General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Tomorrow's New York Daily News cover, posted without comment: [View all]spin
(17,493 posts)it's the estimated 80,000,000 to 100,000,000 gun owners in our nation and the voting age members of their families.
Admittedly some of these gun owners see no problem with banning weapons similar to the AR-15. Unfortunately for those who favor strong gun control a high percentage of gun owners believe that if an assault weapons ban passes, the next step is to ban all semi-automatic firearms followed by all handguns. This may or may not be true, which is largely irrelevant as gun control advocates will find it impossible to convince gun owners that they will be satisfied with merely a new assault weapons ban.
Gun owners also wish to see gun violence decrease and have many logical ideas that if passed into legislation would do far more good than any assault weapons ban. It might also help if our nation strongly enforced existing laws. For example, all too often a person with a violent criminal record is caught carrying a gun illegally and gets off with only a light penalty. A year or so later he uses an illegal firearm to murder another person.
I feel it is quite possible to improve our gun laws. The fact that the assault weapons ban is unlikely to pass in this Congress is not the end of the world. If you wish you can always work on passing one in your state.