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Gender: Female
Hometown: South East Michigan
Home country: United States
Number of posts: 10,559

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About the guy who walked into JC Penny's with an AR-15

Because he could and it was legal and he wanted to "educate" people?

It has been bothering me to the point of nightmares.

I am the mother of five year old boy/girl twins, and the Newtown massacre - well, I am NOT over it.

It is my job as a parent to teach my children how to behave, and I don't just mean "manners" - I teach them how to behave around potentially dangerous situations - "Don't touch a hot stove!" - and what to do if they are lost, or the house is on fire, or a tornado is coming.

And now I also have to teach them how to behave around gun wielding lunatics, because it is becoming a societal "norm" that they may have to face.

I am not happy about this, but it is now a necessity. Maybe it should have been before - the Batman massacre really started the discussion for my husband and I - but after Newtown, it is obviously not optional anymore.

We don't have guns in our house. My father had guns - a couple of hunting rifles and a pistol at one point when his work with law enforcement caused him to be threatened (he wasn't law enforcement, but he helped put bad guys in jail, and they didn't like it) - but they were kept put away, out of sight. I am not a "hunter" person, so other than sixth grade "hunter safety", guns are not a part of my life, AND I LIKE IT THAT WAY.

Guns are tools. I get that. Hunting rifles are used to hunt - so why was this fool bringing one into a JC Penny store?

My immediate response would have to be "To Hunt."

I cannot tell the difference between a random madman armed with weapons and an idiot trying to make a moronic point that BY LAW he is entitled to behave like a fool by bringing (charitably) a "HUNTING RIFLE" into a place where the only "GAME" is human beings.

For safety's sake, I would immediately flee the scene, urging everyone else to do the same, but making sure my children are safe first and foremost.

I don't care if it could be considered an over reaction by this fool and his friends. I don't have super secret telepathic powers that enable me to discern "MURDEROUS MAN ABOUT TO GO ON A RAMPAGE" versus "FREAKING MORON WITH BAD JUDGMENT TRYING TO MAKE A STUPID POINT."

He is a man openly carrying a "hunting rifle" where the only available targets are people.

Stoves are hot. Tornado sirens mean seek shelter. Guns are dangerous tools; if you see one where it doesn't belong, get away!

I love my children. That man needs his guns taken away, and if the law can't do it, I hope his family takes care of the problem.

If they don't, there is a good chance the man is going to end up shot.

I don't carry a gun, but the next "non-telepathic parent" he encounters might.

ON EDIT: This is a link to the news story prompting my post. http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=23769604

I am F*CK*NG PISSED. Michigan Gun Laws Written by the Mob?!?!?

I made a couple of phone calls this morning. The first was to our County Sheriff Department to find out if "gun permits were public information."

Per the Records clerk, NO -- Gun Permit information in Michigan is NOT public.

I explained that a newspaper in another state had published information about owners with their addresses, and she said gun permit information in Michigan is "private." I asked who could clarify the point since we had differing views. I also asked if she was allowed to keep "a database of gun permit people" and she clarified that the Michigan Law changed on December 18, 2012 (lame duck session).

She referred me to the Michigan State Police Department. I called and spoke to a very nice person who answered my questions.

I Am F*CK*NG PISSED - and if you are offended by the swearing, I will apologize later when I calm down, because what I learned is borderline INSANE.

NEW RULE: If it is over "26 inches" it is NOT a pistol, and you don't have to have a permit or register it. In Michigan, we apparently only register pistols. AR-15s are considered "rifles". I am not a gun-nut, so they will have to chime in on all of the other "toys" that are "not pistols" because they aren't, like, *DANGEROUS* or anything!

BACKGROUND CHECKS: Only performed on THE PURCHASER and NOT on the other members of the household. I posed the following scenarios/questions -

"ME: So, if I have a felon boyfriend fresh out of prison living with me who is not allowed to buy guns, and I go buy FIVE of them, there is no way to keep local track of the fact somebody just bought FIVE guns, let alone at an address where a felon lives?"

HIM: "That is correct, ma'am."

"ME: So, if I give them to my boyfriend, and he sells four of them to his buddies for cash, you have no idea where the guns are unless they turn up in the commission of a crime?"

HIM: "Ma'am, you aren't supposed to give guns to a felon."

"ME: Yes, I get that, but how do you know I still have five guns? Or more, since you aren't keeping track of how many I am buying, as long as they aren't pistols?"

HIM: "Well, its against the law for you to do that."

"ME: Yes, but do you have any tools to ENFORCE the law?"

HIM: "Um, no."

"ME: So, you just have to TRUST that someone living with a convicted felon who is buying lots of pistols or rifles or whatever *isn't* going to give or sell or loan them to other members of the household?"

HIM: "Uh, yes. Because it is against the law."

"ME: Speeding is against the law! This seems INSANE! Are you saying we have laws but no tools to actually ENFORCE THEM?"

HIM: "Um, yes."

So to summarize --

1) Local law enforcement doesn't get to keep track of who is BUYING guns that aren't pistols.
(Still not sure local/state/federal sharing of information occurs - I was told the feds aren't *allowed* to keep a database of this *critical* information by law.)

2) Local law enforcement doesn't get to know who *has* the guns of any type *once they are purchased*; for all intents and purposes, they disappear into "the zone of we trust you" because why the heck not?

3) Background checks are only performed on the payer who "buy" the guns, and not on the other members of their households, or their associates/spouses/immediate family.

4) If it isn't a "pistol", Michigan law enforcement gets to be "surprised" - even by what the local drug lords are using to defend their property!!!

5) Laws without the ability to enforce them are F*CK*NG USELESS!!!

In essence, we can keep track of COLD MEDICINE PURCHASES because the abuse of them is a threat to public health, but my neighbor can buy half a dozen high powered military quality "rifles" while screwing around with a paroled felon, sell them as if they were garage sale bargains, and nobody gets to know about it until after a crime gas been committed.

These rules have to have been written by MOB LAWYERS. There simply isn't any other logical explanation. Cars and cold medicine get more regulation than "rifles" that KILL ON PURPOSE.

I'm in fume mode. Livid. F*CK*NG. PISSED! Where were the SANE people when these "laws and rules" were being passed?


Oh, yeah - cowering in fear of the MOBBED UP NRA!!!

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