Journalists shot, killed in Virginia during live shot

A fellow member of Congress was shot, granted she was a D, but still. I agree, I think it would take someone from Republican and/or NRA leadership to being personally affected by one of these deals, but even then you figure they would be shoved aside as being compromised. It might be something as simple as a strong NRA candidate losing BECAUSE of his strong NRA ties.

 

I didn't say me. And on an individual level, I personally can't see any potential scenarios in which my attitudes to the 1st, 4th and abortion rights arguments would change.
But my attitude on the second amendment has. It has to be changed. It just has to.
And that's MY OPINION.
If we had a vote today for repealing the second amendment, I'd absolutely campaign for that cause and would be overjoyed if it actually happened. Why? Not because I'm some freedom-hating liberal asshat. (despite what you might think) but because the balance of good and evil this amendment gives us is off.
Deep down what are we protecting this amendment for? So that Americans can protect themselves in the event the government decides to kill us all.
First off, news flash, we are the government. Law enforcement is made up of our brothers and sisters, as is the military. This scenario would never happen.
And if it DID happen, we have the most powerful military in the world. You really think your fucking 9MM is going to protect you against an invading internal army? GTFO.
Second off, this paranoia that the 'gubment' is going to somehow run us over ala the events leading into the revolutionary war is ridiculous.
No government on Earth could do that to its citizens without a massive shitstorm taking place, least of all the biggest one in the world.
Third, the odds of this incredibly unlikely scenerio happening are about 5,432,134,689,532,789,532,797 in one yet we're willing to die and let thousands of our brothers and sisters die at the hands of guns to protect it.
Fuck that.
It's an outdated amendment and it needs to change.
Don't like my opinion? Well I don't like your refusal to get with the times and I don't like watching story after story after story after story after story of some poor innocent victim dying at the god damn age of 24 because someone else decided they felt like exercising their "constitutional right" to take their life.

 

You could never change your mind about the right to snuff out life because you don 't want to be inconvenienced?

 

I don't want to turn this into a thread-jack but please explain what you're trying to say here because I'm confused.

 

I don't think you have to amend the Constitution to enact gun laws.

Mandatory minimums for gun crimes. Closing gun show loopholes. Banning high capacity clips.

These are fairly simple things that won't infringe on anyone's right to bear arms.

Where does it say that you can buy a gun, anytime, anywhere? So why can't the government say you can only buy a gun from a licensed dealer.

We already legislate certain products and make them where they can only be purchased from a person with the right license.

Guns can be made the same way.

 

That's pretty much what I said over on the Journalism thread, although I'll admit, I didn't word it very well, to put it mildly.

Like I said, for the NRA and Republicans, these shootings are abstractions. Just another incident to put out the talking points. It's not personal for them.

Look at someone like Carolyn McCarthy, who was a lifelong Republican until her husband was killed and son injured by the Long Island Railroad gunman. She didn't run for office until the Republican congressman in her district was trying to repeal assault weapons legislation. For her, it became deeply personal.

 

Of course, if we didn't have to count the areas that have all been run by nothing but Democrats for the last 50 years, the US rate would be around Norway's rate.

 

Uhhh... You can't buy a gun anytime, anywhere now. Not legally anyway.

 

You can in my state. Couple hundred dollars and the classified section can get you a gun, just have to meet the seller someplace.

Zero restrictions on private sales.

People believe all theses rules and regulations are in place and they aren't. It is more like casinos. Your town may not have one but if you want to gamble you can always find some action, and if you want to be all legal about it, just drive a couple hours and you'll run into a casino.

 

Ronald bleeping Reagan was almost killed by a bullet. All we got out of that was the Brady Bill. And it took more than a decade for that.

 

And that was another insanity defense case. If I were ever on a jury, I would probably cause a hung jury if most jurors wanted to go with accepting an insanity defense.

Why? Because I have shot lots of guns, and, unless it is self-defense, in my mind, it takes a lot of premeditation and functional reasoning to get a gun, load it with ammo, and then point it at someone, and fire.

That Aurora movie theater shooter? Just think of a POV movie from his eyes of what he did that night. Blam, blam, blam, wasting 12 people. Just think of what it must have looked like to be looking down the barrel of his weapon at all the defenseless people in that theater. He should have gotten a much harder punishment. At least he didn't get an insanity verdict. I can't remember if they went for that or not, but still, people must pay the consequences for their actions, and I am not keen on giving lighter punishments for whatever medical or past history reasons.