Open Letter to Congress

Dear Congress,

I understand your need to do something meaningful after the tragedy at Sandy Hook.  It was painful to see, and neither you nor I can truly understand what those poor families are going through.  However, twisting a tragedy like this for your own agendas will not help them heal.  The fact that this atrocity was committed by a mentally unstable individual with a fire arm does not give you the right to declare open season on the second amendment.

It is not the fault of the gun that this occurred.  It was not the style of the firearm or the size of his magazine that made that young man commit such a horrendous act.  It was his mental health.  If you want to do something good in the wake of all of this evil, stop attacking guns you know nothing about, and push for better mental healthcare.  

If you are able to pass your "assault" weapons ban or limit the size of magazines, it will not lower the amount of violent crime or decrease the homicide rates across the nation.  It will do nothing but deprive good people the ability to use their favorite firearms for sport, or for hunting, or most importantly self-defense.  You don't believe me? Well, come spend a weekend in Chicago.  Chicago is gun-free and oh so safe right now isn't it.  Chicago has had over 40 homicides in January, yet guns aren't allowed.  You know who doesn't care about your gun laws? Criminals. Merriam-Webster defines a criminal as "guilty of crime; also: of or befitting a criminal".  We all know that crime is breaking the law, therefore, a criminal will not care about your weapons ban.  It will only take weapons out of the hands of people who respect and obey the laws, leaving them defenseless and an easy target for the criminals you fear.

Now, before we even get into common sense gun laws, we have to talk about the lack of knowledge you show on the subject.  You are attempting to a pass a ban on "assault" weapons.  Well true assault weapons have already been banned in this country.  You are actually attempting to ban a product based solely on its appearance.  An assault weapon is capable of firing multiple rounds per trigger pull.  The ar-15 you are going after now is a semi-automatic rifle.  It fires one round per trigger pull. The only difference between the weapon you say is a threat to safety and the hunting rifle you will not ban is its clothing.  Yes an AR looks just like an M16, but it functions totally different.  My Blackhawks jersey looks just like the one the professionals wear, but whats inside is not a hockey player, just like whats inside the skin of the ar-15 is no military rifle.

Lets talk about magazines or as the uninformed amongst you like to call them, clips.  Let me set the record straight on that.  A clip is what the ammunition comes on for storage and inventory purposes.  A magazine is what is loaded inside the weapon in order to fire.  You want to ban what you call high capacity magazines, making anything more than ten rounds illegal.  Well that sounds good on paper, however what you are banning is not high capacity magazines, but standard magazines.  Smaller magazines will not prevent death or injury from occurring when someone is intent on doing harm.  All they have to do is reload.  A smaller magazine will actually cause death and injury to occur to people who obey the law, a police officer in a firefight having to stop and reload because he only has ten rounds instead of the standard fifteen is putting his life in even further jeopardy when  he steps out on the street.

Lets discuss common sense gun regulation.  Law abiding gun owners are not opposed to regulations, if they serve a purpose and make sense.  I for one see no problem with requiring background checks for gun ownership, and including a check into the mental health history of the applicant.  I do not have an issue, in fact I would love if safety training and mandatory yearly qualifications in order to be issued a carry permit.  I have no issue with denying legal carry and ownership to people with violent histories.  I do however have a problem with blanket bans, half measures, and laws that affect only the people who follow the law.

Sincerely,

A concerned citizen