Mass Shootings Reignite U.S. Gun Control Fight

[SecularMotion]

Despite a recent stroke, Bill Badger was determined to show up in court this month to see with his own eyes the man who shot him in the head in a mass shooting 19 months ago at a supermarket in Arizona, one in a series of murderous armed rampages in the United States in recent years.

“It’s changed my life,” Badger, a retired U.S. Army colonel, a hunter and lifelong supporter of the pro-gun National Rifle Association (NRA) lobby, said. “I’ve made up my mind that I want to do something to help prevent this kind of thing from happening again and again in this country.”

The Arizona shooting, which left six people dead and 13 injured including Gabriel Giffords, then a member of the U.S. Congress, shattered Badger’s peaceful retirement years and propelled him into the national spotlight of an emotional and peculiarly American debate on how to control citizens’ possession of guns.

And with a U.S. presidential election looming, that debate has acquired a fresh urgency as supporters and opponents of tighter restrictions on guns take their cases to the court of public opinion, even as the two main candidates, President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, seem eager to stay on the sidelines.

http://en.ria.ru/crime/20120817/175282470.html

[shadowrider]

1. For a second I thought you were talking about Chicago, but you mean the mass shootings

one place at one time, not 30 shot and 6 dead over 2 days.

Sorry I misinterpreted the article.

[SecularMotion]

2. Of course you did. You could always self-delete

By self-delete I didn't mean to say you should actually kill yourself, just delete your post.

[shadowrider]

6. Nah. Shows hypocrisy in action. No one cares about Chicago, but let it happen somewhere else

and by God we gotta have more laws, more laws, more laws.

Look, getting rid of guns will not get rid of evil. Evil exists. It has been here since the dawn of man, and will be here long after we're gone.

You can't legislate or ban it.

[Reasonable_Argument]

3. From your link

Despite the pleas from relatives of victims in the recent Colorado shooting for tougher gun laws, gun sales and classes in that state are booming and supporters of gun ownership say gun control has failed.

I was reading another article that said gun sales are up 20% in an already tremendously profitable season and one major manufacturer, they didn't say who, has stopped taking new orders just to satisfy demand.

[Hoyt]

4. Of course gun sales are up --lots of yahoos out there, mostly buying another gun for their cache.

Then, there are people responding to the arming up of America as promoted by NRA, right wing militias, right wing gun nuts, and even those right here.

Fact is, we better do something soon to stem the proliferation of guns or it will just make the job that much more difficult in future when there is no choice. In meantime, yahoos that care nothing about society will continue to profit from the arming up of society.

[Reasonable_Argument]

5. Well

Fact is, we better do something soon to stem the proliferation of guns or it will just make the job that much more difficult in future when there is no choice.

That's the point, make it so difficult that you'll never try to disarm the public.

[Hoyt]

7. Fine, you get to keep your be-loved guns at society's expense. Fine position to take - "Reasonable"

[Reasonable_Argument]

8. The costs of disarming society

Greatly outweigh the occasional tragedy, sad as they are. Remember, gun ownership is at record high levels yet crime is at a 40 year low. That doesn't fit your agenda though so I understand why you choose not to talk about it.

[rDigital]

9. +100000000000000000 nt

[SecularMotion]

11. Wrong

Gun ownership is down. Fewer owners are stockpiling more guns.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/117257814

[Reasonable_Argument]

14. Well

PRINCETON, NJ -- Forty-seven percent of American adults currently report that they have a gun in their home or elsewhere on their property. This is up from 41% a year ago and is the highest Gallup has recorded since 1993, albeit marginally above the 44% and 45% highs seen during that period.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/150353/self-reported-gun-ownership-highest-1993.aspx

[Trunk Monkey]

16. Re: Forty-seven percent of American adults currently REPORT that they have a gun in their home

I have to wonder how many do that aren't reporting it.

I know if some random pollster called me (assuming I didn't hang up as soon as I realized it was a telemarketer) I sure as Hell wouldn't tell them I had guns

[Equate]

19. Wrong

I wouldn't tell anyone whether or not I own guns or have guns in my house, as I suspect that hundreds of thousands would do the same.
And of course, we should just believe Josh Sugerman?
Funniest thing I've heard all day.
That article is nothing but pure bullshit.

