Gun Control and New Mexico Senators

I am a guns rights person, a second amendment person, and am generally opposed to any additional gun control.  Since political opportunists Dianne Feinstein and Charles Schumer attempted to use the tragedy at Sandy Hook elementary to push yet another assault on law abiding gun owners, I have sent emails to both US Senators and Michelle Lujan Griffin opposing action on assault weapons and high capacity magazines.  Yesterday the Senate voted on increased background checks, the assault weapons ban, and a high capacity magazine ban.  Both of our Senators voted for the magazine bans and for expanded background checks.  Don't forget in 2014!

If you think magazine limitations are a great idea, read this article.  It is biased towards gun rights but makes the case for larger capacity magazines - especially for women.

Senator Heinrich has six more years before reelection but Senator Udall is up for reelection in 2014.  It is not too soon to get behind a primary challenge to Udall if you can find a Democrat in this state who has the courage to buck the liberal establishment in that party or to start looking and working for a rational Republican opponent.  Same thing for Martin Heinrich but we will have to wait 6 years.

Everyone is against the unjustified killings at Sandy Hook.  The question to ask is whether restrictions on the appearance of a particular type of gun or outrageous restrictions on magazine capacity would have prevented the tragedy. The truth is that alarmed doors and windows, greater restrictions on campus entry, and perhaps armed administrators or police would have prevented the tragedy.  Instead, the gun-control zealots proposed restrictions on law-abiding citizens that would not have prevented the tragedy.

Disclosure - I own no assault-style weapons, currently own no semi-automatic handguns, and no semi-automatic rifles or shotguns.  My concern is for the principles.  The gun control people cannot demonstrate that any of these bans would lead to significant reductions in crime.  In fact, there is substantial correlation to the contrary (see my earlier posts). 

We need to start looking at these issues with facts, not emotion.