An AR-15 semi-automatic weapon? Is that what's really required to bag a 10-point buck?
My profuse apologies for the feeble attempt of levity in the wake of yesterday's tragic event in Colorado. But I'm still trying to understand the logic of enabling civilians unrestricted access to any firearm capable of rapidly releasing enough ammo to cause massive fatalities.
James Holmes, the apparent shooter who killed 12 and wounded 58 at a suburban Denver theatre showing the latest Batman film, used just such a rapid-fire weapon. He purchased it legally along with a couple of more conventional pieces.
Unlike some other mass killers such as Jared Loughner, convicted of murdering six and critically wounding Congresswoman Gabriella Giffords in Tucson early last year, Mr. Holmes had had no previous contact with authorities, nor did he seem to demonstrate any sort of prior behavior which would have alerted them. So it would appear as if any processes intended to weed out potentially dangerous gun users are far from fool-proof.
Some folks believe that conceal-carry is the answer; someone who happened to be armed could have intervened and possibly spared some lives (by doing what, firing at a moving target in a darkened movie-house and whacking someone else?). I don't know, within this gun-crazy society, it just doesn't seem as if there are any easy answers, except maybe to eventually find a way to wean us off this wild fascination for things that go bang.
But couldn't we at least begin by crafting a nation-wide ban on rapid-fire assault weapons, including their manufacture and importation? Yeah I know, it's a tall order. The National Rifle Association and rigid Second Amendment acolytes would never allow it.
But it's a nice dream.
(Postscript: A vigilant old friend reminded me that a nation-wide assault-weapons ban existed until it was repealed in 2004. I had forgotten all about it. Could the tragic events in Colorado, Arizona, Virginia and elsewhere been prevented had the ban not been repealed? A fair question).
If the Assault Weapons Ban had been renewed after its 2004 expiration, this nasty episode might never have happened, or been less fatal.
ReplyDeleteHow about Obama and Romney, eh? Not a WORD about gun control as this tragedy unfolds....
Excellent point, Amber.
ReplyDeleteI had forgotten about the trashing of the Assault Weapons Ban. (Should have mentioned it in the piece). You're probably right.
Obama and his campaign advisers probably consider gun control too sensitive an issue in the swing states. Romney and the Repubs? You know how many of them are: God, Guns, & Guts Keep America Free.