Since I've seen a bunch of pro-gun folks spewing the same arguments the last several days, even going so far as spreading a 2013 video of a racist pig making such arguments, I'm going to give my rebuttle here to some of the talking points I've seen.
1. Guns don't kill people. People kill people.
Yes, I'm going to jump straight out of the gate with this one, seeing as if I hear it one more time, I think I will scream! Most of us who want sensible gun reform are not stupid! We get that people kill people, and that a gun is not going to jump off of a table by itself and shoot someone. We understand that the gun is a tool. However, said tool has been created for one purpose, and one purpose only...to kill or seriously injure something or someone! The problem is, we have made it too easy for people who will more than likely use a gun in an evil way to have access to guns...legally! Current laws put a gun in the hands of a 19-year-old off-the-hinges BOY...yes I said boy! In a time where the average age to leave home is 25, we expect that someone as young as 18 has the maturity to purchase and own a rifle, including a semi-automatic rifle with a 30-round mag?! No, he isn't mature enough to go buy a beer, but he can buy an AR-15!
These same laws put a legal gun in the hands of a man discharged dishonorably from the military for violence against his then wife and stepchild...a man who also escaped from a military mental hospital at least once? Now, you may say, "But there are laws that state if someone is convicted of domestic violence, they cannot own a gun." Yes, this is true. But current policy with regards to background checks only require the checker to check the central background check database! It is ASSUMED that all agencies involved in law enforcement and the likes will report to this system in a timely manner. Well, guess what...they don't...especially when that agency is the US military! Ask anyone who is in the military who has needed something from them...a moving reimbursement check, etc. They will tell you that the military is terrible about doing things in a timely manner. So, it is no surprise that YEARS after this man's court martial and discharge, the information regarding this was never put into the central database; therefore, he was allowed to legally purchase a firearm at a nearby sporting goods store, and target the family of his estranged/ex wife and their entire church!
Our laws also allowed for a very strange (as many neighbors described him) son of a notorious bank robber to collect an arsenal of legal weapons...many of them semi-automatics...and tons of ammo in the course of under a year, and no one even batted an eye at it. Because most states, and especially at the federal level, do not have registration or licensing requirement unless one is carrying in public, there was no one keeping tally of exactly what this guy was buying to raise up a red flag! No one ever questioned his purchases over 11 months! As a result, we had the largest mass shooting in this country's history!
Add to that, in his first 100 days in office, Trump signed a reversal to an Obama-era policy that required the Social Security Administration to report quarterly on certain SSDI recipients who were getting benefits for certain mental disorders to the central background check database. This was in effort to keep guns out of the hands of people with certain mental disorders that would make them more likely to do something evil with said guns. President Trump reversed this policy, thereby allowing guns to be purchased by people with mental disorders!
Yes, people kill people, but why are we making it so fucking easy for them to do so?
2. What about all the people killed with knives, cars, etc? If a person wants to kill someone, they will find a way!
First of all, I'm not even hearing the car argument until guns are as regulated as cars!!! To operate a car:
- one must register said vehicle and renew said registration every year as a means to say they still own it.
- one must have the vehicle inspected once every year to make sure it is still legally fit for the road, and hasn't been modified in any illegal way that would make it dangerous.
- driver must be licensed to operate said vehicle after passing a written and practical skills test, and some states even require retaking of this test every so many years to make sure skills are still on point
- the vehicle must be insured, so that if anyone is injured or property damaged by operation of said vehicle, bills can be covered by the owner/operator
There are also many laws with regard to how a car can and cannot be operated...speed limitations, etc. If any of the above regulations are in violation, or the driver is found to be operating the vehicle in a dangerous way, police are allowed to put the person in jail and impound the vehicle. Even so much as an expired registration is enough to get pulled over, and your vehicle impounded, as it is deemed not legal to be on the road! You don't even have to be doing anything else wrong!
As for knives, materials to make bombs, baseball bats...whatever. It is not as easy to do as much damage with these things. Also, as pointed out before, these items are tools that were designed for use as something OTHER than a tool to injure or kill something. Knives are used to prepare and cut our food. They also come in handy for cutting rope or cable, opening boxes, etc. Before scissors were invented, they were also used to cut hair, and to cut hides in order to make clothing and carry pouches. The materials people say can be used in bomb recipes all have their own uses...from fortifying plants, killing weeds, killing insects, cleaning, etc. To make a bomb from said materials takes a little knowledge, as to not blow yourself up. It also takes time to gather all of the parts, and put them together...work, work, and work. And baseball bats really were never intended to hurt people, but rather knock a ball as far as you could as a sport or game. Hell, I could turn my computer flatscreen monitor into a weapon if I wanted, and women are often instructed on how to use their car or house keys as self defense if attacked in a parking lot alone at night!
