just issue free helmets and kneepads for all grown adults.

and strawmen and we might be able to start.

Far from flamebait, it seeks discussion about a reasonable and common sense approach to reducing gun violence.

Gun-advocates are happy to call for increased mental health care if it helps to distract from the daily shootings, even though mentally ill people are more likely to be victims of violence than to inflict it.

A drunk person with a gun, with reduced coordination and judgment due to alcohol, seems like a credible threat, certainly at least on par with bogeyman fears about the mentally ill.


Why do you dismiss this reasonable suggestion as flamebait?

the last refuge of those already proven wrong.

And just to be clear: I think it is a great possibility that you may indeed need to be issued a helmet.

you see, in the universe, there are many things.

Things can be the same or different.

Operating a motor vehicle and carrying a gun are different things. Not same things.

Hope that helps.

Let me clever it up for you a little. You see, in the universe, many things may be compared and contrasted without being precisely the same thing. In literature, this is called an analogy, and is a device that helps to establish a relationship based on similarities between two concepts or ideas. By using an analogy we can convey a new idea by using the blueprint of an old one as a basis for understanding.

A difficult concept for the dogmatic, myopic and irrational to fully grasp, yet I have full confidence you'll eventually understand it... given both time and sincerity.

Hope that helps, part two.

What you said has no bearing whatsoever on the topic at hand.

Last edited Sun Nov 29, 2015, 12:46 PM - Edit history (1)

in all states, it's a crime to be in possession of a firearm while under the influence.

you win the internet today.

My first day back from "vacation" and I already won a prize?
Outstanding.

Amazing.

I'll edit that, it's illegal to be in possession of a firearm while under the influence.
Thanks for pointing out my misspeak.

That's a relief!

Edited to add: I hope the penalties are as stringent as those for DUIs.

We don't have a public intoxication law, and there's nothing I can find specifically about carrying a weapon while intoxicated. I suppose a catch-all "disorderly conduct" charge might work.

You're generally very well-informed on these issues (though I often don't agree with you) so this definitely gives me pause.

If there are states without such laws, the OP then definitely has a point.

As I mentioned before, I'd never really thought about this...I'd never carry while drunk, so I guess my mind just never went down that path.

charge.

although here in AZ, we're not required to have a CHL to CC, but it is a crime to be in possession of a firearm while intoxicated.

carry.

And I'm sure the emphasis was probably on firearms, from a substance addiction standpoint it's not the same at all. These people would be arrested but not steered towards alcohol or drug treatment (through incentives such as deferred prosecution) as many DUIs are.

I'd love to see that change.

I was taught from a very early age that "guns and alcohol don't mix." That's a no-brainer. I have no problem with incorporating that maxim into the law. Being found "CUI" could carry a suspension of one's 2nd Amendment rights, with repeat offenders facing a permanent ban...just like it is with drunk driving.

Mind you, I don't think this is nearly as widespread a problem as drunk driving is.

The argument for allowing felons to vote is if they paid their debt to society, they should get that right back.

Are there rights that don't qualify for that consideration?

while carrying should be allowed to continue to do so, because having a gun is a right?

So then, convicted violent felons, in your opinion, should also be allowed to possess and carry fire arms? Truly? Because it's a "right?"

Should it be a lifetime appointment, or subject to political wind?

the courts-as represented by a jury of peers, with rights protected by the usual due process as articulated in the 14th amendment and enforced through law and the courts.

I have a "right" to assemble--I don't have a right to assemble with friends for the purpose of blowing up a school. If I conspire to commit such an act, or actually do it, I lose my right to assembly--through a trial by jury or (if I prefer) in front of a judge, unless I decide to plead guilty in which case I still hope for due process. The loss of my right to assembly is made evident by the fact that my ass will be in jail for a good long time, if not forever.

It is often a condition of release that convicted felons not associate with other felons. Hence--no more "right to assembly."

You have a problem with this?

If someone repeatedly demonstrates irresponsible conduct with deadly weapons, I have no problem with permanently revoking their right to possess them. Convicted felons are denied more than one right (voting, gun possession, freedom of movement, protection against warrantless searches, etc.), with the rationale being that their own voluntary actions constitute a tacit abandonment of those rights. Asuming the penalty is well known, I have no big issues with extending that principle to "drunken carriers."

And no, I don't support restoring the 2nd Amendment rights of felons, particularly given the statistics on recidivism of violent felons (>60% according the the Bureau of Justice Statistics).

FWIW, I'm a gun owner, CCW permit holder, and competitive shooter.

People in prison don't have all their Constitutional rights intact, they gave them up when they committed crimes and were convicted. People also lose their right to possess a firearm after such things as Domestic Violence, and have to earn that right back. I see no reason not to take away the right to carry a weapon after being charged with doing so under the influence, and similarly having to earn that right back, or have it permanently revoked after a certain number of offenses.

I'm so against guns that I think anyone caught intoxicated with a gun should lose all rights to owning one, but I know that would never happen.

I've worked in a few really tough bars, just trying to imagine if guns had been present during all the fights I saw and tried to break up (I was bartender, waitress and bouncer in some, working alone). I think some people would have died. Alcohol and any weapon do not mix, imo.

to throw them out of the bar for being drunk and combative.

Both DUI and carrying a gun while drunk are class B misdemeanors. Hunting while drunk is a class A misdemeanor.

today's world.

This is not 1790 and the Redcoats are not coming to get us, and we mostly don't hunt for food on our own on a regular basis.

But sanity doesn't prevail, only fear. And the constitution puts no regulation on carrying a weapon while drunk. I can't imagine Conservatives want to amend the Constitution.

Beyond that, I agree with you; gun ownership should be recognized as a privilege and not worshiped as an inherently sacrosanct right.

Domestic violence offenders lose the right to possess firearms and have to earn that right back. Repeat offenders of lots of crimes (sometimes single offenders, depending on the crime) lose the right to possession of firearms for life.

People can often dodge cars faster than dodge bullets.

Your outrage is selective. Why is that?

Insults and exits: That's the way these things usually end up.

The only bright spot I can see in all this is that those drunk neanderthal guys carrying in bars may all wipe each other out. Problem solved. They are truly sick in Georgia.

Which can only be a good thing. Less myth and less violence.

There have been quite a few incidents where drunken dumbfuckery at the bar escalated because one guy or another brought a weapon, since the whole concealed-carry/open-carry schtick became a thing.

So yes, I agree. If you're blowing above 0.08% BAC, carrying a weapon should carry the same penalties as DUI/DWI.

Great study, fuel to piss off the gun nuts!

does that mean no open carry in bars? What will texans do ?

the miscreant that shot a server dead with a concealed weapon the other night at 1:00 AM when she asked him not to smoke at a Waffle House was under the influence. If It turns out he wasn't, I'll delete.