About year and a half ago, I made a speech in response to the Orlando nightclub shooting. In this speech, I made the very narrow legal point that guns should not be sold to terrorists. Two people then got up and spoke against me.
The total lack of substance behind the speeches of these two individuals shows the extremism and downright silliness that the gun rights position has been reduced to. Months after the Las Vegas shooting, our Congress lacks the backbone even to outlaw the device that converts semi-automatics into automatics.
Another example of this extremism happened a while back when a woman gun rights activist in Florida was accidentally shot in the back by her four year old child. According to her position, even a very small child should have access to a gun.
But these gun rights activists should beware history’s pendulum. There may come a time when the public majority will be angry enough that they will want all guns taken away, just the very thing that the extremists, in their mindless blathering, fear.
There is a third, middle, position that is currently being expounded. Those holding this position would keep assault weapons kept out of the hands of everyone except the active military or specially trained police officers. They would pass laws requiring background checks and licensing for those seeking to own guns. After all, prospective gun owners should be held to safety standards and testing demanded of motor vehicle operators.
In rights are responsibilities. We should be addressing the issue as rational and responsible adults.
