More Guns! We Need More Guns!

By Pat Elder

In the aftermath of the San Bernardino mass shooting it is heartening that President Obama recently signed common-sense gun legislation in the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act. The President stood up to critics of his community policing and counter-terrorism policies by approving a measure that would order the Army, despite its objection, to offer 100,000 of its .45 caliber semi-automatic M1911's pistols for sale to the public through the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP).

In its short-sighted view, the Army said it was concerned about the "loss of accountability of weapons" after transfer to the CMP. The Army also expressed an unwarranted fear of "expanding the scope of CMP's mission to include handguns" and the potential negative impacts on public safety "from the large amount of semi-automatic and concealable pistols."

Now, thank goodness, more Americans will have access to the kinds of weapons they should be carrying to protect themselves from dangerous criminals and terrorists. The one thing Americans have learned from Paris and attacks du jour like San Bernardino is that an unarmed population can't bring down the bad guys. The NRA has applauded President Obama for his courageous stance.

Although some liberals have argued that civilized nations destroy their outdated weaponry, it is our visionary Congress and President that encourage the mass distribution of these warehoused, yet perfectly operational semi-automatic handguns. Obviously, Americans need more handguns to protect themselves so we should salute our lawmakers for enacting this needed legislation.

Critics have also foolishly pointed to concerns by the Department of Justice that the handguns are "virtually untraceable" and that they are popular "crime guns." Over the last 10 years, the DOJ traced an average of 1,768 M1911 pistols used yearly in crimes with a significant percentage ultimately identified as surplus U.S. military firearms. Our lawmakers (including Obama!) should be applauded for resisting this faulty logic. After all, guns don't kill people; bad people do.

Contact the Congressionally chartered CMP to find out how to order firearms and ammunition today! Call your congressman to demand the Pentagon release for sale millions of additional surplus rifles and pistols. Those guns should be on the streets!

"You can't debate satire. Either you get it or you don't." — Michael Moore