The thing about guns is that they are easy, and they do the greatest amount of damage. I will admit, in China there was a knife attack that injured just as many as the shooting in Florida, but keep in mind...that was done by SEVERAL people wielding knives, not just one person. It takes a gang of people to do as much damage with knives as it takes one person with a gun in the same amount of time. Will people still find ways to kill people with gun reform? Yes...we get this. The goal is, however, to minimize the damage! If we take away the ability to kill or injure so many in such a short period of time, making it harder to do mass damage, we are saving lives! With a knife, this guy in Florida may have only killed or injured 2-3 people TOPS before say the coach or the athletic director took his ass down! It is a lot easier to disarm someone with a knife, than disarm someone with a semi-auto gun!
3. Owning guns is my 2nd Amendment right! What if our government turned against us? How would we defend ourselves?
I have to ask you, how ARE you going to defend yourselves, even with your guns?! Shortly before the Florida shooting, I just got through watching a special about the Branch Davidians in Waco. These folks had a stockpile of guns and ammo...they even had fully automatic rifles. On law enforcement's first approach, yes, the Davidians did shoot and kill some officers. What was the response? They brought in tanks, and gas, and helicopters!!! Now, the ATF could have taken them down right then and there, but there were children involved...so they were given some 50+ days of negotiations as the ATF tried to get the Davidians to release the children. Several children were released, not all. A few women...mothers of some of these children...also came out on their own. However, in the end, when the government decided it was time to move in, those guns the Davidians had were useless!! The tanks started punching holes in walls and gas was thrown into the building to disable the people inside. In final desperation, the Davidians set themselves on fire, because, in their belief, it was better to die and go to their maker than to be taken in by the ATF. They knew otherwise, they would be brought out of that compound and arrested, and their guns would be confiscated!
I bring all this up to point out that if we found ourselves defending against a tyrannical government, we can't! The US government could take out entire countries, if they really wanted to. Your stockpile of guns and ammo will NOT help you against tanks, fighter jets, bombers, biological weapons, dones, etc. They won't care if they kill you! They will take down communication systems, shut down power grids, gas you out of your home or bomb it. Hell, for all we know, they will slowly poison our water so that we are weakened before we ever realize what they are doing! Exaggerating? Possibly, but nothing I mentioned is an impossibility! The 2nd Amendment was written in a time where we fought wars with cannons and muskets...our Forefathers couldn't even imagine the world we live in today.
Sure, it is your right to protect yourself and your family...but the most your guns will protect against is other civilians or predatory animals. For that, you do not need a semi-automatic gun with a 30-round mag. It has actually been found that these are pretty useless for personal protection due to accuracy issues. A simple handgun, bolt action rifle, or pump action shotgun will do the job just fine. Hell, I know a lot of people who will shit themselves at the sound of that pump or bold action loading a round into the chamber, and take off right out that door without a shot even fired! A bolt action or pump action is all you even really need for hunting, too. People have been hunting with these for years...and with cross-bows.
4. If there was a "good guy" with a gun, they could have taken out the shooter, and lives would have been saved!
Oh, this one came up a lot after the Texas church shooting, when it was reported that someone chased the shooter down and took him out with their own gun. Did that person actually save lives? NOPE! The shooter already did his damage and was on the run! He wasn't running because someone showed up with a gun...he was already on his way away from the scene when the other guy went in pursuit!
Also, it has been found that even most people who carry, in a situation such as Las Vegas, Texas, or Florida, would not have the appropriate fortitude to take out the shooter effectively. Most would probably do more damage, by hitting an innocent themselves! Would you really want someone with no police or specialized military training in the area of taking out shooters firing a weapon around 2000+ panicking children?! I know I sure wouldn't! We are not going to stop violence by putting more guns on the streets. Am I okay with armed police or guard presence at our schools? Yes...I personally think we need more campus police. I also think we need closed campuses. The only problem is, there are many, many parents who disagree with me...at least, until a tragedy like Florida happens. They will scream about police presence or not having easy access to their child to eat lunch with them or bring them their homework, until a shooter makes their way onto a campus...then it is "why wasn't the campus secured better"! Um, because YOU didn't want it that way! Teachers with guns? Yeah, no. Like I said...more campus police. I want people trained in these types of situations, who know how to use judgement when taking out a shooter as to best protect those panicking around them...people who have to go through annual training on such things...not some civilian who is just as nervous as the kids!
So there are my arguments. Take them or leave them! I know the die-hard gun right protectors will ignore any and all logic I have presented here. Maybe some on the fence will understand. We need sensible reform! I would like to see a ban on semi-automatic weapons, and a ban on any mag that holds more than 15 rounds. I would like to see mandatory registration and licensing, which would include regular mental evaluations to keep said license. I would like to see the age limits for purchasing guns raised to at least 21. I would like to see the background check changed to include multiple agencies, especially including the military systems for discharges and court maritals, instead of just assuming that agencies are doing their job in entering data into the central database. I would like to see the policy put back into place that required the SSA to report SSDI recipients getting benefits for certain mental disorders. I would like to see closed school campuses, and more campus security. These are sensible changes! I'm not coming after all of your guns! I would just like to see something done that would limit the damage one can do with a gun, and also make it harder for "evil people who do evil things" from getting said guns!