Matt Sweetwood won a major gun rights case in front of the US Supreme Court. He continues to fight for a sensible solution to gun violence, a solution that neither extremes on the issue want to embrace. Here are his thoughts about this week’s events.
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Another week – another mass killing. The alleged murderers, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, a married couple with a six-month-old girl, killed 14 and injured 21 people at Syed’s workplace in San Bernardino, California, Monday. They burst into a Christmas party at the Inland Regional Center, wearing masks, body armor, semi-automatic pistols, long guns, GoPros and carrying pipe bombs. They sprayed the room with bullets, gunning down Syed’s coworkers and others. They fled the scene in a black SUV, in which they would eventually be tracked down and killed by police.
Their identities were not released to the public during the majority of the police search. This led to rampant speculation and political spinning. Left-leaning politicians claimed that this was likely workplace violence and yet another reason there needs to be more restrictions on guns. While right-leaning politicians, suggested this had nothing to do with guns and was a well-planned attack and was therefore terrorism.
Yesterday’s horrific murder in the wake of Paris underscores we’re at a time of war whether or not the current Admin realizes it. – Ted Cruz on Twitter
I refuse to accept this as normal. We must take action to stop gun violence now. – Hillary Clinton on Twitter
After every shooting, the left and right simply reaffirm their positions and nothing gets done to fix the problems. I wrote an article on my 6-step method to end gun violence, in which I proposed a compromise that could significantly reduce the amount of shooting deaths. It received so much criticism and from both the right and the left, that I followed up with an article about the loss of reason in America’s gun culture. There just seems to be no compromise on this issue and as a result, the death toll continues to mount.
For the Right: Terrorists and mentally ill people should not be able to legally stock up on assault rifles, hand guns, body armor, and over 5,000 rounds of ammunition. In my 6-step method article, I proposed thoroughly checking out and registering every person who buys a gun. That met hard resistance from pro-gun advocates. But those on the right surely don’t want terrorists to easily get weapons. So how is the government going to know if we don’t track who is buying weapons and ammunition? The irony is the easy access to guns, the right fights so hard for, makes it easier for terrorists to get guns and kill us.
And if you think the answer is to arm everyone with guns, well that won’t work either. Killings happen in schools, sports arenas, places of worship, and government facilities where guns are never going to be allowed. And I won’t get into what horrible things would likely happen if millions of people who never carried weapons now started to.
For the Left: Tashfeen Malik had sworn allegiance to ISIS and both she and Syed had all sorts of Jihad stuff on their computer and social media. They had built a factory for explosives in their suburban home and our intelligence agencies had no track of them. Don’t you think that’s a failure of our current administration and our intelligence? Maybe the Right is right and we are at war with radical Islam?
While banning guns may seem like a logical solution, it is not a realistic undertaking. There are over 300 million guns in circulation in the US, that we know about. The second amendment aside, there’s no practical way to confiscate them (more difficult than deporting 12 million illegal residents). A reminder: Paris doesn’t allow guns and California has some of the strictest gun laws in the country. Outlawing guns will ensure only outlaws and terrorists have guns.
Ironically, each side has valid points. While weapons, such as guns, are too accessible to people who shouldn’t have them, we also have an expanding terrorism problem. So, I call on President Obama to unify both political parties so they can devise and enact real solutions that will actually reduce the violence against innocent Americans, once and for all.
And finally, if our politicians won’t come together to protect us, then we, the people, must come together to throw them out, and elect some who will.
Our votes are more important now than ever, we are no longer just voting for ourselves. Look into the eyes of the people below. You have now looked into the heart of someone who will never be able to vote again.
Our forefather’s did not register their firearms. Neither will we do so. Mr. Sweetwater ignores that there is evil in this world and that bad things happen to good people when and where they happen, that one has no say in the matter. The jihad attack happened in CA, a gun control nut job’s utopia. Had there been ONE person armed, those two might be just a note in the evening news, rather than the justification for continuing the mantra of the left regarding firearms ownership. The Second Amendment is our right to self-protection. If Mr. Sweetwater is so afraid… Read more »
“I call on President Obama to unify both political parties so they can devise and enact real solutions that will actually reduce the violence against innocent Americans, once and for all.” The trouble isn’t in the will, it’s fundamentally in the know-how. The problem, I believe, isn’t that Obama and both political parties don’t want to be united & effective and enact ‘real solutions’ – the problem is, of course, conceiving, formulating, and enacting tangible ‘real solutions’ themselves.. It’s one thing to endorse a general end result, a desire, or an aspiration; it’s another thing to have a tangible blueprint… Read more »
Can I have a show of hands? Is there anyone here who – had the US not declared war on Japan – would not have expected of his grandfather and great-uncles that they do whatever it took to set foot on Japanese soil and try to get some payback? That really is the issue here, is it not? Think in an open society your armed forces can bomb someone else’s country into the stone age and they will not a) Do everything they can to retaliate and b) Try to network with every available sympathiser and exploit every emotional hook… Read more »
Its called the goose-step two-step for good reason. Registration is usually a precursor to confiscation.
Sorry but gun and ammo registration is pure left agenda. Stick to camera stores.
Just another BUTTer solution to “fix” the problem…
I guess I don’t understand what this has to do with The Good Men Project. But anyway, every single suggestion you made in your articles would have made no impact in San Bernardino as they had no mental health history, and at the time were only loosely tied to terrorists. Also, the facility they entered wasn’t exactly considered a place with large crowds. And who would pay for all that security? Also, they obtained their guns legally in a state known to be strict on guns. And seriously, you actually would trust the government not to use your registration information… Read more »
Sorry, Joseph, but freedom to protect my family and others around me shouldn’t mean that I can’t wear protective gear against my assailants or fear jail time! Don’t quite get your line of reasoning..if it’s to keep the armor out of the criminals’ hands, well, then your point doesn’t wash.. they will get it illegally anyway! Just sayin’
I thought your article was very valid and reasonable Matt. I am a permit and carry holder and since most of the mass shooting are not being done by people like me then its clear that we need to do something different re terrorists and crazies not to mention the criminally gangs who when added up seriously do commit mass shootings and most of those folks are already on the radar for their other activities. They don’t go into your local sports store and buy a gun. They’d never pass the first call in. But forget this president do anything… Read more »