Once again, in little over a week, we are witness to mass murder on a scale that defies explanation. I’m probably one of a few Democrats out there who not only endorses our right to bear arms but cherishes it as a founding principle for all to admire and respect.
But we as a people of this country who believes in this right, need to see, and report red flags that pop up before these tragedies occur. The store clerk at these gun stores should have realized what was going on when the purchaser bought assault styled rifles, boxes of ammunition and no silhouette targets that this was a red flag and the authorities needed to be notified.
Just like our rights to free speech and the press, our right to bear arms carries a very profound responsibility, one not considered lightly. We don’t need more gun laws, just enforce the existing laws on the books now. By the same token, we don’t need semi-automatic assault style rifles to be bought by 18-year-old kids either. When I was twenty-one, I bought my first long rifle, a Winchester 30-30, lever action with six rounds of bullets used for hunting deer.
It was also loaded at home in case an intruder broke in, I would have the ability to defend myself and my family. I believed then that an assault styled rifle was a waste of money. The rounds, the 5.56-millimeter ball round were useless for hunting game because it had no real knock-down power.
So, if a person who just turned eighteen and goes into a gun store to purchase two assault rifles and three hundred rounds of bullets, then why didn’t that get reported?
It flies in the face of common sense or veracity. I don’t care if the store owner is a bona-fide MAGA, NRA, freedom loving patriot. The right thing to have done was report this to the authorities that this kid just bought guns and bullets and no targets. No, we don’t need more gun laws, but we do need people with backbone to say not in my town are you going to turn us into looking like fools for the world to see and mock.
Don’t tell me I want to take away your guns. That’s the last thing I want. What I want is for people to stop throwing the second amendment in my face every time something like this happens, telling me that it was unfortunate but we have to have our guns to protect ourselves from tyranny. What tyranny are you talking about? What I want is for gun store owners to stop putting sales and profits before lives lost because some nutcase decides he wants to get his ten minutes of infamy.
Jerry Schellhammer 