by Kristen Waldron
Staff writer
The constant news reports coming in about shooting massacres of innocent people have me struggling with my own thoughts on gun laws and gun possession.
Who should have more rights to protection, the people or the guns? My feeling on this is the people pay taxes, vote and keep society productive. Guns do not.
I am baffled with the arguments given by the National Rifle Association on why people should be able to retain their guns and not have any restrictions on how many or how they are to be used.
President of the NRA Daivd Kenne stating that the President Barack Obama was cheating by using children in anti-gun ads is absolutely preposterous, since 20 innocent childen died in a recent mass shooting in Newton, Conn.
I myself am a gun owner, but with that I have taken responsibility to know that my weapon is locked up in a gun safe at my parents’ house. And thanks to the military I am trained on how to use that weapon.
President Obama has proposed a plan of action of 23 executive orders to help not only the licensed dealers, but also to help the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Commission trace stolen guns back to their proper owners after a crime has been committed.
In the past 30 years, there have been 62 mass shootings and spree killers in the United States. Of these 68 percent were committed with semiautomatic handguns, the majority of which were obtained illegally.
Where were the owners of these weapons? Who do we look to blame when a killer has taken the lives of innocent men, women and children? Sure we’ll ask the actual killer if they make into custody, but why do we not go after those who put the weapon in their possession to begin with?
I am not saying that you should have your guns taken away, but man up and take responsibility for proper storage and registration of your weapon. This is part of the Obama executive orders that ask for a launch of a national safety and responsible gun ownership campaign.
In the 1990s the federal government passed a law that focused on the type of guns versus the gun’s abilities. But this mandated expired in 2004.
The 1990 Crime Control Act was directed to create a drug-free school zones and higher criminal consequences for those who either possessed or discharged a firearm on a school campus.
But the major legislation passed in 1990 was the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act. This federal law states that there would be a five-day waiting period and background check before a licensed gun dealer can sell to an unlicensed individual. It also mandates a National Instant Criminal Background Check System to be run by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
How the heck do we let laws like these expire? What are congressmen doing with all that “special friend time” (tap, tap, knock, knock) that is costing the taxpayers a fortune?
A speech tournament I participated in recently demonstrates how important gun policies are. The question came up about whether or not these were good policies or just political theater.
Recent news articles from The Washing Post have stated that certian states have decided to make it a felony crime for law enforcement angenies to enforce the ban on firearms. These agents would face up to five years in prison if they did so.
What kind of idiot thought up of this idea? I mean really? Are we going to prosecute law enforcement officers for doing their jobs?
This whole trying to make one party look better than the other is not thinking about the peoples’ needs over their own. Government just needs to get their heads out of the clouds if there is any hope to prosper at protecting the American people instead of guns rights.