Gun control brainstorming?

[Bigerik]

Up here, the laws were passed and people took their guns voluntary into the police station where they were arranged to be destroyed.

As a competitive shooter, I was saddened to see some of the gear that got trashed. They used to show piles of them. But the tradeoff if the tradeoff is a safer society, I'm good with that.

[mpholland]

Not trying to insinuate that Canada doesn't have any criminals, but it just seems to me that if everyone in the US just gave up their guns at once that we might have to substantially increase the size and presence of our police forces for a while.

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by mpholland

Not trying to insinuate that Canada doesn't have any criminals, but it just seems to me that if everyone in the US just gave up their guns at once that we might have to substantially increase the size and presence of our police forces for a while.

I'm guessing there would be a short spike in crime, and I am absolutely certain Mr. La Pierre and his crowd would shove every last incident in our faces. However, I have just about totally lost my capacity to care what they think anymore.

Regards,
Dave

[bhunter]

Originally Posted by mpholland

Not trying to insinuate that Canada doesn't have any criminals, but it just seems to me that if everyone in the US just gave up their guns at once that we might have to substantially increase the size and presence of our police forces for a while.

There's a problem associating tighter gun control laws in these contries with less violence, namely, that these oft cited places had significantly less violence even before the imposition of the laws.

This was on point in today's SF Chronicle:

Not a new phenomenon

Mass killings have existed since the invention of weapons. The worst in American history happened in 1927, when a man in Michigan who was enraged by tax increases killed 44 people, including 38 elementary schoolchildren.

In recent years, the most searing massacre may have been the 1999 killings of 13 people at Columbine High School in Colorado, a crime that prompted soul-searching questions about school safety and the culture that produced the two teenage killers. In the years since, there have been about 50 mass killings that attracted national attention, experts say.

But there is no evidence mass killings are on the rise, according to James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University in Boston who has written books about the phenomenon.

Citing FBI crime statistics, Fox wrote recently that the number of cases rises and falls from year to year but is not trending in either direction. He said an average of 20 mass murders - which he defines as the slayings of at least four people - occur annually in the United States. Those rampages kill about 100 people a year.
Misplaced emphasis

Fox's colleague at Northeastern, criminologist Jack Levin, said in an interview that crimes such as the Connecticut killings inevitably give rise to a fervor for changing laws. But he said, "Realistically, there isn't much we can do to prevent these kinds of random massacres."

Seizing on mass killings to push gun-control measures, Levin suggested, is the wrong approach. More than 8,000 people a year are killed with guns in the United States, he noted, and most of those die one by one, not in groups.

"Where would you put the emphasis?" Levin said. "If we're really serious about reducing the murder rate, we ought to be looking at strategies to reduce drug-related violence, domestic murder and homicides over arguments. Those represent the vast majority of murders committed in this country yearly.
http://www.sfgate.com/nation/article...es-4122020.php

[Bigerik]

Who said anything about giving up all weapons? We gave up assault rifles and handguns, basically.

If nothing else, if you guys gave up all your weapons, likely OUR gun crime rates would plummet. Most of them up here are illegally shipped across the border.

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by Bigerik

Who said anything about giving up all weapons? We gave up assault rifles and handguns, basically.

If nothing else, if you guys gave up all your weapons, likely OUR gun crime rates would plummet. Most of them up here are illegally shipped across the border.

There is a prevalent "all or nothing" mindset down here. Many have come to believe that to give an inch is to lose everything. It's really just a scare tactic relentlessly pushed by the gun lobby and the related political machine. It is, of course, utter nonsense.

Regards,
Dave

[Bigerik]

Originally Posted by BlueStreak

There is a prevalent "all or nothing" mindset down here. Many have come to believe that to give an inch is to lose everything. It's really just a scare tactic relentlessly pushed by the gun lobby and the related political machine. It is, of course, utter nonsense.

Regards,
Dave

Actually, I am a little confused. I was told by some of my Republican buddies that Obama would confiscate all the guns in his first term anyway. So that didn't happen?

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by Bigerik

Actually, I am a little confused. I was told by some of my Republican buddies that Obama would confiscate all the guns in his first term anyway. So that didn't happen?

No. AFAIK, the Obama administration hasn't introduced a single piece of gun control legislation to date. Not one. Most of the things those people firmly believe is nothing but paraniod shit that only exists inside their echo ridden circles, Erik.

But, I'm sure you've taken note of that.

Regards,
Dave

[mpholland]

Originally Posted by BlueStreak

No. AFAIK, the Obama administration hasn't introduced a single piece of gun control legislation to date. Not one. Most of the things those people firmly believe is nothing but paraniod shit that only exists inside their echo ridden circles, Erik.

But, I'm sure you've taken note of that.

Regards,
Dave

I think propaganda is a better term than paranoia. Republicans have very little left but religion and the second amendment. Well that and the vast majority of wealth.

[icenine]

It is very simple
Americans have unfettered access to guns and thus a very high murder rate. All of the western nations in Europe and Canada have low gun death rates because the ability to have access to assault weapons and personal handguns is controlled. In other words you cannot get drunk at a bar without alcohol.

It is not Hollywood, it is not the internet, it is not a decline in morals, all the usual bullshit platitudes.

It looks from my pop-psychology analysis that the shooter's mother enjoyed automatic weapons and had them in her house, and her son just happened to be a paranoid schizophrenic and decided to shoot up his elementary school (and his mom's work space)with her collection.

However offensive Wasillaguy's comparison to automobile deaths is he is basically right: we as a nation are willing to allow periodic massacres of children in exchange for the privilege of owning handguns, automatic rifles and 100-round magazines.