I don't get it. Neither will you.

[Carl N. Brown]

what I do get

Knoxville paper asked a couple of policemen about a proposed gun law, and they were quoted in the paper as saying that most criminals did not have guns and those that did have guns acquired them illegally anyway.

The NAS NRC NAP 2004 "Firearms and Violence" policy review pointed out about gun buybacks that (a) there are 6,500 handgun homicides and (b) there are 65 million handguns; therefore, a gun buyback would have to randomly select 10,000 handguns to get one potential murder weapon.

When criminologist Marvin "I hate guns" Wolfgang did a detailed study of 588 homicides (going into background of murderer, victim, prior relationships, circumstances of the murder, motive and opportunity, the means assumed a very secondary status: he concluded that few homicides due to shooting would be avoided merely if the gun were not present. He also pointed out that murder weapons were often obtained by illegal street sales, not gun store sales subject to gun control laws.

I dare say that most successful self-defenses with guns would not happen if the gun were not present, most people who own guns are not criminals, and most guns are owned for sport or recreational use. Gun control infringes on the lawful uses of guns recreational and self-defense, without seriously affecting the criminal abuse.

This is such a sad story, people we need to wake up. Stop killing each other, We need God in our lives bad. And another thing is all blank need to be BANNED, .... Ban all blank please, stop the killing.

In my lifetime, the blank that must be banned now! to save lives!! has included alcohol (my home county was dry 'til 1968), marijuana (1937 to today), comic books (Fredrick Wertham's 1950s Seduction of the Innocents), smut magazines (Ed Wood's The Sinister Urge), interracial marriage (VA Racial Integrity Act 1924-1975), guns (Carl Bakal's No Right to Bear Arms), meat (any vegan rant you want to select). America seems to have a corner on the Voodo Criminology market of making scapegoat straw dolls and sticking them full of needles.

 

[Ben86]

If guns kill people, then silverware intentionally makes me fat. My car also makes me broke, always making me put that expensive gasoline in it. Don't even get me started on sidewalks that get slippery when wet.

No logic, just emotion.

 

[avs11054]

Isn't it funny that when you do point out how ridiculous it is, by suggesting that we should also ban cars because more people die each year from automobiles, that they in turn look at you like you are crazy?

If I said all cars should be banned, because some guy got drunk and hit my child and killed them, or because someone left their keys in the ignition in their driveway, and my son drove off with it and killed someone else, or his self, people would think I am crazy.

But yeah, let's not take away the things YOU use on a daily basis.

Approximately 11,000 homicides each year in the US involve firearms. Approximately 16,000 automobile deaths each year involve people who are DUI. I was reading an article that a Gallup pole showed 37% of respondents admitted to driving drunk at some point in their lives. I would venture to say that nowhere near 37% of firearm owners have used their gun in the commission of a crime. Therefore, the "if we ban guns, we should ban cars" argument is completely valid.

 

[MoMo]

We can't "let it go". Misdirected rage leads to half the stupid laws we have in this country. People have got alot from stuff dumber than this. Remember the McDonalds hot coffee incident? People need to start taking some personal responsibility and start dealing with their own problems in this country. Stop blaming other people or things and take a look in the mirror America!

 

[cpaspr]

Carter -

If they, especially my mom, fear guns and don't like people carrying what do you expect a person who has lost a loved one by use of a gun to think or believe?

Whatever they choose to believe. Teddy and Bobby Kennedy still had armed guards after John was killed. Teddy still had police protection after Bobby was murdered. Neither of them was willing to practice what they, or their family, preached.

I've lost a loved one to a gun. It's not the gun. It's never the gun. It's the person. I was a pre-teen when it happened, so didn't have any guns of my own. What are my opinions and fears now? I own guns.

I also lost my cousin in a car accident. Do I own cars? Do I ride in cars? Do I want all cars to be banned because they are somehow at fault for my cousin's death? Yes, Yes and No.

The car/gun analogy is a good one, in that cars do kill more people than guns every year. However, perhaps a better example would be if people who are exclusive bicycle riders were to push for a non-official use car ban. It wouldn't happen, of course, but it would make more sense to those who want to ban all guns except for police. People who don't use their preferred method of transportation (like our preferred method of self-defense/sport/hunting tool) and don't personally believe in it want it banned for everyone else, not just themselves.

