Gun control: Common sense, not confiscation

image-Insert_American-Suitcase — Courtesy SW Parra / MCT

During the last two decades, the phrase “gun control” has become synonymous, to some people, with gun confiscation and the repeal of the Second Amendment.

But Democrats in Washington and advocates across the nation are proposing policies that steer clear of a feared all-encompassing gun ban. There is no sweeping plan to eliminate weapons, to leave U.S. citizens defenseless, or adhere to a utopian view of a gun-free world.

Gun control is a hotly debated issue, with much room for misrepresentation.

Rather than recycle sound bites floating across cable news networks, concerned citizens need to trust their gut and listen to their own common sense.

Firearms can a useful means of self-defense. Whether against a tyrannical government or a burglar in one’s home, a weapon might increase its owner’s chances of survival.

But issues arise over how to restrict gun use by the bad guys on the other side of the law-abiding citizen’s barrel.

A universal background check on every gun sold in America is a logical way to limit, not entirely eradicate, the number of firearms owned by dangerous and mentally unstable people.

A deranged shooter intent on hurting as many people as possible needs a weapon that can fire as many rounds as possible.

What a hunter needs to shoot a target, or a mother to protect her children, is a single shot weapon and a handful of cartridges.

Magazines holding more than 10 rounds, which California law prohibits, are unnecessary to the average legal gun owner, who only needs so many bullets to kill a deer. As for home protection, even just the sight of a handgun could be enough to scare off intruders.

Mass shootings and gun violence will never be eliminated from the United States.

Americans have been desensitized to these events by their common occurrence, but if just one life can be saved as a result of legislative action it is worth a shot.