“If guns kill people, then pencils misspell words, cars drive drunk, and spoons make people fat. Remember: Hold the person accountable for their actions, not the means they chose to utilize!!!”
Yes, that’s the refrain from the pro-gun movement we’ve come to expect and, regardless of the carnage or body count of any future shooting tragedy, it is what they will continue to trot out in defense of virtually unlimited access to personal firepower.
But this argument is one of false equivalency. Cop-killer bullets, like 30-round magazine clips, have no benign “sportsman” or “self-defense” purpose.
In fact, the 30-round clip for a handgun isn’t just obscene because of its propensity for use in an act of mayhem, it’s obscene because it lacks any practical virtue. The upside is minuscule (more ammunition at-hand) but this is more than offset by the downside: the gun is heavier and harder to handle, is a pain to reload – oh, and it easily allows someone to kill a lot of people in a short span of time.
You do need to hold the shooter accountable, but suggesting that this is the only thing we can do just assures us the next incident will have a similar, or higher, body count. These 30-round clips are nonsensical. They serve no practical purpose. Like cop-killer bullets, they are only here to titillate those prone to ill-intent, or fulfill ill-intent.
For those that think they need these things to “fight tyranny” – well, you are living in a participative democracy. The idea that you will need guns to “fight tyranny” only exists in a mind beset with other psychological challenges that make reality difficult to perceive accurately.
Even if you needed to “fight tyranny”, well, guess who your opponent will be? Don’t want to dim your war fantasy, but your opponent will be the people actually sworn to protect and defend the Constitution: the armed forces of the United States (Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines). Yeah, good luck with that. 🙂
