With the recent Newtown tragedy we are again forced to look at the question of our current gun control legislation. We have lost count of the victims of these horrific events and yet they continue. How can we accept the approximately 30,000 deaths each year from firearms (murders, suicides and accidents) without it screaming to us that “Enough is enough”! Have we become so immune to these events that it doesn’t matter any more? That is almost the equivalent of the U.S. Vietnam dead repeated every year.
The prevarication must stop now. This is an issue that will not wait or go away. The nations legislators, law makers and the common man must speak with one voice and discuss the thorny issue of gun control. If the NRA have to be brought into this discussion kicking and screaming, then so be it. If they block any move to meaningful new legislation, the NRA must be pushed firmly to one side and marginalized.
With the U.S. being the only world’s nation that has an inventory of 300 million weapons, something has to change.
Maxwell Coulthard
Mesa
soricobob posted at 4:28 am on Fri, Dec 21, 2012.
For me, I was a student at Michigan State, November 22, 1963.
SculptorDad posted at 6:48 am on Fri, Dec 21, 2012.
Guns are just a tool, psychotropic drugs from Big Pharm are the CAUSE.
You Must Be Joking posted at 7:39 am on Fri, Dec 21, 2012.
Amen. And for scultorDad, it is still the bullets that killed the children, no Big Pharma.
Arizona Willie posted at 7:44 am on Fri, Dec 21, 2012.
Criminals have long been know to be afraid to break laws.
They fear our police departments who will swoop down upon them like Superman or Batman if they break the law.
And, setting sarcasm aside, about as much real world effect.
Laws have NEVER stopped a killer or mass murderer.
If we could magically remove all firearms, the insane mass murderers might well turn to chemical / bacterial methods to achieve their ends.
What's worse, a nut shooting up a theater / school or poisoning the water supply of a city?
SculptorDad posted at 7:53 am on Fri, Dec 21, 2012.
Uhhh, joker, you DO understand the relationship between cause and effect, don't you? I'm starting to wonder if any of you average minds do ;-(
chuckles3 posted at 8:33 am on Fri, Dec 21, 2012.
Yes, lets ban assault weapons. Oh wait, CT has a ban. Lets ban all guns. Oh wait, that pesky constitution thing.
Lets save millions of lives and ban abortion. Much easier, it is not spelled out in the Constitution as a right.
I will see your "30,000" lives and raise you millions, all innocent.
chatmandu002 posted at 8:49 am on Fri, Dec 21, 2012.
I'm surprised that some enterprising liberal/progressive politician hasn't called for the registration of all guns and put a yearly registration fee on them like your automobile. It would raise a lot of tax money so the government would have more money to give away. And since conservatives own more guns than liberals/progressives, then the conservatives would be paying more taxes on their guns. We all know that the liberal/progressives want to make the conservatives pay more taxes.
Accuracy posted at 8:56 am on Fri, Dec 21, 2012.
Since the Sandy Hook Elementary shootings in Newtown, Conn., the question now is whether or not teachers should be armed.
Lawmakers in at least five states say they will consider laws to allow teachers and administrators to carry firearms at school. And some members of Congress have begun pushing this solution: arm teachers as a first line of defense.
Masterrogue666 posted at 8:56 am on Fri, Dec 21, 2012.
@Maxwell Coulthard: Can a gun will itself to shoot? How many lives are SAVED/PROTECTED by a person that was armed? Where are those statistics? If our forefathers weren't armed, there wouldn't be a USA!
You want gun control? Go to Mexico! Citizens there aren't allow to have weapons. And everyone knows how safe it is down there, right? That is, if you IGNORE what the criminal cartels do down there.
Why stop with guns? Let's outlaw EVERYTHING that has ever been used to kill another person or persons! Would that make us safe? NO, just more vulnerable!
Leon Ceniceros posted at 9:23 am on Fri, Dec 21, 2012.
Mr. Coulthard,
You are so "right".
Enough is enough. All the pychotics and violence prone mentally ill crazies in America should be taken out of the General Public.......for our Children's safety if not our own.
Guns should only be sold to Americans who were envisioned by our Founding Fathers when they cited the..........."armed Militia" = White Males who owned property, voted and were Patriotic ( loved God, Flag and Country....no Socialists, no Anarchists, no Communists, no Marxists and no "Democrats").
Thank you for your letter. God Bless our Courageous Military Men who are defending American Values all over the World.
Rich posted at 9:40 am on Fri, Dec 21, 2012.
Yes, it is time for a solution. Bans don't work, they create situations where only criminals and psychopaths are armed and have turned many places, and a great many schools into killing fields. So what will work? How about education, and personal responsibility? Teach guns in high school, form a regulated militia, trained and competent. Prohibitions that don't work, or a society that is confident and educated to use firearms if necessary. While nothing can stop it completely this would probably halve it, and stop our schools from being killing fields for psychos.
VofReason posted at 12:53 pm on Fri, Dec 21, 2012.
Take it a step further, how about require all young people to serve 1-2 years in the military and give them all formal firearms training in that environment. It will additionally have the benefit of teaching them respect for themselves and others.
downtownresident posted at 3:00 pm on Fri, Dec 21, 2012.
If you want meaningful discussions of firearms laws without the interference of special interests, reform campaign finance laws. As long as our congress and state legislatures can be purchased by the highest bidder, the will of the American people will continnue to be ignored.
mesateacher posted at 5:21 pm on Fri, Dec 21, 2012.
You're right: there's too much monied lobbyists in DC. Keep in mind that the Hollywood elite gave over $40 million to the DNC and Obama in the election. The NRA a measly $13 mill or so. Yes, money talks, so don't plan on Hollywood reining in the ultra-violent, pornographic movies they make anytime soon. Yes, people ARE influenced by this filth. Same for video games. Some of the most violent are for the Xbox 360, made by Microsoft, whose biggest shareholders are all Democrat supporters.
Abstract01 posted at 8:40 pm on Fri, Dec 21, 2012.
More people are killed each year by automobiles than are killed by guns.
I'm all for banning personal automobiles, and requiring everyone to ride buses or other mass transit modes. Only government operators would possess driving licenses.
The chance of being in a bus accident is much less than that of being involved in a private vehicle accident!
COLT2 posted at 11:49 am on Thu, Dec 27, 2012.
Body count, last 6 months:
Chicago 292
Afghanistan 221
This is what is happening in the cities wit the toughest control laws in the US.
No thanks.
* They tried to blame it on Republicans, but couldn't find any.