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In reply to the discussion: When the fuck are we going to have some laws passed on guns? [View all]Atypical Liberal
(5,412 posts)60. It's not OK to shoot someone that you don't like.
By not having laws saying it's okay to shoot someone that you don't like.
It's not "okay to shoot someone that you don't like."
Whenever there is a shooting, there is an investigation. Now in the Zimmerman case it looks like the police were extremely slack in their initial investigation, but you can bet there is going to be a rigorous one now.
No one gets a free pass when they shoot and kill someone. Even in clear-cut cases of self-defense you can almost always bank on tens of thousands of dollars in legal expenses.
Floridia's "stand your ground" law simply means that when people are presented with a reasonable threat of violence they do not have a duty to run away. I personally think that is great. There is nothing wrong with running away from bad people doing bad things, but we should always honor and respect those few who stand up to bad people doing bad things, especially when they do so at great personal risk to themselves.
By having background checks so the Jared Loughners of the world would not be able to buy a gun.
Jared Loughner bought his firearm from a Federally Licensed firearm dealer - The Sportsman's Warehouse's in Tucson. As such, he must have (and did) undergone and passed the NICS federal background check.
By not allowing guns into places like bars where people get drunk and then argue. Or onto college campuses.
All of these laws concern people with Concealed Carry Permits. While the specifics vary by state, this means that you must be 21 years old and have undergone a background check. Such people are many times less likely to be involved in any kind of crime, let alone firearm-related crime, than anyone else you will encounter in public.
The law concerning "bars" was mostly aimed at restaurants that happen to serve alcohol. For example, if you carry a concealed firearm and you go to the Outback Steakhouse, Longhorns, Red Lobster, Applebees, Ruby Tuesday's, or any other countless restaurants that have bars on the premises, before many CCW permit holders would have to leave their firearms in their cars.
It was illegal before and it is still illegal for anyone to drink and carry a firearm. Thus the only CCW permit holders who would be carrying firearms into bars are people who are the designated drivers.
As for college campuses, I go to school at the University of Alabama Huntsville. I have class in the very same building where Amy Bishop shot 6 people, killing 3. Guns are not allowed on campus by the University. This did not stop Amy Bishop at all. The only people who are stopped by such policies are the people who obey the rules.
If a person has been judged fit by the state to walk down main street with a gun, surrounded by hundreds of his fellow citizens, there is no reason why he can't walk down main street on a college campus the same way.
By limiting the amount of rounds that can be shot from one clip.
The point of the second amendment was to make sure that the people possessed military-grade small arms appropriate for infantry use. Civilian weapons should have the same ammunition-holding capacity as the military-grade small arms.
By limiting assault weapons as we did in the 90s.
The assault weapons ban was a disaster for the Democratic Party. President Clinton said so himself.
But worse, the assault weapon ban literally accomplished nothing. Nothing. About the only thing it changed is you could no longer buy an assault weapon with a bayonet lug, as if there were a big problem with drive-by bayonettings.
All the manufacturers and importers of such weapons did was change the US-made parts count to comply with the letter of the law. I bought my first AK-47 variant after the passage of the ban specifically because of the ban - I wanted to get in while the getting was good. It has no bayonet lug, and it has a US-made pistol grip and a US-made fire control group. Other than that, it is identical to pre-ban civilian AK-47s.
Note also that the ban made these firearms hugely, hugely popular. Prior to the ban the AR-15 platform was not a very popular weapons platform. Today it is the most popular centerfire target rifle in America.
You'll also note that there are only about 300 homicides every year committed using any kind of rifle, let alone assault rifles. This is half as many people as are killed each year using hands and feet. There is no serious rifle-crime problem in the United States. Even if you made every assault rifle in the country vanish overnight it would hardly make any difference in violent crime in the United States.
You don't need an assault weapon to kill a deer.
Bear in mind that the second amendment is not about hunting. The second amendment is about keeping military-grade small arms appropriate for infantry use in the hands of civilians. The second amendment is about killing people in preservation of liberty, not deer.
It's not "okay to shoot someone that you don't like."
Whenever there is a shooting, there is an investigation. Now in the Zimmerman case it looks like the police were extremely slack in their initial investigation, but you can bet there is going to be a rigorous one now.
No one gets a free pass when they shoot and kill someone. Even in clear-cut cases of self-defense you can almost always bank on tens of thousands of dollars in legal expenses.
Floridia's "stand your ground" law simply means that when people are presented with a reasonable threat of violence they do not have a duty to run away. I personally think that is great. There is nothing wrong with running away from bad people doing bad things, but we should always honor and respect those few who stand up to bad people doing bad things, especially when they do so at great personal risk to themselves.
By having background checks so the Jared Loughners of the world would not be able to buy a gun.
Jared Loughner bought his firearm from a Federally Licensed firearm dealer - The Sportsman's Warehouse's in Tucson. As such, he must have (and did) undergone and passed the NICS federal background check.
