Gun Control & RKBA
Related: About this forumGuns and colleges make formula for tragedy
Yvonne Abraham
January 14, 2012
Maybe they were trying to impress the presidential candidates.
How else to explain the barmy gun bills advanced by New Hampshire legislators just before the primary? Their state is already heaven for Second Amendment absolutists, but Granite State legislators seem determined to turn it into Gun Nut Paradise.
The House approved bills allowing people to drive around with loaded rifles and shotguns, and to carry concealed guns without permits. But the killer bill, and I do mean killer, is HB 334: That one would prohibit college, state, and local officials from banning guns on state and community college campuses, and on other state property, including sports and concert arenas where alcohol is served and fights happen. That bit of lunacy passed by a 180-to-144 vote in the House.
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What happens if that person misses? asks Enfield Police Chief Richard Crate, a member of the New Hampshire Chiefs of Police Association, which opposes the legislation. Even police officers who are excellent shots miss. It sounds good, like the Lone Ranger, but thats not real life.
http://articles.boston.com/2012-01-14/metro/30627931_1_gun-bills-gun-show-loophole-gun-advocates
Do you think guns and college campuses mix?
SteveW
(754 posts)ileus
(15,396 posts)Common Sense Party
(14,139 posts)Far more college kids have been and will be hurt by drinking than by guns.
Once you accomplish Prohibition 2.0 then you can start on guns.
X_Digger
(18,585 posts)What makes you think it would be a problem?
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)PavePusher
(15,374 posts)Since he's in the next town over from my home town, I'll ask him next time I'm on leave.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)PavePusher
(15,374 posts)Ignorance that agrees with yours does nothing to prove you right. But I don't expect you to know that...
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)Like I've said before, you and a few others here might just be the best gun carrier ever to walk on earth.
But, there are a lot more "cowboys" who should leave their guns at home. And, a bunch of them shouldn't even be allowed to buy a gun.
PavePusher
(15,374 posts)And it seems you are again advocating the Police State, by endorsing only the government have weapons.
Appears to be a reflex for you. You might want to examine that.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)them at home until the revolution starts.
E6-B
(153 posts)The signs and stickers on doors prohibiting guns have never stopped a college killer. Time the try a better solution instead of a strongly worded sign.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)Wistful Vista
(136 posts)DonP
(6,185 posts)Now why don't you cite an example or two where a CCW permit holder went crazy and shot up a campus?
How about even one example?
Or are you gonna go with your generic "It creates a bad culture/atmosphere" response?
E6-B
(153 posts)Then there is Suzanna Hupp who went unarmed ON PURPOSE to a cafeteria. The result is her family died because she left her gun in the car.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)If it were not for all this gun crud, I doubt we'd see as many shootings. Further, I doubt more and more people would be packing the dang things which will just breed more problems.
Yea, I know your next question -- Do you have any statistics to prove that? No I do not because we are talking about the FUTURE.
You guys would have us sit around for decades and wait for peer reviewed studies before doing anything at all, other than opening the pipeline wider for more guns and more carrying of guns in public.
By that point, 200 million more guns will have polluted our society and more and more (unqualified) people will be packing a few gun. Heck, even guys like me may have to start carrying a machete to survive in a world of gun carrying cowboy wannabes itching to try out their latest tactical weapon.
We've waited and waited to do something on pollution, corporate greed, bigotry, health care, etc., and look where that go us.
Yea, you may not be like that, but can you guarantee the next guy -- to get an itch to carry cold steel down his pants -- won't. Or some guy who bought a gun today, won't be senile in 20 years and start seeing ghosts.
DonP
(6,185 posts)So, all you have to go with is your generic "guns are pollution" argument?
You sound just like the "do gooders" back in the '50's ranting about how "pornography" like Playboy and that evil Esquire that were going to ruin our youth and needed to be censored because it polluted and corrupted their minds...for their own good of course.
They weren't comfortable with anything but their interpretation of a highly flexible 1st amendment, and you aren't comfortable with anybody's interpretation of the 2nd but your version either.
Not a shred of evidence, but we should just trust you that you're doing the right thing and we should be willing to ignore the Bill of Rights and multiple court decisions because you said so?
On the good side, they were all eventually laughed out of town too.
I really get the scary feeling from you and some of your fellow control supporters that you will all be terribly disappointed if crime and violence continues to fall. I have yet to see a single gun control supporter actually saying that the lower crime rate is a good thing.
MicaelS
(8,747 posts)And we saw what happened to this country when advocates of Temperance got their way. The Temperance movement is right where it belongs, which is in the ash heap of history.
What you aren't willing to accept is the reality of your Gun Prohibitionist ideology is also deservedly headed to the ash heap of American history. And there's a word for people who refuse to accept reality, it is delusional.
As Paul Barret said most eloquently over here The Glock, From 'Handgun Tupperware' To Top Pistol
The second thing, I think, you got to accept, is that most of those gun owners are law-abiding citizens, and most of them are doing no harm with those guns and many of them are very, very attached to them. If you deny the reality of the cultural importance of guns to many Americans, whether they've been in the military or in law enforcement or they grew up hunting, or they just like action movies. If you don't accept that then you are rejecting reality.
E6-B
(153 posts)This is the modern age. We prove our points with science and can predict the future with it.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)ManiacJoe
(10,136 posts)How about you actually describe the problem(s) you keep alluding to?
friendly_iconoclast
(15,333 posts)Great minds and all that...
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)...self-centered thinking on the other hand is - try ask them how criminals get guns or what ends up happening to all these guns - don't expect much of an answer.
E6-B
(153 posts)ellisonz
(27,711 posts)LAGC
(5,330 posts)Which is why guns keep proliferating and gun control bills go nowhere for many years running.
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)LAGC
(5,330 posts)I don't get it. If gun control was really so mainstream and popular, why aren't groups like the Brady Campaign and Violence Policy Center flush with members and money?
Why does the pro-gun side have millions of members and lots and lots of money, whereas the gun control side only boasts tens of thousands of members and a fraction of the money?
Something doesn't add up...
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)...plus it's easier to build a movement dedicated to hugging guns than it is to prying people away form them...it's a vested interest group.
E6-B
(153 posts)Gun Free Zone:
Good people with guns(cowboys):
Appalachian Law School: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_School_of_Law_shooting
TheWraith
(24,331 posts)After all, he says they sometimes miss. And clearly, if guns aren't a 100% solution all the time, then they're totally useless... right?
