Opinion on gun violence in schools

There is a common denominator in school shootings: America’s rifle, the AR-15.

Built to throw a lot of lead, this mass-produced, cheaply made weapon was designed for the military, but has been embraced by every nut-case with a grudge since they became legal.

Not a sporting arm in any way, the AR-15 and its knockoffs are weapons of war and video games.

For a short time Remington marketed its entry into the assault weapon field as a “coyote getter,” but even the NRA knew that was a stretch. It was really for killin’ people.

And people figured they better get one before they got kilt because as we’ve been told, somebody’s always coming after us. If it’s not the commies, it’s the Black Lives Matter folks, or Honduran refugees, or maybe even the Cubans, like in Red Dawn.

Ya gotta be ready, you know?

Wolverines!

For most of my life I’ve been told someone is coming for my guns. It never happened, but it remains a popular refrain, even as gun laws are more lax than they have ever been. Then sometime early this century we decided we might need to shoot a few folks and armed ourselves accordingly.

I’m 70 years old, have spent time in some sketchy places, and haven’t shot anyone yet. There’s been no need. This isn’t the Wild West as much as a lot of folks wish it was.

Assault weapons are for the military, not the general public.

Banning assault weapons is no more an attack on the second amendment than is limiting the number of shells I can load in my shotgun or prohibiting me from owning a machine gun.

It might, however, curtail the number of kids getting shot by boys playing soldier. Working a bolt is much more time consuming than simply squeezing a trigger. Gives the little ones more time to run.

America’s rifle used to be the pre-war Winchester Model 70. A finely crafted sporting arm built for accuracy and dependability, it was designed for harvesting game, not shooting people.

Now we embrace a weapon made of synthetic materials designed for killing people, and when it’s used to shoot children inside a school we rush to defend our right to own that weapon.

I suppose we appreciate the engineering that made it possible to inflict such damage so quickly. We’ll need an efficient killing machine when whatever fantasy that lives in our head becomes reality.

We’re locked and loaded.

Wolverines!

Parker Heinlein is at [email protected]