Gun Control

[Country Kids]

After talking to my resident arms expert (DH lovethis), one thing that I think should be clarified here is what type of rifle this kid took into that school. The Bushmaster .223 semi-automatic rifle that he used is in fact an AR-15, which is an assault rifle. The AR-15 is currently manufactured by several companies under different brand names but they are all essentially the same.

The military currently uses an M4 fully automatic assault rifle, which evolved from the original M16. The AR-15 and the M16/M4 are very similar, the major difference being the semi-automatic vs automatic use of these guns. An automatic can shoot in bursts, while the semi-auto cannot. Both of these guns can hold a 30 round magazine, which are what the Sandy Hook shooter had. He had to have had several of these high capacity magazines with him for him to be able to shoot that many times in that short of a time.

For those of you wondering what possible use a private citizen could have for the perfectly legal AR-15 semi-automatic, my DH uses his for varmint hunting (coyotes and such). It is illegal to use it for hunting with a magazine larger than 5 rounds.

I would be in favor of banning the high capacity magazines for not only these types of guns, but all guns including handguns. In this case, if he had only had 5 round mags it's entirely plausible that there would have been fewer victims.

This what my son told me. Most people will use them for varmint hunting as you said (coyotes and such). You don't hunt big game with them.

[MyAngels]

This! Yes! Reinstate please.

If the Assault Weapons Ban as it was written in 1994 is reinstated it will do very little to reduce gun violence in the US. Researchers found that the limiting of the high capacity magazines may have helped, but even that is unclear.

The law was full of loopholes that allowed the legal purchase and ownership of many different types of weapons that would be considered "assault" weapons. If you owned the high capacity magazines and weapons before the law went into effect you were allowed to keep them.

With over 300 million guns owned by private citizens in the US (http://www.justfacts.com/guncontrol.asp) this is a bell that cannot be unrung. We'd do far better to focus our efforts as a country on mental health aspects of preventing this kind of tragedy IMHO.

[familyschoolcare]

Thanks Michael.

::::::

Which ones? From which countries?

Michael translated nicely.

I was referring to European American's the ones that came over on the may flower and other ships thinking they could claim a "new" land for themselves even though people where already living on the land that eventually became known as the United States of America.

[familyschoolcare]

It was on Morning Joe on msnbc, Joe (a Republican) was citing the Justice Department and CDC I believe. The number did not include wars. It was total deaths by gunshots involving crime or suicide.

I don't think anyone is suggesting we eliminate the 2nd amendment. Is that what you mean by "taking away right to bare arms"? I am not suggesting repealing the 2nd amendment, merely keeping military killing equipment in the hands of the military. Pretty straight forward.

I am still waiting for someone to tell me, aside from the entertainment or recreation, what a private citizen needs a 100 round clip during 16 rounds per second for?

Again, the silence of the NRA speaks volumes.

Private citizens should have access to these weapons so that our leadership and those in power don't have more power than the people. Otherwise we might find we have a dictatorship on our hands. The 2nd amendment was written because of a need for private people to arm themselves against the government.

[mom2many]

Unfortunately evil minded people have killed and will continue to do so with or without guns... In 1927, Andrew Kehoe killed 38 elementary school children with dynamite.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_School_disaster

Gun control is not the answer. Those that wish to do harm will find other ways to kill, if guns are not available. IMHO "gun control" will only keep guns from the law abiding citizens and not the criminals.

[Willow]

What if Guns were banned completely by all except military and police? \

Ask Great Britain and Australia how those policies are working for them:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1223193/Culture-violence-Gun-crime-goes-89-decade.html

http://www.wnd.com/2001/03/8340/

[Unregistered]

The news just said for my area that gun sales have sky rocketed since Friday. They have noticed that when there is a shooting this happens as people worry about guns being banned from sales.

Yes!! Yes! Yes!

My husband is in the gun industry and shootings always spike sales. Obamas first election win was the biggest boom in gun sales in a long time. And then again this last November when he was reelected. And you better believe there isnt ONE distributer who can send them ar15s right now. Everyone who can get their hands on them is buying them up. Listen, all the threats of them being banned just forces people to impulsievly buy them just so the govt cant take that right away.

How about someone post stories of people who used their legally registered guns to stop an attack from occurring? There was just one at a restaurant where a psycho employee was shot by an off duty officer I think. Needless to say, he didnt gt his chance to shoot up his workplace.

[MarinaVanessa]

Antidepressants and mental illness are more to blame than the guns. For teen and young adults antidepressants can cause them to become very angry and suicidal. This combonation is dangerous.
Yes some can benefit from antidepressants but others can flip out.
I bet it will come out that this young man was on and off of antidepressants just like the others were.

I know someone that has been on Paxil since age 7. Doctors should be so careful. These drugs are serious when it comes to young people.

Yes as it turns out the 20 year old shooter was diagnosed with aspergers, depression and ADHD. I believe there was something else as well. The brother was cuestiones and apparently has said that he had a long history of depression and mental health issues. The mom was a gun hoarder (believed in having a surplus of guns in case of a natural or national disaster). What I want to know is why did this person have access to these guns in the first place when his family knew he had mental health problems.