This is just more flabber and fearmongering by the Boston Globe, an outlet with an axe to grind. You might as well ask Newsmax for an accurate opinion on the President. Ask the many, many other states which don't ban guns on campus. What you'll find is that the people who obey rules not to bring guns on campus aren't the ones who you have to worry about, it's the guys who do it even though it's illegal.
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)I think your average gun owner is not. Also, it's a columnist, not an editorial. Sheesh.
gejohnston
(17,502 posts)we know.
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)...to start with the snark. I'm a master of snark.
gejohnston
(17,502 posts)most cops go to the range only when they have to. Their training is also about what I got from my mom when I was a kid (and re-enforced in boot camp.)
Many of us go to the range about once a week. I don't know what you are calling average, but I doubt you are basing it on personal experience or empirical evidence.
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)Training on when and when not to pull the trigger is huge.
gejohnston
(17,502 posts)and different laws. I agree that laws should be explained as part of the training classes, since non cops are held to a higher standard. Even with that, cops are more likely to have "bad shoots" than someone defending themselves. Cops show up not always knowing who the bad guys are. A CCW (or even more so, some guy in his house) there is no doubt.
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)...I would wager that police find themselves in more situations by the very nature of the goal where "shoots" in general are likely to occur rather than your average toter who's just doing it for show.
gejohnston
(17,502 posts)if it is concealed? Superman's x-ray vision?
GreenStormCloud
(12,072 posts)If someone is actively trying or threatening to try to do me such serious bodily harm that I might die or be very seriously injured then I can use deadly force in my defense. If it is a threat then the threat must be credible and immediate.
Union Scribe
(7,099 posts)really being a master of snark.
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)...is in part being aware of the range of available snark that is out there. In this case, I think Mr. Carlin aptly sums up the sickness that pervades the Gungeon.
E6-B
(153 posts)On the outside they are beat to hell for being carried every day through hell and back.
On the inside they are almost brand new for hardly ever being used to fire a shot.
That is your 'well trained'.
Glassunion
(10,201 posts)How long has it been legal in PA?
How many incidents did CCW'ers cause in that time frame?
Keep in mind about 12% of the adult population the last time I checked has a license to carry.
Starboard Tack
(11,181 posts)You have a link for that? 1 in 8 adults has a carry permit? Are you talking nationally? I know hundreds of people all over the country. None even own a handgun. Where are all these folk?
Glassunion
(10,201 posts)I'm on the iPhone at the moment, but I'll see what I can dig up for you.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=118&topic_id=399901#400429
I don't have links to the data handy, but if you go to the post you'll get a good idea of the volume of permits in PA.
TPaine7
(4,286 posts)so much so that it's hard to credit.
Did you ask each of them, individually, if they had guns? Are they all convicted felons or insane? Are they all committed pacifists? Did you search their houses, vehicles, boats and lockers?
Are all of them convinced that it's your business whether they own guns? Are all of them honest to a fault? Did you use a lie detector or are you such a well trained police officer that no one can get a lie past you?
I can't see how your assertion is any more than a guess.
Glassunion
(10,201 posts)1 is Vietnamese and the other is Korean.
The Vietnamese gentleman owns a firearm and has a license to carry. The Korean lady does not own a firearm nor have a license to carry. From this I can deduce the following.
1/2 of all Asians own and are licensed to carry a firearm.
All Vietnamese people own firearms and have a license to carry.
No Koreans have firearms or licenses.
All Vietnamese people are men.
All Koreans are women.
Both make very tasty food.
Starboard Tack
(11,181 posts)Of course I asked them personally, or knew them well enough to not need asking. I didn't need to search. It's a subject I bring up in conversation regularly, when talking to friends. I'm fascinated by the claims made here on DU, so I conduct my own surveys among those I know and those I meet. I have known 3 individuals who own handguns. One is certifiably insane (haven't seen him in 15 years), the other 2 are acquaintances and both are Republican. Why would someone lie about it? I have several friends and family who own hunting rifles and shotguns and hunting bows. Not handguns.
GreenStormCloud
(12,072 posts)That's the way most people are.
I personally know a few hundred folks with guns and several with Concealed Handgun Licenses. And probably several others that have CHLs but the topic has never come up. I know several who carry every day, all the time.
BTW - The church that I attend has just had a CHL class with over twenty members attending the class.
Starboard Tack
(11,181 posts)ellisonz
(27,711 posts)Wistful Vista
(136 posts)...
friendly_iconoclast
(15,333 posts)DonP
(6,185 posts)krispos42
(49,445 posts)Same thing that happens when the criminal misses.
Almost always, a bullet hole in a wall, tree or the ground.
I don't see anybody pulling guns from cops (who draw their guns FAR more often then CCWers) because of the potential, and the police chief admits on the record that cops miss their targets.
It's a non-issue.
At best, only college seniors and graduate students will even have the option to legally carry, and only a tiny fraction of that small pool will opt to carry concealed. It's a non-issue.
It's right up there with gay marriage and pot legalization. Lots of hand-wringing and "what about the children" tears, then it passes, and nothing happens.
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)...if we had a sane majority in this country we would have much more stringent gun control.
I think police on average are much better trained and screened that your average CCWer. I'd like to change that - I think both should be well trained, but then again I think firearm ownership is inherently connected with service in the Militia and should be "well-regulated."
krispos42
(49,445 posts)A lot of their training is on things like room-clearing, holds, frisking procedures, taser and pepper spray deployment, crisis management, etc. Of course, they're also trained and expected (but not required to) run into danger to protect the innocent.
As a private citizen I have a different responsibility... it's to protect myself and my loved ones by avoiding danger if possible, by lethal force if needed.
I don't object to basic training requirements for CCW, but if the powers that be want me to be trained like a cop they'd better make the training cheap or free. Open up the same training that cops use to the average joe.
But I doubt that the anti-gun forces would support spending that kind of money for gun training to anybody that wants it. You see, we can advocate for socialized university education and socialized health insurance, but not socialized gun training.
As to the Militia, well, I'm in the militia and I perform all my militia-related duties as required.
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)Why should society subsidize a privilege?
PavePusher
(15,374 posts)Better luck next time.
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)PavePusher
(15,374 posts)B. I have already been a member, and will be again when I retire from active duty.
C. Don't try to teach your Granny how to suck eggs.
D. Start using a less juvenile tactic than reposting idiotic cartoons, if you want to be taken seriously.
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)I'll post whatever I like - you can always put me on ignore.
PavePusher
(15,374 posts)but since you continually outdo your own ignorance, I'll stick around for the show.
E6-B
(153 posts)E6-B
(153 posts)Just the same as slavery was made illegal by the Constitution and the KKK never gave up with racist activity, so do anti-gunners continue to hide thier illegal desires and goals.
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)What the heck are you blathering about?
E6-B
(153 posts)krispos42
(49,445 posts)I thought that spending money was better than spending lives?
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)We already have a Militia - the National Guard - and a strong National Military - why such a service shouldn't be subsidized through additional taxation on weapons is beyond me...
krispos42
(49,445 posts)...without any help at all from the government?
Yeah, that's fair. Just like a literacy test to vote, right?
I saw one of the test that a Georgia county used in the 50's. You needed to have lawyer training to pass the test, and you needed to acquire it on your own. Of course, we could put on a poll tax to pay for the education...
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)...you should have additional training. There are pretty strict requirements for hunters too. I don't see how that's unreasonable. Let's weed out the crazies and the trigger happy.
The courts have been clear - you have no legal right to carry without restrictions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concealed_carry_in_the_United_States#Legal_issues
krispos42
(49,445 posts)They are expected, as competent adults, to know the rules and know the equipment without having to, say, go through training that is suitable for a professional dangerous-game hunter.
I have never said that restrictions are illegal. I'm questioning your assertion that, before I can carry concealed, I have to be as good as a professional law-enforcement officer in terms of combat skills and tactical awareness.
Since CCWers are already a pretty safe and law-abiding group, since there are only a relative handful of justifiable self-defense shootings a year, and since only a handful of those involve innocent bystanders, then all this training you want to mandate, and all this money you want spent would save at best... what, a dozen lives a year?
How about we make drivers meet the standards that cops have to meet instead? Car accidents kill almost 40,000 a year, as opposed to a couple of hundred of gun accidents. Seems to me that requiring police-level training for drivers (remember, driving is NOT a constitutionally-protected right, but a privaledge granted by the state) would save far more lives than fussing about CCWers.
No, the fact that you're hot and bothered to make people spend large amounts of money for the priviledge of carrying concealed means that your goal is to use the power of government to strongly discourage CCWers.
And quite frankly, if lots of people DID pay the money and get the police-level training and skills to get a CCW permit, there a lot of people in the Gungeon that would say that this level of committment is de facto proof that the person is NOT mentally capable of responsible concealed-carry.
"They spend all their time thinking about killing people! Discussing the best way to kill a person! Frothing over weapons of death! Discussing which bullet will kill somebody the fastest! Which one will blow the biggest chunks of flesh out of a person! OBVIOUSLY they shouldn't own a gun, much less carry one in public!"
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)What's wrong with training? How much could it possibly cost? It'd be a jobs program
You guys obviously have money for multiple firearms so what's wrong with spending a little bit more on training to exercise the privilege of carrying?
I'm in favor of public safety, don't get me wrong, when I see a sustainable program that would have some effect (reduction in theft is also likely), I think it's a worthwhile idea to consider. But what I hear from the Gungeon is that pro-gun people are a party of no - no reform, no new ideas, no consideration of public safety - no to government, we can take care of our own. I think that's a lousy approach to have to any topic, including driver safety. What I see here is hatred of reforms, hatred of anyone who dares to make the assertion that something is failing in our gun control policy and something can be done about that is responsible and common sense. What you're saying is that we can't get better, and I for one, couldn't disagree more.
E6-B
(153 posts)Your question has about as much relevance to reality as talking about warp drive on star trek. This issue has been settled by the Supreme Court. Any kind of 'militia' requirement for gun ownership is illegal.
krispos42
(49,445 posts)Try $800 a class... plus ammo (about 800 rounds, $200+), not including travel, food, and lodging.
You're talking a $1,500, minimum, if the place is within reasonable driving distance. Not to mention time off of work.
Per person.
http://www.thunderranchinc.com/cost.html.
Compared to buying a decent NEW handgun for $500.
And how often would the training need to be renewed? Yearly? Bi-yearly?
So what's your goal here? Require everybody that wants a CCW permit spend 3x the cost of the gun to get a permit?
Or by adding several million customers to a limited supply of tactical learning centers, to effectively bar people from getting a permit through long queues at approved training centers?
Think about it... there are about 800,000 police officers in the US. Florida alone has 800,000 active pistol permits!
Or is your plan to open up a new field for wealthy investors to play in, after they've gotten tired of investing their wealth in oil, strategic minerals, real estate, and funeral-home chains... tactical-training franchises?
And how will the historically anti-gun states deal with the issue of having enough training facilities to meet demand? Do you imagine that, say, New Jersey will be quick and responsive to requests for permits to build these facilities?
I imagine a 15-year legal fight through the courts and NIMBY and the EPA and the anti-gun groups, followed by deliberately underfunded and unresponsive state bureaucracy. Same for California, Massachusettes, New York, Maryland, Illinois, and a bunch of other states.
Upon further reflection, I don't think it's workable at all, either your idea or mine, at least, not without massive increases in the training facilities available for this kind of full-on tactical training. The kind of training where you practice room-clearing and close-quarters combat with real guns and real ammo (or sim-munitions) in real low-light situations.
Sure, the NRA has the basic pistol safety-classes... those are pretty common, I believe. But tactical training is another animal altogether. And a much more expensive!
And regarding the "no"... look, this isn't a numbers game. You throwing out a bunch of ideas until one of them gets agreed on out of sheer exhaustion or a desire to compromise isn't going to work.
Bush played this game with our civil rights and our constitution and the Democrats, playing politics by gambling that the Democrats will be forced by politics and opinion to agree to at least SOME of what he proposed simply by asserting that the Dems can's say "no" all the time.
There is no doubt AT ALL that things can be reformed. As iverglas has pointed out, at least one, and most likely several, are doing shitty jobs with record-keeping, meaning people that are disqualified from gun ownership aren't in the system. That's something that can be fixed... except that "austerity measures" will probably result in it not being fixed.
Something that you can try is: asking instead of telling us what should be done. Try it; it might work.
Finally... "public safety" is not the end-all, be-all of existence. It is not our most valued concept. Remember all the things we were told were in the interest of public safety during the Bush Administration?
