| Author | Message | ||
     Chris Prenovost Citizen Username: Chris_prenovost Post Number: 334 Registered: 7-2003 |
Tom, I cannot quote numbers, but I was born in Canada and am quite sure that the rate of gun ownership in Canada is far less that that of the U.S. I am against gun control. It leads down the proverbial slippery slope of a complete ban. But gun registration and licensing are a good idea. As for a car, make sure that people who own guns know how to use them. Safety first. That will prevent a lot of foolish accidents. And unnecessary funerals. Licensing, to make sure that the criminal element are less likely to obtain a gun. And enforce the damn law!! There are plenty of gun control laws on the books now, most of which only seem to be enforced when some homeowner or business owner defends his or her property. | ||
| Kenney Citizen Username: Kenney Post Number: 559 Registered: 11-2003 |
If our real purpose is to save lives, we would invest heavily in public transportation, cap the size of cars and trucks, lower the speed limit, and enforce the 'no-cell phone while driving' law currently on the books. | ||
| Chris Prenovost Citizen Username: Chris_prenovost Post Number: 338 Registered: 7-2003 |
Sorry Kenney, but this is America. Personal freedom counts for a lot here, and that includes the freedom to do things that are not necessarily in the public interest. What you are advocating sounds an awful lot like european style socialism, complete with big government, suffocating taxes and the nanny state. Government regulation rarely works. It usually makes the problem worse. Case in point: Back in the 70's, the price of oil in the U.S. was controlled, making gas cheap, so people drove gas guzzlers and burned a lot of fuel. When the government decontrolled the oil industry, surprise! The price went up (a lot) and demand declined from 18 million to 14 million barrels a day. And if you want to save lives, make people eat less junk food, exercise more, stop smoking, and get the gays to stop having unprotected anal sex with multiple partners in dark Manhattan clubs. That oughta do it. | ||
| cjc Citizen Username: Cjc Post Number: 3144 Registered: 8-2003 |
Chris -- you can't sue the obese or the smokers or charge those who engage in risky lifestyles. That's the problem, even though it goes to the heart of the issue. People are blameless -- didn't you read that yet? You have to sue and regulate entities that can't vote, and then legislate against their right to political speech. | ||
| Bobkat Supporter Username: Bobk Post Number: 7619 Registered: 5-2001 |
How do you avoid putting yourself in a risky situation? Stay home? Basically I don't think 99.9% of us would consider going to a mall in Kingston, NY on a Sunday afternoon a high risk. Maybe, don't go to malls? Or maybe skip stores completely and order everything from the "net"? | ||
| Debby Citizen Username: Debby Post Number: 1680 Registered: 5-2001 |
"You have to sue and regulate entities that can't vote, and then legislate against their right to political speech." cjc - are you saying here that the gun industry has constitutional rights? | ||
| Kenney Citizen Username: Kenney Post Number: 561 Registered: 11-2003 |
I am not pushing for regulation, just pointing out that if your goal is to save lives you should push for auto regulations, not guns. | ||
| Mustt_mustt Citizen Username: Mustt_mustt Post Number: 278 Registered: 8-2003 |
When the State is there to protect us, why do WE in civil society need guns? For what? To shoot wild animals, perhaps, but other human beings..... I guess I am missing out on the "personal freedom" aspect. | ||
| birdbrain Citizen Username: Birdbrain Post Number: 73 Registered: 2-2003  |
A lot of gun-rights advocates make the arguement that the state isn't here to protect us, it's there to pick up the pieces afterwards and punish the guilty. The other rationale is that we need guns to protect ourselves from the State itself. That arguement carried more weight when the State had flint-locks too. But how do we even the stakes now, a tank in every garage? I used to be pretty heavily in favor of "gun rights", but have become so disenchanted with the average person's ability to make rational decisions, I've backed away a fair bit from that position. -David "Muzzle-loaders all around!" Wren-Hardin | ||
| Mustt_mustt Citizen Username: Mustt_mustt Post Number: 279 Registered: 8-2003 |
"A tank in every garage." That is a great line. And thanks for breaking down my position. | ||
| Mustt_mustt Citizen Username: Mustt_mustt Post Number: 280 Registered: 8-2003 |
Although I may add, I was never in favor of "gun rights," but that could be a matter of growing up in another culture, equally violent but not obsessed with the notion of "personal freedom" as a constitutional right but "gun rights" are exercised more in the form of "anti-State" violence by a radical left that carries arms as a "right" to bring about fundamental reforms in society and on some occasions, in some states, some others of the upper echelons of society, the "might of the right" that terrorizes the comon folks. That said, guess which country am i from? | ||
| Tom Reingold Supporter Username: Noglider Post Number: 5568 Registered: 1-2003  |
Russia? | ||
| Debby Citizen Username: Debby Post Number: 1684 Registered: 5-2001 |
Peru? | ||
| Mustt_mustt Citizen Username: Mustt_mustt Post Number: 282 Registered: 8-2003 |
Any other educated guesses before I spill the beans? | ||
| notehead Supporter Username: Notehead Post Number: 2079 Registered: 5-2001  |
Vatican City? | ||
| Mustt_mustt Citizen Username: Mustt_mustt Post Number: 284 Registered: 8-2003 |
That was close  | ||
| Valentine Michael Smith Citizen Username: Umbert Post Number: 74 Registered: 3-2004  |
Are you a Basqu separatist? No wait.....Ireland? You are Irish! IRA! | ||
| Valentine Michael Smith Citizen Username: Umbert Post Number: 75 Registered: 3-2004 |
The Palestinians don't use guns to fight tanks. They just throw rocks. I'm now for rock control. Or maybe a total ban on rocks? | ||
| themp Supporter Username: Themp Post Number: 1510 Registered: 12-2001 |
"I am against gun control. It leads down the proverbial slippery slope of a complete ban. " Do you apply that logic to everything, like licensing driving? I am against the slippery slope argument, because it leads down the slippery slope of being against everything, because if one thing can go down the slippery slope, then the next thing you know, everything goes down the slippery slope. So either don't use it, or use it also in reference to itself, rendering everything slippery. I'm against slippers, too. Next thing you know, you're barefoot. Better to wear shoes. I wear em in the shower. | ||
| themp Supporter Username: Themp Post Number: 1511 Registered: 12-2001 |
"What do any of you do for self defense purposes?" I mean, I'm not paranoid, but I've been mugged (well attempted) twice, seen countless purse snatchings, seen random road rage fights, been threatened by crazy homeless people, I take the subways late at night sometimes, go to the malls, etc. I worry about my wife and kids. I've trained in martial arts and self defense (two very different things), and I carry various legal non-lethal weapons sometimes. What do you all do, if anything? " This is always interesting to me. Some people don't understand that a lot of us don't feel afraid as much as they do. I don't do anything about it. I was watching a Chuck Norris movie the other night for a few seconds. It was an early one, and there was a long sequence where he was showing people how to spin around and punch someone who has a gun to your back (which seems dumb). I thought it was so ridiculous. Why not learn something useful? I think the scared folks tend to be conservatives, too. They BELIEVED the WMD stuff last year. I never did. Odd. My father is a republican, and he has plastic sheets and duct tape in the basement, as instructed (once). I'm like, whatever, plastic schmastic. |
