Surely We Can All Agree Private Citizens Shouldn’t Have This Weapon

In the wake of of the deadly school shooting in Newtown, I think it’s time Americans took an honest look at some of the weapons available to the public at-large and decide if they are something that should be readily available to every citizen. I’m not suggesting a complete and total ban on guns, but I think we should all be able to agree that some weapons just shouldn’t be in the hands of someone other than the police or the military.

If our goal is to guard against future tragedies and keep Americans safe in places like movie theaters or schools, surely we can all agree that no regular citizen needs to have access to an assault weapon such as this:

This weapon clearly isn’t intended for ‘hunting’ or ‘home defense’ so please spare me those arguments. It’s not hard to figure out what this weapon was designed to do. More simply put, there is just no reasonable case to be made for this type of weapon being available to any American that wants one.

Nothing will ever change if we don’t stand and up and demand that a change takes place. I ask that you put politics aside and join me in voting “Yes” in the poll below as to whether or not assault weapons like this should be unavailable to everyday citizens.

UPDATE: OK, I just wanted to take a minute and let everyone know that, as of this update, the poll results are just about even.  49%, almost half of those taking the poll, said “Yes” this type of weapon should not be allowed in the hands of regular citizens. I guess now is a good time to let the cat out of the bag.

Those people who voted “Yes” will be happy to know that, if they had their way, the Crosman M417 BB/Pellet Rifle would no longer be available to regular citizens. That’s right folks, the weapon pictured above is a BB gun, nothing more, and yet half of the people who saw it said they wanted it banned. You know what I had to do to make them say that? Post a scary picture of, say it can’t really be used for hunting or defense (A BB gun really can’t), and call it an ‘assault weapon.’ That’s it. Nothing else.

Why did I do this? I did this to illustrate a very simple point: many people, almost half in this case, were willing to ban something simply because it looks scary and was referred to as an assault weapon. While summarily deciding to ban something that has nothing to do with a situation might make people feel good, it actually illustrates why rushing to enact outright bans, new regulations, or more laws is actually a terrible idea.