Actually, what happened with that is the counter reaction that currently makes any tightening of any gun laws a practical impossibility. The Assault Weapons Ban resulted in a major swing against people banning guns. The people that want to take everybody's guns away still want to do that, they just can't find anybody to listen to them in Congress because people like to get reelected. And the people who were behind the Assault Weapons Ban weren't exactly satisfied at that. All the time right up to the point it expired they were working to enact more laws banning other guns, so they did, in fact, try taking everybody's guns away. They just can't get anybody to listen. The most recent attempt was the effort to convince people to ban guns by blaming all gun violence in Mexico on smuggling of American guns, despite the federal Mexican government's own statistics showing what a small percentage of guns used in Mexico come from the USA. They work on you by trying to make you fearful. It is the same way conservatives use fear to push for tightening sentencing. On several occasions I've seen people that are afraid to even touch a gun that has been verified as unloaded. They've been so conditioned that they can't even touch it. That isn't rational.
I realize a small minority of people will want more stringent gun laws no matter what, and a minority of people will want zero regulation at all. There are some regulation on guns that are a huge hassle, and not practical. I live in CA and buying guns off some of the online sites is a huge a difficulty because of the regulations. The kinds of guns I'm into are not anything a killer would want to use. But despite the fact that some people wanted to enlarge the assault weapons ban, the fact that it was enacted and didn't have the slippery slope effect that we hear so much about shows that it is possible for us as a society to regulate fire arms with out the slippery slope taking effect.
I am not sure one or two isolated cases, however dramatic, requires significant changes to the law. This applies to my feelings about gun laws in the face of the Tucson shooting as well as my feeling about the TSA after 9/11. Of course, this is not to say that gun control and flight safety should not be considered, just that they should be considered in light of everything out there and in a way that is expected to actually solve the problem efficiently rather than as a gut reaction to one event (not unlike all the TRADE PLAYER X AND FIRE COACH Y posts we get in GARM after a Rockets loss).
I've never bought a firearm, but plan to relatively soon. Even though I've never bought one, I own 6 of them (one was a gift; the rest I inherited). Personally, I look forward to building a small arsenal. The 2nd Amendment is one of the few things on which I take a pretty conservative stance. I'm not against background checks or anything of the sort, but leave my damn guns alone.
FTR, just on handguns,...on AR15's, extended mags are a given...I don't feel comfortable with extended magazines on handguns. On my AR 15 rifles, I love them...In fact, I only have about 100 30 round mags. ...Not enough...I am short on time, but for defense certain research really credits the AR15 type rifles as exclusively ideal and I am steadfast against doing anything to limit the AR15 with their standard mags (20, 30 rounds)... I am not saying all 'assault rifles' are good for defense, The AK is NOT, (the bullet passes thru too many barriers- does not fragment) typical hunting rifles (too powerful) are not, but the AR-15 rifle and the bullet is uses is very favorable to urban defense. The .223 bullet does devastating damage while being less likely to pass thru hard targets than some shotgun or pistol rounds...The AR15 is a justifiable defense rifle, in fact probably the only one... seriously do a search for more.. If 3 or 4 bad guys are coming at you while you are home and jumping around (not that this is likely- but HAS happened), you need the standard 20, 30 round mags... BTW, the only handguns worth it to me are Glocks and 1911's, everything else is junk
weslinder, thanks for correcting me on "magazine." I might as well learn a little something. The comic Donny posted sums it up for me. Maybe access to mental healthcare should be a easy as guns. Support more than one appointment a week if dude can buy more than one gun per week. bigtexxx, that is the weakest sauce. It is not even worthy of being called a straw man. It is a straw cockroach or a straw bacterium.
I said this in the shooting thread. It is the obvious solution but it doesn't fit anyone's political agenda. When feelings towards mental health change, and there gets to be real tangible efforts in public high schools and universities we will see a difference.
It's pretty interesting. I work at a university, and I'd say we're incredibly serious about this. We have people on staff who are qualified to treat kids and get them diagnosed and into some sort of helpful treatment. But there are very few tools that can help you get to a kid who doesn't acknowledge he or she is mentally ill. Often times, you're walking a tightrope between doing what you think is best, including warding off that 1 in a million chance of mass violence, on the one side, and a big lawsuit from a kid's family, on the other side. Ugh.
He should have asked the Russian reporter if the cheap and plentiful AK-47's the Russians have sold to every country with a letter in it's name contributes to any of the political unrest, coups, ethnic wars, and genocide in the world today.
I'm pretty sure access to mental healthcare is easier than access to guns. There are no background checks when you go to see a psychiatrist. There is no mandatory waiting period. There is nothing stopping you from spending all day, every day in a therapist's office. As long as you can afford it, mental healthcare can be had in unlimited amounts.
Hey, I dunno. Maybe it's a good use of time to explain why spoons aren't like guns... Spoiler ... if you've had a lobotomy.
I'll never look at ice picks the same way...(yes, I only learned that part of it only a year ago. . .)
