Posted on January 15 at 7:39 p.m.

You know what? I don't really CARE what the CALIBER is, what the MUZZLE VELOCITY is, whether it APPEARS like a military weapon or not. If it can fire more than 10 ROUNDS in a magazine, or more than 100 ROUNDS IN LESS THAN A MINUTE, then as far as I'm concerned, it has no place in MY WORLD ! My main goal is to make it harder for the CRAZIES to reload. I'm amazed that the GUN CULTURE dopesn't feel the same. Fine then. Be prepared for a fight, but be forewarned, we outnumber YOU.
Sincerely, The Ignoranti.

On On Guns and Safety

Posted on January 12 at 12:19 a.m.

John_Locke, I must take issue with your comment: "Actually, I calculate that the mass killings were .01% of the total."

Really? Is it really that clinical to you?

How many first graders, or other innocent bystanders lives should be sacrificed before we decide to do something about the problem that unfettered access to assault weapons has created?

On On Guns and Safety

Posted on January 11 at 11:58 p.m.

Thank you, Mr. Fina, for your excellent essay. We need more people like you to engage in this uncomfortable, but necessary conversation.

BTW - I came across this excerpt from a Wash Post article that resonated with me:

The Second Amendment debate about what the Founders intended was clarified in 2008 when the Supreme Court in District of Columbia v. Heller determined that the right of the people to keep and bear arms included individuals, not just a “well-regulated militia.” However, as Winkler pointed out, Justice Antonin Scalia’s opinion left wiggle room for exceptions, including prohibitions related to felons and the mentally ill. Scalia was not casting doubt, the justice wrote, on “laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.”

This still leaves open the loophole of private sales that do not require background checks, which President Obama wants to close. We will hear more about this in coming weeks, but the call meanwhile to ban assault weapons or limit magazines in the wake of the horrific mass murder of children and others at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut is hardly draconian. It won’t solve the problem of mentally disturbed people exacting weird justice from innocents, but it might limit the toll. Having to stop one’s rampage to reload rather breaks the spell, or so one would imagine.

One also imagines that the old Reagan would say there’s no reason a citizen needs an assault weapon or a magazine that can destroy dozens of people in minutes. He would certainly be correct and, in a sane world, possibly even electable.

On On Guns and Safety