The Official Gun Control Debate thread

[MeatPuppet]

And a hard time understanding that your gun didn't protect your girlfriend (she's getting raped remember), not did it prevent crime (the perp is high on drugs).

Rather than imaginary situations, How about a real one.

So the only thing your gun is good for is vindication. And revenge without due process. And I, for one, don't think you'd be qualified to make a non-proportional response under the circumstance given the tool you propose using to end the situation.

The United States Supreme court, as well as most state legislatures, would disagree with you.

What would you do if you didn't have a gun ? Probably knock the crap out of him with a baseball bat - a more proportional, and appropriate, response.

It is unlikely that most people would survive the full swing of a baseball bat to the head. So why is it material what tool a person uses to kill another in the defense of a loved one?

Also, you are assuming a single assailant. Suppose there are two, or three. Are you such a bad ass that you feel confident taking on multiple opponents?

For every situation you can construct to disparage gun ownership/use, one can be constructed that shows the benefit of the same. So hypotheticals will always end in a stalemate. The fact is, guns are legal and gun ownership/use is protected by the second amendment. Until that is changed, you are just going to have to live with it.

BTW, if you just can't contain your activist inclinations and want to try to reduce deaths in America, you might turn that fervor to reducing the 16,000 deaths every year due to drunk driving. Last I checked, alcohol wasn't protected by the constitution so you might be able to make some head way on that issue. Go get em tiger!

[Cliff Huckable]

Picking up on the drunk-driving versus gun death - I wonder how often alcohol is involved in gun fatalities.
Everything from uncontrolled (drunk) tempers to last-call rage to cleaning a rifle while hammered, etc. Must be fairly high.

EDIT: sorry, thought this was in the Padded Room. Where it belongs - Snowy Wintergarden, I'm talking to YOU!

[Adam132601]

Guns kill people like spoons made Rosie O'Donnel fat.

[Jax]

Is this true? Am I reading this right? I posted two links (to the issue at hand in DC tomorrow) at the bottom. I actually agree with Cheney! This could get interesting...

http://www.americanfirearms.org

Gunning for a freedom to choose.

On March 18th the US Supreme Court will tackle a thorny issue that could, in the minds of many Americans, start a second Civil War. Not this time between north and south but between two other factions. One side sincerely believes in its constitutionally guaranteed right to bear and carry a firearm and the other believes that they know better and want that constitutional guarantee quashed.

People oppose the 2nd amendment for a number of reasons. Some are scared to death by guns. Others believe that the average Joe (you and me) is too stupid and irresponsible to handle firearms, even though private citizens own 280,000,000 firearms in the US practically without incident. Still others suffer from what our forefathers designed the amendment to do: they are afraid of a civilian population who has the power to implement political change through force of arms.

However the real issue isn’t about guns, it’s freedom of choice.

Now where did we hear about freedom of choice before? Oh, yes - a women’s right to choose, which is clearly right but which is not constitutionally guaranteed.

The 2nd amendment guarantees us the right to keep and bear arms. By inference, it guarantees the individual the right to choose to keep or bear arms. Or not. It is, in effect, guaranteeing the individual the right to choice.

Watch this issue carefully. Any Supreme Court decision that changes or interferes with the wording or interpretation of the 2nd amendment will ultimately come back to bite us all. If this Constitutionally guaranteed right to choose is removed or revised, then a women’s right to choose and, indeed every individuals right to choice, is in danger and at the whim of prevailing politicians.

Individual's Right to Bear Arms at Issue:

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php...show_article=1

Supreme Court Prepares to Hear DC Gun Case as National Support for Banning Handguns Hits 59 Percent:

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php...show_article=1

Sorry to bump an old thread, especially since it's not in the padded room, but I think a heads up may be in order for all involved.