bull drink water Loc: pontiac mi.

gun ownership, is our sacred cow. we use any argument to defend it, and any attack on those who oppose it.
what we have is the NRA and like minded saying let every so called law abiding citizens buy guns, don't make it too difficult.
when a crime is committed throw the book at them.
now all we need is to get the lawyers and bleeding hearts out of the picture.
a quick and public death penalty.
any other course is pissing in the wind.

Sjfh

[quote=thom w]

No...I don’t have the answers. If anyone does, I’d like to hear what they have to say....because, as it stands, nobody seems to have the answer. If that really is the case, then enacting new laws would be useless.

A reasonable answer might change my opinion. What I’ve gotten so far shows that there is no answer and serves only to reinforce my original opinion.

Sjfh

Then perhaps a better law might be to require gun owners to purchase and use gun safes. Right?

Sjfh

Actually, not having one does make the owner irresponsible.

Sjfh

So am I. If I’m responsible enough to own a weapon then I’m also responsible enough to ensure a proper disposition of the weapon.

Bazbo Loc: Lisboa, Portugal

That's OK. They are not really honest questions. She is only knocking down straw men and chasing cartoon villains.

Wellhiem Loc: Sunny England.

The problem is that the market for the illegal gun owners is flooded. The more legal guns there are, the more will be stolen or sold on. This makes them more affordable for criminals.

Sjfh

Your answer then is to punish everyone else?

What about the number of alcohol-related deaths among teens. Should we make alcohol illegal for everyone to limit their supply?

It’s the same logic.

thom w Loc: San Jose, CA

There will be no really good answers as long as the feds stop any government sponsored research on the subject.
I'm not suggesting research on the effects of the gun laws as they stand, though I wouldn't be opposed to it. There should be a study on school massacres and how to throttle them back. There might also be a study on how to cut down on gun violence in this country and how to either lower it or at least have fewer innocent victims. The NRA shouldn't be part of it and gun manufacturers shouldn't be part of it. Probably gun dealers as well, but gun owners should be welcome, their input is valuable, or at least may be.

thom w Loc: San Jose, CA

We do that to some extent. Statistics show that the majority of alcohol caused accidents are caused by drivers with a .2 or higher blood alcohol level. To appease MAD the limit has been lowered to .08. Because some drivers might become inebriated if allowed to drink while driving, non of us can drink while they drive, and neither can their passengers. Seriously, a hot cup of coffee is much more dangerous than a cold beer. We already have laws against driving with a .08 blood level. Have you ever protested these things? We should do the studies and when they are completed and the results are published we should see where we all stand. Minds might be changed from either side.

thom w Loc: San Jose, CA

If you could show that outlawing alcohol will save a lot of lives (Victims, I don't care if people drink themselves to death as long as they are informed and not hurting anyone else.) Then it should be considered, but we already had an experiment that would appear to disprove that outlawing alcohol is beneficial. This isn't a black or white issue. It isn't an all or nothing world. There is no reason to believe that the solution would be to outlaw guns. If study shows that is the best solution, it should be considered.

Sjfh

That makes sense. I would suggest you don’t discount the expertise of the NRA, weapons manufacturers or owners just because you don’t agree with what they stand for.

Sjfh

We haven’t made alcohol illegal. We have legislated morality and allowed penalizing those who don’t use their own sound judgment after drinking.....but we haven’t banned alcohol for the whole society to protect those who drink illegally. Furthermore, we don’t restrict ownership or consumption in private and/or when the consumer is not driving.

Twardlow Loc: Arkansas

But, don’t consider the NRA, Weapons Manufacturers or Owners and neutral commentators on the issue.

And impartiality requires we also listen to the kids from Florida, and other victims and interested parties, including emergency room physicians.

Wellhiem Loc: Sunny England.

It's not really a case of punishing anyone. Some people may be perfectly capable of driving through a town at 150MPH. But, a lot of people aren't so the law prohibits it for all. The vast majority of gun owners may be perfectly responsible, But there doesn't seem to be any way of telling who is or isn't before an event. We seem to be stuck in a sort of all or nothing attitude. What's needed is some form of middle ground between guns for all and a blanket ban.

My suggestions would be:
Compulsory training and testing before being issued with a license.
Continued training on a regular basis, (I don't know what frequency that should be).
Re-testing every five years
Severe penalties for anyone selling a gun to someone who doesn't have a license with the onus being on the seller to ensure that the gun is registered in the new owners name before handing it over.
Accountability for every round of ammunition purchased.
Gun theft to be treated as a serious crime, (not only in terms of sentencing, but also the effort put into recovering them).
Practice shooting to be restricted to registered firing ranges, (this would aid accoutability of amunition).
Age restriction, (probably 21 but I don't know).

None of the above could be achieved over night, so there would need to be period between announcing these rules and enforcing them in order to give people the oportunity to comply.
There also needs to be some sort of attitude change. In most other countries, if you have a child who's not fitting in well at school, has become something of a recluse with no friends, and seems to be bullied, we tend to encourage extracaricular activities where they can meet new people and make friends. We don't try to cheer them up by buying them a semmi-automatic rifle and encouraging them to take it to their next show and tell.