Should we ban large capacity ammunition feeding devices?
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17 votes
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39% | |||
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26 votes
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59% | |||
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1 vote
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McCarthy has introduced H.R. 308, the Large Capacity Ammunition Feeding Device Act. It would ban the sale or transfer of these large-capacity clips that enabled the massive casualties in Aurora, and in Tucson, Ariz., in January 2011 when Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was shot and six were killed. McCarthy told me: “The problem is, politicians, legislators across this country are intimidated by the NRA and the gun manufacturers who put so much money out there to say that ‘we will take you down in an election if you go against us.’ Common sense will say we can take prudent gun-safety legislation and try to save people’s lives. That is the bottom line.”
One group pushing the large-magazine ban is the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, named for Jim Brady, who was shot in the head and severely disabled during the 1981 attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan. I spoke with Colin Goddard, who works for the group. He survived the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre, where 32 people were killed. Goddard was shot four times. I asked him about the refrain so commonly uttered now on television, that it’s too political to discuss gun control before the victims are even buried.
“This conversation should have happened before this shooting in the first place.” Goddard told me. “This is when people are outraged. This is when people realize that this could happen to them. We cannot wait. ... Now is the time for a change. We are better than this.”
© 2011 Amy Goodman
Top Opinion
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Jeh 2012/07/27 08:47:00
The last shooting spree that generated as much media attention as the Aurora massacre came in January 2011, when an Arizona gunman opened fire on a meet-and-greet event hosted by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords at a local shopping center parking lot. Six people were killed that day out of the 18 victims who were shot. Because a member of Congress was targeted in the killing, the media response was enormous, much like with the Batman shooting. And justifiably so, given the horrific toll the tragedies took on the local communities.
However, the sad truth is that in the 18 months between the Giffords shooting spree and the Aurora shooting spree, America witnessed a steady stream of wild gun rampages, most of which were in and out of the national headlines in less than 24 hours.
July 17, 2012: A gunman stood outside of a crowded downtown bar in Tuscaloosa, AL and opened fire, injuring at least 17 people.
May 30, 2012: After killing four people in a café and then another during a carjacking, a Seattle gunman killed himself as police officers approached him.
April 2, 2012: Seven people were killed and three others wounded in a shooting rampage at an Asian religious vocational school in Oakland, CA.
March 8, 2012: Two people were killed and ...
The last shooting spree that generated as much media attention as the Aurora massacre came in January 2011, when an Arizona gunman opened fire on a meet-and-greet event hosted by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords at a local shopping center parking lot. Six people were killed that day out of the 18 victims who were shot. Because a member of Congress was targeted in the killing, the media response was enormous, much like with the Batman shooting. And justifiably so, given the horrific toll the tragedies took on the local communities.
However, the sad truth is that in the 18 months between the Giffords shooting spree and the Aurora shooting spree, America witnessed a steady stream of wild gun rampages, most of which were in and out of the national headlines in less than 24 hours.
July 17, 2012: A gunman stood outside of a crowded downtown bar in Tuscaloosa, AL and opened fire, injuring at least 17 people.
May 30, 2012: After killing four people in a café and then another during a carjacking, a Seattle gunman killed himself as police officers approached him.
April 2, 2012: Seven people were killed and three others wounded in a shooting rampage at an Asian religious vocational school in Oakland, CA.
March 8, 2012: Two people were killed and seven wounded when a man opened fire inside a clinic at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Feb. 21, 2012: Five people were killed in a murder-suicide attack at a spa in Norcross, GA.
Oct 12, 2011: Eight people were killed in a mass shooting at a Seal Beach, CA, nail salon.
Oct. 5, 2011: A disgruntled worker opened fire at a Northern California cement plant killing three and wounding seven.
Sept. 6, 2011: A gunman opened fire, killing three people and then himself at an IHOP in Carson City, NV.
July 7, 2011: A man shot and killed himself following his shooting rampage in Grand Rapids, MI that left seven dead and two others wounded.
