Eric Sentell argues that regulating ammunition would be more effective—and acceptable to gun-owners—than regulating the guns themselves.
Each time a man massacres people, society hopelessly asks an unanswerable question: why, why, why. Then people answer the next question—what can we do—in one of two ways: they affirm gun rights and advocate conceal-and-carry, boasting in anger that they would have killed the killer; or they demand stricter regulations while denigrating gun-advocates as basically insane with idiotic machismo.
My first reaction upon hearing the news of the Aurora, Colorado, shooting was to decide to obtain a conceal-and-carry permit so that I could protect myself and my wife in such a horrific situation. I wanted to be able to come out of my movie theater seat blazing rather than waiting for James Holmes to happen upon us cowering behind that seat.
As some have pointed out, however, a second person with a gun could accidentally shoot innocent victims in a dark, crowded movie theater, or he could be shot by police as they arrive on the scene—or even another gun-carrying person. Answering violence with violence makes elementary sense, but it often fails when secondary and tertiary variables come into play.
Killing the killer may be necessary in some situations. It certainly sounds heroic. But arming ourselves to the teeth is not the best way for society to respond to the recent rash of mass shootings. It doesn’t prevent the violence, and it could make it worse.
Neither is restricting gun rights. Even if the gun show and online loopholes were closed, methodical lunatics like James Holmes would still figure out a way to obtain firearms. And wherever we draw the line between legal and illegal firearms, there will always be some pretty lethal weapons dancing all over it.
The best solution is to stop worrying about guns at all. Instead, we should worry about ammunition. If we want to prevent mass shootings while respecting gun rights, we need to regulate ammo and magazine sales.
No one needs to stockpile thousands of rounds of ammo unless they intend to massacre a large number of people. Recreational shooters don’t expend a thousand rounds per shooting range trip. Hunters don’t spray-and-pray through the woods, hoping they hit something edible. Ammo prices will surely rise along with inflation, but due to the NRA’s powerful lobbying, the government isn’t likely to cause any artificial price increases.
Some gun-advocates claim the second amendment enables citizens to protect themselves from their own government, so they should—they must—be able to buy thousands of rounds and 30-round clips for their automatic weapons. But let’s be honest: if our democracy turns into a dictatorship, all the assault rifles and 30-round clips in the world aren’t going to be much use against M1A1 Abrams battle tanks, F-23 fighter jets, Apache attack helicopters, and B-2 bombers. When people demand the right to purchase personal arsenals to defend themselves against the government, the public is endangered by people like Holmes just to satisfy the long-term, unfounded, purposeless paranoia of a few.
Even if we continue allowing massive ammo purchases, we still can—and should—regulate ammo magazines. If James Holmes had had a normal magazine for his gun rather than a 30-round banana clip, then he would have needed to reload several times to fire the number of rounds he almost instantly poured into the movie-goers. That’s several lulls in the shooting in which victims could have sought cover, escaped, or rushed him. That’s several delays with police en route.
No one except a terrorist, criminal, or mass murderer needs a 30-round magazine. I would probably draw the line at an eight or ten-round clip. This number would limit the damage people like James Holmes can inflict without inconveniencing gun-owners. Recreational shooters practice their aim, not how many rounds their gun can spew. Hunters, good ones anyway, don’t need more than a few rounds to bag their game.
In fact, many hunters prefer black powder muzzle-loaders because of the added challenge of extra reloading time—the first shot matters more, as I discovered during my first muzzle-loader hunting experience. (I missed and the deer stood there, laughing, while I fumbled to reload.) I suppose the freedom fighters of the apocalyptic future could use more than ten rounds per clip, but everything in life has some trade-off.
If we want to prevent—or at least minimize—future mass shootings while still respecting the rights of gun-owners and bowing to the realities of regulatory loopholes, then we need to shift our focus from the weapons to the bullets. Neither guns nor people kill people. Bullets do.
Read more about Guns on The Good Life.
Image of stacked bullets courtesy of Shutterstock
Making bullets more expensive insures that only the rich will have access to protection.
How about we focus on the real issue- mental health. How many law abiding citizens don’t kill people? Fix the crazy, fix the problem. Until then, accept that part of our liberty is giving up safety.
