Serious gun control questions
I hope I won't be inaccurately categorized for simply asking these questions. Maybe if I preface my comments by saying my family has guns, I can shoot a gun, I agree with the use of guns for personal protection, and I've voted for Reagan, GHW Bush, GW Bush, and Bobby Jindal, you won't assume you know my position on everything. My questions are:
1) are there good reasons to have assault weapons available to the "common man?"
2) is there a reasonable way to keep guns out of the hands of lunatics?
Re: Serious gun control questions
What is an assault weapon?
Re: Serious gun control questions
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ChampKind
What is an assault weapon?
I don't pretend to be a weapons cognoscente, so I admit I used a blanket term; maybe better terms would be semi-automatic or automatic weapons?
Re: Serious gun control questions
I don't believe automatic weapons are available to the general public. Part of the problem CK is getting at is that the term "assault weapon" has been used to categorize some very normal types of weapons. We have to be careful about terms that are used because they are emotionally charged.
One point I'll make in answer to your original question. What is the point of "the right to bear arms"? Is it hunting or home defense? No. It's to protect oneself from the power of the king. It's so the people have the ability to resist a tyrannical government.
Having said that, I realize that we create some of our own problems with this. I don't know how you stop these kinds of events. One does wonder, though, why they've ramped up so much in recent years.
Re: Serious gun control questions
The 2nd Amendment does not specify which guns someone can/can't own. I think we should be able to own fully-automatic weapons, in whatever calibers we want. At the time of the adopting of the Bill of Rights, the average citizen owned rifled muskets, which was the same or superior to what the standing army carried. In other words, citizens had access to the latest, state-of-the-art weaponary. That should be true today, as well. The 2nd Amendment is clear.
Re: Serious gun control questions
Quote:
Originally Posted by
maverick
I don't pretend to be a weapons cognoscente, so I admit I used a blanket term; maybe better terms would be semi-automatic or automatic weapons?
I don't pretend to know what cognoscenti means, so I'll accept your admission at face value.
The difficulty in this issue is defining what is superfluous and what is reasonable. The most deadly weapon the coward wielded was his mind. History shows us that those hell bent on death and destruction will achieve it.
Most of the gun control advocates will say that we need to ban hi-cap mags. Look at the planning this guy put into his shooting! He would simply had more mags...or obtained outlawed mags illegally.
We must have a very good reason to restrict freedom. The 5 nut-cases in 300,000,000 is not a good enough reason to me...because they will still commit the acts. We'll just make them jump through more hoops that they will gladly jump through. In the
end though, they will still kill because that is who they are.
Re: Serious gun control questions
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ChampKind
I don't pretend to know what cognoscenti means, so I'll accept your admission at face value.
The difficulty in this issue is defining what is superfluous and what is reasonable. The most deadly weapon the coward wielded was his mind. History shows us that those hell bent on death and destruction will achieve it.
Most of the gun control advocates will say that we need to ban hi-cap mags. Look at the planning this guy put into his shooting! He would simply had more mags...or obtained outlawed mags illegally.
We must have a very good reason to restrict freedom. The 5 nut-cases in 300,000,000 is not a good enough reason to me...because they will still commit the acts. We'll just make them jump through more hoops that they will gladly jump through. In the
end though, they will still kill because that is who they are.
:) plural of cognoscente, which refers to a subject matter expert; connoisseur
I appreciate your response. I agree it should take a lot to restrict freedom. And I can agree with your 5/300,000,000 statement--at least until I consider the question "what if one of my loved ones was slaughtered?" That's where I get stuck because it's hard to imagine I would think the killer had a right to his freedom.
Re: Serious gun control questions
Quote:
Originally Posted by
dawg80
The 2nd Amendment does not specify which guns someone can/can't own. I think we should be able to own fully-automatic weapons, in whatever calibers we want. At the time of the adopting of the Bill of Rights, the average citizen owned rifled muskets, which was the same or superior to what the standing army carried. In other words, citizens had access to the latest, state-of-the-art weaponary. That should be true today, as well. The 2nd Amendment is clear.
