Who thinks gun control is needed in America?

Question

I would like to know your point of view on Assault weapons only. I believe in the right to bear arms, I do not think it is wrong to own a gun to protect yourself and family. I do not believe government should interfere with this right, but, why do we need assault weapons to remain legal, when a non-assault weapon can do the deed. If you have prior military experience, I would really be interested to here from you.

Having seen some of your responses, let me add, do you think gun control should be exerted in notoriously high crime areas. For instance Baltimore, Maryland a City Council person is trying to ban assault weapons.

Answer 1

I believe that we do NOT need new gun control laws. What we need is to enforce the laws we already have. They are designed to prevent people with mental problems, i.e. VT, from getting weapons. If you vote, pay taxes, and have no criminal or mental issues, why should you not be allowed to own a firearm. Did you know fully automatic weapons are NOT illegal to own. You can obtain a Class III federal permit to own one. You must show a need for it and it is expensive, but you can get one. I have no problem with waiting periods for guns. I have never needed to buy a gun RIGHT NOW. I can wait, check me out, call my kindergarden teacher, I don't care, I have nothing to hide. Assualt weapon, by definition, is pretty much any long gun with a pistol grip, be it shotgun, M4, AK47, whatever. People own these for many reasons. Collecting, sport, competion, whatever. Personally, I believe it is overkill to use one for home defense. I would grab my Glock before I reached for my M4. Education and enforcement of the laws we ALREADY have is the answer. My daughter will be 4yrs old this year and she will be at the range by the time shes 10. She is going to learn what they can do and how to handel and respect them.

Answer 2

Automatic weapons (assault rifles) require a federal firearms license now. How much more control is possible? The "assault weapons ban" basically targeted things such as a bayonet lug on the barrel and the size of the magazine. How did that lessen the murder rate?The law abiding citizen is the only person who is affected by gun control not the criminals.
Banning firearms in high crime rate areas did nothing to lower the crime rate. Look at DC and New York. Thank God a judge finally come to his senses and ruled the DC gun ban unconstitutional.

It amazes me at the answers that people put up for questions like this. Throwing out statistics and not citing sources to give them validity. If you are going to use statistics, cite your sources..I learned that in grade school. Making the argument that criminal activity would come to a screeching halt if guns were banned. The only thing that would change is the type of weapon used in the crime. Then what are you going to do? Ban everything that can be used to kill or injure?

Answer 3

I have a twelve gage shotgun. I removed the shoulder stock and replaced it with a pistol grip stock, added a front slide to replace the pump handle, then added a 6 round saddle for additional ammunition. I did nothing to the weapon to alter the way it fired or how many rounds it would hold but, presto, this gun is now an assault weapon by legal definition. Fact is, gun control regarding assault weapons is an ISSUE, not a problem. Machine guns and other assault weapons (automatic fire) were outlawed in the 1920's. Today, if you own an M-16, (semi-automatic) it is the cosmetics and not the function that makes it an assault weapon. Kind of stupid, huh?

To own such a weapon as was outlawed in the 1920's today, you'd have to have a very expensive federally issued permit. As I said, its an issue, not a real problem.

Answer 4

as a police officer , and a retired US army 1st Sgt , i will do my best to answer this

do i believe a assault style weapons ban will solve anything NO
do i think it would be a good idea to have one , NO , the reason being i have never seen a firearm of any sort load it's self , drive somewhere , get out and start shooting by it's self .

in a open and free society such as the US , incidents such as VA tech will happen , and they are sad as can be , but it's not the guns fault .

more Americans are killed each day on America's Highways then are ever killed by a gun , yet i hear no one saying we should ban cars .

if someone is hell bent on killing someone , I'm sure they will figure out a way to do it , gun or not

Answer 5

I don't know. I certainly do not want to trample on the Constitution nor a person's right to protect themselves from foreign and/or domestic threats. Obviously some level of gun control is necessary but at some point we have to address the cause (mental illness) rather than the method in which the cause commits horrible acts. I do not currently believe that stricter gun control is the correct course of action, I wouldn't vote for it.

Answer 6

Switzerland almost every house has a Assault weapon. Everybody over 18 and under 50 (I think) are in like the national guard and they take their weapons home. I do not hear too much of a problem with guys in Switzerland, do you? So I think if you kill a person with a gun (murder/ drive byes) then you should be taken out and given your finial meal and then put to death.

Answer 7

Gun Control isn't the issue in America; it's gun education. People aren't learning that it's not the gun that does the killing, it's the person pointing it. A karate teacher I had when I was younger once told me that he could kill someone with any number of household items just as quickly and easily as with a gun, but we don't outlaw those items, because people understand them. Now of course guns don't have the same uses as say a pencil or even a knife, but you don't see us throwing knives at each other, because since we were young we've been taught to be careful.

As for assault weapons, I'm inclined to agree with you. Your standard firearm can do plenty of damage to whatever you are aiming at (hopefully not people). To go hunting or to protect your home with an automatic weapon is foolish and overkill.

Answer 8

The second amendment states that if you are in a MILITIA in defense of the state, you can own a gun. People don't understand that. I think we should keep weapons for one reason and one reason only: National Defense. If someone were to attack our country, hell, they would have to worry more about the civilians than they would the military. Sure many people die every year from household guns, but wait until a country attacks our mainland, it will all pay off.

Answer 9

What do you think an "assault weapon" is? Hint: If you have the phrase fully-automatic in mind, you're wrong. "Assault weapon" is just a marketing term being used to try to sell gun bans to the ill-informed.

The misbegotten "assault weapons ban" that sunsetted a few years ago never did a thing to reduce crime. The weapons effected simply aren't attractive to criminals. we should all know better now and NOT go down that road again.

Answer 10

This sounds cruel, but I like to know who my enemies are. Most of the Murders commited by guns are the dregs of our society. The VT tragedy is an anomoly an is horrendous. Any politician that uses that to campaign against guns should not be voted for. Owning a gun is a responsibility that many of our good citizens do well.