Replies

“So if you are a politician standing in front a 1,000 voters and asked what is your solution to the massacres, what would you say?”

I would explain that although mass shootings are relatively rare they receive a great deal of media attention designed to promote hysteria. I would tell them the odds of them or their children being killed or injured in a mass shooting are less than 1 in a million (a very rough guestimate). As for banning semi auto weapons I would point out how many millions of them are owned in the country and how few are used in crimes. I would point out how unfair it would be to confiscate the property of the many millions of innocent people that own them as well as the fact that the ownership of these weapons is constitutionally protected. I would also state that semi-auto weapons have been around for over 100 years (and AR15s for approx. 70), and that mass shootings are a relatively recent phenomenon. I would propose studies to find the cause of the mass shootings including the effect of violent movies/ video games which may insensitize impressionable young minds to murdering their fellow citizens. I would also propose looking into whether the widespread use of psychoactive drugs and antidepressants prescribed to young people may play a role.
These are a few of the many things that can be done to appeal to reason rather than be stampeded to foolish actions by the “we have to ban something” crowd.