Don't Bell the Cat - Get Rid of the Semi-Automatic Weapons

A tentative editorial for a newspaper in Colorado.

Don't Bell the Cat, Get Rid of the Semi-Automatic Weapons

Beware of the argument by both the Republicans and the NRA's Dana Loesch that the solution to the mass shooting problem is to "Bell the Cat".

“Bell the Cat” is a fable where the mice have a meeting and decide that the problem of the cat would best be solved by putting a bell around it's neck. So that the mice could hear it coming. They all think it's a great idea until one says, "How you gonna do that?".

Similarly, Dana Loesch and the Republicans tell us that we don't need to ban semi-automatic rifles, the preferred weapon of mass murderers, we simply need to identify the mass murderers in advance and keep these weapons out of their hands. To which I reply, "How you gonna do that?".

There is no reliable method for doing so. Note that the Las Vegas shooter did not raise any flags at all. Neither did the Pulse nightclub shooter. Two of the worst mass murderers in our history flew in under the radar.

I advocate a different approach based upon two simple facts.

First, semi-automatic weapons such as the AR-15, AK-47 or SKS serve no useful purpose in our society. There is no legitimate reason for a private citizen to own one. Hunting, target shooting and home defense can all be handled with less lethal weapons. A revolver for home defense and a double barreled shotgun and a three shot bolt action rifle for hunting.

Second, semi-automatic weapons do more harm than good in our society. The only things that these weapons can do, that the other less lethal weapons cannot do, is kill large numbers of people in the span of a few seconds, i.e., serve as a tool for mass murder. They can fire a hundred and fifty rounds in a minute, killing our seriously wounding that many in a crowd, and they can be reloaded in seconds. They are weapons of war. How many of the seventeen people killed in Florida might have survived if Nikolas Cruz had been armed with a six shot revolver that took a minute and a half to reload?

Given that semi-automatic weapons serve no useful purpose, and given that they cause more harm than good, these weapons should be banned from our society.

We long ago successfully banned fully automatic weapons. Roosevelt's National Firearms Act of 1934 was specifically intended to keep the Tommy gun out of private hands. And it worked. New Tommy Guns were not sold and those already in our society were subject to a heavy ownership tax and the owners were subject to a severe background check. Something far more in depth that that required for a normal gun purchase. And we now very rarely see criminals using fully automatic weapons.

In 1996 a man in Australia killed 35 people with an AR-15. Within weeks elected officials came together & banned assault weapons. It’s been 22 years & Australia hasn’t had a mass shooting since. And other gun deaths have dropped as well. And note that Australia's ban on semi-automatic weapons does nothing to affect normal home defense and hunting firearms. This could be America’s story too.

The US partial assault weapon ban of 1994 is sometimes cited as evidence that such bans are not effective. Overall gun violence was not significantly affected. But the 1994 assault weapons ban was never intended to be a comprehensive fix for “gun violence”. Its purpose, according to lawmakers, was to reduce the frequency and lethality of mass shootings like the ones in Parkland, Sandy Hook and elsewhere. And on that front, the data shows it had a significant impact.

Numbers, presented at the link below, show that the number of gun massacres dropped significantly during the time the assault weapons ban was in place, and quickly rose again after the ban lapsed in 2004.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/02/22/the-real-reason-congress-banned-assault-weapons-in-1994-and-why-it-worked/?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_wonk-assaultrifles-1003am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.a0e148aaf0dc

Note that if all semi-automatic weapons were banned, murders by the insane would still happen, and would happen with the less lethal firearms that were allowed, but the death toll would be vastly lower than if semi-automatic firearms were available.

And while it's true that vans also kill people, they don't kill that many people and vans, unlike AR-15's, serve a vital and useful purpose. In fact, it would be hard for society to exist without them.

And knives kill people, but they don't kill that many people and, like vans, they serve a vital and useful purpose. AR-15's do not.

And finally, the AR-15 is a pop gun in modern warfare and wouldn't buy you much in an attempt to overthrow a tyrannical government. The Viet Cong used the SKS rifle as their primary weapon over fifty years ago in Viet Nam, but this was about the last time a semi-automatic rifle was used this way. Modern insurgents fight with RPG's. Usually two RPG gunners protected by one rifleman. A civilian armed with only an AR-15 stands no chance against a modern army in body armor and Light Armored Vehicles.

Reviews

[barleygirl]

This is a superb piece of persuasive writing. Even if I didn’t already agree with your premise, I would have to admire your ability to organize the facts & back up your assertions. This is simply a smart essay and I only see one thing missing from my point of view. Assault weapons are more likely to kill becuz the firepower causes massive internal damage that can’t be tended to or healed. It’s more than just how fast they shoot. It’s becuz every shot is highly deadly. That’s the point. There’s only one reason to use such a gun and that’s to kill people. Other than that point, you’ve covered all the things we think on a daily basis as we watch our wimpy elected officials hide from their duty to protect. I never heard of “Bell the Cat” but it’s a good way to show how ridiculous their propositions are. The one that blows my mind is arming teachers. Again, it’s the idea that a teacher is going to have a regular weapon that wounds, whereas many shooters are using a highly deadly weapon that smashes thru organs & blows a big hole in a person that can’t be fixed. I can’t even talk about this any longer. It just makes me pissed to the hilt. But thank you for addressing this with intelligence & well-justified reason (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie

[Miss Fedelm]

Thanks for reading.

[Vivian Fisk]

I'm reading Ann Beattie's book "Another You," wherein there's cat with a bell on his collar.

This piece is powerfully persuasive and needs to be out there with other clear minds.

[Miss Fedelm]

Thank you. I'm hoping for it to go into the Denver Post, but I need to do more research first.

[Miss Fedelm]

By the way, I love Anne Beattie. I'll have to get that book. Mostly I've just read her short stories.