We need to ban semi automatic weapons immediately. This week alone we had a shooting in Portland, Oregon where two innocent people were killed and a 15 year old girl shot twice. Children no longer have a father because a coward took others lives prior to taking his own. Guns kill people when in the wrong hands. In this instance as in the Virginia Tech massacre, as in the Columbine massacre as in many others, lives would be saved had these individuals not had a semi automatic weapon.
Our constitution gives the right to bear arms, limiting the type of weapon in no way takes that right away. It simply takes a military use weapon out of the hands of mentally unstable civilians. It's time we face this issue that we cannot identify potential shooters prior to these incidents.