Is there a good argument for NOT limiting the weapons to which civilians have access? Like these AR-15s or whatever. How is making them illegal a bad thing?
How is making words that you don't like illegal a bad thing?
If you took the time to understand the second amendment, why it was written, and modern firearms you might reconsider your question.
1. AR-15s or whatever are not military weapons, they look like, but do not function in the same manner. When looks matter more than function, you've got a problem.
2. When the second amendment was written, the civilian population was on a whole better armed than the military (outside cannons). Today, that is not true.
3. The Founders of our nation didn't trust the government to abide with the restrictions of the Constitution and bill of rights as the government is made up of men not angels. So they inserted the second amendment so that the government could not disarm the people.
4. There are already volumes of laws that prohibit certain types of weapons, their use and more. If these laws haven't eliminated violence and crime, what makes you think that more laws will have a positive impact?
5. And lastly, when did taking something from law abiding people ever prevent the bad or evil people from doing what they are intent upon doing?
Almost every argument used to advocate for gun control (banning etc.) could be used by those who want to ban hate, unpopular, or just speech they don't like. If the Constitution can be circumvented with laws, it isn't much of a document.
@Celine You're not really interested in a discussion are you.
Look it up, few are murdered with AR-15s or similar weapons. Most murders are the result of handguns. Do you think the gang-bangers in the inner cities are using weapons that are not easily concealed? And that is were the vast majority of murder by firearms happen. Liberal bastions where gun control is the strongest.
Trust your government at your own risk. I trust people, not faceless agencies.
Because it goes against the constitution which was set in place that the government would never massively overpower the people in case of the need to overthrow the government itself...
With the government already having access to Tanks, Planes, and the like.. If all of a sudden you take away the one and only final defense that the people have.. Political figures will more than likely make use of that... The constitution was written in place of prevention of such scenarios. To say otherwise is to be an ignorant in thinking that people who say things that "Sound nice" don't actually plan on abusing that situation of power by taking away citizens rights and leaving them all but defenseless...
It's all very self explanatory really, when you know your rights and what the founding fathers explicitly had written for the sake of civilians...
@Celine reality. You don't pick on someone who can hurt you. You select people who won't fight back. Take Holmes for example. He went to 5 different theatres before selecting the theatre in a 'gun free zone' so he wouldn't get hurt.
I'm strongly libertarian. So I'm radically against attenuating freedoms. I'm also sick and tired of people abusing the right to firearms. Discharging a weapon in proximity of roads and residences. Discharging a weapon in public parks and green ways. Discharging a weapon recklessly in a natural setting endangering others. Walking around the neighborhood with guns drawn as if one were on patrol, waving guns around threatening people. Violating basic hunting etiquette like killing animals and leaving them to rot, leaving carcasses to rot, leaving carcasses and dressing animals and leaving a mess in public green ways. Leaving guns and ammo unsecured, kids getting into them, getting stolen, and so on. If I did any of this crap coming up my patriarchs would still be beating me beyond the grave. This would largely be a non-issue if gun enthusiasts would stand up and mentor and call out these pricks, and not give it a pass "because of the 2nd amendment". That's precisely the way to make gun restrictions happen.
@SW-User Like I said to Celine above, my views are based on my experience. The homicides, suicides, prick-waving, and reckless gun incidents in my life were with non-automatic non-semi weapons. And in every case the gun-fetishists and ammo-sexuals on deck at the time contorted themselves in grotesque defenses of the abusers of gun rights. Sometimes I feel people are more careful and critical of people using a roofing nail gun than an actual firearm.
There is a cognitive bias with mass shootings. It's like airplane crashes. They get our attention because of the magnitude of the horror. And it seems the dialog always fixates on the ban of {set of weapons}. So we fixate on removing a tool that can kill 30 people at a shot, but by ignoring root causes of violence and toxic gun culture we do nothing about hundreds of people killing one or two at a time.
I'd be on a totally different trip now if after something like Las Vegas the dialog was about just that-- root cases of violence, toxic gun culture, and so on. But we never do. Never ever.
@Celine Like I said to @Brando2-- I'd be on a totally different trip if we actually had a dialog about root causes. But we never do. Never ever. We jump right to semi's and leave it there. FAIL.
SW-User
@CopperCicada I am a believer in "don't let the perfect be an enemy of the good" but I appreciate your point.
@room101 I have to mention on this thread that recently my work got two photo christmas cards from this Caucasian family. It's their twin girls (6 years old) posed smiling arms around and holding up the dead deer's head with a rifle posed nearby. I refused to put it up anywhere. It's beyond fucked up and creepy as hell. I never thought I'd get that redneck shit in an urban area...
@Scribbles Yet another thing that I've never been able to understand about American culture.
There's no issue about exposing children to guns and killing. Indeed, it's seen as something to celebrate. But anything to do with sex and there are riots in the streets.
@room101 Yeah, there's some very weird ideas and people here. Lots of people view hunting as being the same as going fishing. Others glorify the idea that guns and glorified violence, grants you power, respect, and fear and a different if dirty, path to a richer life and one where you won't feel like a victim...etc. As for the sex thing...some people are just such f'ing control freaks about the human body or sex...like they need to ward it all off like its an evil spirit come to possess their children or something🙄. Really they just need to chill out.
I've always held the opinion that making something illegal won't stop someone who wants to shoot up a school or something.
But yes...nobody needs an automatic rifle for home/self defence...I'd understand a sidearm at the least...a shotgun at the most...it's not like The Russians are gonna kick your door down.
@Celine Because there are better methods than simply saying "Lets just stop people from legally buying guns"
From what we've seen it isn't working, new solutions need to be experimented with instead of simply going with the same thing just adding more.
Treat them like we treat cigarettes, we don't make them illegal, we don't restrict them...we just slowly ramp up the prices until it seems like it isn't worth it anymore, do the same thing with ammunition.
The only kinds of guns that are illegal are full automatic rifles. There can’t be anymore gun control, just better screening for buyers and enforce the laws that already exist.
@Booyeah I would be curious why u disagree, but other tha saying no, there isn’t anything. I’ll be respectful and not personal if u wish to have a discussion. I’ll let you have the last word. Evening...
No. There are states that have already banned AR15s and other assault rifles. People can still own a pistol if they have a permit, but there is no reason to posses an assault rifle.
Try looking at the gun death stats of other countries in the developed world. You people are ridiculous, you value an outdated bit of your constitution more than you value life itself.
But even that doesn't wash. What you really value, above all else it seems, are your f***ing guns.
You got called out. You can't deny that you were being intellectually outmaneuvered so instead you tried to save face. First with him and now with me. Whatever makes you feel better i guess
@MasterLee Yes, I'm British and we're all so clueless over here that our children and teachers are free to go to school without the fear of some gun obsessed loon shooting the place up. We're so clueless that our general police force can go about performing their duties armed with only a baton and pepper spray. And I'm so clueless that I'm free to walk about the streets of London, one of the biggest cities in the world, and not only do I never see a gun anywhere, I have no fear of being shot.