No offense to Carter's parents, but they are not thinking logically, they are reacting to external, historical input. His father knew of examples of poor gun handling, and allowed it to color his perception of all guns, instead of his perception of people who are idiots when handling guns. Just guessing here, but his mother was probably warned about guns as a child and has never grown past that warning. Never questioned whether or not that warning was only for a specific time in her life.

 

[oldgold]

Guns don't kill, people kill. Ban people.

 

[Ben86]

The car/gun analogy is a good one, in that cars do kill more people than guns every year.

I've used this analogy on more than one occasion arguing with an anti-gunner. I've had a couple say that's not a good argument because it's the irresponsible, or criminal use of the cars that gets people killed. To which I respond "Exactly."

 

[merlinfire]

Guns don't kill, people kill. Ban people.

We laugh now, but just you wait.

 

[General Geoff]

I think there's little doubt that more people have been killed with guns/bombs/explosives of the modern age (AD 1700+) than any other type of weapon. If they could all be magically destroyed tomorrow and all the knowledge required to make them, I've little doubt the world would be a more peaceful place, and as much as I enjoy shooting sports I would say it would be a worthy sacrifice.

A world without guns is a world where the strong rule over the weak, the young rule over the old, the men rule over the women. Would there be fewer aggregate deaths without modern weapons? Perhaps. But I guarantee there would be more tyranny.

 

[Ben86]

A world without guns is a world where the strong rule over the weak, the young rule over the old, the men rule over the women. Would there be fewer aggregate deaths without modern weapons? Perhaps. But I guarantee there would be more tyranny.

So true, so well worded. Do you mind if I make part of it my signature?

Guns do so much to prevent tyranny. They can do a lot to enforce it also, but not before the masses are disarmed.

 

[chaplain tom]

Do we get it now? Most anti-gunners are ignorant about guns and the TRUE crime stats involving guns. I can't think of any other inanimate object that is given as many mysterious animate qualities as the gun. I'm surprised they don't demand leash laws for guns so they couldn't get away from us anymore and go about commiting all these horrible crimes.:banghead:

 

[atticor]

I've heard it said that liberals/progressives believe people are perfectable, and conservatives admit that people are not going to be perfect. The framers of the Constitution knew that people and governments are flawed, and therefore, as they set up the new government, they built in to the Constitution various protections against a tyrranical government. The Second Amendment was a very important protection of a right that existed prior to the Constitution. People are not perfect nor are they perfectable, and we need the ability to protect ourselves against tyrants in government and criminals on the street. The liberal/progressive point of view, on the other hand, is that if we just ban guns, and limit their possession to the police, everything will work out fine. Join hands and sing, children. The simple proof is well put in the saying that when seconds count, the police are only minutes away. The political struggle between conservatives and liberals/progressives is a contest between grown-ups and children.

 

[cambeul41]

I've heard it said that liberals/progressives believe people are perfectable, and conservatives admit that people are not going to be perfect.

Possibly. But one might argue that the opposite is true. "Progressives" -- they are certainly not classical liberals -- seem to think people are so flawed that they have to be controlled and told what to do, while those we call "conservative," although that is also a term used ambiguously, trust people enough to give them a freer rein.

 

[xanderzuk]

Hatterasguy wrote: Pff God and religion have killed far, far more people than some random shooting spree's. Governments come in a very close second, they are quite good at killing their own people.

Unfortunately, you're the victim of misinformation as well.

According to University of Hawaii political scientist Rudolph J. Rummel, the total number killed in all of human history is estimated to be about 284,638,000. Of that number, 151,491,000 were killed during the past 100 years. The single largest killer in all of human history is, by far, atheistic Communism with a total of 110,000,000 ... over 1/3 of all people ever killed. If we add to that number just two other regimes, Nazi Germany and Nationalist China, the number rises to 141,160,000. Almost 50% of all the killings in human history were committed in the past 100 years by regimes that either actively promoted atheism or strongly discouraged religion.

 

[Ben86]

I've never realized that. That cliche about how religions are the cause of the most killing is false when compared to what the tyrannical, atheist governments of the 20th century did.

 

[SonofGilnockie89]

Pff God and religion have killed far, far more people than some random shooting spree's. Governments come in a very close second, they are quite good at killing their own people.


No thanks I'll stick with the guns.

+1 on this. Religion is responsible for more deaths than anything else in history. Especially if you count the Communist one.....