Can anyone explain...

[spin]

38. I will explain why I am and it might surprise you. ...

There is little chance of another assault weapons ban passing at this time and if it does it will be watered down significantly. Most political experts agree with me on this. The House of Representatives is controlled by Republicans and the Senate has a number of Democrats from Red states so passage of such a law will be a major challenge in either house of Congress.

Unfortunately the talk of another ban is causing firearms of all types to fly off the shelves of gun stores across our nation. Many buyers fear that this might be the last chance to buy a firearm which of course is false. Others are buying them in hope of selling them for a significant profit in the future. A high percentage fear rising prices in the next few year. A few extremists fear a tyrannical government and are buying firearms to store underground in arms caches.

A high percentage of the buyers have no real current need for the firearms they are buying. Some have little or no experience with firearms and firearm safety and will not spend the money and take the time to go through a firearm safety course. Many of these firearms will not be stored securely and may end up stolen or misused by family members to cause tragedies.

Also I fear the fact that the new Assault Weapons Ban is supported by Democrats will lead a high percentage of gun owners to show up at the polls in the midterm elections and they will vote for pro-gun Republicans even if the Democratic candidate has a high rating from the NRA. This will impact elections at the local, state and national level.

I firmly believe we can make headway in reducing gun violence and mass murders by passing legislation that does not ban any firearms but will address underlying problems and weaknesses in our current gun laws. It will be far easier to pass such legislation if we do not insist on an Assault Weapons Ban.

Of course any changes that occur will be a compromise between the two groups. When you barter it is wise to start from a strong position. Perhaps in order to get passage of a law requiring a background check for the sale of any firearm, the Assault Weapons ban may prove to be an effective bargaining chip. Still our object should be to reduce the number of firearms rather than to promote the sale of these weapons which is exactly what we are doing now.