Did you agree with them in their entirely? The DHS, the Patriot Act, warrantless wiretapping, extraordinary rendition, the TSA, backscatter body scanners and intrusive pat-downs, torture of prisoners, indefinite detention of terrorism suspects, Guantanamo Bay and Baghran Air Base? How about mandatory police checkpoints, where you have to have your ID scanned to pass through? Public-area surveillance cameras?
The police have developed a new radar that lets them peer through concrete walls and detect what's behind it from 50 meters away or more. Is it okay if they use things like this to peer through houses at random?
How about things like tattooing barcodes on our faces, or inserting those injectable ID chips in us like they put in cats and dogs?
If you failed to agree with even ONE of these things, then "public safety" isn't your highest priority. Even if you object based on "it probably wouldn't increase safety", nonetheless, it MIGHT increase safety, and certainly wouldn't decrease it!
And by not agreeing with everything I've just outlined above, you're proving that "public safety" is not the end-all, be-all of civilization.
And, finally, I'll say it again... if you want to reduce violence (including gun violence), then legalize the damn drugs!
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)You still aren't refuting my argument that since there is so much money for new guns there's no money for training.
I think once every ten years or something like that would be reasonable...
"Something that you can try is: asking instead of telling us what should be done. Try it; it might work."
I've tried that - some posters here give reasonable responses - more than a few don't.
"You throwing out a bunch of ideas until one of them gets agreed on out of sheer exhaustion or a desire to compromise isn't going to work."
This is DU - Not Mitt Romney's quiet room for class warfare discussion.
"Did you agree with them in their entirely? The DHS, the Patriot Act, warrantless wiretapping, extraordinary rendition, the TSA, backscatter body scanners and intrusive pat-downs, torture of prisoners, indefinite detention of terrorism suspects, Guantanamo Bay and Baghran Air Base? How about mandatory police checkpoints, where you have to have your ID scanned to pass through? Public-area surveillance cameras?"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_welfare_clause#United_States - I've already stated I'm for the Patriot Act (as is Barbara Boxer I might note, I'm for DHS, for extraordinary rendition (I would have done the same as Obama on Osama - not the Ron Paul position), I think TSA could be run much more effectively, I'm against torture of course (doesn't work), against indefinite detention (for trials), Guantanamo Bay (the politics are difficult), think we need to rethink our Afghanistan strategy, for police checkpoints in emergency situation, for National ID (I think we basically already have it), and we already have public-area surveillance cameras in many major cities (for). Basically, I share the same position as the President - so shoot me
Again, I think we need to be common sense about gun control, what we have now, we all agree isn't reasonable, and isn't really effective (except for our more "libertarian" posters.
(AFP) Mar 13, 2011
WASHINGTON President Barack Obama says it's time for US lawmakers to tackle the divisive issue of gun control in hopes of preventing tragedies like the Tucson shooting spree that killed six people.
In an opinion column published Sunday in the Arizona Daily Star, the main Tucson newspaper, Obama argued that improving the system of background checks on gun purchasers should be the first "common sense" step that neither side of the gun debate should oppose.
"I know that every time we try to talk about guns, it can reinforce stark divides," Obama wrote in a rare public commentary on the gun control issue.
"However, I believe that if common sense prevails, we can get beyond wedge issues and stale political debates to find a sensible, intelligent way" to make the nation "a safer, stronger place."
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gYDgVtROj8d0l867R5RhqFJ_ajHw?docId=CNG.7746b850479d38aba7d8729502fa5036.1c1
That's my position and I'm sticking to it.
P.S. Good work on the DUzy's, yet again.
gejohnston
(17,502 posts)You are the first one around here to defend some Bush's worst worst and unAmerican polices.
That puts you closer to ............... nowhere near Gandhi.
http://politicalcompass.org/index
Oh yeah, extraordinary rendition=disappearing
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)gejohnston
(17,502 posts)disappearing, national ID, police checkpoints has nothing to do with European democratic socialism. Post Allende Chile on the other hand.................
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)Extraordinary rendition is not the same thing as "disappearing" - and we're not talking about U.S. citizens (plus I state I'm against indefinite detention and torture) , the police already have the power to set up checkpoints = http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/01/da-accused-serial-killer-intentionally-drove-through-checkpoints.html - so basically you're just blowing smoke...
This has nothing to to do with the OP - if you just want to misrepresent my position I'm done.
gejohnston
(17,502 posts)http://www.aclu.org/national-security/fact-sheet-extraordinary-rendition
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_rendition_by_the_United_States
any misrepresentation is unintentional.
krispos42
(49,445 posts)...is much cheaper than getting comprehensive tactical training. Which, incidentally, isn't much good if it's not refreshed on a schedule a lot more frequent than once a decade.
You're proposing $600 to buy a decent handgun, and $2,000 a year to keep a pistol permit, assuming refresher training once a year.
I've tried that - some posters here give reasonable responses - more than a few don't.
Welcome to DU!
This is DU - Not Mitt Romney's quiet room for class warfare discussion.
Regardless, the attitude exists. "But why can't we do X? How about Y? Z? How come you're being so unreasonable?"
I've already stated I'm for the Patriot Act (as is Barbara Boxer I might note, I'm for DHS, for extraordinary rendition (I would have done the same as Obama on Osama - not the Ron Paul position), I think TSA could be run much more effectively, I'm against torture of course (doesn't work), against indefinite detention (for trials), Guantanamo Bay (the politics are difficult), think we need to rethink our Afghanistan strategy, for police checkpoints in emergency situation, for National ID (I think we basically already have it), and we already have public-area surveillance cameras in many major cities (for). Basically, I share the same position as the President - so shoot me
So you're willing to sacrifice liberty for security. Okay, fair enough. Although not all of it. You're not okay with 24/7 police checkpoints and torture, even though one or both would definitely increase national security and neither would harm it, and you're okay with tossing the 4th Amendment in the shredder.
And saying you're sharing the same position as the President, which reminds everybody that the President's record of continuing and expanding Bush's unitary executive theory, and of not investigating or prosecuting the people that crossed even the new, looser line. So whatever you want to allow law enforcement to do, keep in mind they will go far beyond that without fear of reprisal.
Obama eyes 'common sense' US gun control
(AFP) Mar 13, 2011
WASHINGTON President Barack Obama says it's time for US lawmakers to tackle the divisive issue of gun control in hopes of preventing tragedies like the Tucson shooting spree that killed six people.
In an opinion column published Sunday in the Arizona Daily Star, the main Tucson newspaper, Obama argued that improving the system of background checks on gun purchasers should be the first "common sense" step that neither side of the gun debate should oppose.
*****************
That's my position and I'm sticking to it.
Improving the background check system is a no-brainer. Unfortunately, much of the problem seems to be with the state bureaucracies, not the federal one.
P.S. Good work on the DUzy's, yet again.
Thanks!
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)...have some basic training in what they're doing should they have to use their weapon in public is really not that much of a reach.
2. The sooner we stop fighting this culture war amongst ourselves the sooner we can end it with the pukes.
3. "You're not okay with 24/7 police checkpoints and torture, even though one or both would definitely increase national security and neither would harm it, and you're okay with tossing the 4th Amendment in the shredder."
Not a single academic study on torture has ever shown that it is effective in extracting information...and 24/7 police checkpoints are also probably counterproductive. I'd figure you would know the former - in fact, torture makes us less secure.
4. Well the state bureaucracies aren't going to fix themselves.
krispos42
(49,445 posts)I used to have a concealed-carry permit issued by South Dakota. All they did was run my ID, then they gave me a permit. The card didn't even have a picture of me on it, nor my signature. They didn't even ask me if I could see!
So, yeah, I don't think "basic" training is unreasonable as a requirement. I think that "advanced" training is.
There's a reason I didn't carry concealed in South Dakota...I didn't want the responsibility. I just wanted to avoid the 48-hour waiting period and the extra round trip (4+ hours of driving) to get the revolver I wanted. The permit was $10, the extra gas would have been about $20, plus lunch.
2. Nearly all the 'pubes are pro-gun, as are half the democrats. So who should stop fighting?
3. I "believe" the former, that torture is ineffective on hardened criminals and terrorists. However, it is effective on non-hardened criminals and terrorists, and any organization has in it people that have knowledge but, due to political influence and such, have not experienced the conditions that make them proof against torture. Besides, the "harm" from torture is to our reputation, which is so much in the shitter to them that it no longer matters. So I've established that torture, intelligently applied, will definitely help and not really hurt our public safety.*
*This is the argument that I'm making for this discussion. Do not confuse this with my real position on torture, which aligns nicely with yours
As to the police checkpoints 24/7, hey, if it can stop contraband from entering the US from overseas, why not do it internally? Think about it... it would reduce commuting and car pollution, as people would be forced to live near their place of employment rather than wait long lines at security checkpoints twice a day. People would be encouraged to use public transit, which could be set up with TSA-style pat-down points and bag inspections and K-9 dogs. Before you go through the turnstile, you get quickly frisked, your bag checked, and your entire person sniffed before getting on the subway.
A cop could have a portable, wireless-networked fingerprint checker and go down the lines taking thumbprints or whatever to look for people with warrants issued for their arrest. And of course, security cameras and facial-recognition software would be used.
It's would catch a lot of wanted criminals, drastically reduce the number of people carrying guns and knives, limit the free flow of weapons and drugs from inter- and intra-state sources, and really make people safer.
4. Then we have to get Democrats elected... which requires election victories, which requires running on things and political messaging that gets us elected... which DOESN'T involve running on assault-weapons bans or assault-magazine bans.
friendly_iconoclast
(15,333 posts)And that does not automatically mean the Democratic side, as anyone familiar with Mitt Romney's actual record on guns knows.
Associational fallacies can run in more than one direction, it seems.
Bedamned if I'll back off and make things easier for Mittens to say: "See, I'm a centrist"!
friendly_iconoclast
(15,333 posts)http://www.democraticunderground.com/101432690
by The Associated Press
WASHINGTON January 23, 2012, 01:57 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AP) The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that police must get a search warrant before using GPS technology to track criminal suspects....
...Associate Justice Antonin Scalia said that the government's installation of a GPS device, and its use to monitor the vehicle's movements, constitutes a search, meaning that a warrant is required.
"By attaching the device to the Jeep" that Jones was using, "officers encroached on a protected area," Scalia wrote. He concluded that the installation of the device on the vehicle without a warrant was a trespass and therefore an illegal search.
All nine justices agreed that the GPS monitoring on the Jeep violated the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable search and seizure, a decision the American Civil Liberties Union said was an "important victory for privacy."....
No wonder you hate the guy...
E6-B
(153 posts)Why anyone would think these are all the same is beyond me.
gejohnston
(17,502 posts)we should have a militia system like Switzerland, complete with draft. I would also draft both men and women. Norway and Israel does. UK and USSR did during WW2, why not?
Your opinion is your opinion, but is no more/no less valid than anyone else's.
X_Digger
(18,585 posts)I believe the 'nothing happens' refers to when a restriction is relaxed, and the sky doesn't fall.
Such as 'shall issue' concealed carry, relaxing restrictions on carry in hospitals in Texas, or restaurants that serve alcohol in various states.
E6-B
(153 posts)You are already in the militia. No law, congressional act, or presidential directive required.
YOU will be required to train.
YOU will be required to keep a weapon at home.
YOU will be deployed overseas.
YOU will take orders from people like me.
Do you really want to go that route?
Wistful Vista
(136 posts)I don't see what the big panic is all about.
Starboard Tack
(11,181 posts)and we drilled in uniform. Fortunately, we were not allowed to leave school with any of that hardware.
Wistful Vista
(136 posts)do anything with the M1 carbines they had in the 'armory' except to drill with them and take the poor old things apart. There was no .30 ammo nearby anyway. 3 of us who came from the same high school tried to tell the idiot Commandant we were perfectly competent to shoot them but he had orders, apparently. Sheesh.
ManiacJoe
(10,136 posts)Wistful Vista
(136 posts)"Even police officers who are excellent shots miss."
Is not the same as Even police officers, who are excellent shots miss."
The fact, which I am betting he knows, is that being a cop is not by any stretch any guarantee of expertise in the use or misuse of firearms. Most police academies dedicate a couple of hours to the subject in 'basic training' and very few have any recurring official qualifying or practice requirements.
Atypical Liberal
(5,412 posts)Of course they do. In most, if not all, states, you must be 21 years old to obtain a concealed carry permit.
If a 21-year-old can carry a concealed firearm down Main Street surrounded by hundreds of his fellow citizens, then he can also easily carry it on a college campus.
Lots of people, like myself, are adults who go to school at night after work. As such we find ourselves traveling to often urban areas after dark. There is no reason why an adult such as myself should not be able to carry a firearm on campus. My school, the University of Alabama Huntsville, had a mass-shooting a year ago when Amy Bishop brought her 9mm handgun into my classroom building and shot 6 people, killing 3. The prohibition of carrying firearms on campus did not deter her one bit, nor would it deter any criminal who has decided to bring a gun on campus.
