Gun control instantly become the debate du jour following the Orlando massacre, so let’s hear what you have to say.
Image credit: Civilian Scrabble
Best. Columnist. Ever.
Gun control instantly become the debate du jour following the Orlando massacre, so let’s hear what you have to say.
Image credit: Civilian Scrabble
Come Heller High Water I is the collection readers asked for, and includes columns that they wanted reprints of.
In true Heller style, topics cover everything from the craziness of having kids to tales from his U.P. days.
Come Heller High Water II is the smash hit follow-up to Come Heller High Water I. It includes everything from Andy's takes on modern life to conversations with his back home pal Moon Dimple, and much, much more.
Saving the World One Column at a Time is a bitingly funny look at the world through the eyes of this award-winning columnist. In it he takes on corporate crooks, Little League parents, tongue piercers, ketchup sinners and much, much more. A must-have for Heller fans.
provisions to limit gun proliferation do not negate the 2nd Amendment. Same as ya can’t yell fire in a crowded theater doesn’t negate the 1st. Goddamit gun nuts, back off the juice. We get you get to have your guns. But the laws of the Universe dictate that there’s limits to everything. Balance.
Hell yes! Two thumbs up! Right on! Ain’t that the truth! Ya got that right!
HELL YES!!! This from one of your 73 year young female readers. However, we’ll first need to vote out the gutless wonders who rule our senate and congress and vote in some strong women who will stand toe-to-toe with the NRA. Even tho it’s also a mental health/terrorism issue, if assault rifles were NOT so easily available to those loonies, it might be more difficult for them to inflict the horror they’re able to now – on WE THE PEOPLE.
Hammer – nail – head. You got it t!
Yay Joyce! My thoughts exactly!! The idiots that let the ban on assault type rifles expire should be bitch slapped into next year!! We the people are fed UP with the NRA and their whining that they need their guns! Of course you do, and feel free to keep your regular guns and rifles. BUT the assault type weapons should NOT be available to anyone except the military… and we need to make this happen as SOON as possible.
Assault rifles were banned in 1934.
You said it all Joyce…
I believe the only possibly-workable approach is health care. We need good, free mental health care for everybody in the USA. Maybe even compulsory mental check-ups for everyone, along with eye exams and hearing checks and such. Look at these famous recent mass murderers: most of them obviously mentally ill.
Your mental health history would stay private, just like the rest of your medical records. You only would have to reveal it when you decided to buy a gun.
amen. health care in general needs vast improvements in our country. but I’m pretty sure this guy was flyin under that radar so there’s got to be more. we don’t need war weapons loose to any goose with an issue.
His problem appeared to be health care, sexual, and religious. Some say he was mentally bipolar. But he got a job as a security guard. Some say he was homosexual, and therefore would feel hated by Muslims. So his shootings may have been caused by self hate.
I think a combination of the mental health care and gun control would go a long way!
The Florida legislature has apparently tried to make bars to be gun-free zones. Also known as easy killing zones. That is one form of gun control. But how many of those killings could/should have been prevented by one armed nightclub patron, a good man with a gun? For the armed good citizen, a so-called sheepdog, in a nightclub filled with sheep, gun control means being able to hit your target.
Past time.
Automatic weapons that fire hundreds of rounds, without having to reload, should be banned. They are not needed for hunting, protection or anything else having to do with guns. Our politicians should take action now, the heck with the N.R.A.
I agree! Assault rifles need to be banned for civilian use. They are for military purposes only! You should not be able to get your hands on a military grade weapon. And I also agree with fixing our health care. We need better mental health programs.
“Assault rifles need to be banned for civilian use”
Already banned in 1934. The killer’s .223 rifle was functionally similar to the .22s used by thousands of squirrel-hunting American boys. But is is uglier and blacker. It merely appears more frightening.
Cal is correct. As I have said before, the AR-15 is a “semi-automatic” that has the look of an assault rifle. Fully automatic weapons have been banned from the general public since before most of us were born. I have a couple of friends who own the AR-15 and love it as a hunting rifle.
