Transcript
Gun Violence First, let me preface my comments by saying 'I have two grandchildren, a daughter, two sisters, two step-brothers, a step-sister and a mother still going about their lives out their in your wortld. I worry about them every single day. I try not to picture them in a school, or mall, or at a concert all covered in blood because some idiot got his hands on a gun. And I'm apolitical. I belive all politicians are power hungry lying thieves. (Ironic coming from me.) Our system of government is designed for the best liar to win. That's why I laugh win the newscasters seem surprised when an elected official gets caught in a lie. So now that I've managed to offend everyone, let me tell you about guns... My name is Adam Orr. I've been a fence, an armed robber and a burglar. I've held hundreds if not thousands of firearms and I've never bought one legally. Let me repeat that: I've never legally purchased a gun. I'm a career criminal who will die in prison but I've never read a gun law. I've never payed any attention to new gun laws and I assure you more of those ridiculous laws would not have affected my criminal life whatsoever. And i am the kind of guy you want to keep away from guns, right? Proposed Laws Mental Health - This one is as obvious as it is ridiculous. No one should sell a gun to a nut. Common sense. So why hasn't it always been a law? Because when I go to a shrink and admit my issues, they're not allowed to tell anyone. It's called doctor/patient confidentiality. If they think I'm a threat, they can lock me up but they can't just put me on a "red flag" list. I'd sue their pants off. So this law is doomed from the start. Maybe a version passes where "known" mentally ill can't buy guns but that's a political solution not a real one. On top of all that, it's much more likely that someone like me would sell a nut a gun from the trunk of their car anyway. Clips/magazines - They talk about limiting clip size. Really? I saw plastic clips in the mid 90's! Now with 3D printers, people can make their own at home. This is a superficial law at best. Assault Rifles - I get the appeal of banning assault rifles. They look vicious. They are deadly. In the movies, the bad guys always use assault rifles. Here's what they don't tell you: with minor modifications any semi-automatic deer rifle becomes an assault rifle. It just doesn't look as dangerous because we've been trained to see one as a deadly weapon and the others as a hunters tool. And just so you know, I had a few assault rifles pass through my hands: they were stolen from police officers' houses. A lot of my best guns were. Gun Shows - I'll admit I sold quite a few stolen firearms at these shows. But I sold even more to pawn shops. And countless more to other criminals from the trunk of my car. Outlawing these shows "may" slow gun sales for a minute but soon "underground" shows will pop up and at those there will be no regulations at all. And no cameras. Even if all these laws pass, they will not slow mass shootings. They will not stop gang violence. Or robberies. Or home invasions. I hate to tell you this but criminals by definition, don't care about your laws. The only way to stop gun violence is to scrap the second amendment altogether. And don't say it's impossible, amendment means change. Therefore it can be changed again. Outlaw all guns. I can't imagine how it would be enforced or how many decades it would take to actually get all the guns out of circulation but that's a problem for someone else to solve. If you really believe guns are the problem, it's the only solution. Personally i doubt it will matter. We've already seen trucks being driven into crowds. People determined to kill others will find a way. Especially in todays information age. Schematics for bombs and recipes for poisons are readily available on the internet. The next mass murder craze may be as simple as poisoning prom punch bowls. Guns have been around for more than a century. Assault rifles for nearly that long. But mass shootings just now became prevalent. To me that says there is something inherently wrong with our society. Maybe all the violent video games do depersonalize killing. Maybe all the negativity on social media does affect our youth. Maybe it's some combination of factors too complex to be seen. Whatever the cause, I can guarantee you, these proposed new gun laws won't change anything. Someone should be focused on the underlying issues causing people to do these horrible things. Until those are addressed our children and their children will not be safe.
