Gun Control Thread -- (Pros and Cons) -- Aftermath of Connecticut Shooting

[Rasputin]

Clinton was sending a message. "Somebody please screw me."

FIFY

 

[Bamaro]

Some interesting statistics. Make of them what you wish.

Deaths from firearms are set to outstrip car fatalities for the first time, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and reported by Bloomberg News.

The CDC estimates that auto-related deaths--long on the decline as more motorists wear seat-belts and face harsher penalties for drunk driving--will fall to 32,000 in 2015. Deaths from firearms, which include suicides and accidents, are estimated to rise to 33,000 over the same period.

Every day, 85 Americans are shot dead, about 53 of them in suicides. This figure is still lower than 1993's peak in gun deaths (37,666), but has risen significantly since firearm deaths reached a low in 2000 (28,393). The data goes back to 1979.

Meanwhile, USA Today, which looked at FBI figures, reports that 774 people were killed between 2006 and 2010 by a mass killer, defined as a person who kills four or more people in one incident. The figures show that mass killers strike on average once every two weeks. A third of the 156 mass killings did not involve firearms, but rather fire, knife or other weapon. Almost all of the mass killers in those years were men, and their average age was 32. The dozens of deaths caused by mass killers represented about 1 percent of all homicides between 2006 and 2010.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/gun-deaths-set-outstrip-car-fatalities-first-time-152632492.html

 

[Tide1986]

Some interesting statistics. Make of them what you wish.


http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/gun-deaths-set-outstrip-car-fatalities-first-time-152632492.html

Thanks, I will.

 

[jthomas666]

Cheney was sending a message. "Don't screw with me, or I'll shoot someone in the face."

Ah, it's been a while...

 

[Bamaro]

Thanks, I will.

 

[selmaborntidefan]

I've read about the first six pages so somebody may have said this already:

Any politician promising to "do something" about
1) assault weapons
2) 30 round clips
3) blah blah blah


is lying.


There are already 270 MILLION legal guns in America. And probably that many illegal ones.


Diane Feinstein KNOWS gun control doesn't work. She was the President of the San Fran Board of Supervisors when Dan White popped both Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. Oh - and they even had metal detectors at the front of the building where the murders occurred.


Simply be honest and say, "There's nothing we can do about this."

 

[Dallas4Bama]

Prior to the 1994 Law assault rifles were considered weapons capable of mutiple round burst or capable of being fully automatic. If you read the 1994 law it states that we know these rifles are not true assault rifles, but for purposes of this law we will call them assault rifles.

M16 is an assault rifle. Your civilian AR-15 or AR-15 variant is a semi automatic rifle.

Exactly right! The AR and AR variants that the media and politicians love to label with this terrifying term "assault" are nothing more than semi automatic rifles built on the same platform as the military version for looks, but without the function. I have hunting rifles with the same capabilities. They do operate on a direct impengment system so they are different in that manner, but that's just the way the action works. It shoots no faster than a winchester super x 3 shotgun or a remmington model 742 rifle. It just looks like a military rifle.

It drives me crazy to hear people talk about "assault rifles" like they are fully automatic or burst capable guns. All this talk about weapons of warfare on the street is just political hot air. Either those addressing it don't know what they're saying, which after listening to Hank Johnson from Georgia seems probable, or do and are talking while hoping the public doesn't understand.

Why must we always manage to the lowest denominator in this country? We insist on trying to idiot proof the world and it can't be done while maintaining our freedoms.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

Why must we always manage to the lowest denominator in this country? We insist on trying to idiot proof the world and it can't be done while maintaining our freedoms.

Because we don't live in a democracy. Haven't for quite sometime. We live in a country with a corrupt political system. We may have forms of democracy here and there but let's not fool ourselves. The meaning "We the people" can be summed up in two words, jack and squat.

 

[Bamaro]

I've read about the first six pages so somebody may have said this already:

Any politician promising to "do something" about
1) assault weapons
2) 30 round clips
3) blah blah blah


is lying.


There are already 270 MILLION legal guns in America. And probably that many illegal ones.


Diane Feinstein KNOWS gun control doesn't work. She was the President of the San Fran Board of Supervisors when Dan White popped both Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. Oh - and they even had metal detectors at the front of the building where the murders occurred.


Simply be honest and say, "There's nothing we can do about this."

At this point its not about doing anything with the guns already out there but to try to keep them or new ones out of the hands of those who shouldn't have them. There are no perfect answers, just do the best we can considering the circumstances.

 

[Tide1986]

Amend the Constitution first...then we can have a meaningful conversation.

 

[Bamaro]

Amend the Constitution first...then we can have a meaningful conversation.

Its already settled law, restrictions are constitutional.

 

[seebell]

I thought you had to take a class, register, and be licensed to be able to carry a concealed weapon?

In Tejas you do. You have to go through a class to get your CHL then present the certificate to the state to get your CHL.

I have a concealed carry permit for Alabama. Fill out the paper, pay $10, about a month later you get your permit in the mail. I assume they do a background check.
I think everywhere should require a class and certification as Bama Fan mentions for Texas

 

[Tide1986]

Its already settled law, restrictions are constitutional.

I'll grudgingly concede that some restrictions may be reasonable without infringing on the letter and spirit of the Constitution, but frankly it's time to stop sliding down that slope. And by the way, you should expand on what restrictions you see arising out of those stats to which I replied.

 

[Bamaro]

Because we don't live in a democracy. Haven't for quite sometime. We live in a country with a corrupt political system. We may have forms of democracy here and there but let's not fool ourselves. The meaning "We the people" can be summed up in two words, jack and squat.

Correct, its a republic

 

[Tide1986]

Its already settled law, restrictions are constitutional.

Are bans constitutional?

 

[seebell]

If guns were regulated like cars, the Second Amendment would never have existed. You're confusing rights and privileges, or you just don't care much about your rights.

Obviously the rights in the 2nd Amendment are not absolute as there are restrictions already deemed constitutional. As for being confused and not caring my wife said to me that just the other day.

 

[Tide1986]

Obviously the rights in the 2nd Amendment are not absolute as there are restrictions already deemed constitutional. As for being confused and not caring my wife said to me that just the other day.

I've conceded the first point already. As to your second point, I'll just have to trust you on that one.

 

[Bamaro]

Are bans constitutional?

Depends on the ban

 

[Tide1986]

Depends on the ban

Would you articulate some bans that you think would be? I'll name one that might be: those convicted of a felony not being allowed to purchase, own or otherwise possess a gun.

 

[chanson78]

Would you articulate some bans that you think would be? I'll name one that might be: those convicted of a felony not being allowed to purchase, own or otherwise possess a gun.

This one is already a ban.

Anyone who has been convicted of a felony is banned by federal law from ever possessing “any firearm or ammunition." Specifically a person "convicted in any court of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year" cannot possess any firearm in any location. 18 U.S.C. 922(g) is the federal law that prohibits anyone ever convicted of any felony to ever possess any firearm either inside or outside of his home. The federal punishment for felon gun possession is up to 10 years in prison.

Congress passed the first blanket prohibition on felons carrying guns in the Gun Control Act of 1968, which made it illegal for felons to possess a gun any under circumstances. The Firearm Owners' Protection Act, passed in 1986, reinforced the ban on felons carrying guns, and also banned people who have been convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year of imprisonment from possessing guns.