A free gun program called the Armed Citizens Project is giving away shotguns and training in high-crime neighborhoods in Arizona and Texas as a solution to gun violence.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr , President Obama has a different solution to gun violence. Obama listed gun control measures such as universal background checks, penalties for people who buy guns and sell them to criminals, an assault weapons ban, limits on high-capacity ammunition magazines, and mental health treatment.
In response, Marco Rubio promised to filibuster any gun control bill that reached the Senate floor, saying, “We should look for ways to keep firearms out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill prone to misusing them, but I oppose legislation that will be used as a vehicle to impose new Second Amendment restrictions on responsible, law-abiding gun owners.”
Instead of keeping guns out of the hands of criminals, the free gun program is arming the citizens, which has already armed and trained a dozen single women. Kyle Coplen, the Armed Citizens Project’s executive director, is busy “laying the foundation” for this concept and they hope to reach 100 households within 45 to 60 days. The free gun program package includes a background check, training course, cleaning kit, shotgun, and ammunition.
Councilman Steve Kozachik in Tucson thinks the free gun program is a bad idea, saying, “For someone to say it makes sense to be giving away loaded shotguns in high-crime areas is absolute lunacy. These people have lost their minds.”
In response, a former candidate for mayor, Shaun MCClusky, says, “We need to take back our city, and it needs to come back to the citizens and not the criminals. If you are not willing to protect the citizens of Tucson, someone is going to do it, why not me? Why not have armed citizens protecting themselves?”
Neighborhood association president Cindy Ayala says the money for the free gun program could be put to better use:
“We could take that $400 per shotgun and give it to these people so they could go buy groceries, pay rent, pay their utility bills, something useful. Vigilantism is not the answer.”
What do you think about the free gun program giving away shotguns for single mothers to protect themselves?