The Bloggun-control-reformgun control legislation self-defense

Bullets for Gun Control

The notion that weapons like the ever-popular Bushmaster model used in the Sandy Hook massacre have any legitimate use in civilian hands is the effective marketing of a money-making fantasy. Which matters more to us: the money to be made selling guns, or the lives of our children?
David L. Katz, M.D., M.P.H.
By 

Founder, True Health Initiative

Founder, True Health Initiative
This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email.
Some of the weapons collected in Wednesday's Los Angeles Gun Buyback event are showcased Thursday, Dec. 27, 2012 during a news conference at the LAPD headquarters in Los Angeles. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's office says the weapons collected Wednesday included 901 handguns, 698 rifles, 363 shotguns and 75 assault weapons. The buyback is usually held in May but was moved up in response to the Dec. 14 massacre of students and teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Some of the weapons collected in Wednesday's Los Angeles Gun Buyback event are showcased Thursday, Dec. 27, 2012 during a news conference at the LAPD headquarters in Los Angeles. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's office says the weapons collected Wednesday included 901 handguns, 698 rifles, 363 shotguns and 75 assault weapons. The buyback is usually held in May but was moved up in response to the Dec. 14 massacre of students and teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

If a nation of reasonable citizens -- of loving parents and grandparents -- can get organized, we really should have a shot at overcoming the NRA/gun-seller alliance and achieving a semblance of sane gun control in this country. We really should have a shot!

We certainly have the bullets...

  • What "Arms"?

  • If not all "Arms" -- not nuclear, not chemical, not biological -- then why semi-automatic with high-capacity magazines?

  • Semi-automatic weapons with high-capacity magazines are not for hunting anything but people. They make a helluva mess out of a duck or a deer.

  • Semi-automatic weapons with high-capacity magazines are weapons of choice in the massacre of assembled innocents.

  • Semi-automatic weapons with high-capacity magazines almost never figure in effective self-defense.

  • Even trained professionals caught up in a massacre have difficulty using a gun to put an end to it.

  • More guns = more dead people. Period.

  • Fewer guns = fewer dead people. Period.

  • More good guys with guns = more dead people, including good guys.

  • More bad guys with guns = more dead people, including good guys.

  • More good guys with guns = more bad guys with guns.

  • Gun sellers prefer to blame violent media, while using violent media to help sell guns. Hypocrisy, anyone?

  • If violent media encourage use of guns, and guns are used to kill -- doesn't it make sense to address the flow of both?

  • We can improve mental health care in this country and control gun sales. Our cars do not come with a choice between brakes or steering.

  • The notion that weapons like the ever-popular Bushmaster model used in the Sandy Hook massacre have any legitimate use in civilian hands is the effective marketing of a money-making fantasy, just like the sale of Hummers to people who never drive off suburban streets, and the sale of sports drinks to those whose greatest athletic feat is walking from the couch to the fridge to get one.

  • We risk the lives of our soldiers around the world looking for weapons of mass destruction, while risking the lives of our children by putting weapons of mass destruction into circulation in our own neighborhoods.

  • Which matters more to us: the money to be made selling guns, or the lives of our children? How much money has to be made to justify the death of a single child?
    • This is just a sampling; there are plenty more bullets where these come from. We have the bullets; we really ought to have a shot.

    -fin

    Dr. David L. Katz; www.davidkatzmd.com

    www.turnthetidefoundation.org

    http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-David-L-Katz/114690721876253

    http://twitter.com/DrDavidKatz

    |
    Submit a tip

    Popular in the Community

    Close

    What's Hot