Why do you say this?
Why should I care?
I’m not being sarcastic. Sure, local laws of various sorts cause people to choose one jurisdiction over another. Virginia’s laws denying ordinary legal protections to gays is causing some of them to move out of Virginia. But I’m not going to say we should pass this law, or repeal that law, because of its effect on people’s choices of residence, unless the effects are noticeable in the overall numbers.
There were very few guns in private hands in Nazi Germany; same with Stalin’s Russia. Japan and England have been settled for years; a lot of those years, they lived under totalitarian rule—no absolute ruler (dictator/monarch/whathaveyou) will tolerate an armed citizenry. Not a good comparison to the USA.
Based on my Googling, I think you’re taking shreds of truth and turning them into something else. But it’s hard to say, since you provide no cites.
Yeah; that’s also how all that crack cocaine came in from the surrounding jurisdictions where it’s legal. :rolleyes:
Yes, exactly. But still, I think that the requirement for training and licensing might have helped dissuade Cho. Didn’t he buy the Glock 6 days earlier? And since he was so clearly nutty the examiner might at least have raised a red flag.
I disagree. A personal appearance by the President of the United States is indicative of the high level of importance that the event demands. It was absolutely appropriate that he make an appearance and speak to the grieving families.
Would I prefer that President Bush could speak as eloquently as his predecessors? You bet. Clinton’s speech following the Oklahoma City bombing and Ronald Reagan’s speech following the space shuttle Challenger explosion are examples of how words delivered by a gifted speaker can provide comfort and healing following a tragedy. Unfortunately the current President isn’t a gifted speaker, not by a longshot. However, gifted speaker or not, he’s still our figurehead and it was his duty to pay his respects and give a, albeit lame, speech.
It’s pretty clear that the OP is not a fan of President Bush and that his emotions are clouding his judgment. I simply don’t believe he would agree that a sitting President has no business making speeches at these type events. After a tornado blew up one of our plants, the President of our company met with the workers. As was appropriate. It comes with the territory whether we employees personally like the guy or not. President Bush is our national leader whether we like him or not.
Re gun control: I’ve supported restrictive gun laws for years. However, I have to concede that it’s a bit late for that. There are so many guns in the United States that it would be impossible to remove them from the population. Even if we outlawed every firearm tomorow, the potential for this type of massacre would exist for decades to come.
Are you out of your ever-lovin’ mind in your hatred of Bush? What did you expect him to do and/or say within 72 hours of the killings? And lax gun laws?
There are gun laws introduced and passed after stuff like this happens. Know why? Because they get the spotlight. How many other murders were commited that day with guns? I’ll bet more than 32. We could cut in half the number of gun related laws, maybe 90%, and this still would have been illegal.
It is illegal to commit a crime using a firearm. The laws are already on the books. What is garnering so much attention is that the guns were bought legally. Should he have been able to buy them? Obviously not. So what is the answer? But it’s only obvious after the fact. Does a person need to have character references to purchase? How many. And do they need to be registered and certified in the style of a Notary Public? What you’re looking for is some sort of weaselly way to ban all sales. Just admit it so we can move on.
DUI laws seem pretty far from lax, yet how many drunk drivers kill innocents every day? Anyone that is bright enough to get a license knows it’s illegal drive drunk. So why does it still happen? What new laws can we come up with to make sure it doesn’t happen?
This is a country of 300 million people. It doesn’t matter if you have Hitler-era gun laws. Every now and then some psycho is going to go off. If tougher laws are the answer, I’d love to see how gangs in L.A. and Chicago and New York are able to keep shooting up neighborhoods without missing a step. Ban all guns permanantly. Do you honestly think that will end the gunfire in so many of our cities?
Well, you probably do, but the reality is it won’t. People that want to do harm to others will. If they want to do it with a gun, they will. If not a gun, it will be a knife, or a beating, or a vehicle, or a bomb, or poisoning with chemicals found in just about every home.
Taking 300 million people as the base, it would be .0000001% of the population to come up with 30 people that are capable of this act.
The victim’s families have my symapathy. No question about it. But at what point do we look in horror while realizing this is going to happen from time to time? In one way or another. Dahmer, Gacy and Borden aren’t known for their gun skills. Sometimes a person is just insane, and will kill in the way they see fit. Even (seriously) if it’s with a Nerf bat.