On and on the epidemic rolls, fueled by gun saturation in America. When the sad rampage chapters play out, the press shouldn't shy away from putting the string of connected events into context, nor should it refuse to detail the sweeping size of our nation's gun violence crisis.
Of course not.
Reloading takes time, and that can sometimes be a really good thing.
We've lost 2000 troops in 11 years of fighting from halfway across the world. I really don't know how that's "getting our asses kicked" by any standards, but I'm sure you're a military genius.
If you somehow think you can stop tanks with your small arms, you've got more problems than you poor assessment of the American military. You're a fear-mongering conspiracy theorist.
You are telling me the best armed military cannot wipe, a conventionally armed cave dwelling populous, out of existence in 11 years.
Tanks are useless in defensible topography, helicopters are useless, and the military no longer has the intestinal fortitude to carpet bomb. They are the best armed least effective force on the globe.
On domestic soil, if the government decided to turn on the population, they wouldn't have any such need.
You're conflating issues and fantasizing when you should be well aware of the consequences if the American Military did wish to wipe out a civilian force without care for casualty.
Again, your ideas of the American Military aren't grounded in reality. The American Military is the most feared in the world.
Please walk up to your nearest military base and let them know that tanks, helicopters and planes are so easy to defeat with your conventional methods. They should make you a general on the spot.
You don't know any active duty soldiers if you think any soldier would follow a command to fire on their own countrymen, we don't live in Syria.
The American military is the most well equipped and no longer feared, thanks to the ROE's it enters the battlefield under.
I live overlooking Camp Pendleton, their base abuts my property. In my community we have over 40 retired and active duty families, a tank is ineffective at anything more than a 40 degree firing angle, a helicopter is 10,000 parts fighting to get away from each other, and the planes they are currently flying haven't been upgraded since the late 80's.
I would contend you might want to talk to someone who has actually fought in combat, in the last 5 years.
I'm waiting to see what you thrown into first: jail or mental institution.
Reality and questioning the fortitude of our military leaders, is not only our duty but it is our responsibility. I am sorry you are ignorant to the truth. You might want to spend sometime with those who have come back, like I do before you go off Half-cocked, calling my comments treasonous.
Your treasonous talk labels you as a traitor. You plan to overthrow the government with your civilian weaponry. You are the enemy. You hate America.
I actually have family that are retired military and friends that are active duty.
You don't think the new IRS agent hiring is solely for health care do you? Why would a bean counter need to be small arms certified? http://www.irs.gov/irm/part9/...
I pity your ignorance in how ineffective our military has become, thanks to lack of leadership.
I love this nation, the only way to right what has been wronged is let it collapse under its own idiocy. I plan on defending my property and wealth from all who will try and confiscated it and that includes a wasteful government.
http://www.factcheck.org/2008...
You're trotting out the same BS from four years ago and probably don't even know it.
You seem to neglect the idea that those new IRS hires are "special agents," and as such, need firearms training.
You're a traitor and not a smart one. I won't mind you getting hauled off to prison sooner rather than later. Enjoy your stay there.
You are ignorant, just ignorant enough to have faith in the government that fails in every stated intention.
What don't you understand?
http://jobs.irs.gov/midcareer...
They may very well be used in actually apprehending people, or be used in stings used to recover property/records.
In short, the IRS may very well be working closely in the field than just sitting behind a desk, theses days, with a lot of other law enforcement. They are special agents. This is how they're trained to meet the needs they may have in the field.
They are not law enforcement, they are TAX enforcement. There is no need for an IRS agent to carry a gun. All of the apprehension and recovery is the role of the US Marshals Service.
I am sorry you have such blind faith in a government that has yet to deliver anything close to its stated intentions. Yet, is pretty good at extending its reach into every aspect of your life. How sad we have come to a time in our nation. where its citizens, like you, make excuses for government expanding the intrusiveness of its collecting agency.
If there are many like you I am embarrassed to call myself an American.