National Firearms Act (NFA) of 1934, Gun Control Act of 1968, Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (1993), Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994, plus thousands of local and state laws. How has gun control worked so far? (I told you so.)
We have two historical allies which are a lot like us: majority northern European ancestry, still significant indigenous minority increasingly vocal, increasing immigration from Asia, frontier culture including guns a significant part of the folkloric tradition, legal structure derived from English Common Law, etc. Yet they have a higher standard of living, greater longevity, less poverty, than we do. Why don’t we avail ourselves of their successful experiments and simply adopt wholesale the Canadian health system and Australian gun regulations?
Because we don’t get any guarantee that when it doesn’t work, y’all will let it all go back to the way it was.
History will show that EVERY time, with the singular exception of Prohibition, when a government “solution” to a problem fails, the solution in question isn’t done away with, but rather doubled down upon. “We didn’t spend/ban enough—spend/ban MORE and see if it works!!!”
Didn’t work with the War On (Some) Drugs.
Didn’t work with the War On Poverty.
Ain’t working with public education.
Further, when human civil rights are taken away by a government, ANY government, they are typically never restored without an outright revolution, typically bloody and violent.
And, yeah, so, what are legal, law-abiding gun owners supposed to do with their weapons for the two or five years or whatever while we “try it”? Let the government “hold” ‘em for them? I don’t THINK so! Let the government buy them, and if it fails they get the right to re-buy their guns at that price???
You see NOW why this idea is even more hare-brained than NRA emotionalism? Really, as stupid as “Why do you hate America so much?” sounds, that’s a COMPLETELY appropriate response!!
Because we don’t get any guarantee that when it doesn’t work, y’all will let it all go back to the way it was.
History will show that EVERY time, with the singular exception of Prohibition, when a government “solution” to a problem fails, the solution in question isn’t done away with, but rather doubled down upon. “We didn’t spend/ban enough—spend/ban MORE and see if it works!!!”
Didn’t work with the War On (Some) Drugs.
Didn’t work with the War On Poverty.
Ain’t working with public education.
Further, when human civil rights are taken away by a government, ANY government, they are typically never restored without an outright revolution, typically bloody and violent.
And, yeah, so, what are legal, law-abiding gun owners supposed to do with their weapons for the two or five years or whatever while we “try it”? Let the government “hold” ‘em for them? I don’t THINK so! Let the government buy them, and if it fails they get the right to re-buy their guns at that price???
You see NOW why this idea is even more hare-brained than NRA emotionalism? Really, as stupid as “Why do you hate America so much?” sounds, that’s a COMPLETELY appropriate response!!
Because we’re already trying gun control. Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore, and Washington D.C. have some of the toughest “common sense” gun laws in the nation. In 2016, out of a nation-wide total of 5,100 or so homicides (murder in the first degree), there were 480 homicides in Chicago, 344 homicides in Baltimore, 333 homicides in Detroit, and 119 homicides in Washington, DC. Those four cities alone accounted for 25% of all homicides in the US that year. Obviously, it’s not a lack of laws that’s causing all those deaths.
There were about 30,000 total gun-related deaths in the US in 2016. 65% of those were suicide, which can’t be stopped by adding laws; about 17% (5,100) were through gang-related activity; about 15% were law-enforcement-related; and 3% were accidental discharge.
To put gun deaths into perspective, in round numbers, 710,000 people die each year from heart disease; 40,000 people die each year from drug overdose; 36,000 die each year from flu; and 34,000 die in traffic accidents. 200,000 people die each year from medical mistakes — you are actually safer living in South Chicago, the murder capital of the US, than you are going to the hospital.
But, as progressives say, “If we make guns illegal, then nobody will get shot anymore” — since that’s exactly how we stopped everyone from doing drugs.
John Wiley Premium Member over 6 years ago
National Firearms Act (NFA) of 1934, Gun Control Act of 1968, Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (1993), Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994, plus thousands of local and state laws. How has gun control worked so far? (I told you so.)
dwane.scoty1 over 6 years ago
DWD & DWW, DWB (distracted while….), will be the next “We gotta do something!” .