By not allowing guns into places like bars where people get drunk and then argue. Or onto college campuses.
All of these laws concern people with Concealed Carry Permits. While the specifics vary by state, this means that you must be 21 years old and have undergone a background check. Such people are many times less likely to be involved in any kind of crime, let alone firearm-related crime, than anyone else you will encounter in public.
The law concerning "bars" was mostly aimed at restaurants that happen to serve alcohol. For example, if you carry a concealed firearm and you go to the Outback Steakhouse, Longhorns, Red Lobster, Applebees, Ruby Tuesday's, or any other countless restaurants that have bars on the premises, before many CCW permit holders would have to leave their firearms in their cars.
It was illegal before and it is still illegal for anyone to drink and carry a firearm. Thus the only CCW permit holders who would be carrying firearms into bars are people who are the designated drivers.
As for college campuses, I go to school at the University of Alabama Huntsville. I have class in the very same building where Amy Bishop shot 6 people, killing 3. Guns are not allowed on campus by the University. This did not stop Amy Bishop at all. The only people who are stopped by such policies are the people who obey the rules.
If a person has been judged fit by the state to walk down main street with a gun, surrounded by hundreds of his fellow citizens, there is no reason why he can't walk down main street on a college campus the same way.
By limiting the amount of rounds that can be shot from one clip.
The point of the second amendment was to make sure that the people possessed military-grade small arms appropriate for infantry use. Civilian weapons should have the same ammunition-holding capacity as the military-grade small arms.
By limiting assault weapons as we did in the 90s.
The assault weapons ban was a disaster for the Democratic Party. President Clinton said so himself.
But worse, the assault weapon ban literally accomplished nothing. Nothing. About the only thing it changed is you could no longer buy an assault weapon with a bayonet lug, as if there were a big problem with drive-by bayonettings.
All the manufacturers and importers of such weapons did was change the US-made parts count to comply with the letter of the law. I bought my first AK-47 variant after the passage of the ban specifically because of the ban - I wanted to get in while the getting was good. It has no bayonet lug, and it has a US-made pistol grip and a US-made fire control group. Other than that, it is identical to pre-ban civilian AK-47s.
Note also that the ban made these firearms hugely, hugely popular. Prior to the ban the AR-15 platform was not a very popular weapons platform. Today it is the most popular centerfire target rifle in America.
You'll also note that there are only about 300 homicides every year committed using any kind of rifle, let alone assault rifles. This is half as many people as are killed each year using hands and feet. There is no serious rifle-crime problem in the United States. Even if you made every assault rifle in the country vanish overnight it would hardly make any difference in violent crime in the United States.
You don't need an assault weapon to kill a deer.
Bear in mind that the second amendment is not about hunting. The second amendment is about keeping military-grade small arms appropriate for infantry use in the hands of civilians. The second amendment is about killing people in preservation of liberty, not deer.
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There will never be meaningful federal gun control legislation passed in this country ever again.
sadbear
Mar 2012
#1
Well, I see you have no knowledge about guns, so I think I'll just skip this discussion
sikorsky
Mar 2012
#19
WE do NOT have background checks in Arizona - and who do you think you are calling me 'dear'?
jillan
Mar 2012
#43
Not at gun shows. Undercover police have gone in and purchased guns without a background check.
jillan
Mar 2012
#65
Please read the article more carefully. Private, unlicensed people can sell used firearms...
slackmaster
Mar 2012
#75
Untrue. If you buy through an FFL you must, by federal law, undergo a NICS check.
Atypical Liberal
Mar 2012
#63
As stated in the cited article, "private and unlicensed sellers" don't have to do background checks
slackmaster
Mar 2012
#73
Much of what you want is already in place or shown to be ineffective
ProgressiveProfessor
Mar 2012
#36
I was going to do a point by point refutation, but others have beat me to it.
Johnny Rico
Mar 2012
#40
How about background checks before someone could purchase a firearm for starters?
jillan
Mar 2012
#41
I was referring to Gabe Zimmerman, Gabby Giffords aide that was shot and killed.
jillan
Mar 2012
#55
Actually, no the defense that Zimmerman is relying on would be precluded by FL law..
X_Digger
Mar 2012
#35
I disagree. I don't believe Zimmerman's behavior can be justified under Florida law because...
slackmaster
Mar 2012
#64
We FIRST need a more progressive congress PERIOD and we can get all the laws we want passed
uponit7771
Mar 2012
#31
It will never happen so long as some people use irrational fear to pit people against each other
LonePirate
Mar 2012
#38
You are incorrect. You do not need a permit to carry a weapon into a bar in all states - google it.
jillan
Mar 2012
#50
It's not legal to transfer a machine gun in the manner you described ANYWHERE in the US
slackmaster
Mar 2012
#57
"anyone in my state walk into a gun show and buy a machine gun with just a driver's license and
Edweird
Mar 2012
#59
jillian, this may seem "picky" to you but neither of those stories involves sales of machine guns
slackmaster
Mar 2012
#72