Violently disturbed aberrations existed 200 years ago, too. For what we know, bad people have always existed and will always exist. We can’t do anything about them. No social program, no medical intervention, no entertainment rating system will ever make us completely safe from them.

Though weapons have been around, likewise, for millions of years, the gun is a fairly recent invention. Guns of 200 years ago, like the musket, were single-shot rifles that had to be reloaded after each discharge. Modern automatic weapons provide much more efficient firepower.

At some point, we all have to agree that technology has made it easier to do more damage as a lone gunman. The NRA has to agree to this simple fact, too, don’t they?

Look, we’re a gun-loving culture and that’s not about to change. Some of us love to hunt, some of us want guns for protection and some of us just love to shoot. I believe that responsible, mentally balanced citizens deserve the right to have guns for those purposes as long as it’s done in a safe way.

By allowing assault rifles in this country, our society is saying that we’re willing to put up a certain number of gun violence victims in exchange for that technology.

How to Fix This

1. Well, first, make these machines illegal and set a limit on future technology.
2. Let’s create a gun victims fund in this country and tax the shit out of bullets for this kind of weapon.
3. Let’s create criminal penalties for the owners of these guns so that there’s increased for owning one of these machines if it is used to kill innocent people.

The Holland Example

I watched a short documentary on the evolution of bicycle culture in Holland recently. It’s known as one of the most bike-friendly countries in the world. They started building their bicycle infrastructure 40 years ago because of public outcry following a rash of auto accident deaths.

Can you imagine that? The people came together and rather than bickering around the issue and grandstanding about personal freedoms, decided that these were preventable deaths and that they, as a culture, had to do something about it. They didn’t make cars illegal, but by changing traffic rules in and around cities that stopped favoring cars and started favoring bicyclists and pedestrians, they’ve changed the trend and kept people alive.

Here’s the thing: a ban on assault weapons will save lives in this country.