[Jenoch]

31. So, are you in favor of the mayors' efforts in

this story or opposed? We have no idea since you never put any of your own words on this or other initial threads.

[SecularMotion]

34. I'm in favor of Mayors being able to govern their cities without interference from the NRA.

[beevul]

35. Can we conclude that you'll support an equal degree of infringement...

Can we conclude that you'll support the same degree of infringement, on other equally protected enumerated rights , by der mayor?


Or is it more of a "salad bar" thing, in your opinion?

[Jenoch]

42. Why don't you actually

include your opinions in your original posts when you start these threads? Or can't you handle the heat?

Oh, on the NRA topic, what exactly can the NRA do to the mayor of a city? They have no legislative authority over any cities of which I am aware.

[Clames]

33. Keep drinking that Brady koolaid.

Are they giving you a bulk discount yet?

[Hoyt]

15. Are you implying that you fine "law-abiding" gun owners wouldn't turn yours in or pare down to a

to a reasonable level if rational gun laws were enacted?

[Reasonable_Argument]

17. Yes

Because that would be an unconstitutional order.

[Trunk Monkey]

18. So the law abiding gun owning jews in the Warsaw Ghetto should have just turned 'em in? NT

[Hoyt]

21. Get a life, this is not pre-war Warsaw except in minds of right wingers and a few misguided souls.

[Equate]

20. I'm not implying it, I'm saying it.

And just who is to decide what a "reasonable level" is? People like you? People like me?
And just what is a "reasonable level"? 1, 2,4,,6,? IMHO, reasonable is what I can afford, not some arbitrary number.

[Hoyt]

22. Funny how all the newcomers are willing to admit they really aren't so law-abiding.

[Equate]

23. I'm law abiding

Tell me, what laws have I broken?
Funny you didn't answer my questions.

[SQUEE]

26. Might want to bone up on your..

Thoreau...

I believe you can find Resistance to Civil Government in your local library

[Hoyt]

38. Yea, I bet a lot of gun culture have leather copies of "The Turner Diaries" in their reading room.

[Hoyt]

39. If you've actually read Thoreau, did he promote taking up guns against society or government?

Or did you read the Free Republic version of his works?

[SQUEE]

40. Such assumptions..

I have no need to prove my bona-fides, rest assured I have done more for the struggle than a few acts of, shall we say re-appropriation.

I notice you often mention RW sites, are you paid by the post or do you get a percentage of the traffic you lead over there?

[Hoyt]

41. Would love to see your bona-fides and/or what you consider the "struggle."

[SQUEE]

43. I'm sure you would..

Alas I find it to be in no ones best interest to provide either to you.
Have a nice day.

[Trunk Monkey]

28. A self confessed former robber has the balls to question whether someone is ""law abiding" ? NT

[krispos42]

27. If a law was enacted requiring me to turn in or sell any or all of my guns...

...it would be, by definition, NOT rational.


The fact that you think it's rational is YOUR problem, and I'd prefer it stayed with you.

[Jenoch]

32. What do you consider

to be a 'reasonable' level? What are 'rational' gun laws? These are questions that must be answered before an opinion can be given in reply to you.

[Missycim]

36. Funny when my house was being broken into

society wasn't there to defend it.

[rl6214]

25. "we better do something soon"

Who's this "we"? What exactly are you doing to "stem the proliferation of guns" other than whining about it on the internet?

[friendly_iconoclast]

30. He'll whine some more about it on the net...

[rDigital]

10. SB 249 was DOA in the Cali legislature. There is no appetite for gun control. nt

[shadowrider]

12. Ain't you heard? We're supposed to elect politicians who're willing to stand up the the NRA

even though they'd never get elected because they want to stand up to the NRA.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

13. It is too bad that the Mass Shootings are NOT reigniting the focus on the fact that Our

Mental Health Programs have been gutted.

[rl6214]

24. I'm with you on this, I wish Badger and all the others well but this is a political loser

and Pres Obama is right to stay out of it and on the sidelines.

[GreenStormCloud]

29. And the gun controllers are losing again. N/T

[ileus]

37. destroying rights is never the progressive answer.