“Put me on a registration list or ban my AR-15,” Richmond, Texas attorney Michael Foreman (above) pleads at dallasnews.com. “Force me to wait three days before I pick up the next gun I buy, or conduct a more thorough background check. Tell me I can’t own a 20-round clip for my AR-15. I don’t care what you do. But please do something.” You may not be surprised to learn that . . .
Mr. Foreman is a self-professed “Texan by choice” who hails from Chicago. But don’t get to thinking Mr. Foreman’s the only gun owner in Texas, or elsewhere, who supports new gun control legislation. A post-Mandalay Bay mass shooting poll by Quinnipiac University discovered that 60 percent of American voters now favor “stronger gun laws.”
Mr. Foreman declared above which gun control laws he’d like to see imposed on himself and the rest of the country. Here’s the breakdown from Quinnipiac:
79 percent support a mandatory waiting period for all gun purchases;
64 percent support a ban on the sale of assault weapons;
58 percent support stricter regulations on ammunition sales;
34 percent support a ban on high-capacity magazines that hold more than 10 rounds.
Good thing the right to keep and bear arms is a Constitutionally protected right; subject to neither the democratic process or arguments about social utility, right?
Mr. Foreman begs to differ. The Texas litigator believes Congress should be listening to “the people” rather than the NRA — or those fusty Founding Fathers.
You accept the National Rifle Association as the voice of gun owners. Listening solely to this outspoken organization’s rhetoric is to ignore the majority of us. In fact, only about 6 percent of gun owners are members of the NRA.
If you consider that NRA annual dues are only $40, it is hard to imagine this lack of support is due to financial limitations. It seems much more likely that 94 percent of gun owners are like me.
We enjoy exercising our Second Amendment rights, but we also recognize that the right to bear arms cannot become an absolute right. We know that there are times when an individual must trade his or her rights to ensure everyone’s security.
As a Second Amendment advocate, I ask that you listen to the majority of us, rather than be influenced by the money or power wielded by 6 percent of gun owners.
I reckon the Second Amendment advocate forgot to read the Second Amendment. That said, Mr. Foreman knows a thing or two about swords. Specifically, how to throw himself onto one.
As a gun owner, I am calling on you to do something. My limited happiness is not worth the lifetime of sadness experienced by the friends and families of the victims of Las Vegas, Pulse nightclub, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, San Bernardino and any other mass shooting.
I think Mr. Foreman meant to say his liberty isn’t worth the sadness of mass shooting survivors.
As the son of a Holocaust survivor, I have a warning for Mr. Forman and the voters supporting greater gun control: be careful what you wish for.