The FAST Approaching Gun Ban

[giovanni_hotel]

I'm still shocked by how entrenched the gun fetish society is in the U.S.
There are people in this country who own multiple firearms they NEVER SHOOT. I feel as if there's a symbolism in owning a gun that I'm missing. Is owning a gun that empowering? The knowledge the owner has that he could end the life of another human being in seconds??

Freedom = right of self defense = my kill rate potential.

Confiscating guns in this country would never work because there are too many brainwashed gunowners who would literally be willing to die in a firefight with police than turn in their .38.

The brilliance of the NRA is they've paired their interests with political conservatism, which means half of this nation's political party structure has protectively walled around them until gun ownership in the minds of many has become an unalienable human right.

If another Democrat wins the WH in 2016, I think the wacko right will eat themselves.

[Prospero]

Do you actually know what a semi-automatic weapon is? Have you ever used one? Most handguns now are also semi-automatic. Just an FYI there.

So many of the pro-gun lobby try to distract from the core issue with this kind of nit picking question. Just because you know the detailed specifications of this or that weapon is really rather irrelevent. The core issue is the obsessive concentration on the right to own these weapons, guns generally, despite the ongoing death count from their use by lunatics. Guns may not kill people, but they make it much,much easier for those who want to carry out massacres to make it happen.

Change the law and, if necessary, change your constitution. As i have said before it is NOT written in stone, You are a large and powerful nation with some of the most talented and creative and innovative minds in the world but you seem to lack the power to control the idiotic impulse to own weapons of death.

[Stavros]

Shays Rebellion happened during the era of the Articles of Confederation. It was successfully put down by the militia. The First American Regiment (the small standing "army" at the time) didn't participate because it was assigned to the Western Frontier. The rebellion showed the weakness of the Articles of Confederation. The Army didn't expand until after the Battle of the Wabash in 1791. It was an embarrassing defeat against the Indian tribes. The battle led to the creation of the Legion of the United States and passage of the Militia Acts of 1792. After a few years, the Legion of the United States was reorganized into four regiments. The US had its first official standing army but it was small. The Government relied on the militia for 100+ years and it still does to a certain extent.

Bear arms isn't an exclusive military term. The following is from the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776:

Notice the right to bear arms for self defense?

How about the Connecticut Constitution of 1818:

Notice again the right to bear arms for defense of oneself and the state?

By the way, under Federal law, healthy men between the ages of 17 and 45 are apart of the unorganized militia.

Thank you for pointing it out, if anything it underlines the violence inherent in American history, in which it is not unique; I would also assume it is uncontoversial to argue that the states of the Union are now so different from the days when a British invasion was a real threat, that the justification for bearing arms is weaker than it was. What remains is the general principle to bear arms, and the nature of modern armaments, I think a justification for both has been weakened by time, but it is for Americans to decide what place weapons have in society.

[Dave32111]

Speak for yourself.

I'm the only one who will. You have made it clear you're not interested in opinions other than the one you hold yourself in this case. I answered your silly question. The USSC has sided with the individual's right to keep and bear arms. Try to deflect this as much as you want, but this is largely a mental-health problem.

Apparently emotion is what is important in this debate.

[trish]

...you're not interested in opinions other than the one you hold...

I thought you were going to speak for yourself!

...this is largely a mental-health problem.

The mental health issue is a desperate diversion. The problem is that guns are so readily available that even children and the mentally ill have to problem obtaining them.

Apparently emotion is what is important in this debate.

Duh...twenty first graders lie in their graves thanks to gun nuts and the NRA.

[trish]

...you're not interested in opinions other than the one you hold...

I thought you were going to speak for yourself!

...this is largely a mental-health problem.

The mental health issue is a desperate diversion. The problem is that guns are so readily available that even children and the mentally ill have no problem obtaining them.

Apparently emotion is what is important in this debate.

Duh...twenty first graders lie in their graves thanks to gun nuts and the NRA.

[thombergeron]

The USSC has sided with the individual's right to keep and bear arms.

The Supreme Court has consistently declined to assert an individual's absolute right to bear arms. Even Heller left many of the provisions of DC's Firearms Control Regulations Act in place. Noted gun nut Antonin Scalia wrote that "military-grade" weapons are not provided Second Amendment Protections. Plus, Heller was decided 5-4, and Stevens wrote a very strongly worded dissent.

It's simply not accurate to say the USSC has decided this and it's over. Heller's attorney acknowledged that one vote made the difference. Indeed, had the Rhenquist Court not appointed George Bush President in 2000, John Roberts and Samuel Alito would not be on the Court, and DC's handgun ban would likely still stand.

Try to deflect this as much as you want, but this is largely a mental-health problem.

Awesome. So we agree that no one in the U.S. should be permitted to take possession of a firearm without a background check and a waiting period, and that we need to radically expand the scope of the NICS. I personally have been lobbying HHS to stop defunding mental health services and research for almost 10 years now. Block grants to the states have been largely ineffective because they're too small and are poorly monitored and evaluated. Currently, states are not required to send mental health diagnoses to NICS; it's voluntary. And though PPACA does include some new funding for mental health services, at the request of the gun lobby, it also includes language that expressly prohibits physicians from asking patients being evaluated for mental health issues about their access to guns.

So the NRA doesn't think it's a mental health problem. I trust you'll call them and register your dissent.

[NYBURBS]

The Supreme Court has consistently declined to assert an individual's absolute right to bear arms. Even Heller left many of the provisions of DC's Firearms Control Regulations Act in place. Noted gun nut Antonin Scalia wrote that "military-grade" weapons are not provided Second Amendment Protections. Plus, Heller was decided 5-4, and Stevens wrote a very strongly worded dissent.

It's simply not accurate to say the USSC has decided this and it's over. Heller's attorney acknowledged that one vote made the difference. Indeed, had the Rhenquist Court not appointed George Bush President in 2000, John Roberts and Samuel Alito would not be on the Court, and DC's handgun ban would likely still stand.

The same could be more easily said about most of the federal regulations and programs that the left wing in this country hold dear. Social Security, Medicare, Federal Labor regulations, regulation of intra-state affairs via the inter-state commerce clause, and the right to an abortion were all products of the early-mid 20th century progressive era, and many were decided by split courts if I recall correctly. That's the nature of our system, and I wouldn't hold my breath for seeing Heller overturned anytime soon.

[Prospero]

NYBURBS... these programmes should be "held dear" by everyone. They are designed to help make your nation a healtier, happier, safer and more just place. Unlike guns which are made for killing.

[buttslinger]

I think it's funny that the pro-gun people are anti-abortion, and the anti-gun people are pro-abortion,... I mean, pro-choice. Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness......who writes this stuff?