As more information is coming out on the Las Vegas shooter, the more I find myself here scratching my head asking even more questions!
How is it this man bought 33 firearms...mostly rifles...over the course of 11 months (that is 3 firearms a month), and he remained under the radar? Oh, because we are not required to register our firearms, and sellers aren't required to report who they sell firearms to....so no one was keeping track! Every time I have brought up mandatory firearm registration this week, I've been responded to with the excuse that if people were required to register their firearms, the government will know exactly who has them, and these people would be targeting for confiscation of said firearms should the government turn into a dictatorship or something. How could citizens defend themselves against the very thing the Second Amendment serves to prevent? A couple of points here, people:
- In every state that has a conceal or open carry permit process, people have run out in droves to get said permit, because they LOVE the idea of being able to carry their firearm on their person in public (you know, the whole 'I could save people in a mass shooting' argument). Guess what? By getting that permit, you have already told the government you at least have a handgun! Oh, and do you have a hunting license? Yeah, you have just told the government you likely own a rifle! Don't give me the bullshit excuse that registration would allow the government to have a list of gun owners!
- Do you REALLY think if the government wanted to completely take over and take our freedoms away, that your home arsenal is going to help you? Do you have full body armor like the soldiers for the government would have? Do you have tanks? Oh, I get it...you have a drawer full of anti-virus for every possible biological weapon that could be thrown at you, right? You have rocket launchers to take out drones? The point I'm making is that if an evil government takes over, they are not going to go door to door confiscating firearms! That would be too much work! No, they will use other means to drive us out of our homes, and if you come out baring your firearm, they are just going to shoot you down!
Seriously, no one NEEDS more than maybe one or two personal protection firearms, and another 2-4 for sport...as I do understand different rifles for different types of hunting and such. NO ONE NEEDS a semi-automatic rifle (which, as we have found, can be purchased legally, but easily modified to function as an automatic...which I will address in a bit). No one needs ARs. No on needs silencers.
And that brings me to...why are bump stocks legal? As you may have read, several of these LEGAL semi-automatics were fitted with LEGAL bump stocks which allowed them to be fired faster...closer to that of an automatic. Here is a link that describes this, with an illustration of how it works: What Is a Bump Stock. Why does anyone NEED this? You do realize that this combination of LEGAL firearm and modification is what led to the loss of life being so high in Las Vegas! It is this rapid fire that enabled this shooter to kill 58 people and injure another 500+ in the matter of 11 minutes! Sure, there would have still been deaths and injured could he not rapid fire, but the counts wouldn't even be as close to being as high! This combination needs to be outlawed ASAP! "But people will still buy this stuff off of the black market." You know, I'm tired of that excuse. Here is the deal...if something is illegal, sure, people may be able to get it off the black market, but we are not manufacturing more of these items for public use, and they are not allowed to be imported in by anyone other than our military! Every time a law enforcement officer finds one, they can take it off the street and have it destroyed, thus lowering the number of these things on the street, making them harder to get...even black market.
A little side note here that some of you may not know...there is this bill called The Share Act that not only weakens some current gun regulations (such as those covering silencers), but also restrictions on the hunting of wildlife, even if the species is endangered and/or on a wildlife reserve! Imagine, a heard of bison in the Grand Canyon which is basically like shooting fish in a barrel...all for sport...not for food, but for a trophy to put on one's wall!!! This is what we have come to as a people? So little compassion for life...be it human or animal...that we take pride in taking down innocent animals that we never intend to use for food? Many of you may know, I'm pescatarian, because I believe in preserving animal life if possible. I don't have a problem with using products that come from animals without harming the animals themselves...eggs from free-range chickens (they are not actual chicks unless fertilized by a rooster, and eggs from laying hens are specifically kept away for this reason), milk products from cows or goats (why cheese is still allowed). I'm not going to sit here and tell people they have to stop eating meat, and abandon all their products that come from animals. I just choose to do my part by eating less flesh so that fewer animals meet the slaughter house to meet the country's needs, and I advocate for eating less meat so that we can raise fewer animals for this purpose. This helps improve the living conditions for these animals in the time they are living, and can serve to regain farmland for human consumption crop use, which will also help the environment. Again, if you are a hunter, I don't have a problem with you as long as you eat what you kill, and aren't doing it simply for sport and a wall trophy! I also believe that wildlife reserves and national parks should be safe-havens for animals, and that if a species is endangered, they should be on the no-kill list. Why this little rant? Because once the sting of this event is over, the NRA will be lobbying for this bill to be heard! It means more money for gun and ammunition makers. Oh, yeah....did you know that this bill also will loosen restrictions on armor piercing bullets? Just thought I would mention that for all the "Police Lives Matter" folks, who also tend to be the same people who push for less regulation of firearms! That's right, The Share Act will also put more police lives in danger! I felt I should throw that out there!
The whole thing infuriates me! How can people be so closed minded? "There ARE laws, and laws don't stop criminals. Murder is already illegal. This is strictly a mental health problem...we need better mental health care!" While I agree we do need better access to mental health services for people who really want help, people forget a HUGE point here...the people who commit these mass shootings like this are not the kind of people who will admit to and seek help for a mental health issue! These people think they are perfectly normal!! Just listen to people interviewed so far from this guy's circle...no one noticed anything out of the ordinary with this guy! Even if they did, you can't force a person to go seek help. It is hard to get a psychiatric hold on a person for more than 72 hours, if you believe they are harm to themselves and others. Arguments for better mental health care are a moot point in this situation!