I had a clergy colleague get a little hysterical with me today about the amount of ammunition that the terrorist "Bonnie and Clyde" in California had in their home. According to the media, they had over 2500 rounds of ammo.
I guess that sounds like a lot to someone who wasn't raised, as I was, by Indians on the frontier [in other words, by my family in Ohio], but I did point out to my colleague that, since ammo is generally sold in individual packages of 1000 rounds, that really wasn't very much. In fact, I suspect that I have much more in my possession than that and usually carry 1000 rounds to the range during my infrequent visits. Besides, depending on the which rifle I choose to use, I could easily use up most of that in an hour or so of shooting at paper targets.
The fact that I own guns, know guns, and actually shoot them left him a bit nonplussed. Honestly, I don't always understand eastern Caucasian culture.
While I'm used to an inordinate fearful ignorance of firearm tools among clergy, who are also fearful of table saws, motorcycle engines, sports, and anyone who disagrees with their ideology, I expect elected leaders, especially those who seek to make gun law, to know a little bit more about their subject. Not so, apparently.
The other day, when being interviewed on MSNBC, Rep. Sanchez of California informed us that "multi-automatic round weapons are easily available". Well, that's not true, actually. Mainly, there is no such thing as a "multi-automatic round weapon". That's a word salad. Seriously, call a gun shop and ask for one; the better places won't laugh at you.
If we are going to address this issue in our culture, we should know what we're talking about. As we seem to hear a lot about the need for common sense in public policy these days, that would seem a prudent expectation.