Rejecting common sense

The recent mass shootings in El Paso, Dayton and Gilroy all had a common theme. The shooters used (AR-15 or AK-47) assault-style weapons to take innocent lives. These weapons, designed for the military to kill enemy soldiers, serve no purpose in civilian use.

Earlier this year in New Zealand, after a gunman shot and killed 50 people at two mosques, it took lawmakers just three days to pass legislation banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. And yet our Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo, in a recent brief visit to our area, while confirming that he was “supported by the NRA,” also said he would be unable to vote for re-imposing a ban on automatic–type assault rifles.

A federal assault weapons ban was authorized by Congress in 1994, but was allowed to expire in 2004 under George W. Bush. (Seven states have assault weapons bans, and recent polls show most Americans support a ban on assault weapons.)

Crapo also said he was a firm believer in the Second Amendment giving Americans the right to own guns. (In the D.C. v. Heller case, the Supreme Court in 2008 in a 5-4 split decision ruled in favor of that interpretation, but also ruled that guns and gun ownership could continue to be regulated.) Idaho’s other senator, Jim Risch, and its two congressmen also refuse to call for this common-sense weapons ban.

Let’s tell them they’re wrong.

Jim Ramsey

Sandpoint, Idaho