A few thoughts about our gun culture.
After Obama was elected I went to a local gun show here in Eugene. It is one of those traveling shows that arrives regularly at the local events center. I normally went to the show about once a year and liked to check the prices on guns and see if there were any deals. Never found any deals. This time the experience seemed different. Sure there was the usual assortment of large men with their large women and large kids in tow but this time there was an air of desperation seeping through the cheap flags and dirty "cold dead hand" t-shirts. I don't think it was some sort of projection on my part and have described it to my friends as having a Hunter S. Thompson quality, you know, like entering some gonzo never land where all bets are off and the truth according to Rush and his paranoid rants prevail. I left without buying anything. These sorts of events are always overpriced and dealing with the sellers at their tables is tedious. There is a type of person that owns a gun business and sells at these shows. Walk into their shops and observe how they talk loud, and bark orders, like any small time business man who lords over his employees. They seem to be overconfident in a compensatory way.
Lately I have heard arguments about how an assault weapon like an AR-15 is essentially the same as a Ruger Mini-14. That there is no mechanical difference. This is correct. Same caliber, semi-auto, magazines that can hold many cartridges. But there is a difference. When asked, the talking heads on the tv and the radio all seem to think that because they are essentially the same then they should be free to buy as many of these military style weapons as they want. I would argue that since they are the same then you should be satisfied with a Mini-14 and if not then there is some psychological reason for wanting an AR-15. Because really, why pay more for an AR-15? I found an exemption to the gun shop owner rule in Medford. I stopped in to check out the deals as I am want to do. And talked with the man behind the counter. I think he was the owner. This was in maybe 2004. The topic was the popularity of AR-15s. He said that people were buying the guns they saw soldiers carrying on the tv. I never much considered that idea until recently when movies and video games became the usual cultural suspects blamed for mass murder of children and the slaughter of other innocents. What about the culture of violence we see everyday on tv carried out by our government? War, as any soldier worth his, or her, salt knows, is an extension of foreign policy. And our foreign policy is about profits. I will not list all the conflicts since we started this empire. We know them.
As for gun control. Register them all. Stop selling anything that has a short barrel, short stock, and more than a 10 round magazine. Background investigations and proof of proficiency for everyone. If you want a military style weapon then join the national guard.