Gunplay

In the wake of the Newtown, Conn., school shootings last month, it appears political leaders at all levels are going to get serious about gun control.

President Barack Obama said he will make gun control a priority this year, including reinstituting a national assault-type weapon ban, and at the state level, Governor Deval Patrick, Senate President Therese Murray and House Speaker Robert DeLeo all addressed gun violence in remarks last week.

And State Representative David Linsky (D-Natick), who hosted a large meeting of legislators and gun control advocates at the State House, said he intends to file a comprehensive bill within the next two weeks to address the type of guns and ammunition sold in Massachusetts and who will be eligible to purchase these items.

Gun Owners’ Action League Executive Director Jim Wallace attended the Linsky meeting and said afterward ownership of assault rifles like the one used in Newtown is justified because they are used in “national shooting competitions.”

So, this is what it has come down to.

We should not reinstitute a national ban on deadly assault weapons because a lot of guys like to play with this type of gun.

Assault weapons have no legitimate civilian uses

Outside of a war zone or use by law enforcement, high capacity assault weapons serve no useful purpose in society. Some gun owners say these rifles, with clips of 30 shots or more, can be used for home defense.

Home defense is a legitimate purpose to own a gun, but spraying semi-automatic rifle fire at close range at an intruder in your kitchen is idiotic and surely a case of overkill. A shotgun or handgun would easily do the trick.

How about hunting? Do you really need 30 shots to bring down a deer? Only if you suspect the deer will be returning fire. Otherwise, a deer rifle or shotgun should be sufficient.

Once we eliminate home defense and hunting as reasons to own a high capacity semi-automatic weapon, that leaves gun collecting and sport shooting as the only possible legitimate uses for these military style rifles. And arguments like Wallace’s begin to sound rather hollow, if not downright stupid.

Certainly there is a fringe element in this country that quietly asserts civilians need these types of weapons as a safeguard against an overreaching federal government. In other words, when the feds get too big for their britches and start infringing on individual liberties, a patriotic cadre of assault weapon-toting freedom fighters will stand up against the fed menace to preserve Mom, apple pie and the American way of life.

Right. Good luck with that.

Supporters of the Second Amendment will try to convince everyone their right to bear arms trumps everything and they should be allowed to buy and own these guns because it’s constitutionally protected. This is nonsense, of course, since private citizens are already banned from owning fully-automatic machine guns, and try running down to your local gun shop to buy an anti-aircraft gun or bazooka: No sale.

It’s well-established the government can restrict certain types of weapons, and it can do the same with high capacity semi-automatics, it just takes some political will and courage.

It’s times like these I am reminded of a long-ago conversation with a co-worker who was a gun enthusiast, collector and shooter. Herb loved his guns, but he confided in me one day as we discussed an article in the local paper about some guy who was cleaning his gun and it went off. The guy ended up shooting himself in the foot.

Don’t believe it, said Herb. In almost every case where some clown injures himself and claims he was cleaning his gun he wasn’t actually cleaning it, he was playing with it. Nobody in his right mind would clean a loaded gun; not only is it dangerous, but more often than not the bullets get in the way.

In fact, just this past New Year’s Eve, a man in the Town of Webster accidentally shot his buddy in the abdomen as they played a game to see whether a gun or a knife could be drawn more quickly.

In neither instance was the gun an assault weapon, but it adds a whole new level of meaning to the word “gunplay.”

Ah, boys and their toys. They should stick to G.I. Joes and paintball fights, and we should make sure the deadliest of weapons are kept out of the hands of everyone except professionals who actually need these guns.

Posted by Bruce Garlow on January 10, 2013. Filed under Berkshire Beacon Hill Spotlight,Columns,Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry