While our left-leaning friends have been civil in this discussion, they don't seem willing to look at hard facts and add them up.
I've noticed that quite often especially reading the comments sections below many news articles. Granted a few conservatives do too, usually very few. But that seems to be the primary tactic of those of a liberal view. Attack, insult and ridicule. Very rarely do I see them even try to take a long, hard look at the facts and present a well thought out civil response. Especially if the facts don't support their viewpoint.
I agree some reasonable restrictions are definitely needed. Keeping firearms out of the hands of people with demonstrable mental or psychological issues and criminals especially. As we've seen for years, keeping them out of the hands of criminals is extremely difficult, the black market is booming. That will continue. Dealing with mental issues might be even harder, in a lot of cases there are very few red flags until a person goes over the edge. In many cases the signs are there, but ignored or the people who see them are not aware of what they are seeing.
In a couple of the mass "spree shootings", like Columbine or Sandy Hook, maybe they could have been prevented if someone had just known what to look for. In some cases I think the signs were just ignored, or nothing was done even though it was obvious the person had problems. but it brings up moral issues as well, do you determine a person unfit just because of a little odd behavior? When does a person cross the line between just an ordinary oddball to an outright threat to society?
Convicted criminals are a different story. Convicted felons already can never own a firearm legally. That rarely stops them, most figure what's one more charge? So what...Background checks don't stop that, they almost never go to a retail outlet to get guns anyway. Find the right neighborhood in any big city and you can get anything you want without the paperwork. Or the right gang member...
One thing that's rarely even mentioned, the court system has been backing off on sentencing for years. Prison is not really much of a punishment any more. 24 hour cable TV, heating and AC, free medical, free legal aid, get a college education free, don't have to work if you don't want to...there was a time prison was a punishment, people didn't want to go back. I have a neighbor who got into trouble a while back and was looking at 2 years. His reaction? "I can do 2 years standing on my head." And yes that's a direct quote. So most couldn't care less about a year tacked onto their sentence for possession of a firearm. Some even decide to take death row, figuring they'll live longer. Ted Bundy lived on death row for about 15 years while he ran through all the endless appeals...after killing at least 30 women...this guy just convicted in the Boston Marathon bombing will be the same if he gets a death sentence. He'll still be sitting there going through more appeals on your tax dollars 15 years from now.
It's ludicrous. Possession of a firearm by a convicted felon should be mandatory life, period. Some states are now carrying what is called a repeat offender statute. I know Louisiana does and I think Texas too. This is a step in the right direction. get convicted 3 or 4 times and next time it's 25 to life as a repeat offender, obviously prison hasn't taught you anything. The DA here wanted to use the repeat offender statute on the neighbor I mentioned earlier, his lawyer got a better deal. So now he's back and I have to keep everything locked at all times. Senseless...
So yes, some sensible restrictions are a good thing. But for the average person who has never gotten anything more serious than a speeding ticket, I would be all for background checks as long as NO information is retained. That database is nothing more than a list pf people to confiscate guns from.
Gun control was one of Hitler's first moves.
"The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subject races to possess arms. History shows that all conquerors who have allowed their subject races to carry arms have prepared their own downfall by so doing. Indeed, I would go so far as to say that the supply of arms to the underdogs is a sine qua non for the overthrow of any sovereignty. So let's not have any native militia or native police. German troops alone will bear the sole responsibility for the maintenance of law and order throughout the occupied Russian territories, and a system of military strong-points must be evolved to cover the entire occupied country." --Adolf Hitler, dinner talk on April 11, 1942
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