So you think you know the 2nd Amendment

[gimmethesimplelife]

The Storyteller. Just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate your level-headedness, and educated approach to this conversation. It's refreshing to read a members entries that reflect a sense of reality, rather than fantasy.

I cannot help but think the latest ill-thought round of words (right from the mouth of the NRA) has inspired wannabes to get a gun, so they too can join the ranks of their other wannabee counterparts, in their quest to find a "bad guy with a gun" and take care of the problem, and when/if they can't find a "bad guy with a gun", let's just hunt some poor innocent being down and pepper him/her, just because we can. Yeah!

+1 Rob

[The Storyteller]

One thing I'm growing really sick of listening to (reading), is "it won't work". Rubbish!

The thinking seems to be, since the answers are difficult and nothing solves gun violence completely, we should do nothing. Well, I think getting weapons of war out of the hands of civilians is a good start. At least the shooters will have less deadly weaponry when things to go awry.

I read the Colorado mass killer had an AR-15 with a hundred round drum. Something like that, you can do an awful lot of damage without the need to reload.

I have yet to read a rational explanation why anyone needs 30 round clips and hundred round drums, but some people don't even want those banned.

[CathyA]

Have you ever noticed that gun-owners don't seem to want to do any of the compromising? Taking anything away........even if its mostly used to murder people, they view it as a personal attack and a loss of all their freedoms. There just HAS to be compromise on both sides. I do see non gun owners as being more compromising. I'm just finding it very strange that there's so much rigidity in many gun owners thinking. (not to mention paranoia).

[gimmethesimplelife]

I think it's going to be an interesting 2013 - I really mean this. What with noises coming out of the White House about gun control, and October 1st, 2013 being the first day of signup for ObamaCare, and the nation possibly going over the cliff and into another recession - it's going to be an interesting year. Many issues are on the table all at once it seems, and hot button issues at that, including the Supreme Court taking on gay marriage. I am thinking it's shaping up to be a roller coaster year here but.....will be interesting to see what happens with all of this, including with gun control. Rob

[Mrs-M]

The thinking seems to be, since the answers are difficult and nothing solves gun violence completely, we should do nothing. Well, I think getting weapons of war out of the hands of civilians is a good start. At least the shooters will have less deadly weaponry when things to go awry.

I read the Colorado mass killer had an AR-15 with a hundred round drum. Something like that, you can do an awful lot of damage without the need to reload.

I have yet to read a rational explanation why anyone needs 30 round clips and hundred round drums, but some people don't even want those banned.

You captured it wholly and completely!

[Yossarian]

Not yet, anyway, even after a year of 4 mass shootings ending in one at an elementary school that killed 20 children, all of which involved assault weapons and multiple round magazines or drums.

Were those any worse than the typical shootings with other guns? Keep in mind Cho used two common handguns, one a .22 pistol with a 10 round magazine, to kill 32 people and injure 17 others at Viginia Tech.

Got to figure 2012 was a bad year but overall there has not been a big increase in mass shootings, just the headline grabbing.




But then I'm sure you know the scary assault weapon isn't really the issue, those guns are used in less than 1% of gun crimes and banning them didn't help any the last time. So why not quit this namby pamby stuff and just man up for a push to repeal the Second Amendment like you want?

[Mrs-M]

Originally posted by Yossarian.
overall there has not been a big increase in mass shootings

Great! Translation... everything is A-OK!

[gimmethesimplelife]

Great! Translation... everything is A-OK!

Dead on in my book, Mrs M! To me personally, ANY increase is mass shootings is a sign something somewhere is not working.....Rob

[The Storyteller]

Have you ever noticed that gun-owners don't seem to want to do any of the compromising? Taking anything away........even if its mostly used to murder people, they view it as a personal attack and a loss of all their freedoms. There just HAS to be compromise on both sides. I do see non gun owners as being more compromising. I'm just finding it very strange that there's so much rigidity in many gun owners thinking. (not to mention paranoia).

Well, to be clear, it isn't gun owners and non-gun owners. There are many gun owners like me who are for sensible solutions.

A lot of gun owners are being manipulated by the NRA and other representatives of the armament manufacturing interests.

[Yossarian]

ANY increase is mass shootings is a sign something somewhere is not working

The peak was apparently in 1929 and was trending down in the last few years, so increase is a hard thing to pin down.

I wish they had better historic stats on mental health, but something like 38 of the last 61 mass shooters showed signs of mental illness prior to their crimes. I think as Virginia Tech points out, any gun in the hands of sick person is worse than any gun in the hands of responsible people.

If you are serious about this do you have any ideas on how we address the mental health aspects?