community and deal with the very real challenge of limiting weapons access by unsuitable, irresponsible and dangerous individuals -- citizens or not. This organization has demonstrated its lobbying power to systematically defeat every gun control measure for decades. Now, maybe it can lobby for better protection for American citizens who want to live free without having to send their kids to school in Kevlar vests or establishing bunkers for every mall, theatre and public building.

It’s long past time for American taxpayers to demand reasonable, rational gun-control legislation and tell the NRA to back off or be prepared foot the bill for the victims of their ill-conceived and self-serving anti-gun control policies. We need to recognize that the 2^nd Amendment has morphed from a civil right to bear arms into any modern mental defective’s license to kill. Grow up, America!

 

 

   Florida Cracker