Gun control

I'm about 1/3rd of the way though that, but he is talking at length about the "risks" of mass shootings. For example:

Many proponents of gun control have observed that the AR 15, the gun that Adam Lanza used to murder 20 children in Newtown, is now the most popular rifle in America. But only 3 percent of murders in the U.S. are committed with rifles of any type.

Seventy mass shootings have occurred in the U.S. since 1982, leaving 543 dead. These crimes were horrific, but 564,452 other homicides took place in the U.S. during the same period. Mass shootings scarcely represent 0.1 percent of all murders. When talking about the problem of guns in our society, it is easy to lose sight of the worst violence and to become fixated on symbols of violence.[3]

Of course, it is important to think about the problem of gun violence in the context of other risks. For instance, it is estimated that 100,000 Americans die each year because doctors and nurses fail to wash their hands properly. Measured in bodies, therefore, the problem of hand washing in hospitals is worse than the problem of guns, even if we include accidents and suicides. But not all deaths are equivalent. A narrow focus on mortality rates does not always do justice to the reality of human suffering. Mass shootings are a marginal concern, even relative to other forms of gun violence, but they cause an unusual degree of terror and grief—particularly when children are targeted. Given the psychological and social costs of certain low-frequency events, it does not seem irrational to allocate disproportionate resources to prevent them.
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This is the type of argument you use the convince yourself to fly on a plane after 9/11, not really one to base policy on. It's true that the more rare events like mass shootings or terrorism get much more coverage than car crashes or heart attacks, even though the latter cause a lot more death every day.

But that didnt stop the US and other countries overhauling their aviation security policy because 9/11 was a major single event, that if allowed to be repeated would be the worst tragedy in US history.

He also talks about the suburbs being safer even though there are more guns. I have an eeensy feeling there might be other larger factors for that though.
 
He is better off going for real world application.

It is reasonable to wish that only virtuous people had guns, but there are now nearly 300 million guns in the United States, and 4 million new ones are sold each year. A well-made gun can remain functional for centuries. Any effective regime of “gun control,” therefore, would require that we remove hundreds of millions of firearms from our streets. As Jeffrey Goldberg points out in The Atlantic, it may no longer be rational to hope that we can solve the problem of gun violence by restricting access to guns—because guns are everywhere, and the only people who will be deterred by stricter laws are precisely those law-abiding citizens who should be able to possess guns for their own protection and who now constitute one of the primary deterrents to violent crime. This is, of course, a familiar “gun nut” talking point. But that doesn’t make it wrong.
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Last post from me:

According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, 47 percent of all murders in the U.S. are committed with handguns. Again, only 3 percent are committed with rifles (of any type). Twice as many murderers (6 percent) use nothing but their bare hands. Thirteen percent use knives.
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Holy feck! 47% use hand guns! That is ridiculous.
 
That gun rights nutter is back on Piers again. He is a patronizing cnut full of smugness, Piers is an idiot as well.

Alex Jones... ugh... I had two friends that got caught up in his rhetoric and have gone complete conspiraloon.
 
some teacher from Utah was on..she is advocating carrying a concealed weapon in class to protect the kids....

she says the kids wont know so they wont be afraid.

..errr yeah.

the parents will feel real safe this weapon will be able to outshoot a guy carrying a semi-automatic gun with 100 rounds.

no worries....

:(
 
Saliph said:
Sam Harris has weighed in on the gun control issue. Raises some valid points, if nothing else

http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/the-riddle-of-the-gun
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he really doesnt m and this is why

Like most gun owners, I understand the ethical importance of guns and cannot honestly wish for a world without them. I suspect that sentiment will shock many readers. Wouldn’t any decent person wish for a world without guns? In my view, only someone who doesn’t understand violence could wish for such a world. A world without guns is one in which the most aggressive men can do more or less anything they want. It is a world in which a man with a knife can rape and murder a woman in the presence of a dozen witnesses, and none will find the courage to intervene.
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That right there is the reason he shouldnt have sharp knives near him, never mind guns.

That right there is the mantra of the scared, paranoid people Americans have become, clinging to guns as some sort of safety net from the world outside.

THAT is the root problem of the gun problem in the US, that so many people are so scared of the world outside their front doors they are convinced they need guns to survive.

And so they all buy guns, and more people get shot, so they buy more guns, because the worlds really dangerous, and yet more get shot. And so on.

