So RR, you just as soon be in the room with a slasher who had a knife as a shooter with an AR-15 or AK-47 that had a 30 round clip or tow?
In the Gun Appreciation gatherings yesterday there were five accidental shootings among supposedly trained gun enthusiasts. The one thing we do know is where there are more guns whether it is in the home or in a society there are more shootings and deaths than when there are few or no guns around. When there are lots and lots of guns and ammo there are lots of shootings and deaths. Yes, people can be killed with lots of other things like bats, knives, cars, etc.. but not nearly so easily. As one graphic stated I challenge any of you hunters to go out and kill a deer, duck or hog with a bat, car or knife.
I honestly don't think that the an assault weapons ban will do all that much (except perhaps over time) after all it is pistols that cause most of the death and mayhem. Universal background checks and bans of large capacity magazines (along with buy backs) will help some over time. If we could guarantee the owners (were sane) could just keep their guns and ammo locked up securely and we could find some way to take guns away from mentally unstable people until they are well it might do more.
I don't hear the gun lobby, 2nd Amendment fanatics or even many gun owners (except perhaps myself) coming up with any alternative strategies that might be effective. Their nearly universal response is that they don't want anything at all done. IMHO it is unconscionable to not try some things to limit the violence and it is very sad that it took the killing of first graders to really get started. Teenagers, college students and innocent movie goers just weren't enough. What does that say about us as a society? Not much I'm afraid.
Originally Posted by austxjr
I absolutely concur. The 2d Amendment had a completely different connotation in 1787 than it does now. Our nation was in turmoil - a significant portion of our population wasn't thrilled with leaving the rule of England, and there were some pretty pissed-off natives in the territories who weren't all that thrilled with the 'illegal aliens' who were clearing their forests, killing their game, scalping them (yes, we started it) and running off with their women.
Since then mankind has engaged in an arms race that has taken us from flintlocks (the weapon du jour of the 'well regulated militia') to percussion cap weapons, to revolvers and repeating weapons, to the Gatling gun, the Browning .30 cal machine gun, the GE mini-gun, atomic and hydrogen bombs, and so on. It's fatalistic one-upsmanship. The Kingston Trio had a song in the early 60's called "The Merry Minuet" that describes it to a tee.
In the large view, there are too many people, not enough water, not enough food, not enough productive jobs, too much global dependency, an economic system enslaved by fossil fuels and their resource owners, and enough guns for the have-nots and the haves to have at it, so to speak...which is exactly what is happening in the rest of the world, and right here at home, too.
The real issue, as austxjr stated, is the absence of meaningful dialogue on real solutions to the real problems that I humbly tried to state above. I am as American as apple pie (or cherry pie, if you consider we were neighbors of the Washingtons and the Lees), we've been in North American since the late 1600's (so I guess we were some of the original illegal aliens), I am a combat veteran (yes, I killed for my Commander in Chief) and I am a student of the roots of conflict. To solve this problem we have to solve the problems of the entire world, and that starts with promoting regional and national self-sufficiency. Let's figure that one out...
