Hunter’s Warehouse, an online gun store based in Pennsylvania, sold more than 30,000 AR-15 semi-automatic rifles in the week following the Orlando nightclub shooting, according to an article published by online news agency, The Independent.
The owner of Hunter’s Warehouse, Tom Eagle, told Fox Business, “It’s when the government starts talking about banning particular guns and up go gun sales. When people [are at risk of losing] their right to buy a particular gun or a particular type of gun, they go after them and they want them then.”
This surge in the buying of military firearms by average citizens is frightening. Assault rifles barely deserve to be in the hands of those serving in military active duty – now imagine what happens when average Bill from down the street owns a few of these weapons.
Violence has become an obsession in our society. The fact that the fear of losing the opportunity to buy a particular weapon will cause gun-lovers to purchase as many of these weapons as they can is alarming.
This country is in dire need of the gun control measures proposed during last Wednesday’s 15-hour filibuster launched by Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn — a senator frustrated with congressional inaction on gun violence. Stringent background checks are a necessity when it comes to purchasing firearms. Moreover, if someone’s on a terror watch list they shouldn’t be able to buy any guns.
However, Republicans don’t seem to agree with that notion, which they proved during a special Senate session on Monday when four gun-control measures proposed failed to achieve their required 60 votes.
92 percent of Americans support expanded background checks and 85 percent support preventing those on terror watch lists from purchasing guns, according to a June 2016 poll from CNN.
So why is it that 8 percent of the population get to have complete control over such a serious issue?
Republicans need to wake up and realize that between 1966 to 2012, nearly a third of the world’s mass shootings took place in the U.S., according to a 2016 study by the National Center of Biotechnology Information.
The U.S. has a gun problem — and the nation needs serious reform when it comes to its laws in regards to buying firearms. However, this has been said so many times before and it seems like the Republicans aren’t changing their minds.
Assault weapons have no other recreational purpose but to kill. I can see why someone might want to purchase a hunting rifle, but military-style weapons do not belong in the hands of any civilian.
Yes, Republicans, you have the right to bear arms, but not the firearms of your dreams.
And that’s what it’s really about – owning the biggest, baddest guns. There is no other use for a semi-automatic rifle other than to shoot and kill – and they’re not used for killing deer.
So, it’s time to understand why Republicans are so against gun control laws — even after mass shootings like the one that took place in Orlando earlier this month. It’s important to recognize why their ideology is wrong.
Generally speaking, Republicans believe that every American has the right to own, carry and use a firearm. Any government regulation over firearms is unconstitutional and an infringement on an individual’s basic rights, according to the GOP.
The second amendment is one that is very dear to conservatives, because they see it as the right to protect not only themselves, but their family and property.
The Republican perspective on gun control can best be explained through cultural upbringing. Most red states are located in the Midwest, bible belt, or deep south of the U.S. – parts where hunting through the use of a firearm is esteemed as a dear American pastime and tradition.
However, who needs an AK-47 to hunt? Nobody.
President Barack Obama said it best when he told the National Urban League that “AK-47s belong in the hands of soldiers … not on the streets of our cities.”
These weapons have been the cause of so many mass shootings across the country.
Progress and reform are key to preventing mass shootings in the future. It’s time for Republicans to realize that strict background checks aren’t a bad thing. Mass shootings are a bad thing. Citizens buying assault rifles is a bad thing. Gun-control laws aren’t.
The right to bear arms won’t be eliminated – relax, conservatives. You’ll just need to prove you’re not mentally insane or a terrorist before you get one. No biggie, right?