It doesn't help our friends on the port side of the national gun debate when they don't get their definitions right. The other day, the news reader on the top-of-the-hour CBS radio program confused automatic weapons with semi-automatic weapons. There's a big difference.
If the debate is going to include the guy with the NRA sticker on his truck--the guy who has a 12 gauge for turkey hunting, a 10 gauge for goose hunting, a 20 gauge for dove hunting and two .22 rifles, one for squirrels and one loaded with varmint shot--then everybody is going to have to understand the definitions. Else our NRA friend will get frustrated and walk away from the argument, concluding that the other side doesn't know enough, or care enough, to understand the problem.
For the record, an automatic weapon is one in which you pull the trigger once, hold it, and the blasted thing fires until it's out of ammunition. Nobody we know has one. The last time we heard one live was at Fort Riley. These things are regulated to the point that they're mostly seen in movies.
Semi-automatic weapons are different. When you pull the trigger, it shoots one round. And you have to pull the trigger again to get another bullet down range.
Before some start saying that's exactly the type of weapon that should be banned, let it be noted that semi-automatic weapons are used in hunting. All. The. Time.
The NRA guy's 12 gauge for turkey and duck hunting? It might be a semi-automatic. His 20 gauge? Semi. His .22? Semi. Even his deer rifle might be.
We can't move on in this debate if the CBS news reader is making hunters nervous. In the least, we should all care enough to get the definitions right.
But even those who have participated in the gun debate over the decades must've been confused over this "bump stock" thing. A monster of a man killed dozens of people in Las Vegas last weekend using the thing. Or several. It appears that even in this most divisive of debates, one thing is clear: Bump stocks must go.
A quick YouTube lesson describes how the thing works. It's an attachment to the back of the gun that uses the recoil of a semi-automatic weapon to load and shoot another round. Effectively making it an automatic. Legally, the rifle would be classified as a semi, but in effect it shoots with the speed of an auto. Which is why automatic weapons are regulated to begin with. Call it a technicality that should be dealt with soonest. And probably will be.
Even the National Rifle Association--the NRA!--seems to understand. It put out a statement late last week saying, "The NRA believes that devices designed to allow semi-automatic rifles to function like fully automatic rifles should be subject to additional regulations."
That's a remarkable statement. Because for years the NRA has relied on Foch's maxim: hold fast everywhere. The theory being that if the NRA didn't fight every gun regulation that was proposed, the anti-gun lobby would get a toehold and eventually wear away all gun rights. Over the years it's been an effective strategy. And maybe even the right one.
But even Wayne LaPierre himself can't defend these bump stocks. Any more than pro-gun Republicans in Congress could. Last week they began doing something that hasn't happened after previous mass shootings: They began talking about real change in the law. Even the president's people said he was willing to get involved.
The list of Republican lawmakers who have stated a willingness to ban bump stocks reads like a Who's Who: Paul Ryan, John McCain, Kevin McCarthy, Robert Goodlatte. A Republican congressman from Florida, Carlos Curbelo, has already drafted legislation to ban the things. And here is ardent conservative U.S. Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, who was asked if he supported such a ban: "Not yet. I think I probably will eventually."
Again, remarkable.
Also, we have trouble believing that a vast majority of Americans would lose sleep without bump stocks in the gun closet. Most folks are just now hearing about the damned things. And Wal-Mart said it had removed bump stock devices sold by third-party vendors from its website, declaring the devices "never should have been sold on our site." And nobody knows their customers like Wal-Mart.
In times like these, our first response is to offer "thoughts and prayers" to the families of the victims of such horrible attacks. But we can offer more. We can offer change. The nation is probably never going to get rid of its rifles and shotguns. And we might never be able to stop mass shootings. But we can certainly make sure "bump stocks" are never legal again.
So let's do so.
Editorial on 10/09/2017