Guns and clubs

Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review.

You guys remember when I wrote about getting my concealed weapon permit back in the day (The Gun Club, July 6, 2006)? I still have one. I mention this to deter all the commentary I expect to get when this column hits newsprint that I hate guns.

I personally believe that reasonable gun legislation could be agreed upon in this country, even though what I think of as reasonable, others might think of as radical. But I’d be willing to take it as far as it needs to go.

I think the simplest way to reduce gun massacres is ban automatic and semi-automatic guns. The government can buy them off the street with tax rebates. In 10 years, make it illegal for private citizens to own them (including guns purchased before the ban). I won’t likely ever need more than six bullets to defend myself in the sort of situation where I’d use a gun—and I don’t say that with any false certainty that I’d prevail. That’s not really how it works.

In this country, anyone who’s coming after another human being legally is going to outgun them by 100-to-1 with fully automatic weapons, gas, tanks and even helicopters. That’s the truth of the matter.

This concept of gun-free zones is ludicrous. I can’t believe that anyone thinks that maniacs will leave children alone. Attacking children is inconceivable, but I think that’s why they target them. Killers know that there’s no better way to spread despair.

If the Second Amendment is the only thing that stands in the way of reasonable gun laws in this country, then we should repeal it—exactly the way we repealed the 18th Amendment with Amendment 21.

So, let’s talk about it. Wouldn’t more reasonable gun laws make more sense than a repeal?