it's all fun until some bad apple spoils it for the rest of us.
This is, essentially, the root cause of many of our problems, and many of our laws, particularly in recent decades.
Its a "social" thing, essentially a medieval attitude that people simply refuse to get rid of, or today even recognize its origins.
The idea that THINGS (inanimate objects) are responsible for evil had been profitable for the church and the ruling classes for hundreds of years.
Back then the idea (and made custom, or law) was that if something injured or killed someone, it was because it was possessed by evil (the Devil, or some lesser demon) and since it was obvious you couldn't control it, then, for public safety, it had to be surrendered to the Church, or the Crown's local representative.
This "removed" the danger and also happened to benefit the purse of the Church or the Crown (if they weren't the same thing). IF your wagon ran over someone, you might lose it, as it was possessed by evil. If someone got killed in your flour mill, you might lose the entire property, again, for the same reason. And the ruling classes had a vested interest in seeing this rule enforced. It was profitable for them.
Today many people still operate under that basic premise, things can be evil, though the influence of the church is much, much less, and the idea of demonic possession of inanimate objects is skoffed at, people still think that things can be evil and can cause people to do evil with them.
I don't see that as rational, particularly in our enlightened age.
what we have today is lots of people, that, when someone does something evil, or even just stupid, saying "there ought to be a law!!". And there often already is, just one that was ignored, or deliberately broken.
And its not just guns. Its ANYTHING, and nearly everything, when someone misuses or abuses it and harm results there is a hue and cry to ban it! BAN IT!
BAN IT!!!!!
Unless, of course, its something useful in the lives of the ban it crowd, in which case they usually shut up. But if not, they're more than happy to demand it be taken away, from YOU.
Furher complicating sensible governance is that the "its bad ban it" people's vote count the same as rational people's votes, and what's a poor politician to do, eh??
As a non gun example of the mindset, a few years ago, several high school students went to a college frat party, where they drank and took a certain energy drink.
One died, the rest got extremely ill, hospitalization required. They were underage drinking, and took the energy drink in complete violation of the instructions on the bottle. (took waay too much, and with alcohol)
The official response from the state was to BAN the sale of that specific energy drink (in that state)
Gun Control (all of it) is essentially the same kind of warped logic. Some "bad apple" misuses a gun and everyone gets restricted as a result. A very flawed result.
Its a bit of cruel irony that we are repeatedly told not to judge members of any religious, ethnic, political or social group on the actions of a few individuals, but gun owners don't get that protection.
We are informed (by law? perhaps) when buying stocks that "past performance is no guarantee of future results, be we have to pass a background check to legally buy a firearm from a licensed dealer, these days.
There is a huge double standard at work here. We are considered to be adults capable of making our own, valid decisions about who we vote for, but once elected, we are generally treated as minor children, (and not particularly bright ones) incapable of making our own choices, including obeying the law. Some evil thing will overpower our free will and force us to do evil, and therefore, the thing(s) must be restricted, or if possible banned and removed from society, completely.
This is, after all, the 21st century, why are we still doing this??
Because someone in authority makes a profit from it, I suppose.
I would remind all that no firearm of ANY kind was used by the 9/11 terrorists, just a common everyday tool, a box cutter.
Thousands killed, did they ban boxcutters?? No. Did they ban airplanes?? Hell no. They barely ban terrorists, who, by definition don't obey laws anyway....
thoughts?
Officially, the videos "didn't matter" and "had nothing to do with the ATF changing its rules". Yeah, right...