Babes, bullets, bucks

"It's frightening to see how much weaponry they have for sale," said Susannah Michalson, a Sarasota resident and gun-control proponent. "For people concerned about the safety of children and human life it's a shock."

This is a typical scare article with little basis in fact (besides the existance of the store in question, anyway). The store sells fully-automatic weapons legally, which includes extensive federal regulations on who can buy the weapons (in many cases limited to law enforcement only). We're not talking about a crime problem or an accidental shooting problem here. This is a very small, very sophisticated market. So why the scare tactics?.

Still, gun control advocates don't like the idea that machine guns are accessible at all. "This organization believes that machine guns have no place in American society," said Rob Wilcox, a spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. "They're necessary for the military and law enforcement. But civilians don't need weapons that fire automatic rounds and do terrible damage. "Just the idea that a weapon, that can kill dozens of people, could get into the hands of a child or a disgruntled employee is scary," he said.

Just the idea that a weapon that can kill dozens of people could get into the hands of a disgruntled police officer or Marine is scary! And yet the military doesn't have this sort of problem. The police don't have this sort of problem. And the normal American citizens who own these weapons don't have that sort of problem either. The not-so-honorable spokesman is fantasizing about a scenario that would support his desire to ban all firearms from the United States -- fantasizing with no basis in fact.