Senate Gun Control

I have a lot of appreciation for humor... I just appreciate the funny kind, which yours isn't.

 

Funky kind? I'll look into it.

 

Starve the troll, people.

 

So what what I was getting at with my earlier question us that while you all seem fairly indignant over what you perceive to be a fault in the US, I doubt many of you have become any more involved in pushing things to go your way than voting for certain politicians.

This is important because, in my experience, pro gun people are more organized and politically active than anti gun people in the US. The NRA wouldn't be powerful if its five million members didn't donate time and money of their own accord. They take it upon themselves to write letters, vote on ballot measures, attend demonstrations and rallys, recall politicans, etc

You can all guess how I feel about gun control. I work in a gunsmith shop with a Type 07 FFL. I'm not debating gun control, it'll make all of us frustrated without getting anywhere. But I think if you want to make any significant change in gun policy in the US, that won't be at risk of being overturned in the courts, you'll need to repeal the 2nd Amendment. And to do that you'll need to be at least as organized and active as the NRA and other gun rights groups.

 

One of the scariest articles I've ever read - think it might have been one of your posts that had the link - detailed how a US primary teacher dealt with taking her class through a school shutdown drill, because those were needed in case of a school shooting invasion. In it she covered the difficulty of how to explain what they were doing to a group of 7 year olds.

It was incredibly sad reading but a brilliant bit of writing.

 

Trump isn't here right now.

edit: anakinfansince1983, is Hall the young kid shot at that elementary earlier in the week?

 

****

 

1. There are plenty of pro-gun control organizations and lobbying groups.

2. I don't really support them because they're generally in favor of marginally-effective-at-best measures. I am in favor of banning the civilian possession of firearms and keeping them out of the hands of the majority of law enforcement.

3. Repealing the Second Amendment is close enough to impossible. It would require another amendment to do so, and 75% of state legislatures and 2/3rds of Congress would have to vote for it. Only one U.S. Constitutional Amendment has been repealed and it was deeply unpopular. The last time an amendment was passed at all was almost 30 years ago and it was simple no-brainer that had been in limbo since the very first Congress.

 

So very sad, so very wrong.

 

I cried when I heard the news. This is unacceptable and **** Congress for their cowardice and cowtowing to the NRA.

 

Well according to most polls if the 2nd Amendment is repealed & all firearms are banned with no grandfather clauses, 41% of the US population become criminals. I wonder where we can put them all? Alaska? a few unpopulated Hawaiian islands?

 

Well to me its simple. Division. Have towns/cities vote if they want to be gun free or gun friendly. Also they should vote if they want the police armed, unarmed or with less then lethal devices.

We are a democracy are we not?

But then again we are also a republic. Or so I'm told.

 

Well time for Chicago to use check points.

 

Unbelievable. What a waste.

 

1. Not like the NRA. There are, in fact, probably too many anti gun organizations to be really effective. For pro gun people there's the NRA, a couple smaller national organizations, and a smattering of state organizations. It let's them focus political power and votes easily.

2. So because they aren't extreme enough for you you won't support them? Gun control has gotten as far as it has in the US on compromise. You might want to reconsider supporting these groups.

3. Again, if you don't try how will you know? In my opinion if you don't try and change things you may as well just sit down and be quiet. As it stands and how it's currently interpreted the 2nd Amendment is a major obstacle to gun control and you'll have to deal with it sooner or later if you want full confiscation.

 

I really don't think full confiscation is the answer. Hunting and shooting sports are (in my opinion) perfectly legitimate uses of firearms and I don't see any reason why people shouldn't own guns for those purposes provided they meet the kind of criteria that civilised nations require for licensing. I don't really see why anyone would have a problem with people using shooting ranges or hunting as long as the guns were kept and used responsibly.

As I see it, the problem with the 2nd amendment is that it extends gun ownership as a right to all people, including people (e.g. folks convicted of violent offences) who pose a threat to others; people (e.g. folks with serious mental health issues) who pose a risk to themselves; people (e.g. those who leave loaded guns within the reach of toddlers) who have no idea how to store, transport and use guns safely.

I understand that Moses himself brought the constitution down from Mt. Sinai and that Jesus wrote the amendments but the 2nd amendment is plain stupid. A law granting everyone the right to drive cars around would be similarly stupid. It just makes sense to have controls in place when it comes to tools/equipment that can easily cause serious injury or death. Y'know, like demolition guys having to do a bunch of training and pass a bunch of tests before they're allowed to blow **** up.

Until you can all start seeing guns as tools for hunting and sport and stop seeing them as either Divine Gifts that you have a Holy Duty to own or as evil things that must be eradicated completely I think you're going to be stuck in this rut.

Gutted to hear about Jacob Hall

 

I'm fine with some compromise. I'm not fine with thinking that measures such as universal background checks and magazine capacity limits would prevent more than a relative few gun deaths, if that. I don't support sprinkling fairy dust onto the problem. The proposals would not have stopped most mass shooters and certainly not the accidents and suicides that make up the majority of people who die by firearm.

Have you heard almost any American speak publicly about the Second Amendment? It's with a reverence usually reserved for holy texts (applies to most things in the United States Constitution). I speak about my views and write to Congress in the vain hope that I may change minds, but I recognize that it's not realistic at this point. Like most people, I'm no charismatic speaker and effective organizer, so I'm not about to start my own anti-Second Amendment organization or try to convert an existing pro-gun control group. I also know that the billion-dollar firearm/"defense" industry is heavily invested in preventing gun control not only to protect its domestic sales but its sales abroad (to lovely people such as military dictatorships and drug cartels). If I pushed for something wildly unrealistic at this point in time, I might as well push for something broader I believe in such as the abolition of the economic system that allows such evil moneyed interests to exist at all.

Hunting is a cruel and sadistic pastime. I am okay with allowing subsistence hunting (which really only applies to indigenous peoples in remote places such as Alaska), but **** it otherwise. And if a basketball could easily kill someone and were in fact designed for that purpose, I wouldn't be in favor of allowing it anywhere either. If people want to target shoot, they should use a ****ing BB or something that's not practical such as a bow and arrow. .