Tuesday, December 25, 2012

A Conservative Case For The Assault Weapons Ban - Federal Judge Larry Alan Burns


I get it. Someone bent on mass murder who has only a 10-round magazine or revolvers at his disposal probably is not going to abandon his plan and instead try to talk his problems out. But we might be able to take the “mass” out of “mass shooting,” or at least make the perpetrator’s job a bit harder.

To guarantee that there would never be another Tucson or Sandy Hook, we would probably have to make it a capital offense to so much as look at a gun. And that would create serious 2nd Amendment, 8th Amendment and logistical problems.

So what’s the alternative? Bring back the assault weapons ban, and bring it back with some teeth this time. Ban the manufacture, importation, sale, transfer and possession of both assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Don’t let people who already have them keep them. Don’t let ones that have already been manufactured stay on the market. I don’t care whether it’s called gun control or a gun ban. I’m for it.

I say all of this as a gun owner. I say it as a conservative who was appointed to the federal bench by a Republican president. I say it as someone who prefers Fox News to MSNBC, and National Review Online to the Daily Kos. I say it as someone who thinks the Supreme Court got it right in District of Columbia vs. Heller, when it held that the 2nd Amendment gives us the right to possess guns for self-defense. (That’s why I have mine.) I say it as someone who, generally speaking, is not a big fan of the regulatory state.

I even say it as someone whose feelings about the NRA mirror the left’s feelings about Planned Parenthood: It has a useful advocacy function in our deliberative democracy, and much of what it does should not be controversial at all.

And I say it, finally, mindful of the arguments on the other side, at least as I understand them: that a high-capacity magazine is not that different from multiple smaller-capacity magazines; and that if we ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines one day, there’s a danger we would ban guns altogether the next, and your life might depend on you having one.

But if we can’t find a way to draw sensible lines with guns that balance individual rights and the public interest, we may as well call the American experiment in democracy a failure. 


 

7 comments:

Debra She Who Seeks said...

May many, many more Conservatives join him in this opinion. Maybe something will change for the better because of it.

david_b said...

I'm all for assault weapons ban legislation. Long over due.

Kal said...

SINCE WHEN? I don't appreciate the sarcasm. Even when one of your own speaks up it's still not enough is it?

Tempo said...

Speak up, speak up but no action and I dont see any real action on the horizon.

david_b said...

Clearly you're not reading my posts. I've attended rallys and cast votes, more more effective than those in other counties, hint hint.

david_b said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
david_b said...

Actually..., I'm waiting on our beloved Administration to do something.

You remember them, the 'Hope and Change' **Leadership** you're enamored with.

"So much rhetoric.., from those in power who do so very little."

I'd be extremely supportive and proud of an assault weapon ban. It would actually be a step forward for this country during this Administration.