There is absolutely no need for semi-auto, military grade weapons in the hands of the public.

[bighart]

25. Was talking to a friend this morning who is an avid gun collector.

He is absolutely appalled by all of these mass shootings and is always willing to have an open conversation about gun control.
His take is that there should be a background check done on every gun transaction even when sold by a private individual to another
private individual. He told me he would support restrictions or bans on clips over 15 in capacity. When I asked why 15 he stated that when he is "plinking" (ie target shooting cans, bottles, jugs etc) he doesn't like to reload a lot. He did say that he is open to discussion on this subject and would not be too concerned if the capacity was lower.
When the subject of a complete ban came up like Japan he asked me to name another right that was written in the constitution that has been taken away, I couldn't.
He also stated that since part of the oath of office for the president and congress is to "protect and defend the constitution" that any such attempt to eliminate a right enumerated in the constitution may well be viewed by some as treason or at least grounds for impeachment or recall.

At the end of the day he and I both agree that we have to address the root causes, easy access to guns and whatever societal issues (ie mental health care and lack of respect for life) lie at the heart of the problem. There is no quick fix, no easy solution, but with continued attention and calls for change we can begin moving to a more sane policy toward guns and address some of the underlying causes of this kind of thing.

One other point he made was that there have been more people killed by gun violence in Chicago this year than the number of troops killed in Afghanistan and he wondered why there isn't outrage of that fact. Good point in my view.