Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>this is all going to go away<< I don't hear anyone saying that any one thing, or even a combination of things is "going to make this all go away." That's a red herring. What I have been hearing is a wide variety of ideas and proposals, each one hoping to make an incremental reduction in gun deaths in this country. Some ideas seem better than others ( and no, the NRA's idea of armed guards at every school and arming teachers themselves seems pretty unworkable) but the notion that if one idea doesn't stop EVERY gun death then it is no good is just outlandish to me. That also keeps us in a stalemate, unable to do anything at all. It isn't helpful. It's also taking the lazy way out of confronting the problem of gun violence.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder "And you can have all the laws, background and regulation checks you want. There is no way in hell it's going to prevent someone from walking into another school, place of worship, mall, etc and shooting up the place. They'll find a way." You're turning into jack ass DAR again. The next time you feel like posting something like this, don't. You're not getting what's being said here, either on purpose or from ignorance.
Originally Posted By ecdc >>It's also taking the lazy way out of confronting the problem of gun violence.<< Yup. Let's say we make some changes. We institute universal background checks. We make it difficult to get an assault weapon. We ban clips that can carry more than ten rounds. What if, over twenty years, we can reduce gun deaths from the current 30,000 to 15,000? Is that worth it? Or is that just more of, "Well didn't do any good!" Imagine in the 1980s, when DUI started to be taken really seriously. I can just imagine all the anti-government whiners then. "It won't do any good! Irresponsible people will drink and drive anyway!" And of course, here we are, some thirty years later, and irresponsible people do still drink and drive. But we've cut deaths from DUI in half. But I guess as long as there's still one death a year from DUI, all those changes we made as a society were a waste of time.
Originally Posted By TomSawyer Sorry, kids, but you're going to have to be willing to take a bullet for the Second Amendment. We can't possibly do anything that could have saved your life, because grandma has to have her assault weapon just in case the North Koreans invade Arkansas. Your lives are worth less than our misinterpretation of the Constitution. Sorry.
Originally Posted By mawnck >>either on purpose or from ignorance.<< Which one is it? Which one is it?
Originally Posted By DDMAN26 I get what's being said, I just don't the issue is going to get solved or "curbed" like some believe. So sorry for not thinking things could be improved.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder See you're saying it's hopeless. Men, women and children will continue to be slaughtered and there's nothing we can do. Let 'em all die. Is that it?
Originally Posted By mawnck >>See you're saying it's hopeless. Men, women and children will continue to be slaughtered and there's nothing we can do. Let 'em all die. Is that it?<< Second amendment, you know. Way more important than a bunch of noisy, grubby, snot-nosed children.
Originally Posted By TomSawyer DDman, there are two choices. We can listen to people like you who think that nothing can be improved, make no changes, and therefore guarantee that things won't improve. Or we can listen to the people who think that things CAN be improved, make some changes that allow law abiding citizens to have their guns, and see if things improve. At worst, things won't improve. But it's unlikely to be worse than it is now. So, logically, we need to make the changes to see if they work. If they don't, we are no worse off than we are now. Maybe you're right, maybe the US is doomed to remain one of the most violent nations on earth. But shouldn't we at least try to change that destiny?
Originally Posted By Tikiduck Even if you think nothing would come of new laws, the honorable thing is to at least try. I shudder to think how history will judge us if we fail to do anything.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan Imagine that if the Newtown shooter's mom had to attend mandatory gun safety courses every other year. If the program is comprehensive, the instructor would cover things like "recognizing potentially unstable people who might get access to your guns" or something. What if, in a moment of clarity, she realized her son's behavior wasn't normal, and that he was exactly the type of person who should be kept away from firearms completely? Maybe it would make a difference. If not in that case, perhaps in some family right now that has an off-balance child, exhibiting anti-social tendencies. Maybe that family decides to keep their guns locked up tight or better yet, gets them out of the home completely. It isn't acceptable that clearly mentally ill people keep having access to guns right from their own parents. Educating gun owners to recognize warning signs would make a difference.
Originally Posted By TomSawyer What if, in a moment of clarity, she realized her OWN behavior wasn't normal, and that SHE was exactly the type of person who should be kept away from firearms completely?
Originally Posted By TomSawyer Yes, son, you can go ahead and ride on the roof rack of the car. There's nothing we can do to stop car accidents from happening or protecting you in case they do, so you might as well just ride up there.
Originally Posted By DDMAN26 Funny I never said anything about anyone's second amendment rights. In fact I agree with consensus that peoples gun rights aren't being threatned. I'm not saying I want to see people continue to be slaughtered either, so let's pump the brakes on that talk. Mankind has always had the capacity for unbelievable, violence and cruetly. We've found ways to kill each other in every way possible and ways probably not even we want to know about. But we also always had the capacity for unbelievable goodwill, kindness and generosity. So you can bring all groups from both sides of the issue try to solve it. You can have commentators like Piers Morgan, who let's not kid ourselves, is using the deaths of 20 children to boost his career, lecture us about guns. You can have the NRA lecture us about video games or placing armed guards in a school. So unless we can go back and show that capacity for kindness, generosity and goodwill to each other, it's not going to mean a thing.
Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 They should make it a law that gun owners have to have insurance, just like cars and homes. That way, it would make it that much harder to get and own guns. Especially if there were a continuous cost attached. Treat it just like car insurance if you get caught without it.
Originally Posted By mawnck >>So you can bring all groups from both sides of the issue try to solve it. << Horse pucky. Have you not seen any news reports for the last four years? Conservatives have embarked on the Kamikaze method of negotiations, for pretty much everything. The NRA is exhibit 1. If you're an advocate of "kindness, generosity and goodwill", or of "trying to solve ... issues", then you can't be a Republican in 2013. Full stop. Not without frying your brain from the cognitive dissonance.
Originally Posted By mawnck >>The NRA is exhibit 1.<< Exhibit 1a ... organizations on the NRA enemies list: Ambulatory Pediatric Association American Academy of Pediatrics American Medical Association American Association for the Surgery of Trauma American Trauma Society American Nurses Association American Association of Neurological Surgeons Congress of Neurological Surgeons Council of Chief State School Officers Hadassah National Association of Police Organizations National Coalition Against Domestic Violence and plenty more, at the link: <a href="http://nraila.org/Issues/FactSheets/Read.aspx?ID=15" target="_blank">http://nraila.org/Issues/FactS...px?ID=15</a> PS - the YWCA???????
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder "I'm not saying I want to see people continue to be slaughtered either, so let's pump the brakes on that talk." You certainly are, by omission. Doing nothing at the very least preserves a status quo, if not allowing things to get worse. That's what you fail to recognize or admit, take your pick. What most of us hear are saying is that we can no longer stick our heads in the sand when it coms to guns. You're advocating for more sand exploration.
