Unconscionable and unacceptable
by David Atkins
They say that guns don't kill people--people kill people. They say that we don't need gun control laws because murder is already illegal, after all. If that's the case, we might as well let people have sarin gas, tanks and bazookas, too, as long as we're going to let this happen:
Batman massacre suspect Joseph Holmes bought 6,000 rounds of ammunition and a 100-round magazine for an assault rifle used in the shooting on the Internet in recent weeks, the Aurora police chief said Friday night.
A drum-style magazine for an AR-15 assault rifle was recovered at the movie theater, said police Chief Dan Oates at a news conference.
Holmes bought four guns recently from area retailers and 6,000 rounds of ammunition and several magazines that fit the assault rifle on the Internet, Oates said. He said 3,000 rounds were .223-caliber bullets for the AR-15. The chief said he didn't know where Holmes obtained the full suit of body armor and gas mask he was wearing when arrested.
With the 100-round magazine, "he could have gotten off 50 to 60 rounds -- even if it was a semi-automatic -- within one minute," Oates said.
"All the weapons he possessed, he possessed legally," the chief said. All the ammunition and the clips were legal as well, he said.
Oates said a revised count of victims show 70 injured and 12 dead. A few of those injured were hurt from trauma that didn't involve gunshots, he said.
I'm no ballistophobe. I own a rifle handed down to me by my grandfather; I have firearms training, took a gun safety class in college, and I'm a fairly decent shot.
But nothing like this should even begin to be allowed to happen. There is zero excuse whatsoever for allowing some random kid to have an AR15, a 100-round magazine and 6,000 rounds. That's not a self-defense or hunting gun. That's a murder machine, no different from high-grade explosives or military grade anthrax.
There's just no excuse for allowing a random civilian to have access to that kind of firepower.
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