President Trump: The NEW one and only politics thread

He's responding to me and my support for repealing the Second Amendment.

 

The only reason? Please. It's fun to shoot ARs. Not that I think the general public should own one, but you have a social-media understanding of the issue.

 

Right. That's the proper framing of the question. @YankeeFan is grasping at straws with his abstract arguments about what did or didn't happen as a result of prior constitutional amendments, or what was or was not the original purpose of the Bill of Rights.

This should be a policy debate.

 

Can't you justify a complete ban of tobacco using the benefit/harm rationale? Or ban alcohol, sugary drinks, TV, pornography, football, etc.

 

Isn't the difference that people are making the choice to harm themselves with tobacco? (Or alcohol.)

 

Maybe, but then there is the issue of second-hand smoke and the costs society bears due to alcoholism. Where is the line? And I am not suggesting guns should be legal just 'cause, but pointing out many public policy issues, like guns, are messy.

 

Cute.

 

It's a pretty fact-intensive debate. We are pretty sure that people shouldn't own personal nuclear weapons because of the arm they would do outweighs the benefit. We are pretty sure that it is OK to own and consume alcohol, because the benefits outweigh the harm.

Guns? We would simply have to unpack Ragu's hypothesis and then make that determination.

 

No serious American who understands this country and its history is realistically in favor of banning firearms. But serious regulation, licensing and insuring guns are needed. Civilians should not have the ability to acquire military firearms. If you want to shoot an AR--15, join the State National Guard, reserves or military. Retired members of the military may be able to maintain ownership of firearms, conditioned on their mental and medical capacity to use it. No citizen should be able to out gun the local police force.

 

Not everyone is.