I think that that kinda gets lost in all of this. One guy died and now there's probably a much higher chance that a second life will be ruined because a traumatic incident such as this has profound psychological impacts on a child. Hopefully, she has a strong support system and if she needs therapy then it will be available to her. (FTR, I wasn't taking a stance either way on the hot button topic. Just pointing out something.)
Automatic Weapons have been legal since the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act expired on September 13, 2004.
The age restriction is 8, lol. How dumb is that. I won't let my son fire a .22 - he's 13. Maybe in a couple years...
That's like going to the south and telling them to take their confederate flags down, certain actions just make people violent.
He was a full grown baby with fatigues, boots, and a 5 O'clock shadow... Have you ever seen a baby?! Where is Soxxx???
From what I've gathered so far it IS actually possible to own one but it's much more difficult than what you've stated here ... unless by "background check" you meant what is discussed. They do a "background check" when you go buy a shotgun and walk out an hour later ... this is different. Here's a high level snippet: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/12/24/1173512/-Legal-Automatic-Weapons-in-the-US# And here's what seems to be a legit answer on yahoo answers https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090208100642AA1yRuX
Most states allow ownership of fully automatic weapons as long as the registration process and taxes have been paid on the weapon. NY and California don't. Obviously Nevada allows this. Why semi-automatic weapons were banned and fully automatic ones were not is a mystery of the ages.
If you look at my previous post you can see it's very difficult and expensive to obtain and keep an automatic weapon. I don't think semi-automatic weapons as a class were ever banned - only some that had scary looking features. Almost all handguns are semi-automatic.
I just saw a report on World News last night about this and I couldn't believe it. In Cali the age was 7 to be able to fire a gun. In Texas the age was 6! PA was 12. No wonder this country is so screwed. Forget the constitution, how about common sense? I would say no one under the age of 17 or 18 should be able to fire a gun and it should be a Federal law. 6 and 7 years old!?! The people who passed those laws in those states should be ashamed.
It's really the type of gun that is the problem here. If you give the kid a single shot .22 in a controlled environment it wouldn't be a problem. Giving a kid a machine gun with a loaded mag is beyond retarded. Personally I'd wait for the kid to be a little older than 9 but that's just my preference.
Yeah I could see that. When I was in early years of HS we used to go to my buddy's land wayyy out in PA. We'd always shoot .22's and I also learned how to shoot a .357 and a 12 and 20 gauge shotgun when I was there. I agree that a .22 is fine in a controlled setting if you're a young teen. But the .357 and the shotguns were a whole different ballgame.
2A is not only for adults. Even a child should have the right to fire a fully automatic, military grade weapon. Maybe they can send her to school with a .357 in her lunch box just in case ISIS comes a callin..
17 or 18 to fire A (as in any) gun? That's craziness. 6 or 7 is definitely too young and this isolated case in Nevada is an example of people being really, really stupid. Especially with the gun they let her use. That's the dumbest thing I've ever seen. But I don't see a problem with teenagers learning to shoot .22 and shotguns provided they receive proper training /supervision. I remember fondly being a junior hunter with my father in my teenage years they shouldn't and won't take that away. The problem with firearms in this country isn't so much the laws its dumb ass people aren't being trained to use and most importantly, respect/understand firearms. I think there needs to be more education overall on guns and gun safety. My wife and daughter would never hunt but I've had them both enrolled in hunter's safety courses because you never know what situation they may be in. Not even just from a protection standpoint, but say they are at a dumb ass person's house and a little one gets ahold of a gun. I wanted them to be able to recognize if it's loaded, understand it's capabilities and ultimately know how to properly and safely take care of the situation. I know for a fact most Americans wouldn't be able to do that. That's why we have so many accidents. There is a complete lack of knowledge about and respect of the magnitude of guns across the board. Instead of one sector fighting to take them away and the other fighting against any restrictions they should use common sense and fight to put practical gun safety solutions in place.
Yeah, I'm all for age 14 for a .22. I meant the semis and other more powerful guns. I first shot guns at 15 and I agree a .22 is harmless but even for that people should be getting instructed on how to use.
