Author: Wendy Dennis February 18, 2018
Originally published on the author’s personal blog
No civilian needs an AR-15. And, there are plenty who argue that NO ONE needs such, not even the military. I’ll quote my friend Paul Cooney to describe why:
>Trigger Warning<
“I was trained on the AR-15 back in 1986. Most bullets mushroom on impact, AR-15 bullets tumble. It’s an important difference because bullets that mushroom generally have a local impact, not so with the AR-15. A bullet that tumbles with high velocity can hit you in the ankle and them tumble up your body and exit the brain, all the while churning everything in it’s path. I asked the drill sergeants how this can be legal. They said it’s not, when you aim at a person you have to think of it as aiming at the equipment they carry, this is the loophole, they said. So, a weapon which should be illegal in war is legal on our streets.”
While removing such weapons from the military and police forces is probably not going to happen anytime soon, if ever, it is urgent that we make sure our elected officials pass gun safety legislation that bans the sale of the AR-15 and any military-style assault weapons to civilians. Anna Bernoulli, an Army veteran who served with the 62nd Engineer Battalion as a land surveyor who is now a member of Veterans for Peace and Iraq Veterans Against the War makes an excellent case for such legislation in her February 15, 2018 post titled “Fuck you, I like guns.” You need to read this post. The entire post. I cannot give it anything close to justice with any number of excerpts. Just read it.
For a good historic review of the use of assault weapons in the USA, read “4 basic questions about the AR-15” from the Washington Post.
For inspiration, take 11 or so minutes to watch this clip of Emma Gonzelez, a student who survived the 2-14-18 massacre at the high school in Parkland, Florida as she outlines the beginnings of what I hope becomes a powerful movement and calls out all elected officials and other “adults” (quotation marks) who march in step with the National Rifle Association (NRA). You can also read about her speech and the anti-firearms rally HERE.
Ready to do something? Here are some petitions you can sign.
Petition Demanding Common Sense Gun Control
Tell Congress: Make Large-Capacity Gun Magazines Illegal
Want to do more? Find or start a group that takes actions such as making calls to elected officials or, as the mid-term elections get closer, calling constituents who can help vote out NRA-supported elected officials.
Coming up, there is a March on Washington on March 24, 2018 in the planning as well as talk of student and/or teacher walk-outs. Stay tuned to the hashtag #MeNext and to groups such as Every Town for Gun Safety, and The Courage to Fight Gun Violence. For information about these and more groups working for sane gun legislation, click HERE.
The sad reality is that there are enough people who will continue voting for elected officials with a straight A rating from the NRA even if they support sane gun legislation because those elected officials hold views on other issues that those voters feel even more strongly about. That will be a tough nut to crack, but to those voters I say: We need sane gun control, as well as other progressive change, so we can save the lives of children who are already born.