Another “I’m a Gun Owner But…” Article

This time in “Runner’s World” of all places. I’m not sure why Runner’s World needs to stake out a position on gun control, but it does.

On Friday, I was booked to fly from Los Angeles to Eugene, Oregon. That morning, a gunman walked into LAX with a semiautomatic assault rifle and opened fire, killing a TSA officer and wounding several other people. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to be booked on an afternoon flight.

So he walked into a place where guns are banned, being from a state that banned the gun he was carrying, being in a state that banned the gun he was carrying, and what we clearly need are some more laws?

I propose: Ban assault rifles and handguns for everyone except police and military personnel. These weapons are made to kill humans and should be strictly limited. At the same time, allow responsible citizens to own rifles and shotguns.

If you think they are going to let you keep your rifles and shotguns for deer hunting once the rest of us are out of the fight, you have no idea what you’re up against, and I can’t help you achieve reality. The truth is those kinds of firearms work just fine for mass killing. Just look at the guy who shot up the Navy Yard in DC.

And I’d note I went through a similar thing in the Houston airport right after we arrived, and it didn’t scare me enough to advocate taking everyone else’s freedoms away, because I don’t believe in punishing the sane for the acts of the insane.

This guy is taking a beating on the Facebook page, and he deserves to.

10 thoughts on “Another “I’m a Gun Owner But…” Article”

  1. “Just look at the guy who shot up the Navy Yard in DC.”

    That guy used a Remington 870 12 gauge pump shotgun to shoot up the Navy Yard in DC, didn’t he? Of course, the media were very quick to call this gun an “assault rifle” when the story first broke.

    Also, has anybody been following the story about this 20-year-old kid who fired off some shots inside the New Jersey mall in Paramus, and then turned the gun on himself? Today, I heard with my own two ears how the reporter with the NBC10 news station in Philly referred to the weapon in this story as a semi-auto AK-47 that was legally owned by the shooter’s brother, and that the shooter’s family lives in a local wealthy neighborhood right near that same mall.

    This is when my bull puckey detector went off. Is it even possible for anybody to legally own a semi-auto AK-47 in New Jersey? I thought that rifle was put on a ban list in New Jersey over 20 years ago.

  2. When some talking head was bleating about “how easy it was to get into an airport with an AR-15”, I drily noted to Bobbi that I hadn’t set foot in an airport without an AR-15 since February…

  3. As a runner, obsessive ultra-runner, I don’t read runner’s world magazine. It’s a typical Rodale Press rag that is written by a bunch of big city liberal transplants who now call the Lehigh Valley home. They are annoying how they try and weave politics into sports.

  4. Wow. Those Facebook comments are 99% negative of the article and the writer. Refreshing.

  5. Interesting – He says he wants to ban semi-auto weapons because they’re only for killing humans, and what’s that he’s holding? A semi-auto shotgun! Where’s the barf smiley when you really need one?

  6. His reaction to the TSA agent that was killed is to complain that he had to walk 2 miles with “several pieces of luggage”, and look with pity at the agents at the gates? Not only is this guy clueless on guns, he’s a douche.

  7. This guy is taking a beating on the Facebook page

    That’s not even close to the beating he deserves. People like this should be thrashed about the head and neck with a ClueBat for 24 hours straight.

  8. I am not a gun owner but –

    this guy is a jerk who thinks all firearms but the ones he owns are “assault weapons” meant ONLY to kill people. Bet he’d be surprised that the likes of Brady and Bloomers want to take away his shotgun, too. And that he has never heard that the powers on the Continent wanted to outlaw the English longbow. Or that the Republic of Rome outlawed carrying knives – yes, the senators who stabbed Caesar were breaking the law while they walked to the Forum.

  9. Yes, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

    But you said: So he walked into a place where guns are banned, being from a state that banned the gun he was carrying, being in a state that banned the gun he was carrying, and what we clearly need are some more laws?

    I dunno – AFAIK the gun in question was bought in LA, legally, because it’s one of the CA-legal “bullet button” ARs.

    Certainly it was reported that it was bought locally, and they do make ARs that look-like-ARs but are also CA-legal.

    It may well be that the only “bans” he violated were the one on “carrying loaded through security” (since it’s legal to have a gun at an airport, in its container, for checked luggage, yes?), and “shooting people”.

    It’s that damned last one that keeps not working

  10. “These weapons are made to kill humans and should be strictly limited.”

    All guns are designed to kill. I guess if you tried hard enough you could make the case that some super-match grade .22 was exclusively intended for target shooting but that’s a real stretch. And any gun that can kill game can kill human beings. So if “it’s designed to kill” is your criteria then what you’re actually talking about doing is banning all guns.

    Which is exactly what a***oles like this want.

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