Can we have an honest, respectful discussion about guns in America?

An ugly truth the anti-gun left doesn't want to address. If the anti-gunners really wanted to save lives, they'd focus on mental health, especially suicide (over 40,000 suicides/year), auto fatalities (over 33,000 deaths/year) and drug overdose deaths (over 64,000 deaths/year). Why don't LW anti-gunners care about the deaths of over 130,000 Americans each year? Is it because they find driving cars and using drugs to be personally beneficial but have no use for guns hence their concern over 11,000 gun murders/year?

http://www.iihs.org/iihs/topics/t/general-statistics/fatalityfacts/overview-of-fatality-facts

https://afsp.org/about-suicide/suicide-statistics/

https://www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/homicide.htm

 

Can't disagree with any of that. In fact, I think that's exactly their strategy. It's a curious blame-shift. I've had people (on this board and in real life) say essentially "mass shootings are your fault because you have go masturbate with your guns and punch holes in paper." They refuse, absolutely. to hold responsible the bad actor. Instead they want to shift the blame to the NRA, the gun industry, and law abiding citizens who own firearms. Makes no sense no matter how you look at it.

 

Like those who keep clamoring about how all guns are designed to do is kill people? Ridiculous, aren't they?

 

thats why CCW should require training and competency exams

 

you'd want to start a civil war if Americans were limited to rifles like this

 

There is no doubt in my mind that they want to ban all guns, but they know they can't do it so their next best tactic is encroachment, erosion of rights rather than straight out eradication of rights.

 

LWers.

 

I own several guns.

It's fine to discuss firearms in terms of education and whatnot, but the "conversation" about firearms typically revolves around attempting to revoke the 2nd Amendment.

In that, there is no conversation to be had as our Constitutional rights are not negotiable. Period.

 

Earlier you posted to me "pathetic derail" and "what a silly comment". Dude, you should look in a mirror. Do you accept that all guns are NOT designed to kill people?

Feel free to post a single quote of mine where I claimed we need to start a civil war. All I'm saying is we don't need to change a thing. The status quo is fine with me. It's you who want to "start a civil war" by shredding the Constitution. Are you even an American? I know we have a lot of foreigners on this forum who want to dictate how Americans should live.

 

You can advocate that if you want, but only a small fraction of murders are committed by people with CCW permits. It will change nothing.

Some people would call for a civil war because they would be rightly outraged by their Constitutional rights being burned. DC v Heller specifically stated that common-use firearms cannot be banned.

 

Glad you asked. We need to shift our focus from the tool to the user.

 

Let's not forget that CCW requires a strict application process.

 

Yes, I went through it and got my permit. I had to provide paperwork for an NRA-certified firearms course as well as wait for a background investigation to complete.

I've had my permit for 4 years and I've never had to draw on anyone.

 

In most states, that is already the requirement. I have taken two separate classes myself - one for my home state of Oregon, and one for Utah which has reciprocity with 31 other states.

 

Most firearms-related deaths are suicides. Rather than invoking the evil NRA at every turn, why not start addressing mental health care woefully lacking in this country?

Speaking of no interest, we have nearly 90,000 die from alcohol abuse in this country, yet nobody is calling for any laws further restricting access to alcohol. I would seem to me the issue isn't about lives, but about guns.

 

We need nationwide reciprocity if we can't have constitutional conceal carry, which is what we really need.

 

Remember when more states started relaxing CCW regulations and the anti-gun nuts were screaming how there'd be regular gunfights in the streets? LOL

Police officers tend to respect those with CCW permits precisely because they've been screened.

 

It's also worth noting that Obama spent nearly a decade on the board of the Joyce Foundation which provides funding to a number of anti-2A groups, including the Violence Policy Center which outright has stated they want to ban every firearm under the sun.

Obama never owned up to that and the boot-licking media never held his feet to the fire.

 

I agree. CA, MA, HI, NY, IL, NJ, and CT will never go for it.

 

I can't believe the media would've given Obama a pass like that.

/sarcasm

 

None of the LEOs I've ever discussed the topic with were anti-2A. Several stated they were members of the NRA.

Wyoming has constitutional carry and yet the place is so boring, people sit around and watch the paint dry.

 

Magically all some of the highest crime areas in the US. Of course a magical coincidence.

 

They also gave him the pass about his being involved with Socialists.

 

I'll go one step further: commit a crime with a gun and it's automatic life in prison with no parole. And I mean you don't even have to pull the trigger - just stick a gun in that poor 7-11 clerk's face and demand the money from the drawer. That's enough for me. Owning firearms is a grave responsibility, one that is all too often overlooked in our justice system, particularly from the urban sector where more often than not the behavior is explained away by socioeconomics or some other circumstance about which we are supposed to have sympathy.