Do you know anyone who has used a gun for self defense?

[b20 eg8]

We tax tobacco users a ton all because tobacco kills and want people to quit smoking.


I think a huge gun and ammo tax is a great idea.

I agree with this whole post. 

But you can easily make bullets. I don't see how this would accomplish anything.

 

[wr]

But you can easily make bullets. I don't see how this would accomplish anything.

would be giving yet another industry to the black market.

 

[shoelyesses]

I can think of a few.

as great of examples those are... those days.. and principals, that mentality these great individuals had is almost an afterthought. Ppl arent getting guns to uphold/defend moral justices... nor to fight against immoral injustices and fight for fairness and equality...

Its to inflict harm/death... true some including myself as a means of safe than sorry... but this isnt always the case. We have to be honest... cats out here aint gettin guns on some black panther/malcolm x... type steez

 

[thorrocksjs]

Guns sole job is the kill living beings .If I go out and buy I gun I live with knowing I bought a weapon for fatal intent.Banning guns or making them hard to get for civilians is dumb trust me y'all don't want a world where only Militias got access to rifles and criminals got access to high powered rifles you don't.Guns being readily avialable to buy in America is important I'm not trying to live in a world where only the government is armed .As a black man I know the history of my people being unarmed and helpless and the tragedies that resulted due to that.Aint no amount of boxing mma .bjj can save you from a well placed shot from a glock nothing.I put that to your face ain't no reflexes in the world can stop me from putting your brains out on the cement and your wallet your sneakers ,your woman in my arms.A gun only stops another gun .Keep playing pretend

 

[bandit country]

We tax tobacco users a ton all because tobacco kills and want people to quit smoking.

The State doesn't want people to quit smoking. How would they make up that tax money if every smoker quit tomorrow?

The State taxes tobacco because people are addicted and are willing to be extorted to continue their addiction.

 

[ar guy]

The State doesn't want people to quit smoking. How would they make up that tax money if every smoker quit tomorrow?
The State taxes tobacco because people are addicted and are willing to be extorted to continue their addiction.

This right here. And Chicago tried to tax ammo and failed.

 

[bandit country]

as great of examples those are... those days.. and principals, that mentality these great individuals had is almost an afterthought. Ppl arent getting guns to uphold/defend moral justices... nor to fight against immoral injustices and fight for fairness and equality...

Its to inflict harm/death... true some including myself as a means of safe than sorry... but this isnt always the case. We have to be honest... cats out here aint gettin guns on some black panther/malcolm x... type steez

But my point in posting these pictures is to show that when the State (or the man, or the powers that be, or the Crown, whatever you want to call it) utilizes a police force that is at best indifferent and at worst openly hostile, people need to secure the means to defend themselves.

 

[semf]

if you ban guns, people will find other ways of killing each other.

automobiles kill people in great numbers every year too. do we ban automobiles also? if we banned everything in the world, people would just kill each other with their bare hands. so then do we ban people too?

if anything, we should ENCOURAGE gun ownership. Like you're going to think TWICE about going into mall or other public place to shoot people when you know everyone else has a gun too.

 

[lyonbc1]

Oh absolutely, but most of these mass shootings that aren't gang violence type of things are from legal weapons.....hey if more regulation can even save one life and allows cops to track spending patterns on ammo and whatnot then I'm all for it...and so should actual gun owners. if you are responsible owner you can wait longer to own your weapon, thats a sacrifice you gotta be able to make....you're trying to own a weapon used to KILL animals, people, no other use. Even knives have other uses for practical things, guns have no other purpose and it needs to be more difficult to get a legal weapon.....guns are so engrained in our culture here that there will always be illegal gun ownership but these lunatics get there's legally and that needs to be more regulated.

I think its VA where they tried to propose a law that you can only get one gun a month (who the **** needs more than 12 guns in a calender year) and that didnt even pass....that literally blows my mind

i dont know if you meant it that way but it almost seems as if you are saying mass shootings>everyday random shootings/gang shootings/robberies etc... in terms of gun control prevention. I mean 30 ppl being killed by guns is 30 ppl killed by guns... yea in many ppl mines 30 ppl at once seems more tragic..but at the end of the day its still 30 lives gone, regardless if its at once or in the course of a week a month etc...

