The Law-Abiding Gun Owner Argument

I want to discuss a specific argument I keep hearing in gun debates by those opposing any sensible gun regulation. There are many and frankly most are nonsensical, but maybe two of the ones that make the least sense and I hear most often are about how we just need to enforce the laws already on the books, and any more regulations will just “harm” (I don’t consider inconvenience harm, but I guess they do) “law-abiding gun owners.” For those that argue we should just enforce the laws we have, and additional regulations just hurt law-abiding gun owners, I would point out:

• Mr. Cruz, the Douglas High School shooter purchased his gun legally. He was a law-abiding gun owner…until that day he wasn’t.
• Stephen Paddock killed 58 and wounded over 500 in Las Vegas with his arsenal of rifles, ammo and bump stocks. He too was a “law-abiding gun owner” until the day he wasn’t.
• Omar Mateen was a “law-abiding gun owner” until that night he killed 49 and wounded 58 at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando.
• Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik killed 14 coworkers at a holiday party with guns they’d purchased legally.
• Christopher Harper-Mercer, killed nine people at Umpqua Community College in Oregon. He too was a “law-abiding gun owner” until that day.
• “Law-abiding gun owner” Dylan Roof killed 9 a South Carolina church.
• Aaron Alexis, 34, used a Remington shotgun to kill 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard. He’d been denied the purchase of AR15, but could legally purchase the shotgun he used.
• Adam Lanza used two guns from a legally purchased and registered collection to kill 26 school children in Newtown.
• James E. Holmes was yet another “law-abiding gun owner” legally purchasing 4 guns later used to kill 12 and wound 70 in a movie theater in Aurora, CO.
• Seung-Hui Cho, the VA Tech shooter who killed 32 purchased his gun legally. He was a “law-abiding” gun owner…until that day he wasn’t.
• Kevin Patrick Kelley killed 26 at a rural Texas church. He purchased his guns and ammo legally.

So, to those who whine that gun laws only affect “law-abiding gun owners,” I say good. Damn right they should affect “law-abiding gun owners.” Those seem to be the ones doing most all of the mass shootings.

If you want a gun, I will not feel a bit of sorry for you that you can’t buy a 50 or 100 round magazine. You shouldn’t be able to get one that can hold more than three shots. If you hunt migratory waterfowl in this country, your gun can hold no more than 3 shells. We give ducks more a sporting chance than we do school children. So I say 3-5 rounds. I think school children should have the same sporting chance as ducks.

If you have to wait 20 or 30 days to buy your gun, I won’t feel sorry for you. Plan ahead.

If you can’t buy a gun because you have shown violent tendencies or have a history of being violent, I won’t feel sorry for you. I will feel safer.

If the process of getting a gun license is more rigorous and requires you to establish that you are mentally and physically capable of owning something that has no purpose other than to kill, I won’t feel sorry for you. I will feel safer. You have to do the same to drive a car.

If you can’t buy a gun because you’re not 21, I won’t feel sorry for you. You can’t buy a lot of things until you’re 21, most of them less dangerous than a gun.

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