A couple of thoughts about guns

School shooting a tragedy

My heart hurts because of the recent school shooting. There is a rush for more gun control, as happens after all shootings of this type. Plus, there is a bunch of misinformation circulating.

A group which advocates gun control, Everytown for Gun Safety, put out the bogus information about there being 18 school shootings this year. The shameful element about this false information is several members of the national media picked up and reported such.

One of the reported school shootings was a man in a vehicle late at night on school property threatening suicide. He did shoot himself, but there were no students around. Another was a firearm discharged near a school, which had been closed for two years.

No shooting, school related or otherwise, is not and should not be tolerated. I’m not making light of the current event.

What is an AR-15? AR as in AR-15 stands for ArmaLite rifle, which is the company who developed it in the 1950s. An assault rifle is fully automatic, what we also call a machine gun.

ARs are being used as hunting rifles these days. They are available in many different calibers. Just because a rifle looks different, doesn’t mean it should be banned.

Remember, the rifles used in World War I and World War II were used after the wars as hunting rifles. Think of the AR-15 as just another hunting rifle.

Someone asks, “Why does anyone need an AR-15?” I reply, “Why do you need a vehicle which will travel 100 miles an hour?”

Think of all the lives which could be saved if all vehicles were required to travel only 50 miles per hour? Yes, you laugh, but just think about this for a minute. Our lives would go on just the same, except a little slower.

Traveling an hour at 50 mph would put us 50 miles down the road, instead of 60 miles or 70 miles. Would you sacrifice 20 minutes if it saved your life? How about the life of your child or your grandchild?

This is off-track a bit from school shootings, but it brings home the point about saving lives. How far would you go to save the life of a youth?

Of course, the FBI and local law enforcement dropped the ball on this school shooting. No one has been able to tell me what new gun control measure would have prevented this event.

I’m OK with passing a law preventing the use of bump stock devices. We don’t need them. A hunter aims between each shot, making sure the bullet will hit where aimed. Plastering an area with a bunch of bullets doesn’t have a place in hunting.

My solution is to arm the teachers who want to be armed. The second part of the solution is to require everyone to walk through a metal detector at every school every day and, also, at every school event.

Do something, but leave my guns alone.

Remington in financial trouble

Remington Arms is going bankrupt. The reason is most interesting. Many people figured Hillary was going to win the presidency, so many companies in the firearm industry made extra firearms and accessories.

Ammunition and associated industries, such as gunpowder companies, also made extras. I visited with a gunpowder company owner at the SHOT Show in January. He indicated things were tight right now. The company was paying the bills, but things were tight.

This lack of firearm sales was dubbed “The Trump Slump.” Many thought if Hillary had won, there would be a driving force to ban firearms and other items associated with the shooting sports. Thus, there was going to be a buying spree on shooting-related items.

It is said President Obama was the best gun salesman in history. Record number of firearms were sold. Ironic how the Trump Slump has turned things around. But then again, Remington’s slumping sales could also be because of competition from other firearms manufacturers.

This turn of events means it is my duty to purchase more firearms, more reloading equipment, more of everything relating to the outdoors. Yes, I realize it is my duty and I’m ready to begin. Just need to convince my wife.

History note: Remington was founded by Eliphalet Remington in 1816. The Remington Company also made typewriters.

To reach Dennis Clay at the Columbia Basin Herald, email dclay@atnet.net or call 509-762-5158.