A Minnesota resident created a video letter to his Congresman and Senators (see the link below). The video demonstrates the differences between the affects of a shotgun and what are incorrectly being called assault weapons. It is clear that some of our elected representatives do not know about guns, live in a complete fantasyland, or they just don’t care about the safety of people who can’t afford to hire their own security or have it provided for them like the President, Senators, Congressmen, other government officials, and other prominent people.
The vdieo shows the affects of these weapons when used by trained people in essentially a pressure free situation. This is a lot different from when somone needs to try to protect themself and their family or others from criminals. At that time you need to factor in suprise, fear, perhaps screaming children, dialing 911, trying to escape an attacker, and perhaps having to dodge bullets being fired at you. All these things will affect someone’s ability to ensure that they, their family members and / or other innocent people survive.
Assuming the politicians are speaking truthfully when they indicate that they want innocent people to be able to protect themselves against criminals, then shouldn’t those people be able to have and use the weapons that gives them the best chance to survive? For some people a shotgun might be the preferred gun for protection. They are very powerful and destructive, but they are big and might not be practcal for most people trying to protect themselves and perhaps their family. A woman might find a semi-automatic gun like an AR-15, which is improperly being called an “assault weapon”, gives her the best chance of being able to defend herself and her children.
One silly question some people are asking is how big a magazine, i.e., how many bullets, does someone need? The only accurate answer is that you need enough bullets to make the attacker or multiple attackers go away. If you are very lucky, you may only need to say you have a gun or show it or fire it only once. When those don’t work, then a person defending him or herself and their family needs as many bullets as it takes to make the attacker or attackers quit. The truth is that the more bullets, the bigger capacity magazine you have that you can handle, the better your chances for survival. When the defenders have one too few bullets, then all too often the police just get there in time to draw chalk outlines.
American citizens have the Constitutional right to own and use the weapons they want as long as they use them lawfully. We must not let them take those rights away.
