508 is a show about Worcester. This week, Scott Schaeffer-Duffy and Brendan Melican discuss and debate an upcoming anti-gun protest at the local Walmart.
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You can watch 508 Fridays at 7pm on WCCA TV13.
Press release about the protest:
On this Saturday, March 9, from noon to 1 PM, please join a vigil to oppose the sale of assault weapons, handguns, and ammunition by Walmart, America’s largest seller of guns. The vigil will take place on the public sidewalk at the McKeon Street entrance to Worcester’s Walmart. 1,700 Walmart stores around the nation sell the Bushmaster AR-15, the assault weapon used in the Sandy Hook, Connecticut and Aurora, Colorado massacres. Thankfully, the Worcester store does not sell guns, but unfortunately does sell over a hundred types of ammunition, including ammo for assault weapons. Sales of ammunition have been so brisk that almost half the shelves are empty and customers are limited to three boxes each per day. Please come out to urgeAmerica’s number one retailer to get out of the business of making a profit off of selling guns whose sole purpose is to injure or kill human beings. Sponsored by Saints Francis & Thérèse Catholic Worker.
Mr. Schaeffer-Duffy, Mr. Melican, Mr. Benedetti,
First off I’d like to thank you three for the most open and calm gun discussion I have ever seen on video.
Secondly, I believe that an unarmed population is a easy to control population. I believe that people have the right to own any type of gun they can afford. As the second amendment states: “…the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”
I personally have only shot a gun once, (I grew up in a household that didn’t have guns) but I find guns something that I want to get into later on in life. I don’t want to hunt. The idea of killing an animal, then skinning it and harvesting the meat – yeah, while that can be somebody else’s forte, I don’t want it to be mine. Just going to the range and shooting targets seems like a good time to me.
An AR-15 or is no worse than your semiautomatic hunting rifle. Sure they look scary, but the AR fires the same round as the hunting rifle. I know there are some hunters out there that want 30 round magazines, because they’re hunting wild hogs, and those extra rounds are your backup in case the hog charges and the fecal matter hits the oscillating propeller.
Am I saying that I would need a 30 round mag to go do target shooting? No, but it’s simple economics, one 30 round magazine will cost less than three ten round magazines. $40 for storage of 30 rounds in one container, or $120 for 30 rounds in three containers.*
Do not get me wrong, guns need to be regulated. They are arguably the deadliest tool in the lifetime of mankind because they are readily available for every human being. We need to make sure that the business end of one doesn’t end up pointed at us. (Well, unless you’re in the military, then that point’s moot.)
I do believe however that this is could also be a culture problem. Look at the movies and the video games and how they portray gun violence. It should not be acceptable. It’s almost like a dumbing down of sorts, making society complacent with violence on the small and big screens.
An “Assault Weapons Ban” will not work. It’s been proved in the past with various sorts of gun bans. As Brendan stated, Chicago has an all out gun ban, and it leads the US with the most murders – even more than Detroit and Camden. Feinstein and company are out of touch – and on the other side of the aisle, so are the wingnuts who want to see an AR-15 in the hands of everyone. There needs to be a happy medium.
I may be right, I may be wrong, but those are my 2 cents.
*Prices found on eBay here:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ASC-10-Round-Magazine-AR-mag-223-5-56-223-556-NY-Legal-until-April-15th-/300871217005?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item460d526f6d
http://www.ebay.com/itm/30-Round-AR-Mags-/281075148969?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item41716268a9