Why Can't We Have Common Sense Gun Legislation?

in #government8 years ago


Gun control seems to be an easy topic to bring up that tends to invoke a lot of passion from either side of the argument. Like so many other issues, there is a well-defined line drawn between both sides of the argument and neither side seems willing to cross it. I believe a lot of the frustration surrounding this issue stems from misinformation and general ignorance of how firearms work, how they are classified, and why they're so popular.

One can make a solid argument against gun control based on liberty, equality, and natural rights, but my intention here is not to address the issue, but the misinformation associated with it. My perspective on liberty, equality, and natural rights can be found in some of my other posts, Social Equality: A Concept That Has Been Completely Ignored by the Majority of People and Common Sense Policies: Balancing the Rights of the Individual against National Security.

My intention is not to mock the ignorance of firearms. If owning or shooting firearms doesn't interest you at all, I wouldn't expect you to know the details I am about to cover. However, if you're going to advocate the limitation and/or prohibition of firearms, it is both unreasonable and dishonest to use inaccurate definitions and incorrect data to do so.

How are assault rifles classified?


Let's look at how an assault rifle is classified. According to Wikipedia, the U.S. Army defines an assault rifle as having the following characteristics: capable of selective fire, has an intermediate-power cartridge (more power than a pistol but less than a standard rifle or battle rifle), ammunition must be supplied from a detachable box magazine (A magazine and a clip are two different things. When someone says an assault weapon has a clip, that's an immediate indication that they do not know what they're talking about.), and must have an effective range of at least 300 metres (330 yards). Selective fire means the firearm is capable of switching between semi-automatic and fully automatic. This characteristic alone disqualifies any firearm currently sold by retail stores because fully automatic weapons have been banned since the National Firearms Act of 1934. There is a way to purchase fully automatic weapons, but it does require approval from the federal government and local law enforcement and purchasing a tax stamp. After that, these weapons are extremely expensive due to supply being extremely limited since 1986. So, basically, an extremely small percentage of civilian owned firearms can be classified as assault weapons. When politicians and the media refer to assault weapons owned by civilians, they are showing their own ignorance.

We've all heard supposed experts on the media explain how a normal "hunting rifle" can be "easily converted into assault weapons." Usually, the "easy conversions" they mention either wouldn't make an actual difference, wouldn't work, or make absolutely zero sense whatsoever when you understand how these firearms work. Their implication is that a gun owner can convert a semi-automatic rifle to an automatic rifle and it becomes an assault riffle. That's not exactly true based on the definition of assault rifle, but let's ignore that and look into the conversion from semi-auto to full-auto because full-auto weapons are the actual concern rather than assault weapons specifically.

How do firearms work?

Here are a couple of videos explaining how both semi-automatic and automatic firearms work. The second one includes an explanation of select fire with options for semi-auto (1:40), fully-auto (2:50), and three round bursts(4:35).

From these videos, you can see that converting from semi-auto to full-auto would require a totally different trigger mechanism all together. This mechanism is not for sale to the public. It cannot be purchased at a grocery store, nor can it be purchased online. With the right skills, the necessary parts could be made and machined to fit a particular firearm, but any legislation to prevent people from making these in their own home would be virtually impossible to enforce. In any case, the only effective way to change the rate of fire of a firearm is replacing the trigger mechanism. Scopes, magazine capacities, stocks, and other accessories are rather trivial considering they don't really affect the functionality of the firearm.

Why do people like guns so much?

Short answer: They're fun to shoot! If you've never shot a gun, it's worth trying out. Just be sure you go with someone that is knowledgable about them. Choosing the right gun for you and knowing proper firearms safety is extremely important. Until a few years ago, I wasn't very interested in guns myself. Now, I see target shooting as a great way to spend a day having fun with friends and family.

Of course, there's also hunting. When I was watching the fourth democratic presidential debate earlier this year, candidate Martin O'Malley said something that really stood out to me on the topic of gun control. He said, "I've never met a self-respecting deer hunter that needed an AR-15 to down a deer." It's pretty obvious Mr. O'Malley hasn't met very many deer hunters. Many people use Armalite Rifles to hunt with because they're accurate, ergonamic, customizable, and reliable. These qualities a very important to hunters that are looking to feed their families with affordable, all-natural food in the most humane way possible.