That’s a pointless distinction, while accurate. Guns like the AR-15 (the gun used was actually an MCX or something like that – too lazy to look it up) spit bullets as fast as you can twitch your finger. Gun nuts love to point out that lay people get the details wrong because they like to steer the argument away from the fact that we let the crazy and evil buy weapons of mass destruction. Good try though boys.
Automatic weapons are banned have been since 1968. There are no guns available that can fire hundreds of rounds without reloading. Way to fan the flames of ignorance.
Droth, that’s ridiculous. The AR-15 can spit bullets as fast as you can pull the trigger. It doesn’t matter if it’s not a fully automatic.
Correct, but it is still just an ugly .22.
The Glock that the shooter had will fire just as fast as the Sig Sauer rifle. Do your homework.
Doesn’t hold 45 rounds though does it. C’mon Brian. Be real about this topic, please. The point is regular people don’t need and shouldn’t have weapons that can fire dozens to hundreds of rounds a minute. They just don’t. You might like them as toys but when it comes to self defense tell me one time anyone has ever needed to fire off 50 rounds a minute. The intentional baloney of people who just like their bang-bangs is frustrating. You can have your toys AND help us stop the slaughters .. but the truth is you don’t want to.
These murderous attacks of terrorism will continue because ISIS will continue to supply their puppets with these deadly weapons. Why would an average American even buy one of these guns? Why are they even sold to people? They have only one purpose: to be able to kill in great numbers very quickly. I am willing to bet that good American Citizens who have and use the right to bear arms would not even have one of these. Some of the mass murderers have an arsenal that boggles the mind. They didn’t buy all these at K-Mart.
Also:
Can a person be forced to seek treatment for mental health issues? How many will go on their own to mental health professionals?
Remember the old worn-out saying: When guns are outlawed, only the outlaws will have guns.
If a person is questioned or on the FBI’s radar, there’s a reason for it.
“Why would an average American even buy one of these guns? Why are they even sold to people?”
I don’t know. These ugly black .22s are only good for mass shooting of coyotes or smaller game. But we do not have masses of coyotes. And they are underpowered for packs of wolves.
Seems like in this instance they were good for mass shooting of people.
Right after 9/11 I said that our country had lost its innocence. We would no longer feel safe. But in my statement I did not believe we were in danger from lone gunman. Whatever the cause for all the hatred, and mental illness that prompt individuals to purposely plan to kill, is beyond the ordinary humans imagination.
It is with trepidation that I turn on my TV later in the day. I am not a morning show viewer, so this latest massacre was another shock when I turned on the 6 o’clock news. Assault rifles have no place in our culture unless you are among the troops protecting our country. Has anyone in the NRA suffered loss from one of these attacks? Let go of your insane grip on power!
Why ban the AR15? Just because it looks similar to an AR16 doesn’t mean it functions like one.
Because it lets people easily commit mass murder. It doesn’t have to be a fully automatic to be deadly.
Yes to all above but with one addition. No one mention that this was directed to the LGBTQ community. This is terrorism of a kind, just as ISIS is terrorism. This guy seems to have gotten his wires crossed somewhere with the two. Whether he was carrying out a personal jihad or was just a homophobic there is no way after FBI investigation that he should have been able to purchase one of these assault rifles and a hand gun . With all the other mass shooters there has been mental issues found that slid by and came to light in disaster. This man had a wife that left because of abuse, NOW the second wife comes out and says she knew what he was planning. Why she didn’t speak out we may never know BUT he should never have allowed to get these guns in the first place. The suggestion of better mental health care is great, but if YOU don’t think there is anything wrong you aren’t going to go. The only answer is to BAN ASSAULT RIFLES PERIOD.
” The only answer is to BAN ASSAULT RIFLES PERIOD.” That seems to be only answer for most non-thinking persons.
It was not an assault rifle. They were banned years ago. It was an ugly black mean-appearing .22, Americas most popular sporting rifle.
A better answer would be more good Florida bar patrons to be armed.
