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Alrighty. It's very clear what the majority opinion is on this forum so I'll just leave with this. In no other country does anyone have to leave their house with the very real possibility of being killed by a gun. I live in Colorado Springs. A few months ago, one mile away, in downtown, a guy walked down the street and killed three innocent people. For no reason. A week ago, a mile in the other direction, a man walked into planned parenthood and killed three more innocent people. In one of the most gun friendly states, in its most conservative city. Isaac Newton..Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I truly hope none of you or your families are killed while going about their day. But it will likely happen. And when it does I'm sure your tune will change. Please, look beyond yourself and think of the greater good. God help us all.
One last point. All of you are operating on the assumption that you'll have the presence to pull out a gun and take aim and shoot someone who's threatening you. The common theme in all of these shootings is the element of surprise. When someone storms in and starts shooting you'll be dead before you can even think about pulling out your precious gun. The NRA is laughing all the way to the bank.
There are about 8,000 gun homicides in the US a year, about 2/3 of the total homicides. Completely removing guns would not save 8,000 people, because some killers would just switch to different means. Your chance of dying by gun homicide in America is about 2.5/100,000, slightly less than your chance of dying of Tuberculosis and slightly higher than your chance of dying of malaria. Gun violence is not a pressing social issue. Why do you feel it is?
I don't know what the answer is, but it is a coo coo world out there now. I can barely click on the news in the morning....always afraid of what I might have to read.
History that the government is made up of people and there are instances of where people use law and situation to advance their own causes over others. It has occurred in this country, it has occurred in other countries.
The tactics of one acting against another will always be different between whether their opponent can defend or if they can't.
Finally, the Constitution is about, at least in part, protecting the rights of the individual while allowing majority rule.
I will try to explain my perspective a bit more in depth for you:
Do I think banning guns will lower the number of people being killed by guns annually? Yes I do.
Do I think it will be lowered by a significant amount? Honestly I'm not sure.
My issue is that the proposal to ban all guns is an extreme answer to a problem that i personally feel has not exhausted all alternative possibilities.
For example:
I live on the south side of Chicago currently which has a serious problem with gun violence. Now anyone that lives here and pays any attention knows the trouble areas which are generally the west and south sides of Chicago, give or take a few neighborhoods that are within these areas. That being said, whenever I am downtown or on the north side, I see plenty of police, driving, parked, and on foot patrol. However, when on the south or west sides I very rarely even see them, and I have never ever seen them on foot patrol. Compounding this issue are 3 day weekends which see an enormous spike in the amount of people killed and wounded by guns which has been happening predictably for at least the last two years.
Now common sense would say there should be an increase in police presence in these areas on three day weekends to at least TRY and cut down on some of the violence... But unfortunately this does not happen, it is business as usual every holiday weekend.
My point is: why should I give up my right to protect myself and put even more faith and responsibility in law enforcement who are already sucking at the job right now?
In reference to terrorist, I don't see it making a dent in the problem either. I am a subscriber to the "they will find a way to hurt people if they want to hurt people" train of thought. If we hypothetically got rid of all guns entirely, I strongly believe they would find alternate means to accomplish their goals, the first that come to mind is explosives considering some of them have already showed the ability to be proficient in making them.
The fact is we will always have criminals. Annually in the US we have 30,000 deaths do to gun violence, we also have 20% of all college freshman women being raped yet no one is out screaming for nationwide cullings of penises ����.
Personally I would rather us collectively fight for bigger issues that may find a reasonable solution relatively quickly, medical misdiagnosis is one that comes to mind where according to the Journal of Patient Safety is responsible for 210,00-440,000 deaths annually ����
Alrighty. It's very clear what the majority opinion is on this forum so I'll just leave with this. In no other country does anyone have to leave their house with the very real possibility of being killed by a gun. I live in Colorado Springs. A few months ago, one mile away, in downtown, a guy walked down the street and killed three innocent people. For no reason. A week ago, a mile in the other direction, a man walked into planned parenthood and killed three more innocent people. In one of the most gun friendly states, in its most conservative city. Isaac Newton..Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I truly hope none of you or your families are killed while going about their day. But it will likely happen. And when it does I'm sure your tune will change. Please, look beyond yourself and think of the greater good. God help us all.
One last point. All of you are operating on the assumption that you'll have the presence to pull out a gun and take aim and shoot someone who's threatening you. The common theme in all of these shootings is the element of surprise. When someone storms in and starts shooting you'll be dead before you can even think about pulling out your precious gun. The NRA is laughing all the way to the bank.
Admitting defeat so soon?
As to your other parting comments (1) the possibility of me being killed by a gun is practically zero. And to say it "will likely happen" is just plain wrong. (2) I don't own a gun so I don't have any illusions about using one for self defense. (3) NRA has none of my money.
You sound scared. Please get professional help. Seriously.
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