Once again today, we are all struggling with reports about terrible losses of lives to gun violence. What a disturbed teenager in Utah and a tormented businessman in Pennsylvania have in common is that they had access to guns. Horrific mass killings cannot be committed with knives or baseball bats or bare fists. Weak gun laws have led to a glut of weapons on the streets. And as a result, bitter human frustrations lead to gun violence. Anger leads to killings. When will our Nation wake up and confront the tragic reality that we make it far too easy for dangerous people to have access to guns?
In Utah, two 28-year-old women, a 15-year-old girl, a 52-year-old man and 24-year-old man were killed by a shotgun-toting gunman.
Shotguns fire an extremely lethal large caliber round that delivers either a cloud of bullets (shot) or a single large slug. Sawed off and assault shotguns are popular with gangs and terrorists engaged in urban warfare- they have enormous knockdown power, and they don't even need to be aimed as the hail of shot will takes precision out of the equation. All it takes is ten minutes with a hacksaw and a shotgun can be turned into highly compact, concealable mayhem.
Shotguns used in World War One were so lethal, that governments such as Germany lobbied to ban them from organized warfare, because they were inhumane and extraordinarily dangerous.
The gun industry continues to try to market weapons such as the Jackhammer automatic shotgun, Streetsweepers, and other deadly weaponry that was deemed so dangerous, it isn't even labeled a firearm. They are destructive devices and regulated by the National Firearms Act. Does a "Destructive Device" sound like something you go duck hunting with? Unfortunately, with a few cosmetic tweaks, the same lethal weapons are manufactured for "sporting purposes."
Shotguns aren't the only deadly killer that the gun lobby has tried to wrap up in the American flag, history, and apple pie. What caliber kills more people every year in the U.S. than any other?
The .22.
22s are commonly found in three flavors. 22 short, 22 long and 22 Long Rifle. All of them are lethal. Most Saturday Night Specials come in .22 caliber. These handguns are not useful for sport or self-defense because their short barrels make them inaccurate and their low quality of construction make them dangerous and unreliable. They are, however, favored by criminals because of their low cost and easy concealability.
Let us repeat: more people are killed by the .22 every year, than any other caliber.
.22 are indeed deadly in shots to the body, because they don't go through entirely and they bounce off bones, creating more havoc. They have the ability to penetrate through gaps in law enforcement officer's kevlar, such as at the sides. If a .22 bullet enters the head, it will fatally ricochet around in the skull.
.22s are also the most easy of all the rounds to use with a silencer. They are a favorite of assassins performing mob kills, using a semi-automatic .22 or a revolver chambered in that caliber along with a silencer.
Creative criminals create penguns, cell-phone guns, knife guns, and more, all using the .22. It is truly the most dangerous of all calibers in terms of human cost per year, if not in mass and size. The tiny .22 can travel over a mile, and this fact is bragged about in promotional literature.
Many people are killed and injured by stray rounds traveling through the air and striking innocent victims, even children. Often people in the country will shoot off the back of their porch - exercising their rights, no doubt - and end up causing deadly harm to someone else's family.
Do cut-down shotguns and silenced .22s belong on our streets, or in our schools? Should criminals have a ready access to the more 'innocent' versions, ripe for conversion to more lethal configurations?
The Brady Campaign is making our stand to fight against the gun lobby, once and for all. We may not be able to eradicate murder in the human heart, but if we keep those who would terrorize our children and our malls from having easy access to deadly weapons, it will be worth it if but one child's life is saved.
