{"id":28316,"date":"2018-02-25T00:00:57","date_gmt":"2018-02-25T00:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=28316"},"modified":"2018-02-25T00:00:57","modified_gmt":"2018-02-25T00:00:57","slug":"long-talking-guns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=28316","title":{"rendered":"As long as we’re talking about guns …"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I understand people’s fascination with firearms. I get that many Americans get a form of “enjoyment” out of shooting them.<\/p>\n

What I do not get — nor will I ever<\/em> understand, more than likely — is the fascination with assault rifles, killing machines that shoot large amounts of ordnance in very little time.<\/p>\n

I now will explain why I get the fascination part.<\/p>\n

I’ll begin by boasting — just a little — that I have a certain proficiency with firearms. I discovered my rifle proficiency while serving in the U.S. Army. I completed my basic training at Fort Lewis, Wash., in 1968 while toting an M-14 semi-automatic rifle. It used a 20-round magazine full of 7.62-mm rounds and I earned a “sharpshooter” rating with the rifle.<\/p>\n

I flew from Fort Lewis to Fort Eustis, Va., for my AIT (advanced individual training). Even though I trained as an OV-1 Mohawk aircraft mechanic, we were issued M-16 rifles, on which we had to qualify. The M-16 was much lighter than the M-14, but it, too, used a 20-round magazine, firing a much smaller caliber round: a .223, barely bigger than the .22-caliber bullet my rifle at home shot. The M-16 is a deadly weapon of war, however. I qualified well on that weapon, too.<\/p>\n

I was issued an M-16 when I reported for duty in Vietnam in the spring of 1969 and, thank goodness, I never had to fire it in combat.<\/p>\n

But my exposure to those weapons never brought discomfort to me. I felt quite comfortable firing them during training exercises.<\/p>\n

Fast-forward to 2003. I was working as editorial page editor of the Amarillo Globe-News in Texas. I received an invitation to take part in the Amarillo Police Department Citizens Academy. Its aim is to acquaint civilians<\/em> to myriad aspects of police work. It’s an educational tool that APD uses to give citizens — such as yours truly — a better understanding of the complexities associated with law enforcement.<\/p>\n

One aspect of the academy was to spend some time at the firing range. We got to shoot a .38-caliber revolver — a six-shooter; a 9-mm Glock pistol; and an AR-15 rifle (yes, the weapon used in the Parkland, Fla., school massacre on Valentine’s Day).<\/p>\n

I am not as familiar with handguns as I am with rifles. But I made a rather startling discovery about myself that day: I’m a pretty good shot with a handgun. I was able to shoot the six-gun well; I was able to handle the more powerful Glock with proficiency; and the AR-15 felt much like the M-16 I was issued in Vietnam.<\/p>\n

I came away from the APD Citizens Academy shooting range understanding fully the fascination with shooting weapons at targets.<\/p>\n

However, and this interesting, as well, as much “fun” as I had shooting those weapons at the APD range, I didn’t get bitten by the shooting “bug.” I haven’t fired a handgun since that day 15 years ago.<\/p>\n

As we continue this national discussion about guns, though, I remain opposed to the idea of allowing the relatively easy purchase of weapons such as the AR-15 that can be used to kill lots of people in no time at all.<\/p>\n

They, in effect, are weapons of war, where they and other such weaponry do what they are designed to do. On the streets — or in school classrooms<\/em>, for crying out loud! — they have no place.<\/p>\n\n

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I understand people’s fascination with firearms. I get that many Americans get a form of “enjoyment” out of shooting them. What I do not get — nor will I ever understand, more than likely — is the fascination with assault rifles, killing machines that shoot large amounts of ordnance in very little time. I now … Continue reading As long as we’re talking about guns …<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,12,13],"tags":[429,1735,2037,7614,2848,7590,4169,5041,5110],"class_list":["post-28316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","category-military-news","category-national-news","tag-ar-15","tag-firearms","tag-gun-violence","tag-m-14","tag-m-16","tag-parkland-shooting","tag-second-amendment","tag-us-army","tag-vietnam"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28316"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28316\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28320,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28316\/revisions\/28320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}