Wayne LaPierre should have a more thorough background check!

Did he really say that?  Is he really attempting to use the Boston Marathon bombing as a scare tactic to stop people from wanting better background checks?  Yes he did and yes he is.

Wayne LaPierre, Executive Vice President and CEO of the National Rifle Association (NRA) said, “How many Bostonians wished they had a gun two weeks ago?”

Imagine if you will, and explain to me if you can, how anyone carrying a gun would have prevented the Boston Marathon bombing.  And in lieu of preventing that terrorist action, who would all those armed Bostonians have shot?  The only armed individual who confronted the duo on his own was shot dead.  He was an armed, trained, law enforcement officer at MIT.

It took a couple days to positively identify the perpetrators, so perhaps the citizens of Boston could have shot the college student mistakenly identified by Reddit as the bomber.  Or maybe they could have “protected” themselves by shooting anyone in Boston wearing a hijab.  How many law enforcement officials could have been mistakenly shot while knocking on the doors of citizens as the search for the perpetrators progressed?  Somehow the image of thousands of panicked citizens shooting at any and all perceived threats is a bit frightening.

The other bit of news I digested over the weekend was that passing the Toomey-Manchin bill would have negatively affected the prosperity of the country.  Really?  How is that?  As far as I can tell, the only industry negatively affected by slowing down the sales of weapons would be the gun manufactures.  These are the same said gun manufactures that are funneling millions of dollars into none other than, wait for it…the NRA.

I’ve said it before, and it bears repeating.  I like guns.  I like having the right to own a gun if I choose to do so.  But better background checks do not negate the second amendment and they do not affect my rights.  They are needed to help keep weapons out of the hands of people with histories of violent behavior or mental illness.

Yes, I agree, that registration and background checks will not prevent every criminal from obtaining a weapon.  Yes, I agree that there will inevitably be more terrorists or psychopaths who will acquire weapons illegally and use them to evil ends.  But if better background checks and registration stop even a small percentage of such catastrophic events, why would anyone object?