YES! Handguns are responsible for the majority of gun violence.
75%
NO! Legislation that includes limits on handguns will never pass.
25%
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Thom's Blog Is On the Move
By webmaster
Hello All
Thom's blog in this space and moving to a new home.
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We're in way over our heads. Even if no more guns were sold; there are already way more weapons in circulation than are necessary to commit , , , -- what is it, a major massacre's worth of homicides, every few days? Limiting the sale of weapons only keeps an already beyond-control situation from becoming much worse, not better.
Actually, I just checked World Homicide Rates (Etc) mostly on Wikipedia; and The USA at 5/100,000 (17,000/year, 46/day) is slightly below the world average. Yes we're more than Western Europe, but considerably less than many other countries around the world. Lots of good (and bad) information there -- stuff that hasn't been mentioned in "our" dysfunctional national debate.
As for better screening of felons and "mentally-ill" -- WHAT is the research on the homicides that occur every day, plus the occasional massacre? Would these people have been discovered and stopped by the provisions in our proposed new legislation?
I have no answers; we're simply in way over our heads. And with our dysfunctional tribal political circus -- I expect little good can come of this.
Make a ban on handguns pass at any cost. Things have gotten way too distorted here in the US, if we have to start throwing gun loving Politicians in jail to make change NOW for the People NOW - so be it. Might as well get some more use out of Gitmo since it is still open.
For Thom or ANYONE else to assume that more Law's are some how magically going to save us from "random" act's of anything is naive at best all anyone need do is look back over time then honestly ask have they worked up to now ? Well you don't have to be a genius to be able to reflect back but you do however have to at least be honest and the answer is a resounding NO . So let's go ahead and safely assume they already know this but there agenda is NOT our safety but rather there's ? Now look back honestly at the Law's put in place to see who they have really served and you will without question see a completely different agenda a sort of circling of the wagons type agenda one that favor's & protect's the very people responsible for so very much suffering, fraud, larceny and corporate wilding . We live in a world of admit to nothing and deny everything a world where the "Rule of Law" not the law of the jungle is a vulgar joke a world where a deft dumb & blind man can see what's taking place just not our 5 major News Media outlet's our weather people or our many many infamous Law enforcement agency's a world where you or I can't get down the thruway without a seatbelt yet Wall street can plunder us into poverty or Halliburton can defraud our tax dollars into the billions a world where manufactured evidence is the only place WMDs ever were goe's completly overlooked while our kids get shipped back in bag's a world where the word "PULL IT" and we watched as the building collapsed mean's "Oh I meant pull your men out" A world where invader's can call the occupied "terrorist" A world where the law's that are already on the book's are laughted or completely changed to make whatever crime's commited NOT CRIMES .. anyone with even a heart beat can see somethings just not right ..and somehow you think more Law's on the book's are going to address all this ? What's taking place in this country at this moment is the pre-invasion process ...Clean out your head gear and watch it all unfold...
After hearing Gabby speak I had to put in my two cents. I blame our dysfunctional legislators for the gun killings. While listening to the debate I realize just how stupid many seem to be. They pass gun laws with a sunset clause? They should have added on to those laws not sunset. They opened the barn door and the horses are out. Now they want to close it but leave it open a little bit. We have to understand that over half of households have a firearm in the home. What are the political realities of new gun laws in this congress? We must move on what can be done. We can end the private transfer of all guns. This does not infringe on the second amendment.
Require all gun dealers to buy back all firearms they sell. If you want to sell your firearm you must take it back to where you bought it or a local federal buy back store. End gun shows. This policy ends public sales without background checks. End all private transfer of firearms. With this policy we may make a difference in about a hundred years. Someday we may see the time when people stand in lines to sell their firearms to a federal buy back store. Rather then the lines now to purchase assault rifles. It will have to start from within.
The wording of the poll question needs to be refined. Your position, Thom, is outstanding. Treat guns like cars. Register, insure, and license owner/operators. Does this "limit" the number of cars on the road? Not really. But it makes our daily life much safer. The same would be true if we used the same principles on guns. In the case of guns, these three principles would operate like a three-legged stool. You could not buy the gun if you did not have proof of insurance and proof of training. The insurance companies would be the best organizations -- by far -- to be in charge of the "background check." Why? Because the insurance companies could easily get access to the private health information that would keep guns out of the hands of psychotic madmen.
If the insurance companies were in charge of background checks, you better believe the entire system would be brought into the 21st century OVERNIGHT. Insurance companies could work hand-in-hand with law enforcement agencies to track down criminals. Don't insurance companies suffer from big losses when criminals commit a wide range of crimes? Insurance companies would probably be better off if they could identify criminals and mentally ill people in the community who were stockpiling guns. It might be tip-off for other things that needed to be looked into. It would make every other type of insurance they sold more likely to be safe and would improve their profits at the same time it made the community a safer place.
If a blind guy could massacre crowds of people with it, or it can be hidden from view, then yes.