Even if you made tighter restrictions on legal weapons... to be honest all it would do is make it less likely that lil hunter/scott/billy takes his dads hnting rifle, or pick the lock on his dads gun cabinent and reak havoc in small suburbia... It would not stop or prevent the daily actions murders etc that go on in urban/city populations... So end of the day yea it might curb situations like a mass murder from the outskirts of iowa... but it would even under your admission stop/slow down the often murders in lets say a nyc, a dc, and la.  As you hve eluded many of these ppl obtain weapons illegally.

No no no my bad on phrasing it like that, definitely didn't mean to make it seem like mass shootings are more significant than single incidents.....I just meant a lot of gang violence and things I bet use more illegal weapons or use straw purchases and stuff than a person who has no "criminal background" would in obtaining a gun I think.....

And you're right, I'm from Philly where there's a lot of gun violence in the city with young teenaged kids and adults....I honestly have NO idea how to curb that type of situation...I know radio stations do gun for money or ticket drives to help get some of the weapons off the street but really the imprint that's making is insignificant in the grand scheme of things (but things like that should still go on because one less illegal weapon on the street is a GREAT thing). But I was more so talking about these mass shootings that tend to be done by non-gang or affiliated people with criminal records...I'd be willing to say (don't have facts to back it up) but more gun violence in inner cities or in lower income areas tends to be from people with records (juvenile or whatever)...but all lives are equal, if making tighter regulations makes one of these "suburban killings" then thats more lives spared from senseless violence....I just think its a process that seems to be easier to limit the potential for these types of shootings from happening than random acts of violence that happen due to human nature and society having evil....but that illegal gun problem is so convoluted and complex I dunno even how to address it, tbh thats much more of a pressing issue than these types of mass shootings since like you said that happens everyday. This world is sick

 

[girlslovewaffles]

The right to bear arms is crucial because it allows citizens to protect themselves against a tyrannical government.

Do you know that the first battle of the American Revolution was fought because the British tried to confiscate gunpowder and weapons? The right to bear arms, as stated by our founding fathers, is not a right given by our government. It is a human right given to everyone by God. Where would America be had that right been infringed upon by the British government?

Just remember, bad people will find a way to achieve their deed, and a ban on weapons will do nothing to hinder their progress. But for those who follow the rules, it will make it impossible to have weapons in the right places at the right time.

This is 2012 buddy. A lot has changed since then.

You're an imbecile. It doesn't matter if its 2012 or if its 1775, the leaders who founded this country believed that the right to bear arms is a GOD-GIVEN RIGHT, not to ever be taken away by an entity like the government. In fact, they ENCOURAGED citizens to speak out and retaliate against corrupt and tyrannical governments. What the **** do you think the Revolutionary War was about? Moron.

 

[Grine]

Exactly what the problem is

What's the problem? I am a single father raising a little girl. I have the rifle to protect my home and family. The handgun is to protect myself. I've been a victim of car theft and robbery. In fact, my best friend died in a carjacking persuit while I was in the car. My past experience and current situation is the only reason I bear arms. I don't play games with people lives. I've seen people lives taken in front of me like it's nothing. People kill people, not guns.

 

[ham city]

if you ban guns, people will find other ways of killing each other.
automobiles kill people in great numbers every year too. do we ban automobiles also? if we banned everything in the world, people would just kill each other with their bare hands. so then do we ban people too?

This stupid logic has been repeated ad nauseam.

 

[lyonbc1]

We tax tobacco users a ton all because tobacco kills and want people to quit smoking.


I think a huge gun and ammo tax is a great idea.

I agree with this whole post. 

Completely agree....I remember that stand up and laughing but being like" that is a smart idea"

 

[rashi]

Chicago's total gun ban worked out great. Had the highest murder rate with firearms in the country.

 

[girlslovewaffles]

Banning guns is a knee-jerk reaction to this morning's tragedy.

IMO, what we really need is a stronger system to educate and support the youth of our nation.

 

[iblink]

In an idealistic world, no one owns a gun. In fact, fire arms are nonexistent. Unfortunately the world we live in is far from ideal. The realistic world we live in is filled with people who own guns. Some, probably a lot in fact, would be willing to give up their firearms in an attempt to achieve a more peaceful coexistence. However there are those that won't give up their guns, and they will become a huge problem which we can't defend against.

