Don't Put Your Bullets in Backwards

The recent atrocity that happened in Aurora has shocked the nation, and has appalled everyone. The heart of this blogger is with the victims and their families, and I say to the shooter "You're lucky that I don't get to pick your punishment; I would tie you to the back of a truck by your scrotum and drag you over nail strips until you were nothing more than a big red crayon streak visible in my rearview mirror"

That being said, however, this has raised a whole new debate on gun rights across the nation. Some things really need to be said about this tragedy and the discussion that it has sparked about gun rights in general. He acquired his guns legally, which means that he DID NOT have an assault rifle. Those two phrases, "legally" and "assault rifle" are mutually exclusive. IF anyone wants to discuss the difference between a tactical rifle and an assault rifle, please comment. I could spend hours talking about that. America is also responsible for more gun sales and manufacture than nearly any country worldwide. Guns provide jobs, provide money, and provide protection.

To hold up victims of a shooting as martyrs for your idiotic idea that criminals can't get guns illegally is shameful. The fact is, much like the war on drugs, the prohibition of guns, or even the unnecessary regulation of them, only drives a huge market underground and puts money into the hands of the criminals that are willing to take the chance. So instead of keeping guns out of the hands of gunmen, the real idea is to keep guns out of the hands of victims? Tools that people could use to save their own and others' lives with?

No? Well then I am confused. If you're against legal gun ownership, and you agree that criminals can get their hands on guns should they want to badly enough, then what about bolstering regulations or banning sales makes people safer?

Indeed there are no right answers to what could have been done in Colorado last week. This man was well armed, well motivated, and well instructed. To the three heroic men who saved their girlfriends that night, I will always raise a glass. For the victims of the shooting and their families, I will always bow my head. But I cannot stand by while people are leveraging their political agendas against a horrible event.