Bush and his rhetoric post 911 has rendered the US a state of people afraid of the world. They are the very people you dont want to have guns, because they are buying them for one purpose, to shoot people who, they are certain, will come for them.
 
I'm with the NRA now. Arm the whole of the USA, every person. Have them in the schools, homes, hospitals. Everywhere. Let them all go out guns ablazing.
 
Ramshock said:
Two shot at a Californian High School according to yahoo.
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Surprised that this hasn't received enough attention.

Another student wanted to shoot a fellow student and the teacher talked him into dropping his gun. Although this sounds like a planned murder than some mass shooting attempt.

I can't believe we are still having debate about gun control still, based on some arcane law written in 18th century about owning guns.
 
fishfingers15 said:
Surprised that this hasn't received enough attention.

Another student wanted to shoot a fellow student and the teacher talked him into dropping his gun. Although this sounds like a planned murder than some mass shooting attempt.

I can't believe we are still having debate about gun control still, based on some arcane law written in 18th century about owning guns.
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He had a shotgun, lets ban all the guns?
 
Good news for her, in the sense that she protected her kids and didn't get gunned down, but yeah it's obviously not really going to compare to the stories where people are actually murdered by guns.

Also it doesn't really have much to do with gun control, it's certainly not a reason why gun control shouldn't be exercised.
 
Hectic said:
Good news for her, in the sense that she protected her kids and didn't get gunned down, but yeah it's obviously not really going to compare to the stories where people are actually murdered by guns.

Also it doesn't really have much to do with gun control, it's certainly not a reason why gun control shouldn't be exercised.
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If she didn't had a gun she probable would be dead and raped plus the kids would be killed as well. We don't need gun control but gun education and responsibility.
 
What evidence is there to suggest he would have raped the mother and killed the kids? Is he a convicted rapist? Has he murdered people before? I'd say he was probably just a burglar.

Yeah, you need to educate people so they can realize they don't need to buy guns.
 
Hectic said:
What evidence is there to suggest he would have raped the mother and killed the kids? Is he a convicted rapist? Has he murdered people before? I'd say he was probably just a burglar.

Yeah, you need to educate people so they can realize they don't need to buy guns.
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He was after her, he knew people was inside the house and if he was a "normal" burglar he would leave soon he found out someone was inside the house.
 
barros said:
He was after her, he knew people was inside the house and if he was a "normal" burglar he would leave soon he found out someone was inside the house.
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Are you serious? That's not always the case at all, I know from friends who have been burgled, and unfortunately from a few who have done it themselves. Just because the burglar decided to persist despite hearing people in the house, does not make that person a rapist and murderer by default ffs.
 
Hectic said:
Are you serious? That's not always the case at all, I know from friends who have been burgled, and unfortunately from a few who have done it themselves. Just because the burglar decided to persist despite hearing people in the house, does not make that person a rapist and murderer by default ffs.
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But we never know and better to be safe than sorry.
 
Hectic said:
What evidence is there to suggest he would have raped the mother and killed the kids? Is he a convicted rapist? Has he murdered people before? I'd say he was probably just a burglar. .
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There's always a first rape/kill for a rapist/killer. He was probably a burglar, but if he ended up dead, no one would be mourning.
 
Well yes, if they are rapists or killers...If they are just burglars, then that probably never enters their mind.

I expect his family and friends are probably mourning mind, doubt they feel death is really the right response for being a burglar.
 
If we don't have guns how else are we going to protect ourselves from tyrants or our own government? I can't believe 300 year old laws are still this relevant in America's society today.

Something that is startling to me currently is that my parents in the last two years have decided they need guns. They are by no means gun nuts but they probably have amassed 5-6 guns in the last two years and is planning on getting more. They claim they're "for protection".

I asked my dad how he managed to get through the other 47 years of his life without guns, he didn't have much of an answer.
 
barros said:
The fact he was trying to get to her was no good news, he probable saw her husband leaving and waited when most of the people left to work.
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Christ does that occupy your thoughts when you're off to work in the morning? Most people are worrying about the traffic or if their train will turn up on time.
 
barros said:
But we never know and better to be safe than sorry.
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she does not need an assault weapon to keep her safe though. in fact she may have neded up shooting her kids.

I don't have an issue with someone having a hand gun or a hunting rifle. get the darn theings licensed. 30 days waiting period for background checks should not be an issue.

No exceptons for gun shows.

ban all asault rifles
max magazine size 7

have a buy back program for the assault rifles.

Done.
 
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