There's just no reason why a person who can carry a firearm in public can't carry it on a college campus. The whole idea that adults are somehow magically dangerous when they go to school is ridiculous.
mvccd1000
(1,534 posts)Because we haven't seen any tragedies on campuses where guns are allowed, but we have seen at least once instance of them saving lives.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_School_of_Law_shooting
rl6214
(8,142 posts)There are man college campuses in the US that allow guns on campus and the older (21+) students that would be allowed to carry are mature enough to do so. A law that bans guns from campus would not prevent someone from carrying a gun on campus (as we have seen many times before).
melm00se
(4,993 posts)pretty funny:
Even police officers who are excellent shots miss..."
I shoot competitively and the vast majority of LEOs who I shoot and have shot with are usually at the bottom of the standings at the end of the event.
E6-B
(153 posts)Some small PDs the officers have to buy ammo for training. At 12-17 dollars for 50 rounds, they are not going to be buying lots of ammo.
Then these are the guys gun control advocates want us to call to bring guns to save us.
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)...to pay to better train the police.
E6-B
(153 posts)ellisonz
(27,711 posts)...no taxation without representation was much more about representation than taxation right?
oneshooter
(8,614 posts)Some for as long as 20 years or so.
I am sure that you could google all of the mass shootings that have happened there.
Oneshooter
Armed and Livin in Texas
oneshooter
(8,614 posts)a very simple one at that.
Show us where there has been a rash of shootings at the 70 or so colleges that permit CC on campus.
Acording to you there must have been a lot of them. Show us.
Oneshooter
Armed and Livin in Texas
friendly_iconoclast
(15,333 posts)I asked a similar question almost a year ago on DU2, and never got one legitimate answer:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=118&topic_id=382537#414631
"What *empirical* evidence do you have that legal CCW weapons at colleges are harmful?"
oneshooter
(8,614 posts)ellisonz
(27,711 posts)Also, I don't need to call people cowards to make myself feel better about the lifestyle I live: grow up.
oneshooter
(8,614 posts)ellisonz
(27,711 posts)...you just don't like my answer: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1172&pid=9536
Not going to get into it with a poster who gets his rocks off of calling people he doesn't even know cowards.
oneshooter
(8,614 posts)owners at colleges where it is legal to carry on campus?
E6-B
(153 posts)You can't prove something that doesn't exist.
friendly_iconoclast
(15,333 posts)...and as others have pointed out, there are 70 or so college campuses where CCW is lawful for permit holders. Some have been that way for decades.
That's a lot of time in a lot of places.
But those that bother to slog through that thread will note that no one managed to come up with a report of same.
I daresay that given the way that some practically wet themselves to post media reports of wrongdoing by gun owners here,
such a report is not to be had (at the moment- sooner or later, someone is likely to mess up).
oneshooter
(8,614 posts)friendly_iconoclast
(15,333 posts)However, the careful reader will note that she failed to come up with any examples of "blood on the study carrels"
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)6. Mostly hispanics here. It is a "tradition" where they came from and
View profile
we don't want them to loose their traditions just because it's against the law here!
We must remain tolerant, and understanding of our neighbors ways.
That is the Democratic way.
Oneshooter
Armed and Livin in Texas
Where in the hell is that thingy?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101821790#post6
Yeah...I'd spend most of my DU time in the Gungeon too...
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)I'm not going on a fishing expedition to have a pissing contest about statistics. It's pretty simple: I think we should have a "well-regulated Militia" convince me that steps have been taken to accomplish that and hold CCWers to very high standards and we can have a dialogue. Otherwise, it's just a bunch of yahoos with guns they don't need who are more dangerous to others than to any criminal threat.
X_Digger
(18,585 posts)Wharrgarble right on past, you have the right-of-way.
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)...and then I get three responses that aren't from the complaining poster. Hilarious shit.
X_Digger
(18,585 posts)ellisonz
(27,711 posts)I make a post, go away for an hour...come back and in two separate places I have 3 responses from posters who are not the poster I was responding too. I think we're going to have to go to a hand raising system like they do in 4th grade.
X_Digger
(18,585 posts)Such is a discussion forum- do something silly, expect to get called on it.
gejohnston
(17,502 posts)of how one of my high school teachers defined a conservative: "don't bother me with facts, I have already made up my mind."
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)...you're presenting studies that may suggest a social fact; in and of themselves, much is left up to whim in the hypothesis that underlies any analysis.
These are the types of things you learn in higher education.
gejohnston
(17,502 posts)it is based on empirical evidence. These are the types of things you learn in higher education
You are simply making rants based on nothing, on subjects you know nothing about. These are not the types of things you learn in higher education, unless you are attending Pat Robertson's School of Evolutionary Biology.
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)It means the demonstration to of sensory experience through experimentation. It does not mean he who makes the science project that suggests whatever he wants is automatically correct just because...not at all. I attended a very well-respected university and took several sociology courses including one that focused on criminology and deviant behavior. I think I know what I'm talking about...
Have you ever read a single textbook on the basics of sociology?
gejohnston
(17,502 posts)but the experimentation done by objective criminologists (not to mention history) show that your premise that more guns=more crime is false. I have yet to see a logical or fact based argument made by you here. You mistake propaganda cartoons for reasoned debate. Were you a legacy student at this well respected university?
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)Your sociologists don't actually prove what they set out to prove - in fact, they ignore some very important factors in reducing crime not related to increased gun ownership such as better policing, increased standards of living, and greater economic opportunity.
gejohnston
(17,502 posts)set out to prove anything, but your Joyce funded economists do.
None of them made the claim more guns=less crime (Lott is an economist). They found no evidence that laws mattered either way. The historical record show no change either way or at least no improvement. Name the country, there is no before and after change.
friendly_iconoclast
(15,333 posts)Some examples of where it has gone wrong in actual practice , as opposed to "offends my sense of propriety" or "it pollutes our precious bodily fluids"?
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)I think training students to be reserve campus police officers and allowing them to carry is a safe middle-ground.
