Gleaning Facebook: Guns in America

I hope we can have an adult conversation about reducing violence by people using guns in America. The NRA has shown again today that their leaders are not grown-up. The inanity of proposing armed guards in every school while simultaneously demanding spending cuts and lower tax rates is obvious. What might not be quite so obvious is the impotence of a retired policeman or serviceman and a handgun standing against unlimited assault rifles and huge ammo clips. (I read someone reminding us today that Ronald Reagan had lots of firepower around him in 1981 and Hinckley still managed to do a lot of damage.)

I say, realizing there is no 100% cure, grown-ups still do what they can to protect their children and that includes, in my mind, at the very least:

- outlaw assault weapons and big magazines

- fund social services for troubled folk

These are costs that we must accept, not just because of our liberal "bleeding hearts" but to help us avoid the actual bloodbaths that sometimes result when terribly troubled folk do not have such services.

Terrell Shaw We have more guns, more access to assault weapons and big clips, and more gun violence than other developed countries. There is a correlation. Will outlawing assault weapons & big clips eliminate evil? No. But evil ones will have some significant stumbling blocks in their paths and the deeds they do will likely be fewer and, overall, less successful.
Don Henderson MLK said it all, violence begets violence. Related, Matthew 26:52

Hal Massie Define 'assault weapon'. Most people don't have a clue.

In other words, they fire one round every time you pull the trigger...just like a typical hunting rifle. And just like all semiautomatic pistols. So, if you put wood stocks and hand grips on them, removed the pistol grip, and removed the carrying handle...you'd have just another hunting rifle. So...what is the point?
Hal Massie Uh...I don't know anyone who still hunts with a bolt action rifle. My point here is that most people who are screaming to ban 'assault weapons' have no idea what an assault weapon is. What they really want to ban is weapons that look 'military', even though they don't function like true military weapons (no selector for auto or burst modes). So, in effect, they want to ban weapons because of the way they look. We used to have a saying in the Air Force, "It's not what you are, it's what you seem to be."

Don Henderson Weapons, as it turns out, were a major setback for human evolution. Go figure

Greg McCary Banning assault weapons will not help. I think the ban was in place at the time of the Columbian attack. The ban will only stop the sell of new weapons and will only drive the price of used ones up. Clips can be changes in seconds. 10 round 30 round it don't really matter. I think a law will make us feel good and politicians look as though they done something but it's pointless. Security at the schools will do more good than anything else. That and access control.
Michael J. Sarver Stop politicizing these tragedies. America needs to focus on identifying and controlling people who are insane. Take their rights, pass effective laws to intervene and control them!

Margaret Oren easier said than done.
James Grant When it comes to politics I am about as far left as you can get but on the issue of gun control I agree with Greg. A determine person will get a weapon on what will be a thriving black market. One study estimated " that there are somewhere around 3,750,000 AR-15-type rifles in the United States today. If there are around 310 million firearms in the USA today, that means these semi auto-loading assault-style rifles make up around 1 percent of the total arsenal. And keep in mind, the AR-15 is just one of the many assault type weapons on the market. It is estimated that more than 800,000 Ruger Mini-14 rifles—the rifle that Anders Behring Breivik used in the Oslo summer camp shootings last year—had been produced since 1974. There are other types, too. This is only the tip of the gunberg."So to think banning any type of fire arm is going to stop the violence I can assure you it will not . The way to deal with this is to deal with the root cause of violent behavior and some type of security at schools.
Michael J. Sarver It's human nature to take the path of least resistance. That alone is a large part of why this country has become immoral and irresponsible and why we have these nut cases walking amongst us. "Easier said than done" is an excuse for doing nothing about people and taking the path of least resistance i.e. pass another law or take rights away from the law abiding.
George Barton I am a veteran of the Vietnam war. I handled and fired the two main assault rifles of the day, the M-16 and the Russian/Chinese AK-47, not in combat but as an exercise in the sound of both weapons, so we would know if gunfire was friendly or unfriendly. An assault rifle is smaller than a hunting rifle, and usually smaller caliiber, (smaller bullets) It is designed for use in close areas, and to be quickly moved around in different directions. The military versions are automatic, they fire like machine guns. Their design and sole purpose is to kill people, lots of people.
Hal Massie No, the military versions have a selectable rate of fire. They can be fired in semi, auto, or burst mode. At least the M-16 and now the M-4. Never fired an AK, so I don't know if they can be fired in semi.

James Grant I grew up with guns in the home and knew not to handle them without an adult. I was taught to have respect for what a gun could do to someone. Why aren't children taught that today? Another consideration is under our system of justice one cannot be arrested until a crime is committed and up until that time you are committed to provide for your own defence. Do we want to change innocent until proven guilty to guilty until proven innocent? I cannot think of anything more helpless than not being able to defend ones family. What is the answer ? I don't know but I feel in must start in the home

Brian Barcomb Unfortunately, under President Obama funding of security in public schools has been cut. I would like to see our legislators take the safety of our children serious. I believe we need 1 resource officer in every primary and middle school and 2 resource officers in every high school. This funding needs to be found WITHOUT cutting into education's budget any further.

Howard Smith Terrell, all I will say is that it is sad that those who oppose gun control laws simply refuse to recognize they work, let me repeat, they work, in other countries, that we have more fire arms per 100,000 citizens than any country in the world, TWICE as many as the next closest nation which is NOT one of the developed nations, and the largest prison population in the world and more gun related deaths than any other developed nation by FAR, in fact, almost as many as all the other develped nations combined. And, yet, knowing all these facts, good Americans still believe we should not control guns. It borders on insanity on some level not to do what others have done to drastically reduce gun related deaths. I know this, if a school kid throws a rock and hits another student, the principal's solution is not to give all the other kids a rock. In other countries fewer guns have meant fewer gun related deaths. It really is that simple.

Judi Borgo I'm not a gun person, but I like your idea of reducing violence. And we can only reduce the number of guns - not completely get rid of them, just as we can only reduce but never get rid of violence. We need to take as serious a look at media violence and vulgarity as we do the availability of guns. Gratuitous sex and violence mean big money for media, so they will be mostly silent about this aspect of it. Wondering how many Games of Thrones watchers - and even Bond fans - have spoken up for total gun control.

Terrell Shaw Factcheck attempts an adult discussion of facts regarding the gun-violence debate: http://factcheck.org/2012/12/gun-rhetoric-vs-gun-facts/ I do not have any delusions that our excessive gun violence in this country can be quickly or easily solved, or that causation is simple. But like the President I believe we should do something. Restricting magazines and assaultnweapons is a start. Accepting that spending on mental health is an issue of

FACTCHECK.ORG FactCheck.org : Gun Rhetoric vs. Gun Facts FactCheck.org : Gun Rhetoric vs. Gun Facts

James Grant Good article Terrell Shaw

James Grant We have security in our banks. on our airlines, on our streets, at public gatherings and meetings, at the malls etc. Do we not value our children more than the money in the banks and our safety in public places? Should we not give them the same protection? Could we not make it unobtrusive so the children are not aware i.e. sky marshals. It is a sad day that it has come to this but I am afraid that a weapon ban is not going to solve the problem. Determined persons, which most of these people are, will find a way to arm themselves and this will happen again and again. What has changed in out society that would cause a person to carry out such an act of violence? I wish for a world without weapon. Maybe someday it will happen