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Konraden, let me try to respond to as many of your points as I can.
On the issue of self defense as a reason to own guns, you said 2 million cases of self defense using guns. That is a vague stat... 2 million cases per day? per year?
and even if that can be somehow validated and clarified, compared to 307 million in US population, I wonder how significant that is.
Take some other numbers into consideration, such as 11,000 homicides yearly with firearms, which includes police shootings and self-defense which results in homicide.
Most people killed by firearms have criminal backgrounds GUNS AND PUBLIC HEALTH: EPIDEMIC OF VIOLENCE OR PANDEMIC OF PROPAGANDA?
Most D.C. Homicide Victims Had Arrests; Analysis Highlights 'Criminal Subculture' - The Washington Post | Encyclopedia.com (http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P2-146249.html - broken link)
So, 2 million defensive uses of firearms far outweighs the 11,000 homicides, where most of them are people with criminal backgrounds. Some might consider this natural selection at work.
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I was also addressing the person that said he would feel like he was in trouble if he didn't have guns but the criminals and the gov't/police had guns. Yes, it sucks that criminals have illegal guns and I hope we can do more do get rid of them, but why would he feel threatened that the police have guns?
You're aware that the government and police uphold the law. Criminals, by definition, do not. Your comparison isn't even valid.
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Does he think that the cops will pull you over more often if they knew the regular folks couldn't no longer carry? And if you did carry and a cop pulled you over what would you do different if you had a gun? Pull it out?
Most concealed carry laws (IIRC) require you to declare if you are carrying a firearm concealed. If you are not carrying concealed (when driving, this generally means carrying it in the passenger area, loaded, and otherwise accessible). Locked in a box is not "carrying concealed.
The police being armed really has no bearing on right to self defense, and I smell a red-herring.
No, being a doctor is a right, provided you meet standardized professional criteria. If it were a privilege, only some MDs would be allowed to practice, according to the whims of whomever grants the privilege.
Are you saying that going to college is a privilege? Or a right? If you meet the entrance requirements, you have a right. Anyone who says you don't is guilty of discrimination. If you pass all the qualifying criteria to get a drivers license, the DL is a right. Nobody has the legal power to withhold it from you, and denying the "privilege" would be an exercise of unlawful discrimination.
A privilege is something that can be arbitrarily denied, regardless of qualifications. And that doesn't happen in the America that I would fight to defend.
Please keep in mind that modern dictionaries, terrified of PC police, list every definition that is in common usage, regardless of whether correct or not. DMVs increasingly are calling driving a "privilege' in order to impress upon applicants their responsibilities, but that is BS, it is not a privilege, and calling it a privilege does not make it one.
Oh, I am sorry, I didn't know you were using your own Dictionary with its non-standard definitions. My bad. Can I get a copy of it, or do you make it up as you go.
It seems to me, if you have to pay for it, it is a priviledge. That's why they did away with poll taxes. You gain that priviledge by paying for it.
Nobody has a right to go to college. You earn that priviledge by several acts, including having a suitable academic record and paying for it.
I didn't know you were using your own Dictionary with its non-standard definitions. My bad. Can I get a copy of it, or do you make it up as you go.
It seems to me, if you have to pay for it, it is a priviledge. That's why they did away with poll taxes. You gain that priviledge by paying for it.
.
Wow. Talk about non-standard definitions, and you just pull one out of the air.
Where can I get one of those free guns, so I can bear arms without having to pay for it? If I have a choice of going to college or bearing a firearm, and I have to pay for both, how come one is a right and the other a privilege, merely because of the necessity to pay for it?
I bet you think voting is a right, don't you? Where does it say that? Every state reserves for itself the power to conduct elections any way they see fit, and may or may not offer the right to vote to people for all kinds of reasons. The federal government itemizes a few of conditions for which a state cannot or must deny the privilege of voting, but after that, the states can do what they want.
By the way, since you don't have spell check, and since you are a self-proclaimed expert on Privilege, learn to spell it.
Wow. Talk about non-standard definitions, and you just pull one out of the air.
Where can I get one of those free guns, so I can bear arms without having to pay for it? If I have a choice of going to college or bearing a firearm, and I have to pay for both, how come one is a right and the other a privilege, merely because of the necessity to pay for it?
I bet you think voting is a right, don't you? Where does it say that? Every state reserves for itself the power to conduct elections any way they see fit, and may or may not offer the right to vote to people for all kinds of reasons. The federal government itemizes a few of conditions for which a state cannot or must deny the privilege of voting, but after that, the states can do what they want.
By the way, since you don't have spell check, and since you are a self-proclaimed expert on Privilege, learn to spell it.
The guns aren't free, the right to keep and bear them is. Is that not obvious. I recommend Welbutrin or Zoloft. Will do you a world of good. Just looking out for you "friend".
The guns aren't free, the right to keep and bear them is. Is that not obvious. I recommend Welbutrin or Zoloft. Will do you a world of good. Just looking out for you "friend".
Read what I wrote again. Then come back and try this question:
1. College isn't free, the right to go there is.
2. The guns aren't free, the right to keep and bear them is.
Why does one of those statements describe a right, and the other describes a privilege?
I'm sorry, I can't dumb down my comments any more than that. If you still don't get it, I think you might be in over your head in this forum.
I've never gotten along with those who obsess over inanimate objects-they seem to be lacking something in their lives, and unfortunately, the rest of us have to suffer for their obsession.
I take it you have met many golfers in your travels.
Read what I wrote again. Then come back and try this question:
1. College isn't free, the right to go there is. 2. The guns aren't free, the right to keep and bear them is.
Why does one of those statements describe a right, and the other describes a privilege?
I'm sorry, I can't dumb down my comments any more than that. If you still don't get it, I think you might be in over your head in this forum.
Because the Bill of Rights guarantees the right to keep and bear arms while it doesn't guarantee a right to a college education.
You have the debate "skills" and techniques of an immature child. You say nonsensical things, but when called on them, you make inane comments.
Your comments are so dumb, there isn't and "down" from there. Even in the short time I have been here, I've read much of your obtuseness.
It is amusing, to say the least, and you do, in fact, say the least, you just use a whole lot more words to say so much less.
Old Friend. BTW, maybe a little less Maker's Mark and a little more Branch Water.
Rights, under the U.S. system, are endowed by the Creator. Remember certain inalienable rights.
The Bill of Rights preserved in writing a few of those rights. It didn't create them as much as it documented them.
Also, in order to exercise a P, you must do something to earn the authority to do so. That is what a P is.
A right exists automatically without having to be established.
For example, you don't need to get permission to sit in a park and make a speech. However, you need permission to block the streets and have a parade. One is a right, and one is a P.
This is not really difficult stuff, and I know why you say the things you say. You are a wrench-thrower who understands what is being said, but just likse to pick apart the words that transport those thoughts.
The Vietnamese did this during the peace negotiations. It is childish, and I can no longer engage in this quasi debate you think makes you and intellectual because you don't debate ideas and concepts, you just play childish word games, so:
Consider yourself dismissed with prejudice.
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