What, pray tell, does that have to do with having no control over what others choose to do regarding getting a gun license?
Beverly Hills = rich ghost town Malibu = rich ghost town San Francisco = rich ghost town Man this is priceless
I get where you're coming from on this (believe it or not, I really do). I mean, seriously, is it that big a deal to go through a process roughly equivalent to getting a driver's license to own a firearm? Seems like no big deal, right? Hey, even I went ahead and went through the process to get a CCW permit. BUT... The right to bear arms is just that: a right. That is, in my opinion, unarguable. When this country was founded the idea of being armed was fully recognized and supported; the Framers of the Constitution wrote pretty extensively (and passionately) about the merits of said right and how precious it was and how important it was to protect it. Somehow, over the intervening years, the American people have become (again, in my opinion) shockingly blase about their rights. They accept all kinds of infringements and intrusions upon their rights and freedoms that the Founders would have been, literally, up in arms about. I even saw a poster here who acknowledged that the courts have blatantly violated the intent of the 2nd Amendment to protect governmental overreach, but he was okay with that because it's been that way for enough years to establish precedent and he supported gun control anyway so all to the good. In the end, I look at it as if we want to regulate a right, effectively turning it into a government revocable privilege, then rights in general cease to exist as rights. Why not require a license and a background check to vote? Oh, but that "disenfranchises" people. Why not a license and a background check before you can publicly post an opinion, or be protected from unrestricted search and seizure, or any of the rest of the Bill of Rights? If that sounds nonsensical to place such restrictions on those rights, now you understand why I feel it is equally nonsensical to casually allow a clearly enumerated right in the Constitution being dismissed, marginalized, or blatantly violated. If the right itself is somehow obsolete and if enough Americans agree on that point then we really should pursue the Constitutional Amendment to repeal the 2nd. Otherwise we need to acknowledge and respect the 2nd as the right it is.
I understand the history and that the 2nd amendment is a right. But as you said...even you went through the process to get a CCW permit.
I did. As most gun owners, I have held my nose and jumped through hoops I felt were unreasonable, and accepted infringements in the name of being a good citizen. At this point in my life I feel that such was a mistake. There are a lot of things happening in this country related to things other than guns that show that such a blase attitude about accepting infringements on our rights is clearly undermining our Freedom and Liberty on the whole, and it is time to say, "NO MORE."
Actually, no. It was probably roughly the same as it is now, perhaps a bit higher. It went up and up, and peaked in the late 80s, early 90s, but has since has come back to near record lows. This is despite going from 0-50 states offering civilians concealed carry (though in a few it's more or less hypothetical), and tens of millions of new firearms "unleashed" into the American populace during that time.
If you're denied a permit to carry here in Massachusetts the authority that denied it better have a good reason otherwise you can use any one of a number of NRA recommended lawyers and have that refusal overturned easily.
Crime including gun crime in America seems to be concentrated in urban Hell Holes where Democrats run everything. Just a coincidence?
Irrational severe gun control laws have been implemented in NYC since before you were born. Surely you know that.
What matters is how many people are armed in high crime zones. More Gun Control = Less Armed Citizens = More Crime.
Beverly Hills and Malibu are enclaves for the rich, SF is an outdoor toilet that a lot of rich people live in.
Crime levels seem to be about the same except for the DP run cities which have encouraged the creation of high crime zones for their defenseless poor.
