The bill introduced by MP Kenyatté Hassell requiring a permit for assault weapons stopped me from doing so.
Not because there is anything unusual or offensive about the law, but because it sets out the damage that a modern, legal firearm can do.
Take, for example, the bill's definition of “assault rifle.” Essentially, it is a semi-automatic weapon with a detachable magazine. We should all be familiar with that. AR-15-style rifles can fire at least 30 rounds per minute. With training or weapon modifications, that number can be even higher.
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However, the legislation also mentions the other modifications that can be made to these weapons, such as flash hiders, muzzle brakes, flare launchers and grenade launchers.
Wait – grenade launcher?
I had to look up the latter. Grenade launchers are covered by the National Firearms Act of 1934, which means they're harder to get than other items you'd slap on your rifle. But you can get one if you pay a fee, get a permit, and register it with the federal government.
And that stopped me from doing it.
In Alabama, you can own a gun that fires one bullet every two seconds, a gun that, if modified, can fire explosive devices.
I don't know why anyone outside of a war zone would need a grenade launcher. If you have no other way to kill a deer, let someone else do the hunting.
But with or without a launcher, you can get something that resembles a combat weapon, descended from a rifle designed to kill people, that fires bullets so fast that they do explosive damage inside the human body.
And Alabama has no control over who has them.
These firearms are not comparable to the shotguns or single-shot rifles carried by a hunter or sport shooter. A legal distinction between them could only anger the most extreme gun fanatics.
Yet our parliament is full of such gun fanatics. Most of them have either bowed to the arms industry or embraced it.
They have abolished the requirement for a permit to own a gun. They have treated the most innocuous attempts to improve gun safety as Stalinist attacks on individualism and personal freedom.
And this despite the fact that Alabama has one of the highest gun death rates in the country.
One of our representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives has even introduced a bill to make the AR-15 the national weapon of the United States. Forgive me, but I will not honor a device that has killed children.
Close on the heels of our legislators are our federal courts, determined to subject us to the rule of childish irresponsibility.
The U.S. Supreme Court has overhauled gun ownership laws to ensure that even the most paranoid people will never again face obstacles when it comes to purchasing deadly weapons.
I suspect that some of these people believe that by owning these weapons they can take down a bad guy with an assault rifle. Others, perhaps after gorging themselves on conservative media, imagine that they are on the brink of war with the federal government. Visions of militias dance in their heads.
But God forbid you get into such a situation. Because no matter how heavily armed you are, you will lose.
If you are confronted by someone with an assault rifle, there is a good chance that they will take you by surprise. Even the greatest firepower will not change this tactical fact.
And if you think you can rebel against the federal government with a semi-automatic rifle, let me introduce you to the concept of air power. If you can't mount an F-22 on that weapon, good luck.
Hassell and other lawmakers, including Democratic Rep. Phillip Ensler of Montgomery, have introduced bills that would at least move the state's laws toward a rational understanding that firearms are devices for killing, not totems of masculinity to be glorified.
It is unlikely that any of them will take action in the 2025 session. The inertia of the arms industry is too great to overcome.
However, I hope that efforts will continue to introduce some basic regulations for a dangerous part of society.
You can't stop gun violence by continuing to flood the state with firearms, nor can you allow every Alabama citizen to pick up a semi-automatic rifle out of frustration or fear.
Gun violence can be ended by making it harder to acquire a gun. There must be strict controls on those who want to buy guns. There must be basic training and storage requirements for gun ownership. Courts must be allowed to confiscate guns if the owner is about to harm himself or others.
Treating weapons as the dangers they are.
“A firearm is an object used to kill” should not be a controversial statement. Nor is it impossible to regulate firearms without unduly burdening responsible gun owners.
However, the fact that a bill requiring a permit for weapons with grenade launchers will not pass in the next legislative period says a lot about how far we still have to go.
Fantasies about what we can do with a firearm distract us from the tragedies that guns cause right before our eyes.
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