Last Friday one of the worst tragedies unfolded as a 20 year old stole his mothers guns, killed her, then killed 20 children and 5 adults at an elementary school. This spurred lots of calls for additional gun bans. Never mind that the guns were stolen, never mind the massacre occurred in an official ‘gun free zone’, never mind the school was locked and strict security measures were in place, never mind the state of Connecticut already has very restrictive gun laws and is at the top of the list of states that spend lots of money for mental illness programs, never mind that gun bans do not work and there are hundreds of other factors at play. What about the history of the creation of the USA and the wisdom of the founding fathers when they created the Bill of Rights? Nope, never mind that too!
There has been some pretty good discussion on facebook about this subject. I’m copying some of my favorites here:
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Larry Pratt at Gun Owners of America: “One measure of insanity is repeating the same failure time after time hoping that the next time the failure will turn out to be a success. Gun Free Zones are a lethal insanity.”
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JJM:
I refuse to have the debate until people realize some basic things:
1. You are 49 times more likely to die by lightning strike than in a mass shooting.
2. Crazy killed those kids.
3. One gun could have stopped crazy.
4. Crazy could kill in any number of ways.
Now on to general gun violence:
5. When people were being killed in mass in the 20’s we didn’t get rid of guns, we got rid of prohibition. Which got rid of the problems with mass shootings. Obviously this doesn’t cure crazy, but, for those who keep pointing out our high percentage of gun violence, ending the prohibition on drugs would go a long way to lower it.
6. We need to stop going around the world being the bully and killing people in the names of corporate sponsors, this will not end crazy, but it will end pissed.
Soon most of these mass attacks will be foreigners in this country looking for revenge. When the day comes that we really have an issue with people with guns in this country out to do us harm, I will be very thankful that I have my guns to defend myself and my family.
7. Do not tell me how many rounds I can have or how powerful they can be. If someone can break into my house carrying a weapon, I want to have a weapon equal to that. Including police or military. And if you don’t think your government might disarm you through propaganda and then shoot you in the head… tell that to the Jews.
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RT:
Well; after reviewing all the posts offered on facebook, I have decided my views on freedom and liberty are wrong and wrong-minded. In an effort to think in a way that will help keep our children safe in their classrooms, I am changing sides. Since I detest compromise, I would call for stronger, better measures to fix our society. While it is true that private ownership of semi-automatic firearms is ridiculous, ALL guns are capable of killing people. Therefore, nothing short of a complete repeal of that outdated Second Amendment will serve to help keep our children safe in their classrooms. Since I don’t hunt or own firearms anyway, I’m losing nothing here and society will be better served. We should further call for a ban on all knives (and swords) longer than five inches in length. We can provide for state licensed individuals to cut our meat for us. Anyone not agreeing with this is just un-american. Todd’s reply concerning drivers is right on, but I think we can do better than that. More stringent driver’s training should include mandatory 8-year driving schools, no “learner’s permits”, tougher tests for license and required re-evaluations every six months. Nobody should be grandfathered; everybody must be evaluated immediately. Since no teenagers, very few young adults and no senior citizens will be qualified to operate a motor vehicle, we will need state controlled public transportation. Since I just spent 16 months in the Middle East without a driver’s license, I’m not losing anything here; and besides, paying more taxes is a small price to pay to help keep our children safe in their classrooms. On that same note; recently, a Dallas Cowboys player lost control of his vehicle, operating it with a blood alcohol level more than twice the legal limit, resulting in the death of his passenger. While he will still face manslaughter charges, he was able to join his team on the sidelines last Sunday. I alone am morally outraged! This event could have ended with his vehicle crashing into another vehicle, slaughtering a family of five on their way home from the school Christmas play. I also believe more stringent penalties for drunk driving will completely solve this problem. If these violators die in the accident, we can get our Democrat scientists to bring them back to life, so we can kill them some more. We once had a prohibition of alcohol in this country, but those damned Republicans passed the 21st Amendment and wrong-mindedly brought alcohol back. No matter, I propose a new amendment to re-abolish alcohol; since I don’t drink alcoholic beverages of any kind, I’m losing nothing here and we will greatly help keep our children safe in their classrooms. I will rest now; I’m off (you think?) to review the Bill Of Rights. Since the constitution is a living document, I’m going to find all the outdated thinking involved there and propose jacking the living hell out of it…to help keep our children safe in their classrooms.
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I, like Brian, am opposed to having the government get rolling on banning anything! We are on a slippery slope when we ASK the government to ban, restrict, or take away things from the people. No government can resist the desire to continue to take more. I understand why several of you want a ban on assault weapons (or whatever you want to call them), I just don’t agree. I want americans to stop calling for government involvement and refuse more legislation, but I’ll never see that happen.
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me:
Being a gun owner doesn’t make you a fan of the second amendment. The second amendment was put in place to ensure citizens the ability to resist (or even overthrow if needed) the government. It is not about hunting birds. At the time it was written, we had just fought against the most powerful military in the world. It was VERY important that the ‘defenders of liberty’ AKA regular citizens had access to the best military weapons at the time. At this point in history, it was about cannons. Who in their right mind needs a cannon? Well, it turns out the founding fathers thought we did.
So, your attitude against so called assault rifles (which is a misuse of the term by the way) is in direct conflict with the foundation and intent of the second amendment.
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others:
The second amendment wasn’t “created by the government”. It was created by free men who were intimately familiar with the peril of an unreasonable government.
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and as long as the govt and gangsters has assault rifles i feel a lot more comfortable having one too..
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Suzanna Gratia-Hupp What the Second Amendment is REALLY For
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How To Argue With Anti-Gun Folks
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And some posters:
