By Don McDougall
United States -(AmmoLand.com)- I believe we need to come together as a country, we are as divided as I can remember. To be blunt anti-gun activism is a serious part of the problem. Also to be blunt most gun owners just was to be left alone.
If you were to stop using gun control as a political wedge, gun owners would be at the range, and out not fighting you to preserve our right. Over the past 20 years, the number of times guns have been used in crimes has dropped by 67%.
There IS NO EPIDEMIC OF GUN VIOLENCE! I mean honestly, why do you keep saying that there is when you know that gun related crimes are down? Why do you propose laws and changes in laws that would not have any effect on crime or gun deaths?
If you look at the last highly televised mass shooting, NOT ONE of your proposed changes would have stopped any of it. If all your new rules were enacted, not one life would have been saved! Not one.
So why push for changes that would make no difference?
There are already laws on the books banning gun running and illegal gun sales. What we see historically is that administrations’ that call for new laws, are also the same administrations that reduce the prosecution of the existing laws. From 2004 to 2013 the number of ATF cases prosecuted DROPPED 42%. So all you’ve done is let criminals keep committing gun crimes, and then blame the average gun owner for the problem.
Why don’t you enforce the laws we have? If you do that, and they fail, THEN come back to us to ask to diminish our rights. We might listen. Yes, we all believe in background checks, what you don’t get is that it Is YOU we don’t trust. You’ve so clearly stated “Background checks are a good start!”. Where do you plan on planting your flag for the finish?
The existing laws IF enforced would meet all of your needs. But you choose not to enforce the current laws. The new laws you propose would not save a single life. Your actions would only serve to degrade our rights. NRA members are not the people doing the shooting. We are however the people you blame. 54% of all gun-related deaths are committed by black men under 30. That’s 4% of the population doing more than ½ of the killing. We don’t have a gun problem in America – we have trapped an entire generation in poverty due to liberal failed social programs. The solution to half or more of all gun deaths is to create jobs in the inner cities, fight gangs and drugs, and enforce the laws that are on the books. You blame us, law abiding gun owners for the carnage of Baltimore and Chicago and other cities.
The carnage that YOU created. Before you get too defensive here, Chicago has a murder rate 7X that of the rest of the country. This is an example of the future for America if you succeed.
You’re in for a surprise come election day. In the past seven years, the number of guns in the country are up 50%. While you claim that there has been a decrease in the number of people owning guns. (Seriously!) Some States count the number of people who have a guns. Those states are showing an annual INCREASE in gun ownership of 7% over the past few years. What this means is that the number of gun owners is a minimum of 30% HIGHER than you think. The fasting growing demographics are women and minorities. So while in 2008 there were 120 million gun owners, a rate once declining, there are now 160 million plus gun owners AND GROWING! Oh and I believe they will all be voting to preserve their right to own a gun come November.
Why? Because you force the hand of honest law abiding gun owners to get active in politics, you sell out our rights for no benefit except to use us as a get out the vote program. Warning ,,, new gun owners tend to be a bit more passionate about preserving their new found rights.
There ARE solutions we could work together on, gun safety, working to prevent gun run running. But none of that seems to matter when the goal of the anti-gun groups always leads to confiscation.
Hillary Clinton’s promise to overturn Heller and McDonald and eliminate the 2nd amendment seems a lot more plausible after the loss of Anthony Scalia. So I’ll close with an open question to the gun grabbing left.
If Stare Decisis does not exist for the 2nd Amendment does it also not exist for Roe V Wade? You may yet be hoisted on your own petard. (I know you’re going to have to look that up.)
About Don McDougall:
Don McDougall is an NRA instructor and member of the Los Padres “Friends of the NRA” committee. If he’s not at the range you will find him setting the record straight with on gun issues and gun safety on AmmoLand Shooting Sports News.
