Nov 15 2008
Annie get your gun - before Obama takes it away!
A guy who owns a local gun store was telling my husband the other day that he’s been surprised at the huge increase in the numbers of people buying guns and applying for FOID (Firearm Owners ID) cards.
Why is this happening? His thoughts (and mine) were that people realize that when Obama takes office he is apt to work to tighten up gun laws.
It’s hard for people to understand that law-abiding, legal gun owners like myself aren’t criminals and that criminals aren’t applying for their FOID cards and purchasing their weapons at local gun stores. They are buying illegal guns off the streets on the black market. Tighter gun laws will have no effect on them, but they will affect the legal gun owners who wish to defend themselves and their families from the criminals using the illegal guns.
So could it really happen? Could the Second Amendment about to see a serious challenge from an American President? Let’s hope not, but I wouldn’t hold my breath, but I will be holding onto my guns.
While it makes sense that the criminals are not getting their guns through legal means, but the argument you use to say why legal gun owners should be free to get guns is flawed. Protecting your family is one thing, but there can be a thin line between that and vigilantism. Moreover, should an innocent child be caught in the crossfire when you are “defending yourself and your loved ones from the criminals with illegal guns”, will you be innocent in the eyes of your own morals, not to mention the law? I will not go in depth into problems of children finding these guns, or the mentally handicapped, or a number of other problems that can come from the gun bought by the innocent defender. I will only mention that with a gun in his possession, and should a moment of necessity, greed, lust, vengeance, or any such vice arise, having the gun there only makes a possible crime more deadly and easier. I am not saying Obama should work only to tighten gun laws. He must work to kill the illegal gun sales. It will be difficult, but I believe it is what is the true answer.
Could criminals steal guns from law-abiding, legal gun owners like yourself? Could your children accidentally find your gun one day and mistake it for a toy? Could your angst-filled teen think of the weapon after being picked on one too many times at school? Let’s hope not.