Buy all the guns and ammo you want, but pass an annual psych exam to keep them.
Then YOU don’t understand this Nation’s formation and Second Amendment.
Check out the Rosenhan experiment. Wiki has it, along with a bunch of other hits. You’d think a characterization of shrinks as jumped-up witch doctors was overly generous.
Of course, if you think you will control the guys doing the psych eval, it might work. (Nobody passes.)
Or if one of the evaluators thinks wanting a gun means you’re dangerous. That might work.
“be able to buy thousands of rounds and 30-round clips for their automatic weapons.”
It requires a special permit to own an automatic weapon. The general public can only buy semi-autos, please learn the difference, which you should know if you have a concealed carry license. If you are going to talk like an expert get your information straight please. Other comments have already stated anything else I would add.
An armed man is a citizen and unarmed man is a slave.
I once sat outside the Massachusetts AG’s office, waiting for my turn to see him about some business matters. A gun-control advocate/lobbyist was in with him, and I could hear every word spoken. They were drafting a bill or action to ban or further control “guns.” They clearly knew nothing of the subject, as the lobbyist had to explain to the AG the diference between a “shotgun” and a “rifle.” He got it wrong! He got 90% wrong. I heard cute little questions from the AG like: “can’t we limit the power of a shotgun or a rifle?…so they can’t… Read more »
If I can ever afford it, I have my eye on the M-14 I fired expert with in 1964 (the last good infantry weapon we had before the unfortunate GI-killing M-16 was purchased.) The civilian variant is the M1-A (no auto selector switch.) It has a twenty round magazine, and I don’t expect to settle for anything less.
Magazine weapons have been used in warfare for over a hundred years. The basic design challenge is that the larger the capacity the lower the reliability and ergonomic handiness. With the goal always to develop maximun fire-power, magazine capacity has stayed in the 10 to 30 round range. Smaller mags can be more easily changed without fumbling under stress. With a little training and practice, a hand full of 10 round mags would work to keep up sustained fire – with gaps for reloading way too short for anyone to attack or escape past the shooter. This is exactly what… Read more »
I’m concerned I may have offended some people, so I want to clarify a few points. First, I should have defined and emphasized “need” much more thoroughly. Using a 30-round magazine for shooting competitions or practice may be convenient, but it’s hard for me to see a strict “need” unless the targets move. Even then, I personally feel that using so many rounds defeats the skill and sport involved with hitting moving targets. Similarly, buying ammo by the thousands may be convenient for avid shooters, but it’s difficult for me to perceive a vital “need” for doing so. In short,… Read more »
Eric, there’s a specific problem with regards to certain popular shooting sports. In 3-gun “Open” class competitions, most stock shotguns carry fewer shells than there are targets to shoot. If you have to pause to reload even a single shell, you already lost. Much like the Olympics where all the records are being set in the last tenth, hundredth, and thousandth of a second, everyone who’s good has more or less equivalent training, a whole boatload of talent, years of practice, and high-capacity magazines. Without any one of the four, you’re a talented amateur at best. And yes, for the… Read more »
So you want to limit ammo purchases… I’ve got roughly 3 tons of lead already stockpiled, plus over 800 pounds of brass of various calibers in 5-gallon buckets, jugs of powder, and many thousands of primers of various sizes. Three reloading presses, 20-30 caliber specific reloading die sets, and molds for making cast lead bullets in any caliber I own and then some. Plus ammo cans full of factory made FMJ bullets in rifle and pistol calibers. Black powder, round balls, and percussion caps for the muzzle loaders. Okay, limit ammo sales. I’ll just make my own. I shoot a… Read more »
Oh, BTW, the last rifle in american invetory that used a “clip” was the M1 Garand of WW2 and Korea. It used an 8 round En-Bloc stripper-clip. Since then, modern rifles useful for two-legged varmints use little boxes called MAGAZINES!!!!! The next time someone calls a magazine a “clip” a box of puppies will be lit on fire and thrown off a bridge.
