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Gun News Daily
By William Lolli Contributing Editor
Thursday, May 06, 1999 On May 3rd, 1999, according to Reuters, former cabinet member and Presidential hopeful Elizabeth Dole went out on a limb Sunday by urging stricter gun control, earning herself scattered boos at the first major Republican presidential forum of the 2000 campaign. Elizabeth Dole, the wife of defeated 1996 Republican nominee Bob Dole, was the most controversial, declaring her support for a ban on assault weapons which many conservatives bitterly oppose and want to overturn. ``I don't think you need an AK-47 to defend your family,'' she said to tepid applause and a few boos. ``I also favor safety locks on guns to protect our children.''
In my last commentary I focused on "Two Questions Gun Owners Have Trouble Answering." Those two questions are: Why not a waiting period; and Why not ban big magazines? I would like to continue further, adding new questions and answers to this debate. Since the Littleton killings, many thoughtful people are asking gun owners and NRA members reasonable questions. We, as the media-identified "extremist" 2nd Amendment defenders, must have the correct and truthful answers when asked these legitimate questions.
Question: Does anyone really need an AK-47 to defend his or her home? Don't all assault weapons spray bullets indiscriminately? Aren't these weapons of war? Why is it that in America average citizens are allowed to own military assault weapons? Answer: Firstly, the answer is, yes, in America the average citizen is permitted to legally and lawfully own and use weapons that were designed for military use. Some states such as Ohio, Texas, Florida, and Arizona citizens can apply for special permission from the Federal government to own military machineguns. (Note that to this day, no crime has ever been committed with any of these weapons by their owners. That's 65 crime-free years.) But machineguns are not the "assault weapons" that are talked about by Mrs. Dole and the media. Don't' worry. It's not you. There is a deliberate attempt at confusion here. The media and the Brady Law label "assault weapons" as the semi-automatic versions of military weapons. However, the imagery of "machineguns spraying bullets" is used when discussing semi-auto weapons of any kind. Thus, "assault weapons" are viewed without distinction from machineguns. This view is the "politically correct" adjustment required by the gun-control / gun-ban advocates. In their view, appearance is the same as functionality. But let's be clear and stick with semi-auto assault weapons, since these are the ones the gun-ban advocates are trying to control. Historically since its foundations, America has always secured in law (the 2nd Amendment) the right of individuals to possess military arms. Why? The answer is in the 2nd Amendment: "being necessary to the security of a free state". Yes, but does anyone really need an AK-47 to defend his or her home? Such question begs for a scenario. The answer is maybe. Defend your home from what? The military, the police, and law-abiding civilians possess "assault weapons" so that they have the defensive capacity to address with lethal or wounding force the dynamic circumstance of the threat posed to them. If you pose to me ANY scenario where the use of a firearm must be used as the means of preventing or stopping violent aggression, I can demonstrate that use of an assault weapon would be necessary to maintain a controlled response to the dynamic changes in the scenario posed. The problem with Mrs. Dole's view of the world is that she never anticipates a wide-spread natural disaster, or the breakdown of law and order, or the 1992 Rodney King Riots, or an act of terrorism such as a Home Invasion crime by as many as perhaps seven people. People like Mrs. Dole and the Clintons never think about coming to your neighbors' aid, stopping a crime, or using the psychological-visual impact that an AK-47 or Colt AR15 has on a gang of looters, whose only intent is to burn your neighborhood. Instruments necessary for the security of a free state and to preserve the lives of all citizens must not be banned from lawful use. And yes, you really do need an AK-47 to defend your home. |