The Register’s Young Adult Contributors Board on guns in America

The Registers young adult editorial board shows almost to a person the brainwashing against guns. They would do away with the parts of the Constitution they don't like. Just think, these are the people that are going to be running our country in a few years. Sometimes I just want to bang my head on the wall.

Second Amendment of the Constitution. We must realize that something written over 200 years ago might not still apply to the country we live in today. While I don’t wish to encroach on peoples’ freedom,

— Hannah Soyer, Johnston

The Constitution is still relevant and still the law of the land. I swore a oath to protect and defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic. To you, it's just a old piece of paper, suitable for wiping your ass.

Many are questioning the necessity of including larger guns in the realm of rights that the Second Amendment provides.

— Thomas Weihe, Pella

Define "larger" gun. The Constitution says Bear Arms. Not bear small arms that are politically correct.

Americans have the right to bear arms, but the Constitution doesn’t say which kinds. The fact that just about anybody with the money can go into a gun shop in most states and walk out with a deadly weapon is unsettling. Regardless of training, most states allow people to buy guns based on only age, citizenship and criminal record.

— Garrett Trotter, Ankeny

As it should be. It is up to the buyer to know how to use the firearm and to seek out the training that will make them a safe and careful shooter. We gun dealers are here to sell guns to responsible adults. We are not your mommy or your nanny.

It didn't take long for the gun control lobby to try to take advantage of a tragic shooting. The national media yell about assault weapons bans, yet no assault weapons were used, and what is the definition of assault weapon?

— Adam Rix, Urbandale

That paragon of virtue Pier Morgan, the liberal idiot pisswit, was on twitter before the crime scene was cleaned up complaining about our gun laws. All I can tell him is if you don't like the laws in this country, haul your limey ass back to (formerly) Great Britain.

"Assault Weapon" is a term nmade up by gun hater Josh Sugarman to scare people that don't know better.

"Assault weapons—just like armor-piercing bullets, machine guns, and plastic firearms—are a new topic. The weapons' menacing looks, coupled with the public's confusion over fully automatic machine guns versus semi-automatic assault weapons—anything that looks like a machine gun is assumed to be a machine gun—can only increase the chance of public support for restrictions on these weapons. In addition, few people can envision a practical use for these weapons."
-Josh Sugarmann, Assault Weapons and Accessories in America, 1988

Lies and diversion are all the gun haters have.

Background checks are not enough. Holmes bought four guns and over 6,000 rounds of ammunition in the 60 days before the shooting — all of it legally. If ammunition were regulated like prescription drugs, stockpiling unreasonable quantities in a short period of time could have been prohibited,

— Rachel Wolf, Ames

What is your definition of "unreasonable" amount of ammunition? Most of the gun owners I know shoot a few hundred rounds at every range trip. We also save money by buying in bulk. Ammunition was regulated from 1968 until 1982. Every ammo transaction was recorded in a log book. There were never any crimes solved from it. That's why it was discontinued.

It saddens me that instead of letting the victims and their families try to heal, we as a nation have politicized this tragedy and made it a central part of the gun-control debate.

— Noah Kruse, Altoona

That's because the gun haters need to dance in the blood of the victims. It's how they get attention. It's disgusting that they were on all kinds of social media within hours of the tragedy. Except for expressing our condolences, all of the pro gun bloggers were silent until we had the facts.

I can walk into any gun store and purchase a rifle because I do not have a criminal record. They’ll run my name through a database and hand me my gun. What they don’t know is what I plan to use it for, my current state of mental health, or the fact that I don’t even know how to set the safety.

— Mycaela Crouse, Hedrick

I'm a gun dealer, not a mind reader. You are supposed to be a adult. You are responsible for getting the proper training. Again, I'm not your mommy or nanny.

the situation points us toward two other major causes which we must fix: 1) a culture of death, where the importance and dignity of human life is stripped away in several ways — from warfare to negligence of the ill, aged, and weak — which can take a mind and warp it to violence; and 2) the need for improved access to mental health care for all, a societal awareness of the warning signs of mental breakdown, and a removal of the stigma surrounding those who seek medical care for their minds.

— Spencer Sheaff, Des Moines

So we're going to blame violent video games? I agree that there should be better access to mental health care.