It may not be “an assault rifle”, but a helluva lot of assaults against groups of humans have been carried out using them.
Well yes, of course AR-15s should be banned. But let’s not kid ourselves into thinking that a poll on Andy Heller’s blog is representative, meaningful or projectable. It’s not. After all, I am quite certain the vast majority of Andy’s readers are lefties. Like Andy is. And like I am. So we’re essentially preaching to the proverbial choir with this little exercise in snark.
Actually, no. A narrow majority chose the yes options – differing from national polls by a wide margin. But thanks for the kindess, Dave.
All the self righteous lefties come out after events like these. They think banning guns will stop it, and they are WRONG. These people like to die and they will strap on a suicide vest or can I say use a pressure cooker like those nice brothers did in Boston. Get real. These guys hate us and will use any method to kill us. Furthermore the NRA are not 3 little letters to roll off your tongues to blame for this, but they are PEOPLE, law-abiding people who believe they have the right to own guns.
Recently there was a guy who took a large knife and went after a bunch of people, and a nice off-duty police officer stopped him. Did we hear a call to ban knives? No, because it wasn’t the knife that was the problem, any more than it’s the gun that caused the Orlando attack.
There were plenty of warnings to have been able to put this guy away or keep a close eye on him. Also there were plenty of people including his ex-wife who knew of his hatred and stated intents.
I’ll take my chances against a knife attack over a AR15 attack any time. The bottom line is assault firearms are for assault. They should not be in the hands of citizens. In Florida it is easier to get the weapon used in this attack than it is to get a handgun. It isn’t just Islamic extremists that committ these attacks. Many are middle class white folks like Columbine, Sandy Hook, and Charlston. We have too many guns available to too many people who are irresponsible and dangerous.
If some of the members of Congress were in that nightclub when this came down, or in Sandy Hook, etc. , assault rifles would be banned. PERIOD! Because they would know what it is like to be scared shitless and fear for their life. Their “Moments of Silence” in my eyes reflects their approval of what has happened.
We have too many (gun) laws now . What now is money for enforcement of the laws that we already have.
I don’t get why people insist on calling them assault weapons based on aesthetics. The AR15 is versatile, add a scope then take some target practice on the DC Beltway and it’s a sniper rifle. Maybe the nut jobs chose it based on looks, they could have chosen far more deadly hunting rifles more suited for the task.
I just love these non thinking clueless people like Andrew Heller.
They have no concept of reality.
If you leave a gun or other deadly weapon on a table and no one goes near it,
it will just lay there and do nothing. It cannot get up and do anything. It is an inert motionless object. It could lay there for thousands of years and not harm/kill anyone.
The only time that it turns deadly when someone picks it up and uses it to harm someone else.
The guns are not the problem. Sick demented people are the problem.
Of the things talked about the Orlando murderer and it is buried by the liberal media are the facts that the shooter had the following qualities.
1. He was a follower of the “religious organization” called islam.
2. Under islamic beliefs the gay life style goes against the islamic lifestyle.
And that gays should be put to death under the islamic belief.
3. He called 911 from inside the nightclub and said that he believed in
following the teachings of isis.
There are a few other things, but 3 is good for now.
There is an old saying that goes like this: “The pen is mightier than the sword.”
One person suggested years ago that typewriters should be registered, because the written word could be very dangerous.
Hmm, not familiar with all the slaughters carried out by people wielding typewriters.
Typewriters no, pressure cookers yes! Boston has not been mentioned you can ban assualt type weapons all you want, the crazies will find another way to kill.
Gun control is a non-thinking cheap shot that too many politicians substitute for terrorist control. Violent crime is on the decrease in the US. Flaming journalism and ISIS terrorism are on the increase.
AMEN Jim lll !
This guy would have found another way just as easily. A gun has no feeling. But that hateful man did! He hated everybody. And we also have to find a way to punish people like his wife who knew full well what he was up to. And don’t anybody give me the poor scared cowering woman excuse. There are plenty of ways to notify SOMEONE that that kind of deed is about to happen.