Gun control debate lost five years ago

Those who are wise in this country realize that the “gun” control debate has been finished since the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting (not massarce) that killed 32. The word massacre would suggest that the victims were helpless when, according to some, each person should have carried a gun for protection.

I gave up on the “gun” control debate when proponents stated that it’s their constitutional right (given by men who didn’t possess automatic guns) to purchase an assault weapon for their protection and “sport.”

I gave up debating the notion that honest and non-criminal citizens can purchase an assault gun under the presumption they would never become a criminal. With that logic, it means a 22 year old without a criminal record (like honest gunowner Mr. Holmes) will never become a mass murderer by the mere fact that he purchased an assault weapon that can hold a 100-round drum magazine.

I’m talking apples and oranges for those who still don’t get it. Ban assault weapons period while allowing “normal” people to purchase a thousand pistols or rifles if that’s their fancy.

The shooting in Colorado is a tragedy, but not shocking. The massacre in Oslo, Norway, last year at this same time which killed 69 (mostly kids) was shocking and a tragedy. Norway has strict gun laws for their non-criminal citizens. Pretending that Colorado’s shooting is shocking is just that — pretending.

It’s comical to hear “assault” proponents boasting of what they would do against a well planned attack of someone with legally owned body armor/gas grenades and 6,000 rounds of ammunition. Let me know how that turns out if your daughter is in the theater and you are on a hunting trip with your single-shot rifle. Even Rambo would think of his children first.

TONY WRIGHT

Albany