So long as guns exist, we won't be safe. Guns will always (at least in the immediate sense) exist, so we will never be safe.

 

[ar guy]

Banning guns is a knee-jerk reaction to this morning's tragedy.
IMO, what we really need is a stronger system to educate and support the youth of our nation.

And a complete revamp of the mental health system.

 

[fray salters]

People are still going to have guns.

I know everyone's feeling overly sensitive today but...ban or no bans. Guns and gun violence will continue to exist.

 

[girlslovewaffles]

Banning guns is a knee-jerk reaction to this morning's tragedy.
IMO, what we really need is a stronger system to educate and support the youth of our nation.

And a complete revamp of the mental health system.

Agreed.

Also, I want to add that the only thing a ban will do is make criminals richer.

 

[superantigen]

Mental issues are undoubtedly at the cause of all of this. No one in their right mind kills 27 people, with 20 of them being children.

Personally, I've always been of the opinion that video games play a significant role in situations like this. A video game might not be related to this particular case, but I think it's high time we evaluated the type of game material, media content, we're exposing children and young-adults to.

Remember, there are numerous studies that have shown that the brain is still developing well into the teenage years, still maturing. But from an early age, kids are playing these violent games, first person shooters, that ultimately desensitizes them to violence. The violence of a gun, and the act of killing--taking a human life--is trivialized as fiction, with little to no real world consequence. Worse, it's advertised as "fun" and heroic. (Think of VR Training missions from the Metal Gear Solid series). You combine this lack of real world awareness, lax gun controls, experimentation with psychoactive drugs (another favorite pastime of the "young" generation), and a still developing brain, and you have a recipe for distaster.

This is a multi pronged issue, it's not just a "gun control" issue.

We need to evaluate gun laws; we need to evaluate drug laws; we need to evaluate entertainment geared towards children and young adults; hell, we need to evaluate American society as a whole, from revisiting certain portions of the Bill of rights to our bloated military industrial complex. All these things are in concert and interrelated. To address one, we must address them all.

The killer may very well have been sick (mentally), but chose to abandon a treatment course because of the stigma associated with mentally ill people. Likewise, in my opinion, America is very sick and it behooves us as a nation to seek treatment. The naysayers (see the NRA, the military industry apologists, Americans holding on to archaic conservative traditions, etc) will plead otherwise because they fear the stigma associated with progressive change, the stigma of getting better, but if we continue this farce that everything is fine, then things will only get worse--like today. Things actually got bad 13+ years ago, but clearly we didn't take it seriously then. We seriously need to change things when children aren't safe anymore and the school-ground isn't a sacred place/space anymore.





...

 

[girlslovewaffles]

Mental issues are undoubtedly at the cause of all of this. No one in their right mind kills 27 people, with 20 of them being children.

Personally, I've always been of the opinion that video games play a significant role in situations like this. A video game might not be related to this particular case, but I think it's high time we evaluated the type of game material we're exposing children and young adults to.

Remember, there are numerous studies that have shown that the brain is still developing well into the teenage years, still maturing. But from an early age, kids are playing these violent games, first person shooters, that ultimately desensitizes them to violence. The violence of a gun, and the act of killing--taking a human life--is trivialized as fiction, with little to no real world consequence. Worse, it's advertised as "fun" and heroic. (Think of VR Training missions from the Metal Gear Solid series). You combine this lack of real world awareness, lax gun controls, experimentation with psychoactive drugs (another favorite pastime of the "young" generation), and a still developing brain, and you have a recipe for distaster.

This is a multi pronged issue, it's not just a "gun control" issue.

We need to evaluate gun laws; we need to evaluate drug laws; we need to evaluate entertainment geared towards children and young adults; hell, we need to evaluate American society as a whole, from revisiting certain portions of the Bill of rights to our bloated military industrial complex.

The killer may very well have been sick (mentally), but chose to abandon a treatment course because of the stigma associated with mentally ill people. Likewise, in my opinion, America is very sick and it behooves us as a nation to seek treatment. The naysayers (see the NRA, the military industry apologists, Americans holding on to archaic conservative traditions, etc) will plead otherwise because they fear the stigma associated with progressive change, the stigma of getting better, but if we continue this farce that everything is fine, then things will only get worse--like today. Things seriously need to change when children aren't safe anymore and the school-ground isn't a sacred place/space anymore.





