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Guns in America


MichaelWeston

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I'm not one of those people. I think we need to get out of the middle east altogether, and go a more isolationist route in foreign affairs. And I know many more on the more "libertarian" side feel the same way. Don't lump everyone together.

My comment was not directed at you. I was just making a general statement. To be honest I didn't read any of the comments before I posted.

I actually agree about getting out of the Middle East. We have been there far too long already. 

Some people say "We left Iraq too soon!" Hell we were there 7 years. How long was long enough?

In reality we still haven't left there yet. There's just not a large amount of troops like before.

 

 

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Yeah I find that argument odd, too.  Our wars in Iraq & Afghanistan should be a clear indication of how a modern army can be stymied by some loosely-organized locals with small arms. However I would also add that this scenario playing out domestically makes for a great movie or video game but is not very realistic.  Our military is more diverse & merit-based than the private sector & made up of citizen volunteers. I don't find this "us vs. them" scenario plausible. The other reasons listed above are more legit, from a breakdown in public order, to not being dependent on law enforcement particularly for someone in rural areas, to the satisfaction of spending a day in the field trying to fetch your own dinner.  I feel like a lot of this anti-gun rhetoric is coming from people who've never handled one. I would imagine our interstate highways would seem terrifying to someone who'd never been in a car, y'know?

 

I don't know how old you are, but I would guess I probably handled guns a fairly decent amount of times 

before you were born. I don't have a problem with guns. I have a problem with too many guns in

too many idiots hands. 

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We have almost as many guns as people. Do you think that is necessary?

We have a mass shooting nearly every week. How do you suggest we fix that without limiting the number of guns and how do you explain this as a pretty unique US problem wherein other countries have fixed it by restricting guns?

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How do you suggest we fix that without limiting the number of guns and how do you explain this as a pretty unique US problem wherein other countries have fixed it by restricting guns?

 

 

That's the important question isn't it?  By way of an answer, how many of those mass shooting were committed with guns legally purchased by the shooter?  And of the vaguely-defined "assault rifle" type that seem to be the target of any proposed ban? By my count it's very, very few. Making what's going on now political theater in my eyes.

As an example, the 2 used in California recently were illegal in that state AFAIK & were not purchased by the shooter.  I don't think banning pistol grip accessories would've changed that & wouldn't call a proposal to once again ban adjustable stocks "common sense gun control".  In contrast, Dylan Roof was apparently able to avoid a background check for the handgun he used in a terrorist attack that we have decided to treat like a random shooting. Making sure that doesn't happen would be common sense, and once again an admission of the threat posed by radicalized domestic terrorists would, IMHO, be far more effective as a means of prevention.

Common sense should also tell you that a total or even partial ban on currently legal types of firearms is a non-starter, so if you're actually interested in solutions you may wish to curb the demonizing of your opposition & become a little better informed about the what & why of any proposed legislation. Like it or not, legal gun ownership has been established as a fundamental right in this country and the continued existence of terrorists & psychopaths isn't going to change that.  

 

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I'm with you 100% on the "assault rifle" thing and other propositions involving arbitrary restrictions on guns/accessories. Personally, unless you want to take it as far as banning semi-automatic weapons, i think you really can't make much of an argument for restricting weapons and accessories. A gun might looks cooler/scarier with all the bells and whistles straight out of call of duty, but at the end of the day the only thing that matters is the mass and velocity of the piece of metal coming out of the business end.

The real problem lies in the sheer quantity of guns currently available, and the lack of traceability of said guns. The bottom line is that its far too easy for people to get their hands on a weapon. I could get behind a legislation that proposes:

1.) a gun buy back to reduce the overall number of weapons on the street

2.) increased restrictions and requirements for gun ownership (training, certification, annual registration, insurance?, accountability),

3.) significant overhaul of the buying/selling process. I don't have any type of specific ideas for how this could be taken on, but as i said before it is far too easy to acquire a gun. Manufacturers aren't selling their guns direct to criminals out of an alley in Chicago. All guns originate from some sort of "legitimate" transaction and I can promise you the vast majority are not stolen from innocent responsible gun owners.

I think a well thought out legislation hitting all three of those elements could put the country on a track to significantly reduce the number of guns in this country over the next 5,10, 20 years and I'd be willing to bet the number of firearm related homicides would trend accordingly.

 

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So an off-duty NLV police officer and his wife accidentally shot a relative at their home mistaking them for a home invader. This relative was staying with them at the time:

http://www.lasvegasnow.com/news/pd-off-duty-metro-officer-husband-accidentally-shoots-relative

These folks are highly trained, need to qualify with their weapons every 'X' months, and still almost accidentally killed a family member.... 

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But that's avoiding the issue, which is actually a different discussion. I think we need to address police officers entering situations with a hostile mind, not whether or not you should shoot someone because of their "race".

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But that's avoiding the issue, which is actually a different discussion. I think we need to address police officers entering situations with a hostile mind, not whether or not you should shoot someone because of their "race".

I would suggest that the hostile state of mind is often tied to race, but not exclusively.  I think a big part of the problem in large cities is that so few of the police live in the neighborhoods they serve, or even seem to view their work as a service to that community rather than being separate and above it.  When they view the area as hostile territory it's a bad dynamic from the beginning.

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http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/07/a-land-without-guns-how-japan-has-virtually-eliminated-shooting-deaths/260189/

found an interesting article. Perhaps the most interesting part is. America's gun control laws are the loosest in the developed world and its rate of gun-related homicide is the highest. Of the world’s 23 “rich” countries, the U.S. gun-related murder rate is almost 20 times that of the other 22. With almost one privately owned firearm per person, America’s ownership rate is the highest in the world; tribal-conflict-torn Yemen is ranked second, with a rate about half of America's.

 In 2008, the U.S. had over 12 thousand firearm-related homicides. All of Japan experienced only 11, fewer than were killed at the Aurora shooting alone. And that was a big year: 2006 saw an astounding two, and when that number jumped to 22 in 2007, it became a national scandal. By comparison, also in 2008, 587 Americans were killed just by guns that had discharged accidentally.

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In respect to our law enforcement community: from the casual reader of stats... One or two accidents in a large department is to be expected. The average legal card carrying person will have more accidents. Felons will eclipse the combined stats of all legal gun owners.

What do we do ?

1. Allow the court systems to throw away the key on felons with gun possession. Not allowing them back out on the street the next day.

2. Revamp the current background checks to include ALL gun purchases, ALL people with a Felony background or mental illness issues, etc... that are residing on the same property.

3. Enforcement agencies and the courts enforce the current laws on the books.

Etc...

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