Show Gun Control The NURIA Vocabulary Test I Weekly Whine By John Nielson Editorial Editor The 1996 deer hunt is over The Horizon editorial staff wishes to congratulate congratulate congratulate con con- everyone that participated in the sport this year A concern has arisen over the fact that there were remarkably few lost or dead hunters this season If this trend continues there will be too many hunters per square mile to have a good hunt Hopefully next year the weather will turn really sour for the opener This would thin the herd just enough for forthe forthe forthe the remaining population to continue to thrive Now that those that hunt are upset with me I will whine a bit about gun control Why not offend the people that own weapons I like to live on the edge I tried to be fair in my research of the gun control issue Since I support gun control I decided I should look at the other side of the argument So I got a lot of literature from the National Rifle Association and eagerly studied the wealth of information information information mation that I received After careful consideration I haven't been convinced convinced convinced con con- vinced of anything by the Some of the rhetoric used in their literature literature lit lit- seems more juvenile than anything else t. t The opening paragraph of the Firearms Glossary states that the glossary only covers the terms teens that are most misused in reportage and proposed legislation Some of the words on the list and their official definitions make for some l light hearted reading The first entry that caught my attention was Killer Cop-Killer Bullet The N RA defines the terms as an inflammatory phrase having neither historical basis nor legal or technical meanings I 1 dont don't own a hand gun and I have only been pheasant hunti hunting hunting hunt hunt- i ing once but I would define Cop- Cop Killer Bullet as any ammunition that can pierce pierc a supposedly proof bullet-proof vest My definition doesn't c contain any any historical basis nor legal or technical meanings either but it tells you what that type of bullet can do Our next vocabulary word is High Capacity Magazine The states it is an inexact non non- technical term indicating a magazine holding more rounds than might be considered average I think their definition is pretty good but it might be a little clearer to everyone if there were some type of example included Lets Let's examine the following hypothetical hypothetical hypothetical hypo hypo- situation William Joseph Roberts Ill I'll call him hue Billy Joe Bob for short got upset at work because he had to sort letters all day The next day Billy Joe Bob brought his hunting rifle to work complete with witha a High-Capacity High Magazine He planned on emptying the High- High Capacity Magazine on his coworkers work co ers but they didn't show up because it was Thanksgiving Billy Joe Bob went home and forgot about the whole thing by the time he reported for work the next day This situation is totally hypothetical cal so we can examine its contents to gain a further insight into what a High-Capacity High Magazine really is The simple definition of this term is any clip that holds more bullets than necessary to shoot an animal from a afew afew afew few feet Some people are really bad shots so so their personal High- High Capacity Magazine might have a lot lotmore lotmore lotmore more bullets in it than Lee Harvey Oswalds Oswald's would For the sake of Billy Joe Bobs Bob's workers co-workers I hope he was a good shot so his is High- High Capacity Magazine would only have had a couple of rounds in it The final vocabulary word I want to share is Saturday Night Special The N RA says it is merely a catchy phrase having no legal or technical meaning Enquiring minds want to know what is s a Saturday Night Special My definition definition definition is any of the inexpensive easily obtained small caliber hand band guns that seem to be so popular on the weekend with criminals and other deviants There are probably better more technical definitions of Saturday Night Special but all you have to remember is that the term does not refer to the Saturday evening special at Pizza Hut I cant can't remember ever receiving any literature from groups that support support support sup sup- port gun control I am for gun control control control con con- because it makes sense to me If handguns were eliminated from the general public police and military excluded violent crimes committed with them would automatically reduce The might argue that violent crimes involving baseball bats and crow bars would increase if handguns were banned They could be right but the fact remains the same it is a lot harder to conceal a baseball bat in your pants than a small hand gun The information that I received from the N RA seems to show how desperate they are to recruit new members and to scare the average citizen citizen citizen cit cit- cit cit- izen into purchasing a weapon for self defense The 1996 Firearms Fact Card states education rather than restrictions on gun owners has helped reduce the fatal firearms accident accident accident acci acci- dent rate to 06 per citizens down 82 since the time all-time high recorded in 1904 That is fantastic Using data from the 1990 Gens census s this means that only 1497 people die each year from gun related accidents What would this number be if we counted all the people that are killed each year by a gun when it is not considered considered considered con con- an accident Oh I almost forgot according to the guns dont don't kill people people kill people 1497 is not a big number when compared to the total population of the United States but it doesn't need to be a bigger number to show that gun control is necessary Any gun related deaths whether they are accidental accidental accidental acci acci- dental or not would be avoided if strict gun control were in effect If there had been 1497 deaths in the Persian Gulf War public support would have quickly faded away Any unnecessary deaths should prompt a change in the way our society society society soci soci- ety perceives itself Will change occur only when we have gun deaths each year The 1996 Fact Card concludes concludes concludes con con- with some pretty convincing facts It says about of firearms and more than of O h handguns ri guns will ivill n not t tO te be e used to commit violent crimes in any ny given year Wonderful I hope that Billy Joe Bob doesn't own the weapon that is part of that that will commit a violent crime this year The has influenced politics politics politics poli poli- tics and people in this country for a along along along long time They put huge amounts of money into legislators legislator's pockets to buy their support The N RA wants us to believe that a few unnecessary deaths each year are acceptable because more people die in other types of accidents even common ones like motor vehicle accidents I am going to go get the biggest gun that I can I am thinking about getting a 45 semi-automatic semi turbo- turbo charged speed quad-speed the shift-on-the- fly traction V V 8 8 loaded with 32 megabytes of RAM Is that a good gun for hunting What about target practice Any carrying card-carrying members members members mem mem- bers of the on campus can let me know |