4/24/2009 12:52:00 PMWJBC Staff
April 23, 2009 This is Bill Fike with WJBC's forum Recently I have been shopping for a hand gun, per the recommendation of some of my friends and customers. They fear that President Obama is about to end gun sales in our nation, leaving the Good Guys that don't own guns without a means of protection against the Bad Guys that do have guns! Some have went as far as to say that they are buying more guns in preparation of social unrest when or nation's economy collapses. Not wanting to be unprepared myself for either contingency, I have begun to shop around. First, let me explain that I am not a NRA member, but I do believe in the Second Amendment, the right for all American Citizens to own and bear arms. However, because of my feelings of compassionate conservatism, it has been my personal belief that the sale of assault weapons should be outlawed. However, while researching the internet and performing groundwork for this Forum, and after reading about the Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994 on Wikipedia, I have changed my mind. I found that the AWB, assault weapons ban, that was signed into law by President Clinton September 13, 1994, and expired on the 13th of September 2004, did not reduce violent gun crimes as predicted. On the contrary, a Violent Prevention Center spokesman said you can't argue with a straight face that the ban has been effective! The most recent example of the ineffectiveness of the AWB was shown by the Virginia Tech shooters legal acquisition of the 10 round magazines for his weapons. Thus, logic dictates that in order for the AWB to be successful, all assault weapons manufactured before and after 1994, along with any large capacity ammunition feeding devices, must be completely banned. Of course this is a daydream, and would be physically impossible to enforce, but some day that this is exactly what President Obama plans. The second amendment reads: "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." After much debate and argument the amendment was ratified on December 15, 1791. I only wish I could go back in time and tell our founding fathers about Columbine, Virginia Tech, Waco, Red Lake, and the most recent killings of the Three Philadelphia police officers by a teenager with an assault weapon, just to mention a few. I believe the authors of the Second Amendment may have had a change of heart, after learning how the present day assault arms have been used to means of mass killings of innocent young lives. But the cat is out of the bag, and we all know that we cant go back in time and change history. So while Im out looking for a hand gun, I think I will shop around for an AR-15 or maybe an Uzi, too. This is Bill Fike with WJBC's forum