It is already illegal for a psychiatric patient to own a gun. If the medical establishment is not reporting it to the proper authorities why are people not up in arms about that. There are currently laws that make it illegal for a person convicted of a felony to own a gun. In some states being arrested for a felony (until case closes) also makes it illegal to own a firearm. There are many laws in place that are either not enforced or not enforceable, so why would making more laws help? Banning guns will not work either. We ban alcohol in this country and there was still alcohol, be ban drugs in this country and they are everywhere. Banning guns will be just as successful. FBI stats say violent crimes are/have been declining for many years, all the while gun rights have been increasing over the average. Why is that then? Do we have problems in this country.......HELL YES......but it is more socioeconomic and racial attitudes. Improve both of those and violence will decrease also. The President stated after the Charleston shooting "At some point, we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries.". Whats the socioeconomic and racial attitudes makeup of these countries; and what counts as an advanced country anyway?
No laws would have changed the outcome of most mass shootings, the guns are already out there and there is nothing the law or government can do to change that fact. Maybe instead of blaming tools we should be looking at the mental health issues so many seem to suffer from, get them treatment and the shootings will decrease dramatically. The government could ban all guns and nothing would change and few if any would give theirs up, I would not and do not know even one person that would.
Results of poll say it all. When the Federal government refuses to protect our borders, we must have the right to bear arms as provided in the U.S. Constitution.
Guns are like Cops. Except without the delay. You feel safer when they're available. But you don't want them in your face all the time. But when your life is threatened, you're sure glad you have one handy and ready to protect and serve.
I think nationally we need a strong registration of firearms and comprehensive background checks and to ditch the second to history's compost heap. Beyond that, it is wisest to let states and cities determine gun policy. What is a prudent legislative response in Montana's back country, and the Appalachian mountains of Kentucky is not the prudent legislative response in Pittsburg, Seattle or New York.
Concealed weapons are absolutely the problem. In Italy there are strict laws and rules about owning and carrying a handgun [substantially it's really difficult to get a license for a private citizen]. But this doesn't mean that Italians are not well armed. Italy is one of the greatest producers of personal weapons. While handguns are sold overall to Army, police, security agencies ... or exported [to US, just to say], rifles are common here. It's easy to get a hunting license being recorded as hunter. Once you are a hunter you can make a real arsenal in your home. But a rifle is not that easy to carry around. You can [if a police patrol stops you and you've got 2 rifles in your car, if you've got your hunter license with you, it's probable you won't have problems], but they are quite "evident" weapons. Handguns are really more dangerous. About this, if US sees a number of intentional homicides per 100,000 inhabitants equal to 5 [Italy is 1] we would keep in mind that countries like Brazil see an astonishing 25, Mexico 22, Russia 9/10 ... Similar statistics would be read by ranges, Italy and US are in the same low range [from 1 to 5]. Btw, Canada and Belgium [where laws about firearms are strict and sever, similar to the Italian ones] record a 2, like Morocco, [2 times Italy, why? Because statistically there is not a great difference from 1 to 5]. Source: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/VC.IHR.PSRC.P5 - - - Updated - - - In my opinion a system of registration and permission to carry of handgun could improve the American system related to concealed weapons. But I wouldn't add further laws, I would improve the existing ones.
Gun laws won't help with the murder rate. Criminals don't obey laws. Suicide rates and accidental deaths, on the other hand...
Something IS being done about gun control. Scott Walker to sign legislation expanding gun rights in Wisconsin
Do you realize that a 9th circuit district court in Los Angeles secretly removed a local court rule in order to stop a civil case designed to create effective mental health care in 2006?
We are the land of the free. I voted for option 1. As an American, I must have the right to defend myself from Thugs and Terrorists.
Give me a break. All of this over a mass shooting. Did you know back during the entire decade of the 1950's when the only gun law on the books was you had to have a permit to own a machine gun. No other gun control laws that I remember, there was one, I repeat one mass shooting during that entire decade. So now we have tons and tons of gun control laws and mass shootings has risen into what, the 30's to 40's? Why. I suggest you and others need to take a good look at our society as a whole. To find out what went wrong in a society where during the first five years of this decade we have had 15 mass shootings? What changed? During the so called turbulent 60's there were just 5 mass shootings. One would think with all that turbulence going on during that decade the number should be ten times that. No the problem lies in our society today, not with more gun control. Gun control is no more than like putting a bandaid on a wound where a tourniquet is needed. It is not going to stop the bleeding. But no one wants to dig deep to find the root causes, no one would be willing to correct if even they could be corrected. We just want to attack a symptom or symbol of the cause, not the cause itself.