Statistically speaking, given the number of firearms related accidents that occur every year, accidents and shootings are inevitable.
http://www.greenwichtime.com/news/article/Accidental-shooting-reported-on-NY-college-campus-2274020.php
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/article/Weber-State-student-accidentally-shoots-himself-2443661.php
http://missoulian.com/news/local/article_4158604c-d331-11e0-8544-001cc4c002e0.html
http://www.wyff4.com/r/15367899/detail.html
Of course you'll just come back that it's not representative and insist guns prevent more crimes than cause accidents.
friendly_iconoclast
(15,333 posts)I'll point out of the four instances you posted, one (South Carolina) was with illegally held weapons on a campus that doesn't allow CCW.
The NY one was a retired cop (don't they already have "additional training", like this guy?)
The link to the article about the one in Montana had this line:
and that was with a shotgun, not a CCW gun. No fatalities in the lot, and those were the results from 70 colleges.
So you were right about one thing: They weren't representative.
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)...and even then we would debate those. One thing is clear - more guns means more incidents. Like I said, I'd like to see them go through a reserve police officer training program.
If you can't respect that position, I don't have anything more to discuss on this topic. That's a compromise.
friendly_iconoclast
(15,333 posts)Congratulations (and I mean it); you're the first to have found and publicized here any examples of what I asked for nearly a year ago.
But look at the examples you did find- two negligent discharges, with no serious injuries from a pool of 70 or so college campuses.
Forget about licensed drivers being more dangerous than CCW holders on college campuses- Student health services have harmed more people...
That raises another question: Why haven't the Bradys done a search like yours? I suspect it's because there isn't anything to find, and
FSM knows they would have taken any negative examples they found and run with them.
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)Any person with any experience in social science statistics could tell you that's the case.
Furthermore, interpreting such statistics in a meaningful way for policy purposes is even more difficult.
I think we need to be common sense here: there need to be high standards, and the current control regime isn't it.
College campuses are very sensitive places and like hospitals need to be treated as such, anything less is denial.
friendly_iconoclast
(15,333 posts)What definition of "common sense" would apply? What "high standards" would those be, and what specifically is wrong with the "current control regime"?
College campuses and hospitals are not crime-free oases, and CCW holders don't seem to become especially trigger happy once they cross campus boundaries
or stop in at the ED waiting room, so wherein lies the problem?
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)1. I'm negotiable on what the standards could be, but I think the current screening system is too lax to be effective. We continue to have violent crime rates involving guns that outstrip all other First World countries. I think most Americans find this level of gun violence to be unacceptable and expect their government to take common sense measures to control firearms; except for the "libertarians" and right-wingers of course.
2. Are you saying these aren't especially sensitive zones?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_of_Columbia_v._Heller#Decision
Even the right-wing Supreme Court majority doesn't agree with that notion.
friendly_iconoclast
(15,333 posts)I don't believe we will convince each other, and I'll wait and see how the situation in New Hampshire plays out.
In the meantime, if you can come up with some other accounts of problems with CCW on college campuses, I'd appreciate it if you would post them.
As I said earlier, you've done more than anyone else has. I simply disagree on the implications of what you've found.
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)I just used yahoo. If I cared to invest the time, I could probably turn up much more. It's just a matter of reporting and statistics.
aikoaiko
(34,177 posts)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clery_Act
The Clery Act requires all crimes be reported. There are less than 100 universities/colleges where concealed carry is legal and allowed.
E6-B
(153 posts)ellisonz
(27,711 posts)Besides, if you read Heller, there's a ton of room for further regulations.
X_Digger
(18,585 posts)I've asked you about this before, but you didn't answer.
Why do you seem to equate (or presuppose that others equate) an individual right with the limits of constitutionally permissible regulation?
In your mind, does an individual right preclude further regulation? If so, what's your *cough* logic behind that? That isn't a position that I've seen anyone take.
If so, that would go a long way to explain why you so seem to cling to the moronic position out of touch with a century of jurisprudence and public opinion.
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)I believe that what has happened is the promotion of a right-wing ideology that seeks to deny the nature of our social contract and instead posit a libertarian vision in which the individual is held supreme over civil society and to use this as a political tool to bludgeon well-intended regulation that in truth protects the rights of the totality. I think that in Heller even Scalia wasn't quite sure what he meant when he proclaimed an individual right in the context of a social contract and as such had to hedge is bet. I think that such a proclamation is fundamentally a perversion of the clear meaning of the Second Amendment to allow the establishment of an organized, "well-regulated Militia" as sacrosanct to defending the country from foreign invasion and insurrection.
I believe that Scalia made an unfounded and activist judgment in proclaiming that the Second Amendment shall be construed as establishing an "individual right" where there had been none before, either implicitly or explicitly. Government ought to have the right to prohibit classes of ownership such as hate groups without needing to pass a standard of "strict scrutiny." There is no sacred right to bear arms in the Constitution; there is a right to be part of a "well-regulated Militia," that's it, and I don't believe that was intended to be defined as everyone from the Indian trader to merchant seaman. Government can restrict ownership to classes it deems prohibited so long as in totality the this right is not "infringed."
If you wish to call that a moronic opinion so be it, but at least I'm not turning a blind-eye to the arming of hate groups who exist solely to inspire fear in their fellow citizens.
X_Digger
(18,585 posts).. whatever means you can attempt to get it, the end is justified.
[div class='excerpt']where there had been none before, either implicitly or explicitly.
Err.. See Presser and Cruikshank for both explicit and implicit.
But now I understand. Your 'end' can't tolerate an individual right (or more properly, a 'fundamental' right-- you might want to get your terms right, it would change your debate. You'd stop getting corrected on that moronic line of *cough* reasoning, and you could focus on something with firmer ground.)
eta:
[div class='excerpt']Government can restrict ownership to classes it deems prohibited so long as in totality the this right is not "infringed."
So long as *someone* can vote, the right to vote isn't infringed?!?
So long as *someone* can pray, the first amendment isn't infringed?!?
So long as *someone* can protest, the first amendment isn't infringed?!?
That reasoning isn't borne out anywhere that I'm aware.
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)1. Felons are denied the right to vote and many other civic rights. "An estimated 5.26 million people (as of 2004) with a felony conviction are barred from voting in elections - a condition known as disenfranchisement." - http://felonvoting.procon.org/
2. Government doesn't have to allow you to erect a cross on the White House lawn.
4. Ever hear of unlawful assembly?
Read libertarian propaganda much?
X_Digger
(18,585 posts)Each infringement has to pass scrutiny.
Nowhere in the US jurisprudence is the asinine premise that as long as *someone* can do it, it isn't being infringed.
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)...we have different interpretations of the Constitution. Your argument comes from the right, mine from the left. I can live with that.
