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Army Bob: Gun control about as successful as War on Drugs

Let’s talk gun control. A man wishes to attack his political enemies in Alexandria Va.; he uses two firearms. The over-the-top hate we find in the media is not blamed, the criminal is not blamed, but the tools he used are.

When I was a young man in the 1960s, the anti-gun folks chanted that all we need to do is ban cheap foreign made “Saturday Night Specials,” “Drop Guns.” The RG-10, a German made .22 rimfire revolver that sold for $20 or so, was the poster weapon of the campaign. A law was passed banning these cheap low muzzle energy, low capacity, inaccurate, slow firing weapons. Problem solved? Hardly; the criminals just paid a few more dollars and used larger caliber weapons with more muzzle energy, better accuracy and a much higher rate of fire.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions. The anti-gun folks celebrated a victory; awards were presented to and by the Hollywood elite and the left. Words like saving lives and protecting the most vulnerable from harm were used over and over again. Banning the RG-10 saw the criminal element purchasing the Glock 17 or Mac 10 with a 15 to 30 round capacity, legendary accuracy, reliability and firepower. The bottom line was that the criminals will always have firearms. Banning illegal drugs is not working out very well for us, is it?

“We need to close the gun show loophole.” Most who chant the mantra do not even know what it is. A federal firearms license holder at a gun show must follow the same laws that they do in their store. A private citizen who owns a firearm can sell it at a gun show with in some cases no paperwork, but they can also sell the same firearm without being at a gun show. Closing “the gun show loophole” means a national registration. A family heirloom, a Colt M1911 or 1911A1 used by a Great, Great Grandparent in WWI or WWII simply can’t be handed down from parent to child without a FFL-sanctioned transfer fee and registration.

The anti-gun folks need to put their mind in gear and use common sense; make guns illegal and if you are a criminal, why not purchase an automatic weapon on the black market? The nightmare for law enforcement is a total gun ban.

The anti-gun folks will tell us the number of guns being used for suicide in the U.S. is greater than any other nation. OK, but other nations have a higher rate of suicide than we do; the victims of suicide use drugs or knives or gas. Should they ban knives in Japan?

The United States of America, a nation I love and served for two decades, has a Constitution, thank God, and we have a Second Amendment to that Constitution allowing us to own firearms. The gun grabbers for some reason refuse to follow the amendment process to change the Constitution. They prefer to back door the constitutional process, as following proper procedure will not work out well for them.

Let us look at Mexico, a nation with strict gun laws that is having frequent gun battles with criminals using fully automatic shoulder-fired weapons. Mexico bans guns, and surprise, the bad guys have guns, mostly fully automatic weapons. I know my liberal friends, Mexico’s problems are all the fault of the United States, as is every one of the world’s problems.

Come on now, folks, if you want to change the Constitution and revoke the Second Amendment, change the Constitution. Remember the First and Fourth amendments are also under fire. Be careful, my progressive friends, of what you wish for as you may get it.

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