Let’s have a conversation about guns
Like most people, I am horrified by the amount of gun violence in our country.
While mass murders such as those that occurred recently in Nashville, Tennessee; Louisville, Kentucky; and rural Alabama get a fair amount of press coverage, I am also horrified by the thousands of murders by gun that occur elsewhere — especially in our big cities. And I am horrified by the thousands of suicides by guns.
Typically, when a mass murder by gun occurs, numerous voices demand that we “do something” about gun violence. So let us have a conversation about guns.
Unlike most commentators on guns, I will begin by telling you about my experiences with guns. I grew up in Southern New Mexico. Like most of my friends, I learned to shoot a rifle at an early age — always under adult supervision.
I did not fire a pistol until I was 23 and serving as an ICBM launch officer in the Air Force. I had to carry a sidearm while on duty. I took courses on the safe handling and storage of firearms, and had to annually qualify on my base’s pistol range.
I am not a member of the National Rifle Association, nor do I expect to ever join the NRA. Likewise, I do not own an AR-15, nor do I plan on ever getting one. I am not a hunter. I have never pointed a gun at a human being.
I have a concealed carry permit, as does my wife. We obey all laws with respect to where we may or may not carry a firearm. Our use of firearms is typically a visit to a gun range for target practice.
Most proposed gun control legislation focuses on banning the semi-automatic rifle known as the AR-15. However, the action of the semi-automatic AR-15 is vastly different from fully automatic guns.
One squeeze (and hold) of the trigger of a fully automatic weapon will fire round after round until the operator releases the trigger or the gun runs out of ammunition. With an AR-15, the operator must squeeze the trigger to fire a single round of ammunition, then release the trigger and squeeze the trigger again to fire another round.
The action of an AR-15 is the same as the action of semi-automatic pistols, which kill far more people than the AR-15.
FBI homicide statistics from 2019 show that handguns kill more than 17 times as many people as rifles of all kinds. Knives kill more than four times as many people as rifles of all kinds. Fists, hands and feet kill almost twice as many people as rifles of all kinds.
So for those who favor a ban on AR-15s, how would that work?
Would you mandate the confiscation of AR-15s — even among current, legal owners? What would be the criminal penalty for possessing an AR-15 if they are banned? And the big question: Do you really believe a person intent on murdering other people would be deterred by the prospect of being charged with illegal possession of an AR-15?
Since semi-automatic handguns are the weapon of choice in more than two-thirds of all gun murders, what would you do about those weapons?
One proposal is to ban magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition. Again, how would that work? What penalties would you prescribe for possession of a magazine that holds, say, 16 rounds? And do you know that with a little practice a shooter can drop an empty magazine out of a handgun, insert a magazine filled with ammunition and begin shooting again in less than five seconds?
What do I think should be done to reduce gun violence?
First, legal authorities should vigorously enforce existing gun laws. Where it is not now a felony, illegal possession of a gun used in the commission of a violent crime — murder, rape, robbery, for example — should be a felony. District attorneys should have much less leeway in plea agreements to drop an illegal gun possession charge.
Second, a crime committed with a handgun where the serial number has been scratched off (or otherwise obscured) should automatically become a felony.
Third, I believe a federal background check should be mandatory for all ownership transfers of handguns and semi-automatic rifles, even when the transfer is between family members.
Finally, strengthen soft targets like houses of worship, schools and other “gun-free” zones.
Are there other measures that might work? Of course.
The first step is to encourage conversations that don’t resort to name-calling and stereotyping. Are we, as a nation, ready for a civil conversation?
I certainly hope so.