So then what? Stop trying to reach people? Stop trying to produce accurate information?
The point here, which you know as well as anyone, firearms are deadly serious. Firearms, all of them, are designed to kill. Period. I’m not going to dance around that.
We know that a ban on “assault weapons” won’t end violence or school shootings or any kind of use of firearms in the commission of a felony, that these things will continue after any gun reform as they call it. And then they will go for the next thing. That will be auto pistols, pump action shotguns, bolt action rifles... who knows but they will go after all of them. There’s no reason not to face any of this head on and be upfront and honest on every level.
For USA Today to suggest that shotguns are somehow less lethal, is actually quite dangerous. Very much in the way some people (even gun people) will say that a .22 rimfire cartridge is little more than a BB gun. It’s still a gun. It’s still deadly.
To me, it’s kinda like when people say you can hunt with an AR. Of course you can. Is it high powered? Because we’ve been long making the point that a .223 is not. We’ve sometimes rhetorically asked why ban an AR when there are far more powerful firearms. Like shotguns for example.
John, I’ve been all over this for the last few months. I’ve spoken with a few different campaigns of people running for office and I’ve even had some contact me unsolicited. I’m not gonna sugar coat anything. If they’re successful with any new legislation, they will try for more and before long, they will indeed decide a shotgun has no sporting purpose. No one will need that kind of fire power.
Point is, every firearm is designed to kill. Every one of them is dangerous. Why should we not be honest about it and more importantly, honest with ourselves?