They say gun controls don't work because (i) there are already 300 million guns in the country, (ii) places with gun control laws still have killings - Chicago being example 1, and (iii) any controls on any guns are violations of the 2nd Amendment.
Well, mass killers don't seem to exhibit mental illness before they embark on their missions, so mental health limitation on gun ownership will not prevent anything, and many of these mass killers seem to like to buy their guns new, so limiting access to assault rifles would have some beneficial impact.
As I have said before, we need the same regulations everywhere because bad people buy guns where there are loose regulations and take them to places with tough regulations. The NRA says everyone should have a gun for self-protection. But isn't that what Chicago gang members do and look at the innocent people who die. The latest is a 15 year old girl who performed at the Inauguration and was just standing under a cover in a park while it rained. She was an honors student, athlete, and majorette with a bright future. Should she have had a gun to protect herself? Would a bunch of teenagers having fun hiding from the rain even notice that someone was going to spray them with bullets? Should they have started firing back before the other guy shot them? Would they have been charged and convicted of a crime if they did so?
Limiting access to weapons does not deny the right to own weapons under a process that controls access and distribution. You can still hunt, protect yourself and family and go to shooting ranges for fun with the non-automatic weapons. This endless distribution of guns like they are hot television sets needs to stop.
Loughner, Holmes and Lanza were all flagged as people with mental issues. Deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill along with "privacy" laws make it harder to identify and/or commit them. Chicago gang members are criminals who belong in jail. Why isn't former Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel doing something about that?
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