Commentary - Gun manufacturers worry about profits

By Donald Dreher, Alexandria, MN

Gun control doesn’t work. It’s not because of the background checks. It’s not because of a person’s mental state. It comes down to three groups: hunters, target shooters and gun manufacturers.

In Connecticut, if you want to hunt deer on your own property, you have to meet certain requirements. You have to have 10 acres or more. If you hunt with a rifle, it has to be a .243 or larger caliber. If it is a revolver, it has to be a .357 or larger caliber. If you hunt with a shotgun, it can only have three shells maximum capacity.

Now, if he is a target shooter at a rifle range, he can use the Bushmaster .223 with a 30-round magazine, or a Saiga 12-gauge combat shotgun with a 10-round magazine, or a 10 mm Glock with a 15-round magazine. These are the same guns that the Sandy Hook shooter had with him. So in Connecticut, the deer have a better chance than people do, of not getting shot.

In Texas, you can basically use any firearm to hunt game or target shoot. For deer hunting, you can use any firearm over a .22 rim-fire caliber and the magazine capacity has no limit. So you can legally hunt deer with an AK 47 with a 30-round magazine. But do you actually need that gun to hunt with? In 2007, this same question faced Jim Zumbo, the former hunting editor for Outdoor Life magazine, and Jim said no. That would give the public a bad impression of hunters. As hunters, we should be proud of our sporting firearms and not use assault weapons. In a heartbeat, Remington pulled their ads, Mossy Oaks, Gerber Knives, and other sponsors dropped him and so Outdoor Life fired Mr. Zumbo. Rule of thumb, protect your bottom dollar. If you lose sponsors, you lose ads, you lose money, so good-bye, Jim Zumbo.

Gun manufacturers, ammunition manufacturers and state wildlife departments know this. Give the people what they want so we don’t lose money. Sell more guns, sell more ammunition, get more profits so the gun manufacturers can run the NRA and the NRA can buy off Congress with so-called political contributions. They are not worried about the second amendment, but they are worried about their profits. Any member of Congress knows this. That is why 261 members of Congress are millionaires, but as of 2013, the salary for a rank and file member is only $174,000 per year. Now, that is a lot of political contributions from big business and special interest groups.

That is why nothing gets solved. Everybody looks the other way; it is somebody else’s fault. Nobody wants to take a stand or use reason. Steve Mostyn said it best about gun control in a Time magazine article: “I’m not anti-gun. I’m just not pro-dumbass.” Well said, Mr. Mostyn, well said.”

Tags: opinion, commentary