Guns, and what they have become
I will wander into this ... cluster.
I have many guns, for many different reasons, mostly for fun.
Fun.
When I was considerably younger than I am now, sitting at 55, some friends and I used to shoot for fun. Often, weekly. We also hunted, yearly for different game. Birds and deer for the most part.
I have a 300 Weatherby mag. F'n monster and pretty much useless for deer here in TX. Bought it for a specific hunting trip going for Elk out of state. Used it for that and have not fired it in two decades, beautiful wood grain bolt action hunting rifle. Costs about $3 a trigger pull and kicks like a horse.
I have a nice shotgun, Benelli 12GA auto. Shot quite a few birds with it and used to go semi-weekly to the local shooting range for trap/skeet to be able to hit said birds ... and it was fun.
I have a nice S&W 357 mag. Pretty gun, shoots straight and was usually carried as a side arm on hunting trips, well ... just cause. Revolver, 6 shots before a fairly long reload.
I have some other random guns from different sources, grandads old 22, dads old 20 GA, 30-30 for deer in south Texas, old long tom which would be suicide to fire, my first gun a breach load 22 short ... left out a couple which are in the barn in the country and are most likely rust buckets by now.
The first three are very very nice guns, and I am proud of them and take very good care of them. Have not shot any of them, except the shotgun, in close to 15 years. They are secure behind lock and key, except the shotgun which is available in the very very unlikely need of a home defense situation. I like to fish more now, cheaper (by thousands) and much more relaxing.
Last time at the range I was shocked at the weapons. In my day I certainly knew people with 7mm mag/autos but it was rare. If one was to bring that on of our hunts they were generally mocked ... "how many f'n shots you need"?
So, the conversation now goes to "military grade weapons" and the response is, generally, no they are not. Well ... they are pretty damn close.
Perfectly legal crazy ass lethal weapon bought of the shelf, with very minor cosmetic changes ... red buttons and other.
There is no way this kind of weapon should be available to an 18 year old, that is the exact gun used, to purchase and walk off with ... damn sure not two.
It is insane. Has to be stopped. Must be stopped. Must be stopped now.
How, I have no idea. I think a lot of the defense of modern firearms is related to thinking that todays "sporting rifle" is like a Ruger mini 14. They are not. And they have no use other that those who shoot competitively or those who intend to do massive harm to ... people, and they need to be regulated ... heavily.
I am generally opposed to "gun grabbers" and will most likely always be. I think a new classification of weapons needs to be created and these new "sporting rifles" needs to be in it. Much more difficult to obtain, even more so than a pistol, and some form of mandatory psych evaluation and a certificate of some form of useful reason to own.
They are not hunting rifles by any stretch of the imagination.
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