Like many Americans, I'm concerned about the use of guns in this country. We are all tired of the senseless acts of violence that occur every day, and we all have different opinions about what must be done.
Some call for stricter gun laws; others insist that we should all be armed in case danger arises in our vicinity. All around there seems to be a lot of misinformation surrounding existing gun laws.
The gun used in the Orlando Massacre was a machine gun: false.
There was a lot of talk and fear mongering that the gun tragically used to murder 49 people was an AR-15. It was actually a Sig Sauer MCX. For those of us who don't speak gun, the Sig Sauer MCX is not considered an automatic weapon/assault weapon/machine gun. In the United States, the legal definition of a machine gun is "a weapon able to fire more than one shot per trigger" or a gun that can otherwise be engineered to do so using "normal tools." Unlike the AR-15, the Sig Sauer MCX requires the user to pull the trigger for each shot. Like many guns commonly held in the U.S., it is considered semi-automatic. It can hold 30 rounds.
The problem is in part when people refer to "assault weapons," which is a gray area. The term "automatic" means that the gun cycles automatically—or, when the gun is fired and ammunition released, the magazine (which holds multiple cartridges for ammunition) rotates to a fresh bullet on its own. Fully automatic guns will then fire continuously while holding down the trigger. Semi-automatics will cycle through, but not fire until the trigger is pulled again.
We need to do something about gun laws: true
But let's be specific: In order to be taken seriously about wanting change, it's important to be educated about the issue. Screaming to outlaw guns isn't going to get us anywhere any faster than screaming that every American should own a gun.
"How could laws possibly make a difference?" many ask.
We could start by mandating background checks ran not just for a particular state, but for all states' data. Mental health checks should be a given. If a letter from a psychologist is required for gender reassignment surgery or hormone therapy, it should certainly be required for owning any gun and a permit to carry.
We should reinstate the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban: maybe.
This law probably did more good than harm, but definitely had flaws. We are better off reevaluating what worked and didn't work last time in order to make our country safer this time around. Placing tighter restrictions on firearms in America will definitely not prevent all random acts of violence, but they might eliminate the number of tragic mass shootings that occur here. That alone is worth the risk of trying.