...

Cosign.

You know those movies where kids are trained to be super soldiers by subjecting them to violent clips of men killing each other and other nonsensical violence?

Yeah...

 

[Grine]

It is proven that mandating homeowners to own guns caused a decline in crime rates. The state of Georgia passed a law to allow conceal weapons to be obtain in public places. In Kennesaw, Ga, its mandatory for homeowners to own guns and crime plummets.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1818862/posts
The New American magazine reminds us that March 25th marked the 16th anniversary of Kennesaw, Georgia's ordinance requiring heads of households (with certain exceptions) to keep at least one firearm in their homes.

The city's population grew from around 5,000 in 1980 to 13,000 by 1996 (latest available estimate). Yet there have been only three murders: two with knives (1984 and 1987) and one with a firearm (1997). After the law went into effect in 1982, crime against persons plummeted 74 percent compared to 1981, and fell another 45 percent in 1983 compared to 1982.

And it has stayed impressively low. In addition to nearly non-existent homicide (murders have averaged a mere 0.19 per year), the annual number of armed robberies, residential burglaries, commercial burglaries, and rapes have averaged, respectively, 1.69, 31.63, 19.75, and 2.00 through 1998.

With all the attention that has been heaped upon the lawful possession of firearms lately, you would think that a city that requires gun ownership would be the center of a media feeding frenzy. It isn't. The fact is I can't remember a major media outlet even mentioning Kennesaw. Can you?

The reason is obvious. Kennesaw proves that the presence of firearms actually improves safety and security. This is not the message that the media want us to hear. They want us to believe that guns are evil and are the cause of violence.

The facts tell a different story. What is even more interesting about Kennesaw is that the city's crime rate decreased with the simple knowledge that the entire community was armed. The bad guys didn't force the residents to prove it. Just knowing that residents were armed prompted them to move on to easier targets. Most criminals don't have a death wish.

There have been two occasions in my own family when the presence of a handgun averted potential disaster. In both instances the gun was never aimed at a person and no shot was fired.

 

[sir charles]

youtube.com/watch?v=OuX-nFmL0II

 

[guccjermaine]

Yes

 

[thenoguy]

It is proven that mandating homeowners to own guns caused a decline in crime rates. The statdoor Georgia passed a law to allow conceal went to be obtain in public places. In Kennesaw, Ga, its mandatory for homeowners to own guns and crime plummets.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1818862/posts
The New American magazine reminds us that March 25th marked the 16th anniversary of Kennesaw, Georgia's ordinance requiring heads of households (with certain exceptions) to keep at least one firearm in their homes.
The city's population grew from around 5,000 in 1980 to 13,000 by 1996 (latest available estimate). Yet there have been only three murders: two with knives (1984 and 1987) and one with a firearm (1997). After the law went into effect in 1982, crime against persons plummeted 74 percent compared to 1981, and fell another 45 percent in 1983 compared to 1982.
And it has stayed impressively low. In addition to nearly non-existent homicide (murders have averaged a mere 0.19 per year), the annual number of armed robberies, residential burglaries, commercial burglaries, and rapes have averaged, respectively, 1.69, 31.63, 19.75, and 2.00 through 1998.
With all the attention that has been heaped upon the lawful possession of firearms lately, you would think that a city that requires gun ownership would be the center of a media feeding frenzy. It isn't. The fact is I can't remember a major media outlet even mentioning Kennesaw. Can you?
The reason is obvious. Kennesaw proves that the presence of firearms actually improves safety and security. This is not the message that the media want us to hear. They want us to believe that guns are evil and are the cause of violence.
The facts tell a different story. What is even more interesting about Kennesaw is that the city's crime rate decreased with the simple knowledge that the entire community was armed. The bad guys didn't force the residents to prove it. Just knowing that residents were armed prompted them to move on to easier targets. Most criminals don't have a death wish.
There have been two occasions in my own family when the presence of a handgun averted potential disaster. In both instances the gun was never aimed at a person and no shot was fired.

Kennesaw is also an affluent suburb. Trying to compare any small sample size to a country as large and heterogeneous as the US is ridiculous.