(Former Cobb County Commissioner and Delta pilot) Bill Cooper’s Dec. 23 letter (“Time to regulate civilian ownership of military-style weapons”) was a good depiction of an all-too-familiar position on firearms ownership in this country. However, if he plans to opine any more on the subject, I suggest he do a little more research on the subject before he unburdens himself. Case in point, three times he refers to “automatic” weapons. But the “automatic” weapons to which he refers are all “semiautomatic,” not automatic. If there are “automatic” versions, there are stringent, and expensive, hurdles to legal ownership.
Just the facts, M’am, will help with these discussions.
Ken Lowman
Marietta
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Sorry this is somewhat off topic, but I think it more succinctly addresses the problem that Mr. Cooper was trying to identify.
And that is
There is really no legitimate need for everyday citizens to have high capacity magazines for their semi automatic weapons.
I have sevral weapons in my house (all semi-automatic), as well as, high capacity magazines for most of those weapons.
I find that the only use I have for those high capacity magazines is when I visit the shooting range and don't want to waste range time changing and reloading lower capacity magazines. Other than that I have no legitimate use for them.
I carry a concealed weapon everyday and the capacity of that weapon is 6 rounds. I have one additional magazine that I keep on my person. If you need more than that you don't need to be carrying a gun anyway.
My solution is to buy more lower capacity magazines and change them out as needed.
As far as hunting with semi automatic weapons is concerned there are laws that prohibit high capacity magazines being used for that purpose. I believe in Georgia the limit is a five round magazine. Since I am not a hunter I am not sure of the specifics of those limitations but I am sure that they exist.
In conclusion, as a gun owner and an enthusiatic supporter of 2A I have no problem with reasonable limits on magazine capacity and more stringent background checks. Beyond that there is mot much we can do that meets consitutional muster.