Thought I'd give it a shot since they do have an email form. Any thoughts on how I can make the points more salient and perhaps tighten the wording?
Dear Mr. Stewart,
I have enjoyed your show for the better part of 6 years now, and I appreciate the comedy, reasonable discussion, and investigative journalism. I find your perspective on gun control to be reasonable; in your latest episode, you talked about some gun control measures (such as banning pistol grips) are arbitrary and make less sense than restrictions on guns based off of such features as rate of fire or magazine size.
Regulation of weapons based on rate of fire has been in place since 1934, when the National Firearms Act was passed. Automatic weapons (ie, machine guns) are now tightly regulated by the ATF. Even though an civilian AR-15 looks like an military M-16, the two function very differently. AR-15s sold to civilians now are semi-automatic guns, which are only capable of firing one bullet per trigger pull, unlike an automatic weapon which can fire multiple bullets each time the trigger is pulled. Semi-automatic firearms are widely used for self-defense and hunting, so an AR-15 is not functionally different from many other rifles in common use. (This is also true when it comes to caliber - the AR-15 shoots the same bullets as many hunting rifles intended for smaller game.)
Restrictions on magazine size may theoretically reduce deaths in shootings, but I find this unlikely. The Virginia Tech shooter Cho Seung Hui used a combination of 10 and 15 round magazines for his pistols. The panel commissioned by the governor of Virginia to study the shooting concluded that:
"The panel also considered whether the previous federal Assault Weapons Act of 1994 that banned 15-round magazines would have made a difference in the April 16 incidents. The law lapsed after 10 years, in October 2004, and had banned clips or magazines with over 10 rounds. The panel concluded that 10-round magazines that were legal would have not made much difference in the incident." (http://www.governor.virginia.gov/tempcontent/techPanelReport-docs/FullReport.pdf, page 74)
In Columbine, there was only one firearm with large capacity magazines, Dylan Klebold's Tec-9 pistol, which he used primarily and fired a total of 55 times. The 12-gauge double-barreled sawed-off shotgun that he used only held two shells at a time (and would have never been banned under any gun control legislation.) Eric Harris used a 9mm Hi-Point carbine with thirteen 10-round magazines which he fired 96 times, and a 12-gauge pump action shotgun which he fired 25 times.
Better mental health care, a more thorough background check system, and better regulation of firearms dealers will likely be more effective in preventing prohibited individuals from acquiring guns, and those are measures that everyone can support.
Thank you for your time,
Dear Mr. Stewart,
I have enjoyed your show for the better part of 6 years now, and I appreciate the comedy, reasonable discussion, and investigative journalism. I find your perspective on gun control to be reasonable; in your latest episode, you talked about some gun control measures (such as banning pistol grips) are arbitrary and make less sense than restrictions on guns based off of such features as rate of fire or magazine size.
Regulation of weapons based on rate of fire has been in place since 1934, when the National Firearms Act was passed. Automatic weapons (ie, machine guns) are now tightly regulated by the ATF. Even though an civilian AR-15 looks like an military M-16, the two function very differently. AR-15s sold to civilians now are semi-automatic guns, which are only capable of firing one bullet per trigger pull, unlike an automatic weapon which can fire multiple bullets each time the trigger is pulled. Semi-automatic firearms are widely used for self-defense and hunting, so an AR-15 is not functionally different from many other rifles in common use. (This is also true when it comes to caliber - the AR-15 shoots the same bullets as many hunting rifles intended for smaller game.)
Restrictions on magazine size may theoretically reduce deaths in shootings, but I find this unlikely. The Virginia Tech shooter Cho Seung Hui used a combination of 10 and 15 round magazines for his pistols. The panel commissioned by the governor of Virginia to study the shooting concluded that:
"The panel also considered whether the previous federal Assault Weapons Act of 1994 that banned 15-round magazines would have made a difference in the April 16 incidents. The law lapsed after 10 years, in October 2004, and had banned clips or magazines with over 10 rounds. The panel concluded that 10-round magazines that were legal would have not made much difference in the incident." (http://www.governor.virginia.gov/tempcontent/techPanelReport-docs/FullReport.pdf, page 74)
In Columbine, there was only one firearm with large capacity magazines, Dylan Klebold's Tec-9 pistol, which he used primarily and fired a total of 55 times. The 12-gauge double-barreled sawed-off shotgun that he used only held two shells at a time (and would have never been banned under any gun control legislation.) Eric Harris used a 9mm Hi-Point carbine with thirteen 10-round magazines which he fired 96 times, and a 12-gauge pump action shotgun which he fired 25 times.
Better mental health care, a more thorough background check system, and better regulation of firearms dealers will likely be more effective in preventing prohibited individuals from acquiring guns, and those are measures that everyone can support.
Thank you for your time,
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