Bugfatty300
Buddha Squirrel
Good reasons to be wary of gun control in America. It has such a nasty history.
Texas A&M Shooting
- Thread starter Antilogic
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Formaldehyde
Both Fair And Balanced
Yet it completely destroys the notion that the Second Amendment means what the current NRA and 5 out of 9 of the Supreme Court justices think it means. That the Fourteenth Amendment was necessary to secure gun rights for blacks and everybody else. That gun control laws can indeed be enacted, and have done so numerous times in our history, despite how many handguns are in circulation.
Bugfatty300
Buddha Squirrel
No one here is saying gun control laws don't exist or can't exist in the US.
MagisterCultuum
Great Sage
Eh, the founding fathers also instituted things like the Alien and Sedition acts, which blatantly violate the first amendment. The Federalists were never fans of the bill of rights.
~Corsair#01~
Deity
I apologize for my heavy oversimplification. However, the UK has banned many types of firearms, including most handguns and severely restricted ownership of other types. The USA could do so as well if the political will was there.
The government can collect taxes, why can't it collect guns? Is the American state really unable to enforce laws on its citizens if those citizens own guns? Have gun-owners been immune to the rule-of-law in the US in the past?
Any legislation restricting gun-ownership will be signposted years in advance. People would see it coming a mile off and have time to get used to it. It could also be introduced on an area-by-area basis, encompassing the whole US over a long period of time (like gay marriage legalisation).
I simply do not buy this unenforceability argument of yours. I see no reason why this law should be impossible to implement other than the political powers-that-be being opposed to it. And if that alone is grounds to give up on something then Americans may as well abandon every idea and viewpoint that isn't shared by the Republicrat leadership.
AlpsStranger
Jump jump on the tiger!
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Corsair, you're being silly.
Massive gun confiscation would be viewed as a confirmation of the most insane conspiracies of the far Right. It would be nothing but borrowing trouble.
IF we were ever to move to a low-gun society, it would have to be generations from now. Many who are now alive are way past changing their minds about this.
It's just not a battle a sane man wants to start. And sorry to sound cruel, but an occasional mass shooting is a pretty dumb justification for starting Civil War 2.
Massive gun confiscation would be viewed as a confirmation of the most insane conspiracies of the far Right. It would be nothing but borrowing trouble.
IF we were ever to move to a low-gun society, it would have to be generations from now. Many who are now alive are way past changing their minds about this.
It's just not a battle a sane man wants to start. And sorry to sound cruel, but an occasional mass shooting is a pretty dumb justification for starting Civil War 2.
History_Buff
Deity
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Wouldn't need to be generational. Might take that long, but it wouldn't need to be.
You just make it very difficult to acquire new guns, and offer to buy guns from people at high prices, and then destroy them.
You just make it very difficult to acquire new guns, and offer to buy guns from people at high prices, and then destroy them.
AlpsStranger
Jump jump on the tiger!
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I dunno. Despite some of my other posts, I'm just not a big gun control guy. It's not that I'm against it, I just view it as a wasted issue. The left can't win on it, so why grind ourselves up?
I don't go after for the same reason that prudent conservatives don't try to outlaw pornography, alcohol, sodomy, or cohabitation. It's just a great way to waste your political movement's power and go nowhere.
I don't go after for the same reason that prudent conservatives don't try to outlaw pornography, alcohol, sodomy, or cohabitation. It's just a great way to waste your political movement's power and go nowhere.
History_Buff
Deity
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Well I hardly think it's the first (or even tenth) issue the left should be going after. But from a conceptual point of view, if the politicians decided gun control was something to pursue, then it would hardly be difficult.
Yeah, except when there are people like me who would violently resist efforts to seize my gun. And don't think I'm the only one that would.
Formaldehyde
Both Fair And Balanced
The same could be said for slavery in the 1850s, segregation in the 1950s, and the continuing discrimination against homosexuals today.
Sometimes principles are worth far more than playing partisan politics. But I certainly don't expect most of today's Democrats to stand up for it due to the drubbing that Al Gore got over it in 2000. However, that doesn't mean the rest of us can't be trying to do what we can to promote some baby steps in that direction.
~Corsair#01~
Deity
I fully agree that any attempt to introduce gun control will fail due to the prevailing power of the right-wing in the USA, but that doesn't mean that sensible people shouldn't still want it.
Also, if the left in America only pursues the issues it has a good chance on winning on... it's not going to pursue any issues whatsoever except possibly gay marriage.
Also, if the left in America only pursues the issues it has a good chance on winning on... it's not going to pursue any issues whatsoever except possibly gay marriage.
Formaldehyde
Both Fair And Balanced
How many own "assault weapons" or high-capacity magazines?
28% of Democrats personally own a gun vs 41% of Republicans. That is a sizable difference.
28% of Democrats personally own a gun vs 41% of Republicans. That is a sizable difference.
History_Buff
Deity
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Where did I argue for the seizing of guns? Just make them hard to acquire, and run a government buy-back program. Gun numbers would decline. Over 10-20 years, you'll change the culture.
Save_Ferris
Admiring Myself
Most people own guns to defend themselves. What's wrong with that?
Save_Ferris
Admiring Myself
I meant for fighting off home invaders. Maybe there should be a law restricting guns outside the household?
Well that really doesn't happen much either.
In a sense I think that it's just too late to have major gun restrictions in the US. You would have to ban manufacture and import, and that would only stabilize it 5 guns per person.