Believe it or not, a good majority of hunters are more concered with feeding their families than participating in some sort of contest. Sure, they want to get the biggest animal possible, but that's because they have to purchase a tag for every animal they "down" no matter the size. The bigger the animal, the more meat they get in return for purchasing that tag. These hunters also want to make the kill as quick and painless for the animal as possible, they're not cold-hearted torturers. They want to use the best firearm that allows to do this. Some of them may choose an AR-15, an AK-47, or some other variation of semi-automatic rifle. There is no shame in that at all, even if people like O'Malley want to ridicule them.

Conclusion

I hope you found this post helpful. It ended up much longer than I intended. I'm sure my position on this issue is apparent, but I don't mean to sway your position one way or another with this post. I only mean to address the fallacious arguments used in the issue. I encourage you to research these points further.

Sort:  

Just had this discussion with my liberal coworker. Typical stuff you just said, so i changed up the rhetoric a bit. After it was all said and done I told him how bad guys will still have guns if we had all the things he said we should have in gun control, he agreed, then flat out said "but the republicans need to meet us halfway". I said, they have done that, now they want half of the other half liberals "left" then they will want half of that half, how much is enough? He said it's the only way to save lives. I said more cops (couldn't include civilians because i know where he would have taken the argument) will die when they are forced to take away guns that are deemed illegal just like the drug war? His response was outrageous, "cops die all the time it's their job" WHAT? why are liberals sounding so violent these days?

WOW! That is a pretty dark response. There has definitely been an increase of acceptance of using violence in the name of the progressive agenda.

I, personally, think the Republicans have gone too far already. I was having a conversation a few weeks ago with a gun control advocate about background checks being an infringement of the right to privacy and presumption of innocence. I agreed with him that they make things slightly more difficult on the "bad guys" trying to buy a gun, but they also make it difficult on those of us that have never committed a crime. It isn't fair that we're required to request permission from, and prove our innocence to, our government in order to purchase an item.

More innocent people are affected by these checks than criminals. The NICS is so ineffective that the gun control advocates don't even know it's there. In my opinion, background checks are a sacrifice of freedom for the illusion of safety.

You got that right. Why do people think that its ok to keep the innocent burdened to make governments job "easier". The left has gotten rid of some horrendous laws based on lies like that, but when "gun control" comes up they forget how to use reason?

I blame the progressive movement and how it has pushed classical liberalism out of the Democratic Party to replace it with socialist ideology. The way I see it, it is happening to conservatism in the Republican Party as well. I think more Republicans recognize it as "the establishment". The desire the Republican voters had to get away from that was obvious with the absolute failure of Jeb Bush in the primaries.

Nice article. I just wrote a couple you might like:

"Texans with gun permits are less likely to commit murder...than Canadians."
https://steemit.com/second/@adampeters/texans-with-gun-permits-are-less-likely-to-commit-murder-than-canadians

"Think nobody needs an AR-15? Let’s fix that"
https://steemit.com/security/@adampeters/think-nobody-needs-an-ar-15-let-s-fix-that

You can't have "common sense" anything legislation because common sense is a meaningless phrase. I can see people have different views but I wish they would stop calling them common sense.

I agree. My point was to imply that demanding "common sense legislation" based on misinformation and outright lies is an oxymoron. You're right, though. "Common sense" is relative and is not a good basis for legislation.

Congratulations @louiefreeman! You have received a personal award!

Happy Birthday - 1 Year on Steemit Happy Birthday - 1 Year on Steemit
Click on the badge to view your own Board of Honor on SteemitBoard.

For more information about this award, click here

By upvoting this notification, you can help all Steemit users. Learn how here!

Congratulations @louiefreeman! You have received a personal award!

2 Years on Steemit
Click on the badge to view your Board of Honor.

Do you like SteemitBoard's project? Then Vote for its witness and get one more award!

Congratulations @louiefreeman! You received a personal award!

Happy Birthday! - You are on the Steem blockchain for 3 years!

You can view your badges on your Steem Board and compare to others on the Steem Ranking

Vote for @Steemitboard as a witness to get one more award and increased upvotes!