Unequevically, agree.
Re: Serious gun control questions
Quote:
Originally Posted by
TechDawgMc
I don't believe automatic weapons are available to the general public. Part of the problem CK is getting at is that the term "assault weapon" has been used to categorize some very normal types of weapons. We have to be careful about terms that are used because they are emotionally charged.
One point I'll make in answer to your original question. What is the point of "the right to bear arms"? Is it hunting or home defense? No. It's to protect oneself from the power of the king. It's so the people have the ability to resist a tyrannical government.
Having said that, I realize that we create some of our own problems with this. I don't know how you stop these kinds of events. One does wonder, though, why they've ramped up so much in recent years.
I agree with what you've said. But while you (we) continue to fight the second amendment battle, we may already have lost the war to resist a tyrannical government because of the overwhelming power of taxation that has been granted to government and the immense enforcement power that the government has assumed through the creation of the IRS.
The only way to prevent the rise of, or resist, a tyrannical government is to choke its access to money.
Re: Serious gun control questions
Quote:
Originally Posted by
maverick
:) plural of cognoscente, which refers to a subject matter expert; connoisseur
I appreciate your response. I agree it should take a lot to restrict freedom. And I can agree with your 5/300,000,000 statement--at least until I consider the question "what if one of my loved ones was slaughtered?" That's where I get stuck because it's hard to imagine I would think the killer had a right to his freedom.
To me, this is the problem with the way liberals think. They can't separate emotion from practical/logical thinking. They worry too much about the individual, and not about the whole. The thinking comes from a good place, but
We can restrict weapons as much as we want, but people will still find ways to kill others. That's the way humans work. Bad things happen, and we can't prevent every bad thing from happening. But is restricting gun rights good for the whole of the country? I don't think so. The government is supposed to be scared of it's citizens, and not the other way around. First we'll try to vote them out, and if that doesn't work, then the citizens must exert their control. That's why we have the second amendment, to keep the government from becoming too powerful.
Having said that, I do not own a gun. But I am glad that there are others that do.
Re: Serious gun control questions
Doubt this story will be run by the liberal CNN/MSNBC types. It sure would be reported by them if the guy was a member of the gun club though.
Holmes' Gun Club Query Raised Flags
EXCLUSIVE: Movie massacre suspect James Holmes' gun club application, obtained exclusively by FoxNews.com, unnerved club's owner, who told staff, 'I'm not sure about this guy.'
Re: Serious gun control questions
Quote:
Originally Posted by
TYLERTECHSAS
Doubt this story will be run by the liberal CNN/MSNBC types. It sure would be reported by them if the guy was a member of the gun club though.
Holmes' Gun Club Query Raised Flags
EXCLUSIVE: Movie massacre suspect James Holmes' gun club application, obtained exclusively by FoxNews.com, unnerved club's owner, who told staff, 'I'm not sure about this guy.'
It's been reported practically everywhere, including CNN and MSNBC.
Re: Serious gun control questions
One thing is certain....life goes on. Drove by the cinema in Natchitoches today, showing the latest Batman movie. It was packed, and I saw no police presence anywhere. At least there was no visible signs of police. Might have had some plains' clothesmen inside the theater. I suppose people just shrug it off, don't we.
I know....what else ya gonna do? We see hundreds die in plane crashes, but we still fly. Car wrecks.....no way, ain't given up the car, baby!
Resilient.
Re: Serious gun control questions
Quote:
Originally Posted by
maverick
It's been reported practically everywhere, including CNN and MSNBC.
Couldn't find it on their web sites at the time and still don't.
Re: Serious gun control questions
Quote:
Originally Posted by
dawg80
The 2nd Amendment does not specify which guns someone can/can't own. I think we should be able to own fully-automatic weapons, in whatever calibers we want. At the time of the adopting of the Bill of Rights, the average citizen owned rifled muskets, which was the same or superior to what the standing army carried. In other words, citizens had access to the latest, state-of-the-art weaponary. That should be true today, as well. The 2nd Amendment is clear.
Bonne and Clyde, and John Dillinger would probably agree with you.