As a libertarian and a convicted felon, I believe that I have lost my right to own a gun. Even though I am a walking billboard for the adage “Guns don’t kill people; people kill people” (since I didn’t use a gun in my crime). I can also say with surety that if the man I went to rob had had a gun, or even a sticker on his car warning of a gun, I would have run like hell, and MAYBE even reconsidered my life’s decisions up to that point. MAYBE it would have shocked me awake.
Regardless, I’m not saying the answer is a gun in everyone’s hands. But I think when politicians act as if we can solve gun violence and mass shootings with a new tough law, they’re being ridiculous. Some of the toughest gun laws in the country isn’t putting a dent in Chicago’s war zone of gun violence. And the opposite is true: when the law relaxed in DC, gun violence didn’t go up, at all.
But there has to be universal background checks, the loopholes for gun shows and the internet has to be closed, and there HAS to be an angle of gun laws for the mentally ill. These are common sense reforms that almost everyone should be able to get behind.
Dan Turner
DOC# 767569
I was having a similar conversation with my boyfriend today. We live in South Florida and it’s HOT still outside. I was saying I have gained so much weight this summer and I cant wait to get out and walk. He suggested I do it early in the A.M. and I said “but I cant carry a gun”. He forgets this little fact about me since it was a whopping 24 years since my felony. Despite keeping my nose clean I have appealed to have my rights restored so my vote will actually COUNT but my appeals get denied. Something as simple as protecting myself is not possible because I’m a law abiding person who happens to be a felon. If I were a criminal, I’d have a gun, because a good criminal gets a damn gun without jumping through the proper hoops. It’s a backward system. The law does not keep guns out of criminal hands, it just keeps legal guns out of their hands. Good article!