"Lt. J. Paul Vance with the Connecticut State Police told reporters Sunday morning that investigators are scrutinizing the guns Lanza took to the school, including the semiautomatic military-style rifle the state's medical examiner said was used in the school killings."

This is true. He used a bushmaster AR-15 much like the one that I myself own. Heres the thing ... It is NOT a military or law enforcement rifle. It looks like one but is not powerful enough to be used as one. This gun was specifically made for civilians in mind that wanted the look of a military weapon. It is a semi automatic weapon because it can hold multiple rounds that can be fired quickly without having to manually load each bullet intom the chamber (unlike Lets say a hunting rifle) and has a magazine that can hold many rounds.

My .45 handguns work pretty much the same however except that Its MUCH faster for me to reload my handgun than my AR-15. In CA we have restrictions on the AR-15 such as limiting the number of rounds a magazine can take to only 10 (almost like a handgun) and not having an automatic release for the magazine making reloading much much longer. This I agree with. Why not put limiters and reduce the amount If time it takes to reload a weapon. It then makes it much like owning a handgun. I would also be ok with submitting myself to mantatory training or a test and even a psych evaluation before being able to purchase any firearm. Those are all reasonable suggestions to me, completely banning semi automatic weapons are not. I just cant justify taking them away from everyone because of a few bad apples with mental problems.

Btw we already had a semi automatic rifle ban that Bill Clinton signed back in like 1996 I think that was eventually removed because it did nothing to reduce assault rifle crimes. People still found a way to get their hands on them and since you cant go around collecting every semi automatic that everyone owned only ban the sales of new ones there were still many out there.

*I apologize for any grammar and spelling ... Im on my phone

[Crystal]

wow.....looks like retailers and manufactuers are taking action....pulling guns from shelves and websites and "Cerberus Capital Management reported that it's selling off its entire investment in Bushmaster and returning any profit made to investors"

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exchange/businesses-react-newtown-tragedy-190318407.html

[Unregistered]

This exactly.... I think the teachers should be aloud to be trained and legal to carry at school or any other business for that matter if the ad people know somebody else will be there with a weapon then they would think twice about it. Or they would be stopped a lot faster!

yikes this scares me---


Think about it more.....

Think about this....

I trust my fellow man/woman. When you drive to work or shop each day, a person is driving a car that passes by you, at 60mph just 4 feet away, going the opposite direction. The only thing separating you is an imaginary line. If you are also going 60mph, that is a total of 120mph. In essence it is like someone shooting a bullet past your head thousands of times a day.

If you can trust that, you can trust your fellow Americans to carry a concealed weapon.

[clep]

Just imagine for a moment what it would be like if society was emotionally healthy. There would be no need for gun control.

If it isn't guns it will be something else. There are websites that teach people how to make bombs out of household items. Trying to control weapons will serve the same purpose as trying to control illegal drugs. It will provide society an illusion of safety. I believe that in a society of mentally ill people and those lacking personal skills we can try to bandage these social issues by banning guns or we can address the issues and create change at the root of the issue.

I see so many children in western society growing up with a sense of entitlement, throwing tantrums on a whim and demanding the world revolves around them. Parents with violent children is an epidemic. I believe if we want to bring about lasting and consistent change, we need to be looking at the bigger picture here.

[Unregistered]

I would be concerned about teachers having guns on them in the classroom with 20+ students. Perhaps not so much with younger students, but how about with older students that were aware the teacher had a gun on them. How difficult would it be for an out of control student, or group of students to catch the teacher off gaurd and take the gun?

[MarinaVanessa]

Just imagine for a moment what it would be like if society was emotionally healthy. There would be no need for gun control.

If it isn't guns it will be something else. There are websites that teach people how to make bombs out of household items. Trying to control weapons will serve the same purpose as trying to control illegal drugs. It will provide society an illusion of safety. I believe that in a society of mentally ill people and those lacking personal skills we can try to bandage these social issues by banning guns or we can address the issues and create change at the root of the issue.

I see so many children in western society growing up with a sense of entitlement, throwing tantrums on a whim and demanding the world revolves around them. Parents with violent children is an epidemic. I believe if we want to bring about lasting and consistent change, we need to be looking at the bigger picture here.

Agree 100%

[Sprouts]

THIS arugument or discusssion could go ON AND ON, but what it ALL really boils down to is that all of these mass murders are just a reflection of what our society has turned into...a GODLESS DEPRIVED NATION....

Please watch this video that Huckagee spoke on FOX news, he really couldn't have said it any better

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpMcM1JJR1M

But unfortunatley not many people want to walk this fine and narrow path...

[Michael]

THIS arugument or discusssion could go ON AND ON, but what it ALL really boils down to is that all of these mass murders are just a reflection of what our society has turned into...a GODLESS DEPRIVED NATION....

Please watch this video that Huckagee spoke on FOX news, he really couldn't have said it any better

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpMcM1JJR1M

But unfortunatley not many people want to walk this fine and narrow path...

In life I find there are two things that define us; those things of desire and those of virtue. On our final day we will find that the things of desire cannot be taken with us. Our virtue is in asking; what have I done for this world? and finding peace in its answer.

Our nation was founded on values. How now will we prioritize our children's futures?