I should that there are a couple of small things we could do quickly like reopening the FFL licenses to people without business addresses, so that low volume dealers could access background checks would be a good and quick step that the NRA would agree with.
Also maybe compelling local law enforcement officials to conduct background checks for non-dealers conducting private sales would probably make a lot of people who want to privately sell a firearm feel better.
Right now there is no way for a person who is not a dealer to run a check when they sell a firearm to another individual.
Many have asked about certain kinds of guns, those that “have no purpose other than to kill” etc.
Some books, such as The Anarchists Cookbook, and The Poor Mans James Bond have been used to make bombs used in terrorist attacks. Certainly, no one NEEDS to have one of those sorts of books, banning them might save lives. Do you support banning books like that?
You can continue ruling it if you prevent them from rising up.
Iraq is an insanely stupid example. Hussein ran the country despite being hated by much of its population for 34 years, and was deposed not by his own people but by the United States. They had lots of guns and it did nothing to get rid of Saddam Hussein.
People are worried about the rush Obama is putting on gun control. The NRA is reporting 8,000 new members a day since the school shooting.
I’m very offended that Obama wants to rush this through in only a month. One month for something this complicated? What kind of half ass solution is that? If this quote is accurate then shame on Obama. Using a tragedy like this as a political opportunity.
Meanwhile, the rest of America - i.e. a majority of Americans - now support stricter gun control and that’s not some big explosion based on emotions that may subside either:
The NRA may be powerful. But their views are still a minority one when it comes to this issue and for the first time literally since the aftermath of the Reagan assassination attempt (when the Brady Campaign first formed) there is momentum on the side of action.
I expect he means that they were intelligent, educated, thoughtful men who put a lot of time, effort and care into crafting the foundations of our system of government. This is in contrast to people who wish to make sweeping and immediate changes while in the throes of heightened emotions. You can decide for yourself how you compare with regards to intelligence, education, and thoughtfulness.
If these thoughtful men were around today, would they still be keeping slaves?
If these intelligent men were still around, would they still restrict women from owning property and voting?
If these educated men were around today, would they still constrain all real power to white male land owners?
Those intelligent, educated, thoughtful men were for the most part dead wrong on some pretty basic things. At best, they were not very enlightened. I mean, what would they have thought of same sex marriage? It didn’t even come up back in the day for good reasons.
We can all agree that these intelligent, educated, thoughtful men got a bunch of things wrong. It has been asked by many people, including myself, to Christian apologetics: How can we trust the Bible as an authority on ethics, morality and social justice when it got the easiest question of them all - slavery - completely wrong?
The same question could be asked of our founding fathers.
But guns weren’t a moral issue then. Owning a firearm in the 1770s meant owning a very different weapon used under very different circumstances and in very different communities.
That said, it’s not at all unfair to say that today, it is a moral and ethical issue.
And all of this does beg the question: If these intelligent, educated, thoughtful men were around today, and they saw the power of modern weaponry, the modern landscape where overthrowing the government is a concern only to the lunatic fringe of Montana militiamen or would-be assassins, and most importantly, how families and whole communities were being torn apart by gun violence in epidemic proportions, would they rethink the second amendment?
It’s not a shock that many of the intelligent, educated, thoughtful men of today think that maybe they would.
I think if the founding fathers were here today they would be appalled that virtually every warning they gave about a central government accumulating too much power has come to pass; almost exactly everything that the authors of the Anti-Federalist papers claimed would result if the new Constitution were ratified and that the Federalists poo-pooed as scare mongering. They would probably insist that the federal armed forces be disbanded and that the right of every citizen to own a full-auto assault rifle be upheld. And given the lessons of history, they’d probably revisit Jefferson’s suggestion that all prohibitory laws expire every nineteen years and a new generation decide whether they want them or not.
Technology will eventually solve much of the gun violence. They already have a keyed locked built into new guns. I bought a Ruger last Feb that has the lock built into the frame. The lock is an internal safety. You’re supposed to lock any guns that you store. So kids can’t find them and accidentally fire it. It might help deter a thief from using a stolen gun too. Also, my new Ruger has a safety that will not let it fire unless there is a clip in it. Solving the problem of getting shot with a forgotten round in the chamber.
They are working on biometrics for guns. So the gun only works for the person it belongs too. I think its already in prototype stages.
Eliminating child accidents and criminals using stolen guns will significantly reduce the problem. Better background checks helps keep the wrong people from buying guns.
Yes, a gun owner could still murder somebody. But, I see progress ahead as technology improves.
It’s mind-numblingly simple: What you suggest was tried and failed while the founding fathers were still around! No need to raise hypotheticals on this one.
I realize that RON PAUL and his supporters like to forget that this state autonomy idea was tried and failed, but I don’t think the founding fathers would since they were mostly all able to witness the failure and take a part in trying to come up with something better.
Unless you think that a bunch of intelligent, educated, thoughtful men would suddenly act real unintelligent, uneducated and thoughtless by trying out something that they already knew first-hand had failed.
(Note: If you care to have more discussion on it, please start another thread since this is a hijack.)
And a month ago I’d have agreed with you. After all, Obama had gone out of his way to emphasize that he wouldn’t screw around with the gun issue…that he had bigger fish to fry. And, frankly, he does. Despite this, he is certainly making a lot of noises about jumping into this and Doing Something™…so, perhaps those folks who were worried about it had some justification after all.
I’m not saying I think that the draconian ban hammer of doom is about to descend on the country, outlawing all guns…but consider this from a gun owners perspective, especially those who lived through similar appeals such as the one happening now. They are talking about bringing back the AWB. Again, consider that from the perspective of someone who knows what that really means in terms both of what it’s attempting to do (ban guns that basically LOOK scary), and what it’s likely to achieve (namely dick…just like the last time). Especially consider it from the perspective that none of the guns used in this tragedy would have been banned under the AWB…afaik, not even the rifle he left behind in his car.
Personally, I’m offended because it’s so obviously a political motivated move, and obviously one that shows that when the opportunity comes up he and other anti-gun folks (something I didn’t think he WAS until recently) will jump on at the slightest chance, and at a time when our REAL concern should be figuring out this fiscal cliff thingy. THAT and the tough challenges to our economy SHOULD be the primary focus right now. Instead, it’s more of this silly AWB shit, that is a feel good boondoggle that will have no real effect on crimes such as this one, and will simply detract from the real problems facing this country.
So, yeah…I’m a bit offended atm by all of this. And I’m a bit exasperated as well by how stupid this all is.