Saturday, July 21, 2012

Common Sense

I have sworn off of political commentary on my Facebook page, but not on my blog. I question if what I am writing about today is political commentary. I prefer to think of it as common sense and since I have not sworn off of that I will continue writing.

Gun Control.

Now that I have your attention, now that I have riled you up, I’ll promise right off the bat that I do not, I repeat, do not want to deprive you of your right to own a gun. What I’m writing about today is James Holmes and why he had an AR-15 semi-automatic assault weapon with 100 rounds of ammunition. If you own an assault weapon then I retract my earlier promise, I do want to take away your gun.

I am not an expert on Constitutional Law, but I did Google the Second Amendment and noted that it was adopted in 1791 and reads: A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. Okay, here comes the common sense thing – in 1791 who could have fathomed our current-day semi-automatic assault weapon?

What I’m trying to say is that the citizens of the United States of America do not need to keep and bear assault weapons. We do not need them to deer hunt. We do not need them for competitive shooting. We do not need them to protect our lives and our property. Who does need an assault weapon? Someone like James Holmes. Someone who wants to kill a lot of people as quickly as possible.

Another reason I’m writing this goes back to Facebook. After the shooting there were many posts asking for prayers for the victims and the good people of Aurora, Colorado. I think prayers are fine, but not one single Facebook post on my page said anything about the gun laws that allowed this person to buy an AR-15 semi-automatic assault weapon in the first place.

Keep your guns for sport and protection, but please let’s find a way to keep assault weapons out of the hands of people who would use them in a manner our Second Amendment writers could not have imagined.

I am certain I have sparked controversy. I am certain many of my readers are against gun control. I am certain many will see this as Democrat vs. Republican, liberal vs. conservative, left vs. right. I am certain that if changes are not made there will be more massacres. It is common sense.

5 comments:

carroll said...

Great post and yes I agree the guns of today are not the guns of yesteryear. Back then you had to load and reload after packing in the gun powder.

Fletch said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Fletch said...

I agree with your blog. Individuals do not need assault weapons that have only one purpose, killing many people quickly. It is not political, only common sense.

Brilho Services said...

I completely agree with your post It reminded me of a phrase "Common Sense is not so Common"

tkheath said...

And here we are today...2019....days after the Midland/Odessa mass shooting. How many mass killings involving automatic assault weapons have happened in the past 7 years? Too many. I thought the young students of Parkland would have an impact on legislation, and they did for awhile, but just until people forgot or didn't care any more. Just long enough to give politicians breathing room to wiggle out of any type of commitment to ending this problem. So here we are today, in the same predicament, with no solution on the horizon. There has to be something that we, as a sensible nation can do. I agree with the OP that I don't want to take away guns from citizens but I DO want to take away automatic assault weapons. Let's put our collective minds together and come up with a plan. I'm in but I just don't know how to begin beyond electing like minded politicians. Let's form a plan and then make it happen!