I support the right of citizens to bear arms. I don't support allowing assault weapons,
rocket launchers, machine guns, or grenades to be in the hands of anyone other than the military or some law enforcement
agencies. I also don't support
allowing people to have ammunition
magazines that hold more than ten rounds.
I've never seen a hunter using an assault weapon with a 30
round clip. In most cases, hunting
regulations do not allow weapons to have more than three rounds. Shotguns will hold five shells but, to be
legal, you have to have a "plug" inserted that will only allow three
shells to be inserted at a time.
I'm certainly not opposed to allowing citizens to own and
use weapons intended primarily for self defense or hunting. However there are people in these United
States who own assault weapons and thousands and thousands of rounds of
ammunition. Why would they ever need
that kind of firepower?
Then there's the National Rifle Association (NRA) which has
a string of powerful lobbyists in Washington to "protect" the rights
of the American citizens. The first time
I ran for the State Legislature, I received a questionnaire asking my opinion
of various issues related to gun ownership and use. The envelope bore a Washington, D.C. address
and my answers were to be mailed back to Washington, D.C. I was confused as to why a Washington based
organization would be interested in my opinion.
I threw the questionnaire away.
As I went house-to-house campaigning, I would occasionally
have someone ask me why I didn't respond to the NRA questionnaire. I told them I was running to represent the
views of the people of my county and not those in Washington, D.C.
Four years later, when running for re-election, I received
the same type questionnaire from the NRA.
This time I answered it truthfully.
As I went door-to-door I would receive negative comments about my
answers. I would explain that in the
previous election I ignored the questionnaire but in this election I answered
it and answered truthfully. Then I would
ask if they preferred that I lie on my answers.
They weren't enamored with my answer but agreed it was satisfactory.
To this day, I cannot believe that the NRA had any major
influence on my campaign. I won both
elections handily.
Which begs the question: Why in the world would someone want
to be a member of the NRA? The stalwart
members will tell you they join to protect their right to own guns to be used
in the case a government ever tries to overrun the United States. OK. But
don't those dues paying members know that the NRA has records of many serious
gun owners in the United States including their names, addresses and phone
numbers. Don't they know the NRA has
records of every state Legislator who supports their cause? If I wanted to take over the United States, I
would go after that information very quickly.
Then I would have my forces knock on the member's door and confiscate
his weapons.
Don't you think it would be a lot safer to own your weapons
without telling national organizations all about your firepower? Just recently a New York newspaper obtained
the public records of all the registered gun owners in a certain area and
published the names and addresses of those on the list. The gun owners were livid! How dare they give out that information! Then the gun owners said by publishing that
information it put non-gun owners at risk of being burglarized. Really?
That's interesting.
I am not a member of the NRA. I do not have any registered guns. Do I own guns? Try breaking into my house and you will find
out. I double-dog dare you. Get the picture?
