The FAST Approaching Gun Ban

[Loud Love]

Setting aside the abortion debate, I think a point worth making is that guns make killing easier, be it deliberate or accidental, and that more people can be killed in one incident by pulling a trigger than by knives. Moreover, the gun distances the killer from the victim and to that extent removes the emotional impact of the crime. I suspect that if US policemen did not carry guns, probably most of the victims of police shootings -regardless of the colour of their skin- would have been apprehended by other means. Character undoubtedly plays a part, as does spur of the moment rage in an otherwise calm person, but without the gun the death may not be predictable, and it is not just the ease with which guns are available in the USA, but their variety and also additional weapons -does an American really need to take a hand-grenade to Walmart, and pack a Kalashnikov in the back seat of his -or her- car? It is not as if the USA is convulsed in civil war.

In theory having the police unarmed sounds appealing but we need to remember who uses firearms to harm people. It's the criminals. We are currently experiencing a rash of policemen being murdered by these criminals. If they were not armed we would only have the criminals taking over. We are convulsed in crime by gang warfare and an ever growing corruption of our youth to join such a culture.
Just move to Chicago for a month. I think you would rethink your stance.

[trish]

We have about two socialist politicians, so if even everyone one of them was advocating the total prohibition of firearms (and they aren't) by baby steps, they wouldn't be able to achieve their agenda before the Sun went nova.

Even if they succeeded in repealing the Second Amendment (and NO ONE is advocating even that) it wouldn't put an end to the legal ownership of firearms. (We have no Constitutional right to alcoholic beverages but they're still legal and we drink plenty of them).

So how do we read between your lines here? Are we to surmise that you're against all forms of firearm regulation and control and is the basis for your position 'socialists in China took away everybody's guns'? Because if that's it, it's already been refuted.

If we start allowing people to carry .177 caliber guns around, soon they'll be shooting each other eyes out. Eventually that won't be enough mayhem for them and soon they'll be clamoring to carry fully automatic Kalashnikovs. Slippery slope arguments go in both directions...because they're fallacies not arguments.

[Loud Love]

Better things to do than respond, but not better than to read pages worth of posts that are several years old and then give a negative vote for twenty of them belonging to one person.

As has been written dozens of times in this thread (and you will probably eventually encounter in your excursion through it), when you have a weapon that is very efficient at killing, you are more likely to achieve your aim when you attempt killing. It is also much easier to kill someone without putting much thought into it, just by pulling the trigger because someone has enraged you. I understand that some people want a gun for self-defense in their homes, but the belief that every day presents a unique challenge to your ability to defend your family and this special and paranoid attachment to weapons, is tough to understand. Gun control measures are intended to prevent certain types of weapons from getting into the hands of felons and people with very serious mental illness. Why is that such a bad thing?

I am making an assumption but think that most people with views similar to yours and many others here on this thread may be from large metro areas where you have different experiences from someone like myself. Living in a rural location as I do, there are more reason for me to possess and carry my firearm on a daily basis. In a metro area I believe that most people may have a negative opinion of firearms perhaps by only seeing the day to day police shootings, driveby shootings and armed robberies, whether if only on the nightly news or in person.
Where I live there are the same issues you face that may put you in danger with the added element wildlife with feral dog packs, being a huge problem often carrying rabies and even criminals farming pot. Sometimes on your own land! Been there. So I don't consider it paranoia but comforting.
By the way, our government is truely failing on screening for mild or severe mental illnesses at the time of gun purchases. They should be more responsible in this area especially.

[Loud Love]

The very day 20 primary school children and six adults were murdered by a single gunman at the Sandy Hook School in Connecticut, a knife wielding lunatic stabbed 23 three primary school children at a school in Chenpeng Village in China. None of the latter died.

My mistake but still tragic and proof that the deranged could use anything to achieve their goal. Sadly, any high school chem student could make enough gas to poison an auditorium full of people and there's an every growing number of sites training kids on homemade IED's. It's truely sad but the method used to cause mass casualty won't stop with firearms for people determined to do harm.

[Loud Love]

Don't really know we got on to abortion (but I must be more careful in putting down my thoughts as it excites some people). I suppose abortion makes a nice change to talking about all the bastards (who should have been aborted) with their love of weapons.

Do we think we will change people's minds? - well, maybe not yours but some people.

Intentional homicides
China - 10.02 per million
USA - 42.01 per million

http://www.nationmaster.com/country-...d-States/Crime

Facts are always useful

You should enlighten us on GB's mass murders since the ban of handguns. Oh wait, that couldn't be possible.

[trish]

Where I live there are the same issues you face that may put you in danger with the added element wildlife with feral dog packs, being a huge problem often carrying rabies and even criminals farming pot. Sometimes on your own land! Been there. So I don't consider it paranoia but comforting.