You know one M/28 bolt-action rifle with an 5-round non-detachable magazine, loaded individually or with five-round stripper clips and iron sights only, was used to cause some 200-500* casualties in 98 days. *(It was usually impossible to confirm the kills as the targets were on the side of the enemy.) Also guerillas an revolutionaries don’t march in stright line on the fields anymore and your B-2 bombers are practically useless as long as you are unable to locate the targets. Besides if you want to be an decent shot you should shoot thousands of bullets per year. Just for an… Read more »
I huge pile of drivel from someone who knows nothing about the subject.
I think comedian Chris Rock once made a similar “argument”.
[irony]Anyway, extra large magazines and assault rifles really won’t do you any good if you’re trying to fight off a hostile government. As events in Iraq and Afghanistan have shown, rocket-propelled grenades and improvised explosive devices are far more effective than machine guns.[/irony]
***rocket-propelled grenades and improvised explosive devices are far more effective than machine guns***
Oy!!! Don’t get me started. I want RPGs sold from Walmart.
Here in NH, we had a governor who wanted his Nat’l Guard to have nukes (not kidding). Loved that man…
Oh..and on what date shall we limit the knives? I can take-out a good 50 “items” with a Henkle before you can dial 911. Oooh!!! I know…..Limit the length of the knife!!!!!
Given that Obama is highly likely to re-win, I fully expect the price of Chicago Cutlery to ascend greatly.
You mean we haven’t already?
***No one except a terrorist, criminal, or mass murderer needs a 30-round magazine.*** Do you even know why the 2nd Amendment was created? ***No one except a terrorist, criminal, or mass murderer needs a 30-round magazine.*** No one except _________ needs a V8 Engine….Internet access…cabinet jammed to the roof with food-stores…large quantities of cash…high-powered lawyers… Question you won’t answer: #1: If you TRULY TRULY TRULY believe “Ammo Control” will protect us, will you similarly disarm the police? #2: Why do you suppose this is a modern phenom? When my parents were kids, Thomson MACHINE GUNS could be had thru The… Read more »
Load of crap from someone who knows not of what they speak. Or is being dishonest. “No one needs to stockpile thousands of rounds of ammo unless they intend to massacre a large number of people. Recreational shooters don’t expend a thousand rounds per shooting range trip. Hunters don’t spray-and-pray through the woods, hoping they hit something edible. ” I’ve gone through several hundred rounds of ammo in a day at the range more than once, and I know people who shoot more than I do. People practicing for competitions may shoot a thousand rounds in a day; are you… Read more »
AMEN!!!! Typical kneejerk bs…
Firehand IA 100% I would also say some people probably stockpile because they know people like the author want to make ammo hard to obtain. Lets say we do make ammo hard to obtain. What about poor, inner city people who need a gun to protect themselves from THUGS? How are they going to afford jacked up ammo prices? One such person is my granny. Why are you wanting to make ammo expensive for my granny? I think the better question is… Why do we put our kids or ourselves on what is essentially crack then wondering why we are… Read more »
can’t
I think the main thing is that these schemes try to control the access of law-abiding people to guns or ammunition. It’s irrelevant, and I’d actually like to see more people armed, and perhaps open carry (not closed.)
NYC has grotesque laws where you can carry ammo for guns you don’t legally own. Again, this doesn’t get to the correct people.
While I don’t agree with legal restrictions on magazine capacity, they at least have a certain plausibility. Restrictions on the total amount of ammunition a person could own strike me as completely whimsical. The Columbine shooters, the Aurora shooter, the Virginia Tech shooter, and any others you might name all had less than one hundred rounds of ammo one their persons when they committed their crimes. What practical difference does it make how much they left at home? Ammunition is heavy, and there is a limit to how much a person can carry. Is the point of such restrictions really… Read more »
Let us not forget that there are a couple good reasons to buy ammo by the crate. 1: Price – bulk orders can cost half or less what the gun range will charge you if you buy by the box. It’s cheaper still to buy the components – including pounds of gunpowder – and manufacture your own ammunition for personal use, if your savings will pay for the reloading press, dies, and tumbler. 2: Hedging – for the same reason Wall Street invented many of its crazier financial instruments, a crate of ammunition can protect you against unforeseen risks. That’s… Read more »