Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Easier said than done

Gun violence, and therefore gun control, is all over the news these days.

My understanding is that gun control advocates are demanding universal background checks on gun purchasers, raising the legal age for gun ownership...or is it gun purchase?...from 18 to 21, and I believe banning the future sale of AR-15-style semi-automatic rifles.  My question is, supposing they are 100% successful in having their demands met, what are they going to do 6 months or 2 years from now when there is another mass shooting?  Then what?  Does anyone really believe the firearms black market will somehow disappear?  Does anyone really believe there won't be another mass shooting some day?

Legislation didn't succeed in stopping alcohol abuse in the 1920's-30's.  Legislation didn't prevent abortion prior to Roe v Wade.  Legislation hasn't stopped human trafficking.  Legislation hasn't stopped drug smuggling or drug use.  Legislation hasn't stopped child pornography.  Legislation hasn't eliminated racism. 

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think many of those things were much less prevalent in society than gun ownership is today.  And the two that come closest in number of Americans participating, alcohol and drug use, have been the issues where legislation has been the least effective.  We simply haven't been able to peddle fast enough to get ahead of those problems.

I applaud those who recognize we have a serious gun violence problem and are actively doing something.  But aren't we just treating the festering sores and not the underlying disease?  Are we being honest with ourselves?

S

9 comments:

  1. We get it, you love guns. Move on already.

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    1. You're wearing rose colored glasses, either that or you're supremely ignorant. Wake up.

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  2. We have laws against robbing banks, and yet bank robberies happen all the time, yet I have to believe that if it was legal to rob banks it would happen even more often. If we make it more difficult for the wrong people to own guns it will not end the problem, but it will reduce gun violence. Better background checks, require renewable licences to own a gun that proves the person knows how to use the damn thing will not infringe on rights and might make things safer...end the problem? No more than having speed limits and state troopers will end speeding, but it can't hurt.

    And we also get it, PT, you are so much smarter than us low life deplorables that we should just let your kind run everything, sort of like what is f*cking up California which used to be one of the most beautiful states in the country where elitist intellectuals run the show. If you have nothing positive to add to the debate STFU.

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    1. I’m all for universal background checks, and continuing education, etc. I don’t think those would infringe on anyone’s 2nd amendment rights, and might cut down somewhat on gun violence. But it’s the culture of violence in the US, and the lack of respect for human life that needs to be addressed. Get a handle on that, and you’ll see dramatically decreasing gun violence. Again, easier said than done.

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  3. I wonder if you would have asked some of the same questions when someone proposed ending slavery. It was so ingrained in American culture, so necessary for a successful agriculture, so important... yet we managed to do away with it. How the heck was that done?

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    1. It took a little thing called the Civil War and probably a million (?) lives to end the festering sore of slavery. The underlying disease, racism, still hasn't been eradicated 153 years later. A civil war now to remove or restrict guns won't work because those who want to keep their firearms outgun those who want to take them away, unlike the US Civil War where the North outgunned the South.

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