Skip Intro (18,425 posts)
A (DU) minority view on guns.
Last edited Tue Sep 17, 2013, 02:02 AM USA/ET - Edit history (1)
I'm just going to say it - it isn't a gun problem, it's a people problem.
Guns, like cars, machetes, rope, etc., are tools of mankind. They all have appropriate uses. When used inappropriately, the inanimate object is not to blame, the person is. Is that not self-evident?
That some are using this tragedy to push a political agenda while the bodies of the victims are still warm is a little disrespectful and transparent, imho. But here it comes, full court press I'm sure. And we don't know the details yet. For all we know, this was a terrorist attack. There was some motivation. Maybe it was pay, maybe it was more. But motivation matters, because it isn't about the gun, it's about the person.
Two questions:
What percentage of gun homicides in the US is of the mass killing kind?
What percentage of legal gun owners have committed mass killings?
The answers will tell you two things, at least. One, that mass killings are a tiny fraction of all US gun violence. That is why using such a rare event to crusade against something much larger is so insincere.
And two, that the vast majority of legal gun owners are not "gun nuts" out to lay waste to society. This is reality.
The truth is each of us have a right and responsibility to defend ourselves, our families, and our property. Every one of us. We have a right to self-defense. We have a right to protect ourselves. We have a right to fight back. No permission is required. America is not going to relinquish those rights to the government. It just ain't going to happen. And it shouldn't happen.
Yeah, it's a minority view here, but I can promise you I'm not the only Democrat to hold these views.
Anyway, I'm sure I'll catch hell for posting this, and that's fine, everyone has an opinion. Hopefully the name-callers who want to scream "NRA shill" will bill few...
Hold up. Is this the DU minority view, or just the DU minority view when it's a minority who killed a bunch of people. Either way, applause for the discombobulation of the primitives via this thread.
Lizzie Poppet (2,924 posts)
4. Good post...but this isn't your first rodeo.
There will be a couple-three days of emotionally-overwrought venting. During that time, no one engaging in said venting is going to be even remotely receptive to a post pointing out the rarity of such events, pointing out that there are over 50 million gun owners in this country (probably way over, actually...) yet only a few thousand gun-related violent crimes, pointing out that garden variety "regular" criminals commit the vast majority of firearms homicides, not spree killers, etc. That's not what they want to hear...so they won't.
DUmmies who come out of the nutty gun closet don't usually last long at the DU. Thank you for the entertainment this will provide though.
otohara (22,010 posts)
14. Actually 22 America's Were Killed Today By Guns
and there will be the same, maybe more, maybe less tomorrow and the next day, day after that and so on...
What's the difference if these people are killed by a mass shooter or 22 separate shooters? It's massive compared
to other so-called civilized countries.
Who pays for all this gun violence?
We do to the tune of $600 million per year.
Do you have liability insurance on your gun?
Do you have liability insurance on your car?
Some Democrats in Pueblo said **** you to education, health care, Medicaid, and a host of other issues more important
than ****ing guns.
Hold I right there, primitive. 22America's were killed? Now, I knew there were 57 states in this America via our benevolent president. However, I realized not that there were 22...a whopping 22 Americas. And not just Americas. "America's." So what are these other America's of which you speak? Since, you know, an apostrophe is usually meant to say something "is. ex. What's, there's, how's.
Idiot...
Donald Ian Rankin (10,039 posts)
18. I disagree - you do not have a right to forms of self-defense that endanger others.
I agree with you that sane gun legislation is not going to come to America for the forseeable future. But if they *were* adopted, UK-style gun laws would reduce the death toll per year by thousands in the short term and tens of thousands in the long term.
I think your point about mass killings rather works against you - *on top of* all the mass killings (which I agree are not nearly as important an issue as they are made out to be, because they are only a tiny fraction of gun deaths), there are tens of thousands of other gun deaths every year.
That'd be the WHOLE POINT, you retard. To endanger the assailant!! DAMMIT, these people are dumb!!
Linko
