Posted by
Mostly Genius – November 27, 2008
BerksMontNews.com
This piece is pure hand-wringing. It is all emotional appeal and no facts. It is worth reading to see how these people think: guns are for the privilege of hunting. There is exactly one sentence directed at a civilian self-defense and even that gets it wrong. The whole article is a full of stupid remarks:
…However, many of them aren’t responsible gun owners because they think it is not their problem if a gun is stolen and used in a crime…
…People get so caught up in their right to have a gun that they lose sight of what is important: Public safety…
…I know there are some legitimate hunters who think they are allowed to have semi-automatic guns too. It is ridiculous to call yourself a sportsman if you need to use a semi-automatic gun. Each shot should be carefully calculated, not just haphazardly shot repeatedly in seconds in the approximate direction of an animal…
…In my opinion, there is no legitamate use for civilians to use a semi-automatic weapon…
Posted by
Mostly Genius – November 27, 2008
A chance for sensible gun laws – The Boston Globe
No surprise that gun violence has risen steadily over the past eight years. There isn’t even a law requiring criminal background checks for all gun sales in 32 states, and criminals and terrorists have been proven to exploit this dangerous loophole in federal law. Is it any wonder why America is the gun violence capital of the world and US urban areas have become war zones
There is no criminal background check on all gun sales (read private-transfers) because there is no practical way of implementing such a system. Such a system would become a multi-million dollar boondoggle that would generate arrests of fathers for giving their sons hunting guns without proper paperwork. The criminals will continue to acquire guns illegally. The straw purchasers will continue to transfer firearms to prohibited persons (already a serious crime) and will simply ignore the new piece of required paperwork.
“War Zones” is an over statement. Less than 1% of Americans are killed by firearms. That is roughly 30,000 deaths a year including suicides, police shootings, justifiable homicides, and accidents as well as violent crimes in a population of about 300 million.
This is all you really need to know:
John Rosenthal is co-founder of Stop Handgun Violence, Common Sense About Kids and Guns and American Hunters and Shooters Association.
Posted by
Mostly Genius – November 25, 2008
New Statesman – Britain’s converted gun problem
The blanket ban on handguns following the massacre of 16 schoolchildren in Dunblane in March 1996 has prevented similar mass killings from legally-owned pistols such as those witnessed in US, Germany and Finland. But in the meantime street gun crime has risen inexorably.
Last year, there were nearly 10,000 firearms offences in England and Wales, a third higher than in 1998 with 566 people fatally or seriously injured.
There is no news here, the restrictions are useless, the criminals are still arming themselves and crime is still rising despite the gun bans. New gun control measures are on the horizon for the US, but believe they will meet with far less compliance than they would in other countries. The more behavior you criminalize the more criminals you create.
Posted by
Mostly Genius – November 25, 2008
Youths battle gun violence | The Detroit News | detnews.com
Can we agree that signing a pledge or a greeting card really isn’t “battling” anything? This is another school time-waster. I am certain that the on-going problems with youth street crime and violence isn’t going to be solved with a soft-headed feel good campaign.
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