Want an Assault Rifle? Let's Find Out How Easy It Is To Get One

Will Congress ban the so-called semi-automatic assault weapon?

I doubt it. The Biden Commission's report is due out this week, hastily pulled together in the wake of the Newtown shootings. It may call for such a ban but I don't read about much enthusiasm for it from either side of the aisle.

To support such legislation would mean fighting one of the most powerful lobbies in the United States. Some legislators are willing to do so. Most are not willing to antogonize the National Rifle Association.

Would such a ban keep assault rifles out of the hands of those determined to kill innocents? Highly unlikely.

If a nutjob wants one, he doesn't have to go to a store to buy it. I think there are plenty of private sellers, legal and illegal, who are looking to turn a buck off the rifles already in their closets.

Don't believe it?  Consider doing some easy research to discover if I'm right.

Whether you believe in owning firearms or not, you undoubtedly know people who do. First, see if they personally have, say, an AR-15 style semi-automatic assault rifle they'd like to sell you. If they don't, ask if they know anyone who does. Don't consider cost. Don't consider the logistics of acquisition: it doesn't matter if you're in Chicago and the would-be seller is in Phoenix. See if the item is available to you, regardless of easily hurdled obstacles.

I bet you'll quickly discover how easy it would be for a run of the mill person on the street to acquire such a deadly weapon without ever going to a gun store and without enduring a background check.

Can't find a rifle? Take your research a step further. Follow the same instructions as above but settle for a semi-automatic handgun capable of accomodating a magazine (sometimes called a "clip) of at least fifteen or, preferably, thirty rounds. Handguns, after all, are blamed for far more deaths in this country than assault rifles.

Of course, I am not suggesting that you follow through and buy any of the weapons you're researching, especially if you don't have the requisite credentials from a bureaucratic and a safety standpoint (ie: if you are not legally allowed to own a firearm and if you have never taken a firearm safety training course).

Let me know what your philosophical visit to the "dark side" reveals and how you feel about it.