Minnesota Public Radio Calls for “Sensible Gun Laws”

In an editorial for Minnesota Public Radio Chaska Police Chief Scott M. Knight responds by suggesting that the country needs “sensible gun laws.” While we respect his opinion, and thank him for his service to the community, we have to stress that some of his suggestions are clearly off the mark. Even his wording of what he feels is “sensible” is hardly that to us. He calls for cities “to enact strict firearms policies.”

So we must ask, is “strict” the same as “sensible?” While he talks about strict laws, he first suggests keeping guns away from “criminals, gang members, the mentally ill and others who would visit harm upon our citizens,” but later he calls for closing the “gun show loophole” and banning “military assault weapons.”

The problem we continue to have is what exactly is meant by these two terms? In the former, Chief Knight never defines the “gun show — no background check needed” loophole.” This is a typical argument by those who can’t back up their opinion. He doesn’t even define it, possibly because it doesn’t really exist. To the next point, on the matter of “military assault weapons,” we must ask again what he means? Is it the look of the gun? The fact that it can hold a bayonet? What exactly makes a gun a “military assault weapon?”

To the average reader it sounds like a very dangerous gun, but the truth is that you can’t actually buy a military assault weapon. You can’t go to the gun show – and through loophole or otherwise – purchase a fully automatic machinegun or assault rifle. This just doesn’t happen. What you can buy is a gun that might look like one, but it is semi-automatic and is generally no different from commercial sporting rifles. So we wonder if those would be the next items in the crosshairs of people like Chief Knight. That’s our concern.