As I pointed out in a different thread on this subject, mass killings and so-called 'assault rifles’ are not the primary problem. The primary problem is the 10's of thousands of people killed each year by gang shootings. It is not only the number of deaths, but also the impact on our neighborhoods and cities. Detroit did not become a ghost town because people wanted a typical suburban house, but because they fled for the lives of themselves and their children.

Gangs do not use licensed/registered firearms. Cracking down on a particular type of firearm will not impact them. The murder capitol of the United States, Chicago, has one of the strictest if not the strictest gun control laws. Proposed gun control laws on the elimination of assault rifles do no good apart from leaving law-abiding citizens from having some means of self-defense.

So far as I can tell, twelve people have been killed here in the United States by citizens with ‘assault rifles.’ This excludes people being killed with fully automatic weapons furnish to Mexican drug cartels by our government. Contrast that with thousands killed by gangbangers. I realize that gang killings get little publicity. After all, who cares if another gangbanger or perhaps an innocent victim in the inner cities is killed? As a conservative, who believes in the value of life, I care. For this reason, I want to change the focus from the Aurora, CO and the Treyvon Martin killings to the deaths of thousands of our citizens. It’s time to stop focusing on the front page and begin focusing on the health of our nation.