Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

Letters to the Editor

Discussion

January 30, 2013

Assault weapon ban only symbolic

Bluefield Daily Telegraph

Being an avid hunter and gun collector for more than 40 years I feel that I’m qualified to offer an opinion on the pending assault weapons legislation.

It is my belief that the banning of these types of firearms and high capacity magazines would have little or no impact on addressing the real issue of gun violence.

This is especially true being that the ban would only be applicable to new firearms and magazines leaving millions of  these items in the possession of the general public. Taking that into consideration, along with the fact that of the more than 11,000 gun-related homicides in our nation in 2012, merely just over 350 involved the use of rifles, it appears to me that this legislation is only symbolic. I do however believe that a law requiring all persons transferring ownership of any type of firearm should have that transaction conducted through a federal firearm dealer who would conduct background checks on the buyer would be a great benefit.

I realize that many believe that if a criminal wants a gun he would be able to obtain one regardless of the laws, but I believe that by making the seller and purchaser responsible for that transaction the availability of firearms to those not suitable to possess that weapon would be greatly reduced.

Michael Walk

Bluefield, Va.

Text Only
Letters to the Editor
Editorials

Columns

Poll

What’s better — a vacation or a staycation? After voting, go to facebook.com/bdtonline to comment.

Vacation
Staycation
Both
Undecided
     View Results
Facebook