I just returned from running a couple of errands, listening to MSNBC on Sirius satellite radio while driving. Texas Congressman Colin Allred (D, TX) — who is challenging Ted Cruz for the Senate — was being interviewed. Because of the lax firearms laws in Texas and yesterday’s mass murder in Allen TX, the topic was firearms.
Allred used the term “weapon(s) of war” while the MSNBC host continued to talk about “assault weapons,” even to the point of correcting Allred when he spoke of “weapon(s) of war.”
STOP IT WITH THE “ASSAULT WEAPON, ASSAULT RIFLE” HORSESHIT. THESE THINGS ARE WEAPONS OF WAR and are designed for one purpose: To kill as many people as efficiently as possible in as short a time as possible.
I can assault you with a Daisy Red Ryder BB gun. What is being used to slaughter people is a WEAPON OF WAR and it’s goddam time we used that term all the time, day in, day out. Make the gunhumpers explain why they want weapons of war on the streets.
I served 28 years on the Army, one year of which was in a place called Vietnam — years ago Vietnam was all over newspapers and TV; today it’s a paragraph in high school history books. I carried an M-16, same firearm as today’s AR-15, and used it in gunfights day after day. In those gunfights the other side used the AK-47.
My M-16 is today’s AR-15; it and the same AK-47 that was used against me in Vietnam can be purchased in damn near any gun shop or sporting goods store in the county. These things are WEAPONS OF WAR and we need to call them for what they are — not a “modern sporting rifle,” not a “man card,” not an “assault rifle” but a WEAPON OF WAR.
How do we get them off the streets? Outlaw them; the law should describe in detail what is prohibited and is updated every time a manufacturer figures out a way around it; pay a bounty for every one turned in — turn in an AR or AK, get $1,500 tax free; a 20- or 30-round magazine gets $100; and so on. After two years, if you are found with any prohibited firearm or accessory in your possession, it’s jail time. I know — it’ll never pass, but let an old man dream.