LETTER: AR-15 should go the way of the ‘Tommy Gun’

Recently I walked into my local firearms store and said to the proprietor, “Please sell me a Thompson Submachinegun.”
“Sorry pal, no can do” he replied. “You can’t purchase a ‘Tommy Gun’ anywhere.”

The proprietor, who seemed very well informed, explained to me that prior to 1934 I could have bought such a weapon. However, back in those days, Americans, and their Congressional representatives had become so sick of the gangland violence (the Tommy Gun was a favorite tool of the bad guys) that they enacted The National Firearms Act of 1934. That legislation severely restricted access to such weapons by the general public.

Why were so many Americans revulsed by the mayhem wrought by criminals and their “Thompsons”? Because one criminal could kill so very many people in so short a time.

I believe similar abhorrence should attend the availability and use of currently popular “assault” rifles which, with their large capacity ammunition magazines, are capable of very rapid, deadly fire. Killing so many innocent people in such a short time.

Does a person really need an AK-47, or an AR-15 to protect his or her home from an unauthorized intruder? I doubt it, unless there is an expectation of being rushed by a battalion of Russian, Chinese, or North Korean soldiers! If you really need 30 or more bullets, rapidly fired, to fend off an intruder,(or intruders) then you’d better sign up for marksmanship school –Pronto!

These weapons are designed for attack or assault! Not for defense!

May our representatives in Congress have as much courage to act, as did those legislators in 1934, to reduce the current massacres with these very deadly weapons!

Moe Horne
Arlington, VA
but formerly of Mesquite, NV