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Responsible gun owners shouldn’t be penalized

In a few weeks, Pittsburgh’s City Council will vote on a series of controversial gun control bills.

The bills would, among several other reforms, make it illegal to own assault weapons within the city limits.

The bill with the specific focus on assault weapons expands upon its previous definition to include certain types of pistols and shotguns, among many other guns listed (because we all know how big of a problem assault pistols are).

These bills and their collective content come as a surprise for Pittsburgh, a city where gun violence decreased by 55 percent from 2017 to 2018 and consequently hit a 12-year low, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Next, Pittsburgh further explains the surprising nature of these bills in an article, writing that they “do not address the sale of traditional handguns, which are responsible for 81 percent of gun homicides in Pennsylvania.”

Nonetheless, both the mayor and the governor have given their support for this set of bills to combat crime and domestic terrorism.

However, these bills aimed at wrongdoers have one major flaw that the Democrats backing it either do not understand or do not care about: They unjustifiably target responsible gun owners.

When wrongdoers are the ones acting wrongly, hence the name “wrongdoers,” why would responsible gun owners who simply wish to protect themselves or their families be punished?

All arguments for gun control dwell on those who commit crimes, yet the common law-abiding citizen never receives an ounce of care from the Democrats on this issue.

For gun reform, which many brand as “common sense,” this adverse effect seems entirely nonsensical. But the idea of unjustifiably making the whole team run is a staple of the Democrats’ current stance on gun ownership.

A great example is the AR-15. They are remarkably more accurate than any handgun and generally easy to operate, making them excellent in a situation where someone is directly threatening your family and/or property.

However, because there are evil persons out there who abuse this rifle, Washington’s best and brightest currently wish to punish responsible owners rather than focus their full attention on preventing evil persons from getting their hands on such weapons.

Again, “common sense” gun reform appears to be increasingly nonsensical and intellectually lazy in reality.

Policies that limit the rights of responsible gun owners because of abuse by a select few can only be explained through a lack of trust in freedom itself.

Bryce Dunio

Altoona

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