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Sharing a video online, Labonte expressed that the debate was “frustrating” and that “you’ve got people that don’t know what they’re talking about saying ‘do something’.”
“So, people say ‘Well, ban the AR-15 [Assault Rifle used in Florida]’. Well, [the gunman in] Virginia Tech [shooting], he used handguns, and there was an assault weapons ban when Columbine was done, and those are just two right off the top of my head that I know they didn’t use an AR-15.”
Seemingly riffing on Randy Blythe’s comments about the accessibility of automatic weapons, Labonte argued that “most of your handguns are semi-automatic.”
“Sure, there are revolvers out there, but the vast majority of handguns that people carry or have in their home for self-defence, they’re semi-auto. A semi-automatic pistol is gonna be able to do the same thing a semi-automatic rifle is going to do.”
While the points behind the video might be valid on a surface level, being the power of the weapons, such a rationale used against people calling for reform seems both counterintuitive and counter-productive when such a clear problem and obvious potential solution exists.
However, even our own country’s 1996 federal semi-automatic buy-back scheme didn’t escape criticism. Officially known as the National Firearms Agreement, it was enacted in the aftermath of the Port Arthur massacre in which 35 people lost their lives. Labonte noted, “ I think it’s something like two-thirds of the people in Australia just kept their guns and kept quiet about it.”
“I suppose if they go and shoot, they go out in the outback, in the desert or whatever, if they do.”
Phil continues his belief in the second amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which protects citizens’ rights to bear arms.
“I don’t like the NSA spying. I don’t like the idea of the federal government being able to just snatch up people without due process … and I don’t think that empowering the government to just confiscate guns just because is a good idea. And I understand that nowadays, or specifically now, although it’s not a popular opinion.”
Watch the full video below … unless you’re in the outback. If that’s the case, run for cover because people are ganna shoot at you.
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