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First off.. GD.. the constitution was written in a completely different time under different circumstances. Bearing arms was KEY to survival back then.. now it's not so much a matter of survival, as all we have to do is drive to the local mart to purchase food!
I'm afraid you are very mistaken. Gun ownership wasn't key to survival, other that for protection from attack. We had farms & stores for many hundreds of years before Chris Columbus ever thought of sailing across the ocean.
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Secondly, the constitution was written so that it CAN change with the times. That's the genious of it.
In that you are corect. But, thats not to say that laws should be passed in direct conflict with it. If enough of us felt it needed to be changed we could amend it. Its been done before. However I doubt it ever will be regarding the second amendment. That is why the gun control crowd doesn't seek an amendment. Upon serious scutiny it becomes very obviously evident that the resons it was needed back then still exist.
Life is no less valuable today & crime is much more prevelant than it was.
A better way to curb the violence might be to bring back public punishment.
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In modern society there comes a different set of circumstances and responsiblity. A paranoid schizophrenic does not have the right to a gun when there is a strong probability that he will use that weapon to harm himself or others.. I'm not asking to ban guns .. I'm asking for guns NOT to fall into the hands of someone that is NOT mentally stable who will use those guns to shoot up a mall..
Its already illegal for the mentally ill to own or posess firearms. I thought you knew that.
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I suppose you are okay if a suicidal homicidal mentally unstable person has a gun? You wouldn't feel that way if you were a victim of a shooting in which a persons right to bear arms wasn't subjected to a psych evaluation that had he had to take would have never had that weapon in hand to shoot up the joint!
Your grasping at straws Ma'am.
The problem with these sort of pryor restraints is they will be abused. They already are. What level of instability would be a good cut off? Who gets to choose that point?
How many people are hurt or killed by these legal gun toting mental patients?
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Everyone's all for guns with no infringements until they are a victime of those uninfringements!
Nice sound bite. But the truth is we have plenty of infringements already.
I already acknowledged that it is low.. but it has been more prevelant lately! Something you can't deny. I don't fear anyone with a gun, but if we can just prevent one person from obtaining a firearm that is mentally ill (undiagnosed) than that is potentially someone's or a group of people's lives we saved.
See.. I care about EVERY life.. wether the stats point to 1 or 1,000's.
Ok, but what if your idea costs a dozen lives to save the one?
Thats the problem with that line of thinking. I hear constantly from the anti's that "If it only saves one life it was worth it". That ignores the fact that many many people use guns to save lives every year. Every new law that takes guns away from law abiding citizens really helps crime & has the potential to enable many more crimes than it prevents.
Its sad that people are killed with guns. But until the number that die exceeds the number of crimes thwarted with them its not logical to increase restrictions. A logical person would note that theres been higher crime non stop since the inception of gun control & conclude its not helping.
Ok, but what if your idea costs a dozen lives to save the one?
Thats the problem with that line of thinking. I hear constantly from the anti's that "If it only saves one life it was worth it". That ignores the fact that many many people use guns to save lives every year. Every new law that takes guns away from law abiding citizens really helps crime & has the potential to enable many more crimes than it prevents.
Its sad that people are killed with guns. But until the number that die exceeds the number of crimes thwarted with them its not logical to increase restrictions. A logical person would note that theres been higher crime non stop since the inception of gun control & conclude its not helping.
Again.. not against guns.. only FOR a psych evaluation in order to obtain one.. but all you all want to hear is that I'm against guns all together.. NOT the case.
So if gun sales are up (other than being bought to transport over the border for the benefit of the drug barons in Mexico), then the reason is a mystery. I would like to see the state-by-state breakdown of this so-called increase in sales. They are flying out the door along the border in Mexico, or so say the newspapers.
I encourage everyone to read this series of articles (1997) on the history of guns in America at the Houston Chronicle newspaper web site:
Again.. not against guns.. only FOR a psych evaluation in order to obtain one.. but all you all want to hear is that I'm against guns all together.. NOT the case.
I never said you were against guns altogether.
I'm just pointing out the reasons I think that physc evaluations as a requirement are a bad idea. Pretty soon you will need a certain IQ to qualify.
What you fail to understand I guess is that you propose just one more increment of restriction on top of hundreds of others, each put forth as no big deal because it will save lives, that is never enough.
Say your psyc idea gets made into law & crime, accidents & tragedies with guns dont go down?
Will you dream up another?
Its against the law for those adjudicated mentally ill from owning or posessing guns. Thats sufficient.
So if gun sales are up (other than being bought to transport over the border for the benefit of the drug barons in Mexico), then the reason is a mystery. I would like to see the state-by-state breakdown of this so-called increase in sales. They are flying out the door along the border in Mexico, or so say the newspapers.
I encourage everyone to read this series of articles (1997) on the history of guns in America at the Houston Chronicle newspaper web site:
GUNS IN AMERICA: Part 1 of 4 (http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/nation/guns/gunpart1.html - broken link)
Guess its beyond the realm of possibility for gun ownership & crime to not be related eh?
Gun sales arent only up, private gun ownership is up. Pistol permit applications are up, states allowing conceled carry are up, many states are relaxing carry laws. These are things you dont need an 11 year old link or a biased newspaper to see.
I kinda doubt that Mexican drug runners are responsible for a nationwide trend. Might be that people are actually realizing that effictive protection saves more lives than feel good do nothing legislation.
I kinda doubt that Mexican drug runners are responsible for a nationwide trend. Might be that people are actually realizing that effictive protection saves more lives than feel good do nothing legislation.
No one has established in fact that it is a nationwide trend, that is, that this trend is taking place in some majority of the states.
No one has established in fact that it is a nationwide trend, that is, that this trend is taking place in some majority of the states.
One example: CBSNews.com: Print This Story (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/27/politics/washingtonpost/printable4547564.shtml - broken link)
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