Have to laugh, right after Obama says this kind of violence doesn't happen in other 'advanced' nations there is a mass shooting in Tunisia and a man has his head hung on a fence in France.
There's a lot more he doesn't say, and I wish he would. Like the formula of American Freedom. Freedom exists only on the brink of chaos. This is similar to the American formula for success, on the brink of destruction. You reach and maintain #1 on earth only by pushing every envelope. When you try to slow it down, as our whole economy has on his watch, the innovators and hard workers go idle. What happened to our space program? What happened to our industrial and technical superiority? You start talking about more laws now, because we're still fired up, with much less to do.
Yes, why do liberals obsess so much about assault rifles. The other side is that the best gun for self-defense is also a handgun. Yes, provided they meet the qualifications. So what? Here are the ATF's guidelines: https://www.atf.gov/firearms/how-become-federal-firearms-licensee-ffl Why is it the ATF's business to know that? They can only use two of them at once. So what? Which means that the owner of the above have a FFL. So what? I think a locksmith is a great idea for a gun salesmen. They can sell a gun safe along with the guns. Also, hardware stores are the traditional place that small town people by guns (and it's been that way for a century or more). So you are against medical privacy? There is no need for state laws on the above. It's against federal law to do the above. Transferring a weapon to someone who is not allowed to own a firearm is a federal crime.
Crime in NYC is coming back up, while it's still down in the rest of the country. http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york...ear-to-year-comparison-nypd-article-1.2134509
Accidental gun deaths are almost nonexistent statistically. Suicide rates don't go down when guns are banned. Suicide methods do change when guns are banned.
505 in 2013 in America per the CDC... I guess that's not a huge number for accidental firearm deaths. I'll basically concede that one, it really is an appeal to emotion. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr64/nvsr64_02.pdf I'd like to see a source for suicide rates and policy changes. Most "suicide attempts" are unsuccessful and even true attempts can be impulsive acts. Whether an impulsive act kills you will depend on the lethality of the method. Attempting to poison yourself has a low probability of success, while jumping off of a cliff or shooting oneself have a high probability. If one acts impulsively, one will choose the most readily available method.
I oppose all of what you have suggested. The less regulations the better - ideally, I should be able to purchase a full auto machine pistol without ID in a back alley from some guy in a hoody, and if a cop sees, he shouldn't be able to do (*)(*)(*)(*) about it. However, I am pragmatic, so I have little issue with states regulating firearms. The federal government regulating them is just inexcusible under any justification. There is no need for one size fits all policy - NY and CA can have their totalitarian gun control and high crime rates, NH and VT can have constitutional carry/shall issue. The desire to regulate federally is simply authoritarian. You can't convince those local populations so you force them to comply through force. Disgusting. I am unable to vote in the poll, because the current laws are simply unacceptable. This is the fault of the NFA and Reagan's grandfathering of full auto weapons. Repeal and abolish.
the laws we have gone to far... owning a Gun is a Constitutional right, there should be no background checks, no need for a license to conceal, the only laws we need are for the misuse of a gun to commit a crime be like saying you have to register your religion, and openly display it for all to see..... and of course have background checks to make sure your the right kinda person to have the right to religion now if you misuse your religion and commit a crime like assaulting someone to get the demon out of them or blow up a building.... then you commit a crime..... otherwise the gov leaves us alone .
I agree that something has to be done, whether that is actually enforcing the laws on the books that we have, or modernizing those laws so that law enforcement agencies can use modern technology to help them enforce the already existing laws. I don't think that we should ban guns completely (obligatory statement so I'm not called a gun grabber, even though I will be, because talking about gun control causes gun nuts to seethe with anger and foam at the mouth.) Again I don't think that we should ban guns completely. Perhaps we don't need to have people with serious mental illnesses have access to firearms, also, I think that it should be important for the ATF to at least ask someone who is clearly hoarding firearms what the deal is. Someone may just be a collector, or they might be the next Branch Davidian Cult leader. Something needs to be done.
Actually, calling law abiding citizens, 'gun nuts' pretty much puts you in the gun control camp. Someone 'hoarding' firearms is called a collector. The gun control camp and the media make a big spash about this as if a person could go out with 20 firearms at one time and cause havoc. This is a problem with the gun control camp, lack of knowledge about firearms and hysteria. BTW, what did the Branch Dividian's and their children do other than die under a hail of fire and bullets from a totalitarian government bent on control? Ah, the crime must have been hoarding.
