Originally posted by bungrider
It's people like you...that make me proud I am not a gun owner.
It's people like him also that make me believe that if guns can't be completely eliminated; and it seems rather late for that, then to get a permit, one should not only have a clean record, but an IQ test and a personality profile, and a sanity hearing should be mandatory. But it's all to much trouble. So we end up with essentially no controls. Yeah, I know, the second amendment. Our founding fathers were well aware of what was going to be available 200 years later. And they must have been just stupid to not foresee street gangs in East LA. So obvious! After all, it makes perfect sense that if someone wears an Oakland Raiders cap backwards, they are an enemy worthy of being shot down. How could old Tom and Ben have not seen that coming? Seems like a perfect progression to the society they envisioned.
Reality is that there are just too many guns already on the streets and in possession. So the issue is really irresolvable. All that can be done is a progressive tightening of restrictions, and maybe someday guns will no longer be a part of our society.
As far as the comments regarding "liberals" as anti-gun, yes, this is generally true. It is also generally true that "conservatives" are pro guns, "pro life" except for the death penalty, pro big tobacco, and against the separation of church and state. So using the constitution is no great argument on their behalf. The right wingers are just as guilty of trying to make the constitution fit their beliefs as any "liberal" or any fanatic of any kind.
The post about the "f*ing muslims" is about as anti american as you can get. I thought we lived in a country founded on freedom of religion, speech, etc. And I always believed that tolerance was our greatest aspiration. Obviously, I was wrong.
Sure, a 12 year old can be tall enough to reach the pedals of a car. So what? Why do the insurance companies keep rates high for males under 26? Do they know something we don't? Common sense is just common sense. Why not let 6 year olds vote? They can read a ballet. And pull a lever. Physical ability is not an issue. A 6 year old can certainly pull a trigger. Let them have machine guns
?!?
So this guy that wants a bazooka, well, what can I say? I have owned guns, and I am against gun ownership. Why did I own guns then? Because when I lived in Colorado, it was just too easy to get a gun. At that time you could go into a drugstore and buy a 44 Magnum and a bottle of aspirin with equal ease. Everyone had a gun, and having grown up in NY where no one had one, I thought it would be cool. Then when I had a child, I realized that having guns in the house was a recipe for disaster. I kept 'em anyway, but the reality was they were too difficult to get, load, and use for self defense to be effective. I know there are people that will sleep with a loaded gun under their pillow. I would rather take my chances and be safe from my own gun. I had a really nice S&W 9mm and traded it for an old Fender Champ tube amplifier. I got, and still get, a lot more use and pleasure from that amp. Now I still have a Llama 9mm, but the clip is one place, the gun another, and the ammo in another still. Why I keep it is a mystery even to me.
What is scary is that if I wanted to, I could sell or give the gun to ANYONE. So even with required permits and registration, it is just too easy to put a gun in the hands of the wrong person. I wish there were a solution for this "loophole". But so far, there is no way to close it. Too many guns are around.
As for me, I will either dismantle the gun, and throw it away, or let it rust, as it has been for years.
The arguments about "guns don't kill people, etc." is a joke. Sure you can kill someone without a gun. But not as easily. And to "prove" that point, the fact is that in most states, if you shoot someone and they die, you will face a less stiff sentence than if you stab someone. Why? Because it is just TOO EASY to pull a trigger. Stabbing someone takes a lot more effort and a lot more "brutality". So even the law considers pulling a trigger just too easy. An act of killing that requires virtually no effort. The example about the guy flipping out in the store is so apropos. And so scary. Or put together the concepts of road rage with unrestricted gun ownership, and more disaster. But god forgive us for considering taking away an "inalienable right".
Too bad the NRA has so much money and so much lobbying power. And so little reason to exist. There is a reason they call gun-nuts "nuts".
I wonder how the guy who wants the right to own a bazooka would feel if a member of his family were shot by accident in his home with his gun. Or by someone who picked up a cheap "saturday night special" and pulled the trigger during a mugging of his mother.
Guns are cheap and life shouldn't be. Guns are easy to come by, and life can be difficult to achieve. Fertility specialists are highly paid and highly sought after. People go to incredible lengths to have children in many instances. How can our society let an instrument designed to end lives be cheap and easy to obtain?
How can the pro gun people object to built in safeguards in the manufacture of new guns? Where is the sense? What makes having a weapon so desirable? Is there really something to the belief that the guys that have to have big guns have small penises? Wouldn't be surprised. There has to be some kind of personality or mental defect in someone who considers a 9mm to be a "tiny gun".
Peace,
rs7