I’d say you’re, at best, naive and, at worst, delusional if you think such a law could be crafted. If the person in question doesn’t have a criminal record, or isn’t committed to a mental institution, you’ll end up having the law thrown out in the courts for violating someone’s civil rights. You can’t create laws that single out people because they are creepy. People with imaginary friends have the same civil rights as those of us who don’t.
Your location says you live in Canada, so maybe things are different up there.
You have a cite for this? From what I heard, the cops who weren’t running away were a bit busy. Was this officially sanctioned, or just a rogue cop thing?
People with unsecured guns cause a social cost. If you remember, one of the kids shooters tried to steal his father’s guns, but they were locked up. He went and stole his grandfather’s unlocked guns instead. Isn’t it reasonable that gun owners who don’t lock up their guns should pay a higher premium than responsible gun owners like you? There is some fairly large percentage of people who keep loaded guns around, and a fair number of illegal guns on the market are stolen. I don’t think it is unreasonable that those who contribute to this problem should pay.
I suppose kids have the constitutional right to kill themselves or their friends with the loaded guns under their dads’ pillow.
Thay are also useful against a rapist with a knife, a gang of strong arm robbers with baseball bats, or a multitude of other threats. I wouldn’t consider defending against a knife attack with a handgun to be an illegitimate use of a handgun.
The New Orleans police force has never been noted for for strictly adhering to the law; their reputation is such as to lead one to believe law enforcement is situational and that the law is what they, or any one of them, declares it to be at the moment.
Things might well have changed in the wake of recent disasters, what with police walking off the job, confiscating Cadillacs for use as squad cars, etc., etc.
I maintain that any personal appearance and/or speech by GWBush is largely a waste of time; the same could be said for the breathing in and out that he routinely does. Maybe, just maybe, someone might be comforted by his presence or by his acknowledgment of the disaster. I personally would not; I would be rather pissed at his uninvited horning in but that’s probably because I believe the man is an unmitigated disaster. In any event, he did show up and he did speak. I, too, wish he could speak even half as well as those you reference. I might well feel differently in that case.
Its true that GeeDub is not credited even with the most routine ceremonial functions, such as speaking on behalf of a shocked nation, etc. There he stands, at the bottom of a deep, deep hole. But its his shovel that he’s holding.
All of these, with the exception of the last, already exist in some form in California.
The only one that I am not sure of is item 5 as it applies to Curios and Relics (rifles from WW1 and suchlike).
And the last would never work out. I can insure a weapon in case it is stolen, so that I can replace it, but why should I be liable for what happens after it is stolen from it’s lockbox and the trigger lock cut off? I took every decent precaution, and was foiled by more determined theives.
If someone steals my car, I am not liable for the storefront the person who stole it crashed through, as far as I know.
Which brings us back to the OP, and a stupid OP it was. It is absolutely S.O.P. for presidents to speak at such occasions. If that bothers you, then that’s you’re problem. Did the governor of VA speak at the memorial service? I’m sure he must have. Same thing.
One cannot purchase a hand gun in the State of New York, without obtaining a permit.
A six month wait, after the application is submitted, is not uncommon. It does not matter if you want it for hunting only, or, you are reqesting a full carry.
Just checked and you are right, so I’ll get rid of that last clause if the guns stolen are locked up. I remember some kids “borrowing” my friend’s parent’s car and crashing it. The parents were responsible for the medical bills for the kids because my friend did not stop them.
I never said it wasn’t his business to make a speech in response to tragedy. He just can’t do it for shit. And apprently nobody in the White House can manage to write anything worthy either. His words were an insult to the memory of those who died.
Would you tell the widow of the professor and Holocaust survivor who barred the door, sacrificed his life and saved the lives of students that her husband was in the “wrong place at the wrong time”?
And as far as my emotions clouding my judgment, a hearty “fuck you.” My judgment’s just fine, with or without a little timely passion.
What was the title of this thread?
Any time GWBush opens his damn mouth, it bothers me. If that sentiment bothers you, then that’s your problem. Leave me to my problems and I’ll leave you to yours.