Quote:
Originally Posted by Sarah_W
Yeah, banana mag sounds odd, doesn't it? I can't ignore the significant uptick in firearms sales since January of 2020 and the rabid hoarding of ammunition. The shear number of first time gun buyers is/was hugely significant. That tells me people were and still are afraid and feel vulnerable. A high percentage of my students relate these feelings to me. When the pandemic began I lived 40 miles north of Los Angeles. Hoarding of common household items became a serious problem. People were actually hurting other people in stores. Crime rose dramatically with home invasions. By mid 2020 what the future held was anyones guess. I lived with my cousin and we made risk assessments of our home. We made contingency plans. Obviously, I feel quite capable of defending my home, but what about beyond? CA's Governor shut down gun shops for a while and all of the sudden we knew exactly what its like to not be able to buy ammo. Being in "the business" I had professional contacts and I made sure not to fall below 1,000 rounds in any caliber. I have to have ammo to teach and of course for my own needs.
It disturbs me when evil people, criminals conduct their heinous crimes, killing innocents, especially children. To the core. Then our Legislators want to tell me that I can't have this gun or that gun. Not because of my conduct or my behavior but because of the conduct of an evil person.
i can't accept their reasoning.
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Another reasonable post, this is getting to be a habit with you.
I guess I have been "out of touch" (personally inflicted) for a while and I just learned tonight that the Administration is going to make another attempt at banning "assault weapons". Obviously in response to the emergent situation. I am a liberal and I am TOTALLY against that. I am about as anti-gun as a person can be, and I am totally against that. Why, you ask?
Because it is typical liberal/DEM grand standing and it is stupid. It is grandstanding because it is stupid and they know it and they will try anyway. It is stupid because it probably wont pass - so they burn political capital to achieve nothing. It is stupid because even if they get it passed, it will be cut down by the SCOTIS. It is stupid because even if they get it passed, and the SCOTUS does not knock it down, it wont work, because there is no way to collect all the AR15s from people that don't want to give them up. The main thing the law will accomplish is there will be a sudden rash of "stolen gun" reports, and a bunch of AR15's will suddenly mysteriously disappear. Yeah right...
Sigh.
It can't work. It is obvious to the most casual observer. For reasons often expressed here - frequently wrongly (bats anyone), but at the heart is the simple argument that even if somehow the government sends out millions of agents to forcibly collect the guns (a REALLY bad idea) the guns will magically disappear. But, even if the agents find them and one day there are NO AR15's around - okay, so what? There are plenty of alternatives. As many have said hand guns are also semi automatic, hand guns are smaller, lighter, easier to hide, and a 9mm, I believe, can hold 17 rounds. So, a more powerful close in gun that can kill 17 instead of 19 children. And I am SURE you can come up with even better alternatives. So, all the law will actually do at BEST is change the gun of preference for DEMS to hate on.
I really wish the administration would consider passing legislation to close loop hopes in existing laws, pass a universal back ground check and pass a domestic violence bill.
Domestic violence correlates to mass shootings - not saying causation, but there is a strong correlation. And hand guns are the most frequent gun of choice in mass shootings - not AR15's. So they would be addressing two issues - domestic violence and hand guns used in mass shootings, that could probably get passes, it doesn't require the banning of any guns, and it might have an impact - small but measurable impact on mass shootings.
For the schools the ONLY thing I see for now is hardening. No guns carried by teachers - bad idea. No patrolling guard and guard towers. No rate fencing around the school.
But, hardening that is already being used in many schools. Things like locked doors at class rooms. ID verification at a single entry point, maybe with an armed guard - sort of a TSA at airports approach. Surveillance cameras inside and out.
And, here is a tech idea - automatic gun shot detection and location determination in and around schools, that automatically notifies a trained
experienced team of responders - sort of a swat team that specializes in mass shooting and school shootings - nothing else. Every city/town would have two teams one primary and one backup. (hopefully we will not get to having two mass shootings per day even in a big city - but maybe)
It is even possible using some of the new AI technologies to identify what type of round/gun was fired (or a good guess) and how many guns are active.
I HATE any of those ideas being put in around elementary schools. I think it is normalizing horror to children. But, for gods sake it has been over 20 years and we have made NO progress. Lots of stupid stuff, but nothing that stopped the recent shooters and constant growth in mass and school shootings.
So, let us do something that can help. Maybe not perfect but better than banning a gun that another gun can be substituted in hours with another model. All politics and no cattle - to paraphrase a Texas saying.