Buy an Assault Rifle--No Problem

AR-15 rifles at a gun show in Loveland, CO, 2014 (NYT photo)

We are the only country in the world that says to psychos, extremists, and other haters, "You would like to buy an assault rifle?  Be my guest."

"You've been reported by friends, family, co-workers as a danger? No problem."

"We've been interviewing you as a potentially dangerous terrorist?  We can overlook that."

Thank you to Alan Feuer of the New York Times for this analysis of the status of the AR-15, used in Orlando, Florida last Saturday night to kill 49 people: 

The military-style weapon has also been the gun of choice in several other mass shootings: at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.; at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo.; at a holiday party for county health workers in San Bernardino, Calif.; and at the campus of Umpqua Community College in Oregon.

But the National Rifle Association has taken to calling the AR-15 “America’s rifle.” Though the federal government does not keep track of exactly how many AR-15s are in circulation, experts estimate that there are easily several million in the nation’s rifle racks and gun safes — a huge number, given that the gun, along with other so-called assault weapons, was banned under federal law from 1994 to 2004.

See the full article at 
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/14/nyregion/ar-15-rifles-are-beloved-reviled-and-a-common-element-in-mass-shootings.html?_r=0

Our president has been trying to restrict purchase of assault rifles since 2012 when 20 children and 6 adults were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT. 

The Assault Weapons Ban of 2013 (AWB 2013) was a bill introduced in the 113th United States Congress as S. 150 by Senator Dianne Feinstein, D-CA, on January 24, 2013, one month after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. It was defeated in the Senate on April 17, 2013 by a vote of 40 to 60.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assault_Weapons_Ban_of_2013

The assault weapons ban--proposed by Dianne Feinstein and supported by President Obama--was defeated in the US Senate in April, 2013, by a vote of 60 opposed, 40 in favor.

Guess which party most of the 60 opponents of "common sense gun control" belonged to?

I am heartsick about the shootings of 49 innocent people in the night club in Orlando.

I am sad to live in a country that hands firearms to anyone who has money and passes the simplest of "background checks."