I live in a small college town in the Midwest, surrounded by corn and soybean as far as the eye can see. I’m a birder so I take hikes into the wilds quite often. I encounter packs of wild dogs and coyotes all the time, also an occasional water moccasin. Yet I never felt the need to carry anything but my binoculars.

I grew up in rural Pennsylvania. My father’s favorite bonding activity was hunting. So I’ve carried and used a single barrel, single shot shotgun, a single shot .22 and I killed my first and only deer with a .30-06 that had a five shell built in clip. I don’t hunt anymore, but I’m not against the practice. Together my Dad and I bagged plenty of rabbits and pheasants, and as a favor to the farmer’s who allowed us to hunt their land we put away a number ground-hogs. We never once looked at each other and said, “What we really need is a semi-automatic weapon with a high capacity clip.”

I surprised a couple of people tending a rather unusual field once when I was out birding. I gave a knowing smile and said, “Hello. I’m just birding. Didn’t mean to disturb you.” They gave me a knowing smile back and were happy to see me on my way.

BTW, did you know that in 2014 in South Carolina there were only three reports of dogs carrying rabies? One in Greenwood county, one in Lancaster County and one in Spartanburg. ( http://www.scdhec.gov/Health/docs/ra...4_positive.pdf )

[trish]

My mistake but still tragic and proof that the deranged could use anything to achieve their goal.

If his goal was to murder twenty three children he actually (and thankfully) failed...'cause he only had a knife.

[Loud Love]

Speak for yourself. Apparently not.This is just a myth many are encouraged to buy into; a myth perpetrated by the gun community to justify carry.
The NRA doesn't feel so complacent, given that it spends so much time, money and effort lobbying congress.
Probably we agree on this one, if you mean something like: the bond the between the owner and his gun is greater than the justifications he gives for gun ownership.

This seems to me to be a skewd narrow minded view. While I was a member of the NRA years ago, I could't support them feeding my contributions to the government. If the representatives we elect require bribes to choose to fight for the constituents' causes then we have a mob and not a government.(The NRA even asked me to leave my property to them when I die! uncool)

We are all here on this site due to a common interest. We are missing an opportunity to shed our intolerance of opinions that may differ from that of others to become a stronger community. Looking back, it's ironic that we need to preach tolorence to each other.

[Loud Love]

We have about two socialist politicians, so if even everyone one of them was advocating the total prohibition of firearms (and they aren't) by baby steps, they wouldn't be able to achieve their agenda before the Sun went nova.

Even if they succeeded in repealing the Second Amendment (and NO ONE is advocating even that) it wouldn't put an end to the legal ownership of firearms. (We have no Constitutional right to alcoholic beverages but they're still legal and we drink plenty of them).

So how do we read between your lines here? Are we to surmise that you're against all forms of firearm regulation and control and is the basis for your position 'socialists in China took away everybody's guns'? Because if that's it, it's already been refuted.

If we start allowing people to carry .177 caliber guns around, soon they'll be shooting each other eyes out. Eventually that won't be enough mayhem for them and soon they'll be clamoring to carry fully automatic Kalashnikovs. Slippery slope arguments go in both directions...because they're fallacies not arguments.

Just too idiotic to respond to. You obviously just love to bitch.

[Loud Love]

I live in a small college town in the Midwest, surrounded by corn and soybean as far as the eye can see. I’m a birder so I take hikes into the wilds quite often. I encounter packs of wild dogs and coyotes all the time, also an occasional water moccasin. Yet I never felt the need to carry anything but my binoculars.

I grew up in rural Pennsylvania. My father’s favorite bonding activity was hunting. So I’ve carried and used a single barrel, single shot shotgun, a single shot .22 and I killed my first and only deer with a .30-06 that had a five shell built in clip. I don’t hunt anymore, but I’m not against the practice. Together my Dad and I bagged plenty of rabbits and pheasants, and as a favor to the farmer’s who allowed us to hunt their land we put away a number ground-hogs. We never once looked at each other and said, “What we really need is a semi-automatic weapon with a high capacity clip.”

I surprised a couple of people tending a rather unusual field once when I was out birding. I gave a knowing smile and said, “Hello. I’m just birding. Didn’t mean to disturb you.” They gave me a knowing smile back and were happy to see me on my way.

BTW, did you know that in 2014 in South Carolina there were only three reports of dogs carrying rabies? One in Greenwood county, one in Lancaster County and one in Spartanburg. ( http://www.scdhec.gov/Health/docs/ra...4_positive.pdf )

I live in one of those neighboring counties but again, not worth repling to. I have anwsered the responses that I care to and can spend my time better elsewhere.