I am more or less a pacifist, and won't allow guns in my house. I'm ALSO in favor of The People maintaining their right to bear arms, but not unconditionally and without restrictions. Nuclear weapons are arms, but I'm pretty sure civilians aren't allowed to have a few sitting in their basements. There are restrictions already. I'd like to see them updated to include public carry of semi-automatics of any kind, including glock pistols.
I don't think banning semi-automatics is the right way to go about it, mostly for practical reasons: most people who WOULD have them, already have them. You can't forbid someone to buy, what they already own. There are more firearms in this country than there are people in this country. Banning firearms from civilian possession just flat out won't work. Forbidding PUBLIC CARRY is another matter entirely, and much more enforceable. The average AR-15-owner is not going to sling his rifle off the back of his shoulder, if he's not allowed to carry it in public. He might hide it in a case, disassembled so it isn't obviously carrying a rifle. But even that, is enough to drastically reduce the risk of random rifle-owners going nuts and shooting up churches.
There will still be gun violence. The horse left that barn here in the USA in the mid-1900's and the barn has been burned down. But we can better enforce laws that are more easily enforceable, with clear, concise, and consistent consequences for violators, without taking guns away from The People. We can eliminate NEW manufacture of certain weapon types. We can eliminate sales of certain accessories and ammunition. But no - we absolutely should not take guns away from law-abiding citizens just because a few people are unhinged.
I'm grateful that I have the right to NOT own a firearm, and not allow one in my house. I'm grateful that law-abiding citizens have the right to own one. But I also don't feel that anyone should be carrying them - for example - to the town squares for dancing and drinks. Or into Best Buy on Black Friday. Y'know, places where you're likely to see drunk people doing drunk-people things, or crazed people fighting over products or parking spaces. We call that "inviting trouble." I'd like to see common sense laws that reduce "inviting trouble" to a bare minimum.
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