“A BOY of no more than six [not shown] stands on tiptoes, reaches across a table and grabs at a semi-automatic gun,” nation.com reports. “Looking up, he says: ‘I want that one, Daddy.’ Shockingly, we are a 15-minute drive away in Colorado from Aurora’s Century 16 cinema – scene of the attack at a screening of The Dark Knight Rises on July 20 that became America’s worst mass shooting, with 12 killed and 58 maimed.” Shocking because . . . “The boy’s dad brushes him off as he discusses a Del-Ton DTI 15 with a salesman who tells him the assault rifle is ‘good and solid’. What he or anyone else could need such firepower for is anyone’s guess.” Oh! I know! Ask me! Ask me! “But he is far from alone.” And that’s the good news, right? Steel yourself (so to speak) . . .
Here at the Tanner Gun Show – one of the world’s biggest – in state capital Denver you can assemble an astonishing arsenal with less scrutiny than it would take to adopt a dog in the UK.
True story! The RSPC website says “So that we can be sure we’ve truly found you your perfect match one of our trained volunteers will visit you in your home.” Quite what they’re looking for or at is unspecified.
Of course, owning a dog isn’t a constitutionally-protected right in the U.S. And there is that pesky little prohibition against any kind of firearms registry in the Firearm Owners Protection Act. Anyway, back to the Galactica . . .
In a hall the size of a football pitch thousands gathered to buy, sell or admire enough guns, ammo and body armour to defend a small country.
Or a really big one. Just saying’ . . .
And as alleged killer James Holmes discovered as he amassed his cache, Colorado is relaxed on laws regulating sales. Holmes, 24, bought a Glock handgun, a semi-automatic AR15 assault rifle and a Remington pump-action shotgun at different stores by filling in a form and having a check for serious criminal offences.
So . . . we need more regulation! How about banning gun shows? No? How about seeing the Tanner Gun Show as a bulwark against spree killers and other violent crime? Sounds crazy, but it just might work.
Hell, it might already be working for all we know. How many killers were deterred by gun-owning Americans? Worth thinking about.