Ourview
Ban
on Uzis should continue
We all need to have a gun. In fact, we should
all be carrying one with us at all times
to protect us from deviants intent upon
using their illegally purchased firearms
against us. Soon, we will be able to once
again purchase Uzis and AK-47s for our own
person enjoyment.
The Republican-controlled House is not planning
to renew the 1994 federal ban on AK-47s
and 18 other types of semiautomatic weapons.
President Bush has been a supporter of the
ban since his election campaign in 2000,
but the Washington Post reported that the
president “has no plans to lobby lawmakers
aggressively to extend the ban. That would
allow him to officially oppose the NRA without
completely turning against the powerful
gun lobby by fighting to maintain a ban
on semiautomatic weapons.”
That’s what it is all about — trying to
make everyone happy so the votes will not
suffer. Bush’s motives are based on not
upsetting anyone, not on whether there is
any logic to allowing us all to run around
threatening each other with Uzis.
Bush is trying to take a passive stand on
this issue when in reality he is the only
one that could influence a continuation
of the ban.
Congressional Republicans said Congress
will renew the ban only if the president
publicly and firmly insists, the Washington
Post reported.
“If the president demands we pass it, that
would change the dynamics considerably,”
a House GOP leadership aide said. “The White
House does not want us” to vote.
President Bush needs to take a definitive
stand on this issue. It must be difficult
to be president. The entire nation looks
to this one man for protection and guidance.
He will be failing in his duty if he allows
devices such as an Uzi — an object designed
and intended for one purpose — to become
accessible to the public. Didn’t the Columbine
tragedy teach us any lessons?
California has been good to us. We have
banned all assault weapons, the state processes
all federal instant background checks, we
do not allow any permit to qualify as an
alternative to the state background check
and we have imposed a 10-day waiting period
for all firearms.
Texas, on the other hand, has banned no
weapons, except those mandated by federal
law, allows exceptions to stand in place
of a state permit and imposes absolutely
no waiting period in which to purchase a
gun.
We can easily see the disparity inherent
in different regions of the nation on the
gun issue. So we are grateful to live in
California and we are grateful that wherever
we chose to travel, even Texas, we will
not run into private-property zealots pointing
Uzis and AK-47s at our heads.
The current ban must be renewed. There is
no reason for us to need an Uzis, handguns
seem to be doing the trick quite well. Gun
advocates say that we have the right to
protect ourselves, but nowhere does it state
in the Constitution that we are entitled
to weapons of the caliber at hand. Thomas
Jefferson could never had imaged something
such as an AK-47. We don’t need them and
we don’t want them.
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