Did you miss me?
X_Digger
(18,585 posts)ellisonz
(27,711 posts)One more Dem nominee on the court and your argument doesn't exist.
X_Digger
(18,585 posts)If you're going to sling stones, you should know where to aim.
It'll keep your arguments from looking stupid.
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)...no court before Heller proclaimed an "individual right." Judicial activism at it's worst.
Better to appear stupid than to appear indifferent. I really could care less what you think...done responding.
X_Digger
(18,585 posts)Your concept of 'if someone can do it, it's not being infringed'.. that has no basis in US law or court proceedings.
The actual concept of applying standards of scrutiny when evaluating the constitutionality of a particular law or regulation as it pertains to a right? That derives from the selective incorporation doctrine, first established in 1873.
Do try and keep up, eh?
ellisonz
(27,711 posts)...it's not being infringed. The Heller decision has loopholes so big you could drive a semi-truck through it...your entire argument stems from a misreading of the Second Amendment. That's it - there is no "individual right" - gun ownership is connected to service in the Militia and that is to be "well-regulated."
The End.
X_Digger
(18,585 posts)Please, go pick up a text on constitutional law, will ya? There might even be one of those "Idiot's Guide to.." books on the subject.
If you can't even get the fundamentals right- how rights are protected, the burden the government must meet to infringe them, etc- then all you're doing is pissing in the wind and telling me it's raining.
E6-B
(153 posts)Remember when DC lost the case of Heller v DC, instead of giving Mr. Heller a gun, they just reclassified his gun as a machinegun. Then they have the arrogance to say 'were not violating rights'.
friendly_iconoclast
(15,333 posts)http://www.democraticunderground.com/101432690
by The Associated Press
WASHINGTON January 23, 2012, 01:57 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AP) The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that police must get a search warrant before using GPS technology to track criminal suspects....
...Associate Justice Antonin Scalia said that the government's installation of a GPS device, and its use to monitor the vehicle's movements, constitutes a search, meaning that a warrant is required.
"By attaching the device to the Jeep" that Jones was using, "officers encroached on a protected area," Scalia wrote. He concluded that the installation of the device on the vehicle without a warrant was a trespass and therefore an illegal search.
All nine justices agreed that the GPS monitoring on the Jeep violated the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable search and seizure, a decision the American Civil Liberties Union said was an "important victory for privacy."....
I await your defense of warrantless searches...
Francis Marion
(250 posts)Write out the Second Amendement on paper, and diagram the sentence.
Whose right is it to keep and bear arms? Is it the right of The People? Is it the right of the militia?
English grammar attacks your position.
Some people simply don't like the idea of the American People being armed if they choose to do so, and their thinking veers off along logically indefensible lines.
You say:
"There is no sacred right to bear arms in the Constitution..."
The Bill of Rights says:
"...the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
Your logic could also claim that there is no sacred right to a jury trial, or to not incriminate one's self.
Why? The amendment states x, you infer negative x.
You say:
" ...there is a right to be part of a "well-regulated Militia,..."
The Bill of Rights says:
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State,..."
Where does Amendment II bolster your claim? All it says is that a well regulated militia is necessary to the security of a free state.
The militia are a subset of the People. That's all. The right to keep and bear arms is the right of The People, NOT of the militia. The right to keep and bear arms exceeds the bounds of the militia. Rather, it's more correct to say that, because the militia are composed of The People, that that is their right to be armed.
E6-B
(153 posts)OneTenthofOnePercent
(6,268 posts)E6-B
(153 posts)During a poll taken during this class which represented about a half dozen Florida law enforcement agencies, I asked how many train more than twice a year. No hands went up. When asked how many train or qualify with their duty guns only once a year. Everyone raised their hands. Hence, the genesis for this article.
http://www.policeone.com/Officer-Safety/articles/3738401-Police-firearms-training-How-often-should-you-be-shooting/
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)Simo 1939_1940
(768 posts)ellisonz
(27,711 posts)Simo 1939_1940
(768 posts)that criminals view "gun free zones" as target rich environments."
Fixed.
E6-B
(153 posts)When people no longer know right from wrong. Start thinking a right is illegal. Have corrupted unfair to mean fair. Have chosen to impose minority views on the majority. That is sick.
Simo 1939_1940
(768 posts)Sick is when people are so blinded by ideology that they won't even listen to what people who share their political views on all other subjects, and who are highly credentialed criminologists have to say on the subject of gun restriction.
Sick is when people who rail against bigotry practice it themselves by broad-brushing all firearm owners and classify them as "right wingnuts."
Sick is when people keep blathering out the same emotion-based arguments despite the fact that they have had facts hand-delivered to them by unbiased sources (FBI, DOJ etc.) which refute their drivel time and time again.
Sick is when people refuse to believe that there is a possibility that pro-RKBA Dems who post in the DU Guns Forum are actually in the game out of loyalty to the Democratic Party - and are deeply saddened and disturbed by the manner in which the party engages in self-destruction with it's chronic dishonesty on the gun restriction issue.
Sick is when people who barf out the same wearisome lines such as "can't leave the house without a gun or two" aren't sickened by the empty-headed and repetitive nature of their own "debate" style.
Francis Marion
(250 posts)Fallacy:
Police officers are excellent shots.
Truth: Bell curve- some are very good, most are just OK, some are abysmal. Just like gun owners in the general public.
To stake all hope upon the police showing up and blasting the person who needs to be shot, with one surgically placed bullet, is not only unlikely due to the 'just ok' skillset of the average responding officer, it's against training.
Officers, to protect themselves, empty one or more magazines at the suspect(s).
So the good Police Chief's chief concern, 'what if they miss?', is seldom heeded as we read news reports from all over the US where shot counts go into the dozens taking down a suspect.
The public can make sound judgement on when and how to use a gun, just as they do for fire extinguishers and defibrillators.
There is no reason to monopolize the duty of response to the Institutions of society alone. The People can, and should, mobilize to meet emergent threats to their immediate safety, and they should have the choice to access the tools necessary for that job. The same tools that police have chosen: a firearm.
Firearms are not the right tool for any conflict, but with respect to the issue here- whether or not college students can choose to carry firearms for self and community defense- they're more effective than #2 pencils, students' current defensive tool.
Colleges train students to defend against rape, to cope with stress, to study effectively; why not to protect themselves against an immediate threat to their life?
Why shouldn't education, choice, and the Bill of Rights resolve this issue?