What Would Dirty Harry Do?

Let's talk guns.  Everyone else is, so why not me, too?

First and foremost, I believe every law-abiding American citizen has the right to own a gun.  A hunter should be able to buy a rifle or a shotgun, and an individual should have the right to defend him/herself.

Maybe I'm missing something, but for the life of me I can't see why anyone needs a gun with a 20 or 30 or 50 round magazine.  If it takes a hunter 50 shots to kill a deer I think he should consider becoming a vegetarian.  And if someone invades my house I think I can put him down with the contents of a 10-round magazine, even allowing for the adrenaline rush that will probably hamper my aim.

I'm good with a prohibition of high capacity magazines.

The big stink regarding "gun control" seems to be the idea of universal background checks.  This is where lines are drawn in the sand.  Again, I don't get it.

I've bought numerous guns in my lifetime and in every instance I've submitted myself to a background check.  I had nothing to hide....it was not an issue.  It was done while I waited and took no more than 10 minutes.  

I've heard of instances where a person was temporarily denied permission to buy a gun because his name was similar to someone who was ineligible.  It took a little effort on their part to prove the issue was with someone else and not them, and they eventually got their firearm.

I can see why a bad guy wouldn't want to submit to a check which is the whole idea!  I'm good with universal background checks.

I think what it boils down to is some fear once the government builds their database on who has bought guns, government agents will come knocking demanding they be surrendered.  Haha!  That's laughable!

There are already 300,000,000+/- guns out there owned by....who knows?  Whose door are they going to knock on?  And I think you'd have a tough time recruiting agents to go door-to-door in Texas or Alabama or Arizona or most other states confiscating guns.  Their ranks would be thinned rapidly within the first couple of blocks, if you get my drift.

In short, I don't have a problem with banning high-capacity magazines or universal background checks.  Pass the law.  IMO it can't hurt.  But if we think this effort is going to make us appreciably safer, we're dreaming.  

Bad guys will always have guns.  That genie is NOT going back in the bottle.  They'll buy them from other bad guys, who in turn will steal them from legitimate gun owners.

Our efforts should be on getting guns out of the hands of those who shouldn't have them in the first place....felons, the mentally unstable, those who cut me off on the freeway and are ultra-touchy about a little horn honking, etc.  Good luck figuring out how to do that.

S