I've hunted most of my life. I've owned guns and shot them (at targets). For a long time, I believed that as long as we were teaching proper gun safety to the next generation and requiring background checks during gun sales, that was enough.
Background checks aren't really required on all gun purchases, not in all states. In some states, at some locations, and under certain circumstances.
In recent years, I've find myself in support of more measures, like red flag laws, closing gun show loopholes, federal nationwide background checks, and a federal nationwide gun registry. I support the ban on high capacity magazines, and stock extensions for pistols.
Why?
In 2023, there have been 40 mass shootings in the United States. We aren't even through the month of January. That isn't even counting the shootings where less than four people died, or people were only injured. A toddler shoots someone in this country almost every day. Hell, yesterday I read a story about a man who was shot and killed in his truck by his own dog!
This country has a serious problem. People who fight gun laws (by which I mean people who own guns and care more about them than other peoples' lives) are ignorant about how laws work. I'm tired of arguments like criminals don't follow laws and bans won't affect the guns already out there. We aren't stupid, we know. But laws work. If they didn't, we wouldn't have any laws.
Claiming that cars, knives, and other objects that kill people aren't regulated like we want guns regulated is another dumb argument. One, cars are heavily regulated. They have to be registered and you have to be trained and licensed to drive them. If you own one and sell it, you have to transfer the registration to the new owner. Two, cars and knives and other items that kill people are intended for other purposes. Guns are intended for only one purpose: to kill. People can argue that they're for hunting, but that is also killing. A gun's sole purpose is to kill. Why would we not want to regulate the shit out of an object made only to kill?
The more shootings I hear and read about, the more I'm swayed to support a full ban on several types of guns, particularly those that are the favorite of domestic terrorists: the Armolite Rifle, also known as the AR. There is absolutely no reason for a layman to own one. It isn't needed for hunting (there are numerous other rifles adequate for the type of distance shots hunters need) it isn't useful for home defense. It's dangerous and does an incredible amount of damage in a short amount of time. There are large-capacity magazines available for them, several ways to make them automatic. They're used by Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, and other White Supremacy organizations as tools of intimidation.
It is long past time to ban the AR. Does it violate the Second Amendment to do so? I don't think it does. Several of the drafters of the Constitution made in clear in their own words that they did not intend the second amendment to support an individual's right to arm him or herself with a stockpile of weaponry. The Second Amendment was intended to allow individual States to form militia to defend themselves against a tyrannical government, as the original colonies did against the British.
Unfortunately, we have not been fortunate enough to have a Supreme Court with individuals clear minded enough to look past their own biases and interpret this clear meaning.
I will continue to support gun regulation here in the US and hope that someday this country will become s safe place for people to live, work, and attend school. Right now it is none of those things.
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