Are guns a clear and present danger? If you look at what the papers have had to say in the last few weeks you would come to the conclusion that they are. Well for a person who neither owns nor wants a gun, I must say they are not in general terms the problem.
The real problem is that how people have been brainwashed into believing that if guns would go away, (gun) violence would disappear altogether. How wrong that belief is! Just look at Chicago and Washington, DC to see that in reality those who do not obey (respect) the gun laws there have their weapons of choice still. The gun play mayhem throughout the country is not caused by the law abiding, but by the criminals.
I do agree that reinstating the assault weapon ban is a good idea. For those who think these weapons of war should be in the hands of civilians, all I have to say is why? You can get very nice rifles that can be used for either hunting or target shooting already, so there is no real need for a weapon designed for war.
We all need to realize that guns are not as bad as those activists who try to make them out be. Too many people have the idea in their head that by outlawing guns our society would be much safer. Well just look at the areas where they are more or less tightly controlled now and you will find that there is more gun violence there than in those places where guns are not vilified. Here is a chart showing gun related deaths per state, take a good look and you will see how bad it is in Illinois (Chicago) and Washington DC.
Please also note that even though machine gun type weapons are federally outlawed for civilians, they are prevalent among the criminal class. Also hand guns are the other weapon of choice for criminals and New York City has been fighting to keep them out of the city for years with only some success. Why is this true you might be asking? Well unfortunately hand guns are stolen from law abiding citizens everyday and get into criminal hands that way more than any other. Does that mean that the government, federal or state or local, should outlaw them? The answer is that they can not and even if they could, illegal firearms are not going to disappear anytime soon.
What we need are better gun laws that make sense and can be easily enforced plus gun education in how to handle them safely and responsibly. I can not emphasis more the fact that a responsible gun owner is a good neighbor and not someone who should be feared. Our crazy fear of guns is unfounded in the bright sunshine of reality and is being fostered by those who have either been a victim of gun violence or a family member of one.
In conclusion guns need to be used responsibly and assault weapons should be outlawed for all time. Let us all see the reality that guns are here to stay.
That is my opinion- Jumpin Jersey Mike
