Yesterday our fellow citizens paid in blood and grief the price for the "right" to own high capacity, military style assault weapons. This type of firearm has zero place in the hands of civilians. I've hunted and shot all my life, chased squirrels with my CZ452, hunted quail with my Beretta A390, hunted Elk with my SHR970 (will again in '16) keep my SIG P245 for targets and the extremely unlikely personal protection scenario.
What we need is a ban on mags over 10 rounds, the AR-type rifle and its clones, a voluntary buy back on those in circulation, tightened licensing requirements, and increased mental health services.
Will this happen? Sadly I don't know. The gun lobby is patient and well funded by an industry reliant on assault rifle/concealed carry sales, and from a small segment of the populace with a lot of anger, fear, and prejudice. But I'm hopeful that as with tobacco, the weight of evidence and reason will win the day and we will take steps to limit the possibility of this tragedy happening in the future.
I will say this, I quit the NRA several years ago when it became nothing more than the fear-mongering, paranoia peddling marketing wing of the gun industry, and I will never go back.
