Government Gun Violence Solutions Won't Work

Dear Editor,                         

The so called solutions by government for school shootings will not work.  There are approximately 30 million people who already own AR15 or similar rifles.  These firearms are very expensive.  There are approximately 100 million high capacity magazines owned now.

Rifles are very rarely used to commit crimes.  The AR15 rifle resembles the rifle the United State soldier carries although it is NOT fully automatic.  Firearms ownership is up and crime in general is down. 

We have armed law enforcement officers in most of our schools.  They can keep an armed shooter out of the building.  We have 16 school without an armed law enforcement officer.  This need can be met with either more officers or the training of a few school officials.

The control of private sales of firearms runs into the lack of trust of politicians.  Senator Feinstein and New York Governor Cuomo have said they are in favor of firearms confiscation. Federal records of firearms sales creates a record of ownership or registration. These records can be used for confiscation.  Any ability to approve or turn down all sales of firearms is a way to stop all private and dealer sales of firearms.

Let us consider some likely series of events.  If you and a friend transfer a firearm you will most likely make a mistake and be subject to penalties. If the local low life sells a gun to you, you have performed a public service and removed a firearm from a dishonest person. 

If you both get caught you go to jail and the person with a disqualification conviction will be hard to prosecute because of his Fifth Amendment rights against self incrimination Haynes v. United States (Certiorari to the United State Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit No. 236 Argued October 11, 1967.-Decided January 29, 1968).

The so called objective of the proposed bill is to prevent the transfer of a firearm to a person who cannot legally own it.  This will make most criminals laugh! Since when do people who know they cannot legally own a firearm obey the law?  The proposed bill will not stop theft which is the major way criminals get firearms.

A conviction for a federal firearms offense means you lose the right to own or posses any firearm, the right to vote, serve on a jury, hold a large number of jobs or get a job and large legal fees. If you go to prison you will lose all you own and most likely your family.

Weldon Clark

Liberty