re: #103 William Barnett-Lewis

Does he want to ban bows & arrows too? See Casper, Wyoming the other day. Or knives? Kid in china took out a dozen folks with blade before the police perma-stopped him.

Fixing the problems that lead people to seek violent solutions - ending poverty, providing physical & mental health care, decent education, providing people with meaningful employment, providing non-depraved entertainment, and so forth - is much harder and much more expensive than blaming the tool used when the person snaps due to one of the above issues.

Let me start by admitting I am an enthusiastic assault rifle owner. I have a PLA modified SKS that accepts stock AK-47 30 round mags (not the ones with the obnoxious extended lip) and an Auto Ordnance Tommy Gun, as well as several hunting rifles and a reproduction Rev War Brown Bess musket with bayonet.

The kid with a knife or sword in China is a fluke. It is really, really hard to kill a lot of people with a close combat weapon. They tend to run away from you. Bombs are hard to make without killing yourself if you do not have some technical skills.

Modern military guns, like Kalashnikovs and such, are the pinnacle of 500 years of handheld firearm development. They are designed to kill with little or no effort and with little or no training. They are very, very easy to use, and they can shoot through many obstacles that would defeat arrows, sling stones or quarrels. They can shoot with accuracy over 300 yards, making them difficult to escape. They can shoot as quickly as thought and muscles allow. They are death…perfected.

As gun owners, we have to also own that fact. We own things that can and are used to overthrow governments, kill leaders and destabilize nations. They are much better at it than crossbows, pikes and halberds. We have needs for self defense. As a trans woman, I have confronted that face to face. We must also acknowedge that societies, composed of the people at large, have to have some defense against people with powerful weapons who may use them for ill.