I was naive in my last post. I thought the argument against machine guns in America was settled, and called it a triumph of sane gun safety regulation. We have banned machine guns in this country since 1934, and reinforced that ban in 1986. As a result, we have virtually zero gun deaths from fully-automatic guns that spray bullets. The machine gun belongs on the battlefield, not the streets of America.
Oops. I underestimated the crazy, yet again. The ultra-radical Gun Owners of America is a lobbying group for more guns, everywhere, at all times. This group of bed wetters believe that the National Rifle Association is a bunch of p——-s, and tries to outflank the NRA from the right. Yes, the NRA isn’t pro-gun enough, because it doesn’t believe in distributing machine guns to the average person. (Actually, some NRA leaders do believe this, they just strategically stay silent about it.)
So the absolutists at the Gun Owners of America are now fighting to change the law, and undo the only really successful nationwide limit on guns that we have in this country. They are targeting the 1986 law for repeal, in the hopes that Americans will be able to use silencers, sawn-off shotguns, and fully automatic machine guns whenever they want.
It is absolutism, the selfish, ahistorical, anti-American belief that my rights cannot be limited in any way by anyone else’s rights. If I want a killing machine that can slaughter other people, I have that right, without restriction or compromise.
Every right comes with obligations, and no right is absolute unto itself, it is always held in concert with other rights. Introducing machine guns into the streets of America will create chaos, insanity, and suffering. In our county of incessant gun massacres, imagine increasing the scale of death by ten-fold. Imagine how many children will die if this change occurs. Imagine how many police officers will be killed by criminals firing streams of bullets. Imagine how many road rage incidents, and idiots fighting in fast-food lines, and schizophrenic children, and wannabe-famous assassins, will end with bullets spraying from machine-guns in all directions.
I am a gun owner. I support universal background checks, red flag laws, limits on magazine capacity and “bump stock” automatic systems, and bans on silencers, machine guns, and sawn-off shotguns and rifles. I would gladly register my firearms.
Don’t let these cowardly bullies hide behind the word “freedom.” We need freedom from their greed and weakness. Vote for gun safety.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/05/gun-owners-of-america-national-firearms-act