You Want A Rationale For Banning Assault Weapons? Here's One.

From a NYT article on the Aurora shootings:

"A law enforcement official who requested anonimity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the issue said that local investigators in Aurora believed that the gunman's semiautomatic rifle jammed as we was spraying the theater with bullets, forcing him to switch to a slower weapon. Had the gun not jammed, the official said, many more could have been killed."

And there it is, in one paragraph, the FACT that advocates of unlimited gun rights have to answer and fail miserably at doing: slower weapons kill fewer people (because people have the time to react, flee, take down the assailant, etc.) It's a fairly obvious fact that has no rebuttal.

So I am asking them a simple question: How much value do you place on the lives of each one of the victims of Aurora, Columbine, Virgina Tech? Is their value so negligible that it pales in comparison to your right to enjoy unlimited rights? (And in Colorado your rights are pretty much unlimited when it comes to guns.) Are those lives, and life in general, so worthless in comparison to your ability to own a large capacity magazine (a large capacity drum magazine like the one used in Aurora) and thousands of rounds of ammunition that no ban, no check, no safeguard against your rights is justified?

You know, of course, that the argument about criminals getting guns in defiance of all regulation does not stand in this case,nor in many other cases, because the killer got his guns legally. So, once again, I ask you: What value do you place on the life of those that guns killed? What concessions are you ready to make? Any?

One last thing: You always hear from "responsible gun owners" that one armed, responsible gun owner in the midst of a crime scene like the one in Aurora could prevent much bloodshed: Where was that responsible gun owner on Friday night, I ask you? Or where is he ever, for that matter. We have concealed carry laws in Colorado. What are the "good" guys waiting for? Unless everyone starts carrying, or unless those who carry are also blessed with foresight, that's a flimsy argument that does not stand up to reasonable scrutiny.

I am done, for now.