American gun control debate.

[Snusdog]

you know the fish that swim past the worm and hook...........

[whalen]

Do you work for the Government? Why would I catalog a previously unknown and unregistered yet legal gun collection...... I have owned guns my whole life, invested wisely in many desirable firearms, but they are of no concern to others. I grew up in the west where responsible firearm ownership was a given right. I find the debate over guns to be way too controversial. I appreciate all the debates, although it runs a pretty predictable gamut, I will stick to showing my snuff and snus collection, thank you very much. Some of the worst infighting on snuson were due to gun debating, and should be left in the religion and politics third rail of non topics. My mini rant........

[Naswari]

Gun Control - Hold it real steady, squeeze the trigger slowly.....

In order to preempt the derailment that I feel is about to happen, I suggest we turn this thread into show us your guns thread.

O.K then lets see which one of our members has the biggest and baddest guns, AR15 anyone? Lets see those drum magazines guys

[whalen]

I forgot to add that part for our foreign friends! Around here that part is pretty much understood!

[daz]

Gun Control - Hold it real steady, squeeze the trigger slowly.....

and keep the pointey bit faceing away from you simple's

[whalen]

Gun Control - Hold it real steady, squeeze the trigger slowly.....

[texastorm]

Although squeezyjohn is bowing out what he said is true when he stated "because apparently "it's more complicated than that"" That's like being against electricity because there where 1000 deaths in the US from electric shock. "I am against electricity because it kills people" is just to simple. So electricity kills 1/20th of what guns kill, and guns kill 1/50th of what cancer kills.

So if electricity has a useful purpose its ok?
But guns do have a useful purpose, everything from putting food on the table to killing your cheating spouse

Cancer on the other hand also has a useful purpose.... it keeps the earth from overpopulating with us humans who have no idea when to stop making babies.

So I am for all of the above. Even if its me it takes to make a statistic.

[devilock76]

It basically comes down to this. In America there is a Constitutional Amendment that basically states that the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. However we also have a rabid news media that loves to play up anything to insanely sensational levels. We also have a very poor social contract with the mentally ill in our society and great disparity between the upper and lower classes. Those factors have turned the discussion into total chaos. In my opinion it comes down to this.

The 2nd amendment is not about hunting or sport shooting or self defense from muggers. It is about the people being able to protect themselves from the state. I truly believe that is what the founding fathers had in mind.

However in our modern world we do need to think a lot more about our social contract and the way we handle crime. By that there needs to be a safety net for those who truly cannot help themselves, such as the mentally ill. Also at the same time how we approach crime, punishment, and rehabilitation needs to be reconsidered.

IMO on the last part, the crime, etc. We need to stop incarcerating drug offenders with violent offenders. Fine we don't want to legalize all drugs, well then why not outpatient rehab which is typically far more cost effective than prison. That opens up a whole other can of worms.

Generally I tend to be aligned with libertarian ideals. As such the basic underlying guideline in that is the point of the experiment that is America is that we have freedom, well we are supposed to, but with that freedom comes a price of responsibility for personal actions. And we will have to see some things we don't like but that is the freedom others enjoy as well. In our world we have people that will abuse whatever freedoms they have and will claim ones they don't. It has always been that way, it is human nature to some. How do we deal with that without stripping the freedoms of the responsible majority is the grand question that has not found a suitable answer.

Ken

[squeezyjohn]

Yep - the forum's back on track alrighty!

I am against guns because they kill people - and killing people is a bad thing. Last time I got properly stuck in to one of these debates the forum nearly exploded with latent hatred because apparently "it's more complicated than that"

Don't worry - I think you all know where i stand from previous threads - I won't be saying any more ...

[Naswari]

Whilst browsing youtube (as you do) I came across some gun debates, it seems to be kind of a hot topic in America right now. I'd be interested to know what people think.

So what y'all think about the gun debate? For? Against? Why?