Phred Premium Member over 6 years ago
You live by the gun, you die by the gun.
Mountain Meg over 6 years ago
They’re afraid we’ll try their tactic ~ pass the same failed laws and say “this time it’s different”. See “trickle down (on) economics”
Hippogriff over 6 years ago
We have two historical allies which are a lot like us: majority northern European ancestry, still significant indigenous minority increasingly vocal, increasing immigration from Asia, frontier culture including guns a significant part of the folkloric tradition, legal structure derived from English Common Law, etc. Yet they have a higher standard of living, greater longevity, less poverty, than we do. Why don’t we avail ourselves of their successful experiments and simply adopt wholesale the Canadian health system and Australian gun regulations?
LNER4472 Premium Member over 6 years ago
Yo, Keef, it’s simple, man.
Because we don’t get any guarantee that when it doesn’t work, y’all will let it all go back to the way it was.
History will show that EVERY time, with the singular exception of Prohibition, when a government “solution” to a problem fails, the solution in question isn’t done away with, but rather doubled down upon. “We didn’t spend/ban enough—spend/ban MORE and see if it works!!!”
Didn’t work with the War On (Some) Drugs.
Didn’t work with the War On Poverty.
Ain’t working with public education.
Further, when human civil rights are taken away by a government, ANY government, they are typically never restored without an outright revolution, typically bloody and violent.
And, yeah, so, what are legal, law-abiding gun owners supposed to do with their weapons for the two or five years or whatever while we “try it”? Let the government “hold” ‘em for them? I don’t THINK so! Let the government buy them, and if it fails they get the right to re-buy their guns at that price???
You see NOW why this idea is even more hare-brained than NRA emotionalism? Really, as stupid as “Why do you hate America so much?” sounds, that’s a COMPLETELY appropriate response!!
LNER4472 Premium Member over 6 years ago
Yo, Keef, it’s simple, man.
Because we don’t get any guarantee that when it doesn’t work, y’all will let it all go back to the way it was.
History will show that EVERY time, with the singular exception of Prohibition, when a government “solution” to a problem fails, the solution in question isn’t done away with, but rather doubled down upon. “We didn’t spend/ban enough—spend/ban MORE and see if it works!!!”
Didn’t work with the War On (Some) Drugs.
Didn’t work with the War On Poverty.
Ain’t working with public education.
Further, when human civil rights are taken away by a government, ANY government, they are typically never restored without an outright revolution, typically bloody and violent.
And, yeah, so, what are legal, law-abiding gun owners supposed to do with their weapons for the two or five years or whatever while we “try it”? Let the government “hold” ‘em for them? I don’t THINK so! Let the government buy them, and if it fails they get the right to re-buy their guns at that price???
You see NOW why this idea is even more hare-brained than NRA emotionalism? Really, as stupid as “Why do you hate America so much?” sounds, that’s a COMPLETELY appropriate response!!
Claymore Premium Member over 6 years ago
Because we’re already trying gun control. Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore, and Washington D.C. have some of the toughest “common sense” gun laws in the nation. In 2016, out of a nation-wide total of 5,100 or so homicides (murder in the first degree), there were 480 homicides in Chicago, 344 homicides in Baltimore, 333 homicides in Detroit, and 119 homicides in Washington, DC. Those four cities alone accounted for 25% of all homicides in the US that year. Obviously, it’s not a lack of laws that’s causing all those deaths.
There were about 30,000 total gun-related deaths in the US in 2016. 65% of those were suicide, which can’t be stopped by adding laws; about 17% (5,100) were through gang-related activity; about 15% were law-enforcement-related; and 3% were accidental discharge.
To put gun deaths into perspective, in round numbers, 710,000 people die each year from heart disease; 40,000 people die each year from drug overdose; 36,000 die each year from flu; and 34,000 die in traffic accidents. 200,000 people die each year from medical mistakes — you are actually safer living in South Chicago, the murder capital of the US, than you are going to the hospital.
But, as progressives say, “If we make guns illegal, then nobody will get shot anymore” — since that’s exactly how we stopped everyone from doing drugs.