Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'm a liberal gun owner and I honestly don't think there is anything else that we can do from a legislative perspective to directly curtail gun violence. I think our focus should be on trying to improve mental healthcare and cracking down on illegal gun trafficking.
What continues to amaze me in all of this is that it would appear that the anti gun crowd seems to ignore what happened in Paris. About 500 people in total were injured or killed using, primarily, weapons that are banned in France. Yet if WE ban certain weapons then it will somehow stop these madmen??
I'm uncomfortable with the mass shootings statistics. Most mass shootings are inner city drive bys that hit a bunch of people. It skews people's perception of what's going on here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by miaheatfan
I'm a liberal gun owner and I honestly don't think there is anything else that we can do from a legislative perspective to directly curtail gun violence. I think our focus should be on trying to improve mental healthcare and cracking down on illegal gun trafficking.
If criminals are going to break the biggest law on the books and that's murder, then NO other law will stop anything, none. Even if you confiscated every single gun in America and banned every single one, mass killings will still happen and terror attacks will still be carried out with guns because they will just get them from other countries along with the drug shipments. Arms smuggling will be just as big as drug smuggling. There is absolutely NO way to prevent any of it on any large scale unless tighter security is imposed at our entry points for people and goods. END OF STORY.
I've followed this issue for a while now, also by way of more than a few gun threads, and though I have not been altogether against gun control, I have come to accept there isn't much that can be done to stop gun violence in America or even to lessen the body count by any acceptable level. I am no gun expert, and I have been chastised for having an opinion though I am not an expert, even for relying on experts instead. However, as compared to many gun enthusiasts in these threads, for example, I just tend to pay closer attention to other experts that tend to make more sense without all the gun obsession detail down to the patina. Accordingly, rather than go round and round those gun circles, I'm glad to have this to offer as my position. IOWs, I tend to agree almost entirely with what is written here. Not that the "answers" put forth here are altogether satisfying, but about the best we can do I think...
"What can be done to address this much larger toll of gun violence, which leaves nearly 100,000 Americans killed or wounded each year?"
The best approach to violence prevention is to zero in on that small number of high-risk people who are using guns to harm themselves or other people, and look at what might be done to prevent them.
Many of most promising strategies are not the ones you’re most likely to hear about on the news – or the ones your member of Congress may be talking about right now.
The vast majority of deaths associated with "gun violence" aren't so called mass shootings, in spite of the news coverage they receive. The bulk are by common criminals-people with a long history of crime, that have been released on parole, released early or not even sentenced to prison. Want to cut down on gun deaths? Lock up proven criminals with sentences long enough to actually make a difference. Long mandatory sentences, with no possibility of parole for both "violent" and property crimes. In addition, enforce our existing federal gun laws. Felon in position is a federal felony with a 5 year sentence per instance. Yet it is rarely enforced. Buying a gun for another person, or for one unable to legally possess one? Again, federal felony-one our Justice Department rarely prosecutes.
The real problem isn't the presence of guns, it is a substantial portion of our society that has no respect or value for human life. Until we address the cultural issues that drive that, we will continue to have violent crime, rather it's with guns or some other weapon.
Encourage women who will be crappy mothers to get abortions.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
