Gun control discussion

[RICHARD]

I once sat on a jury for a case involving a mentally unstable man and a gun.

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The parents of this kid called the cops when their son got the gun out of the car trunk and threatened them with it.

The story was that the father took the gun from the son, to keep it out of his hands, put it into the car and left the keys on a hook in the kitchen.

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So, if we convicted the son (the charge was minor one) he would get help for his short-circuit.t

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My problem was the fact that the parents didn't take the proper steps to assure their kid DIDN'T have access to the gun. Had they taken the steps to get the gun out of their household/easy reach, they would not have to have gone thru the incident.

Are we going to dog-pile on the mom for not securing the weapons? And if she did take the steps to secure them how did the shooter get past them?

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The mental illness issue is an important one.

People are willing to overlook the 'kooky uncle', 'different son', 'crazy brother' as someone who is a PITA and pretty harmless until they fall off their swing.

After that, you can go in front of the camera and say "he did seem to be a little odd....." or " I was waiting for him to snap....", "I USED TO KNOW HIM, HE SEEMED LIKE A REGULAR GUY."

Or the standard, "I am not surprised this guy snapped."

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I go nuts when the media begins to compare it, rate it?, on the Top Ten List of nutbags with guns.

"This is the second highest, third highest, Number One!!!!!!! body count on record!"

My other peeve is with the 'reporting' - it's a bunch of AHs reading tweets and regurgitating it as truth. In El Lay you are more likely to see a reporter with a mike in one hand and reading off a cellphone they have in the other hand.

The media, in their haste to bring you the 'inside scoop', will broadcast any tidbit, then correct it as time goes on.

The horror is two people getting shot in a school, the unreal nightmare is the changing numbers as the facts come out.

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I just saw a murder suicide story that happened at the Excalibur Hotel/Casino.

We can't go shopping, to school or gambling w/o being subjected to possibly being killed?

I am going to stay at home, with my guns.

I feel much safer there.

[Alysser]

RICHARD, I think the mental illness factor is always overlooked and is very important too.

I also have a problem with the way media does things when these tragedies occur. I never understood the "rating" system. It's like giving them glory or something. They freak people out for a few days, and what if in the mean time, someone else starts planning something with all the ideas they get from this one? Who is to say this kid wasn't watching the news when the Aurora CO shooting happened? Who is to say he didn't get any ideas from the media.

[chocolatepuppy]

Many argue that having a gun is to protect themselves, but would you really shoot an intruder, or someone who breaks the law out in the street? The police are there for protecting people and I suspect they are highly trained in when and where to use a gun - well, even some policemen have misjudged a situation, so why do you think you can judge better?

Again, I say, in my situation, what police? I shudder at the response time to my house if someone is coming in my back door in the middle of the night.
Five minutes *if* the city cops will come out here? The Sheriff, is he 10 or 20 minutes away at this time?

[RICHARD]

RICHARD, I think the mental illness factor is always overlooked and is very important too.

I also have a problem with the way media does things when these tragedies occur. I never understood the "rating" system. It's like giving them glory or something. They freak people out for a few days, and what if in the mean time, someone else starts planning something with all the ideas they get from this one? Who is to say this kid wasn't watching the news when the Aurora CO shooting happened? Who is to say he didn't get any ideas from the media.

Yes, I firmly believe that there is some idiot out there with the idea they have a 'better plan'.

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Back in the day, I wanted to write for a newspaper. We toured the El Lay Times building and came across the 'morgue'

It was a collection of obituaries of famous people who hadn't died yet. They updated the stories and just had to fine tune the facts so that they could put it into the paper ASAP.

When I see the bumpers to the news programs and the ominous/sad/sinister music, I laugh.

Not at the story, but at the people who think up the catchy phrasing and pick the music.


What do you do for a living?

I write the tunes for FOX/MSNBC/CNN, when something bad happens.....

[RICHARD]

Again, I say, in my situation, what police? I shudder at the response time to my house if someone is coming in my back door in the middle of the night.
Five minutes *if* the city cops will come out here? The Sheriff, is he 10 or 20 minutes away at this time?

I lived 8 blocks from the LAPD station and if I needed a cop, I had to wait 40-60 minutes?

Um......No.

I may not have that much time.

[chocolatepuppy]

I lived 8 blocks from the LAPD station and if I needed a cop, I had to wait 40-60 minutes?

Um......No.

I may not have that much time.

Exactly. You may have seconds to react if someone's on their way in, should I waste that dialing 911?

I might shoot myself? My dogs? Cats? I'll take my chances.

[RICHARD]

Exactly. You may have seconds to react if someone's on their way in, should I waste that dialing 911?

I might shoot myself? My dogs? Cats? I'll take my chances.

I once was listening to a guy talk about a shotgun for home protection.

I had this vision of shooting one inside of a house and just how much damage it would do.

That's not really protecting your home?

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Just flipped the channel to MSNBC and heard a woman talk about her daughter and signing a press release at the beginning of the semester, so, if the child was approached by the media after any event, she would be allowed to talk to the press.

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I hate cars because people get drunk and kill with them
I hate money, because it causes gambling.
I hate cameras because they can be used to record porn.
I hate porn because it makes people go to strip bars and throw money at women.
I hate cars because the are used to drive to the strip bars.
I hate money because that buys the gas, to get to the strip bars.

[Randi]

I know they can get a gun somehow, but the less of them there are, the more difficult it would be. I also know that if these morons didn't have a gun, they'd probably use a knife, but how many people can you kill with a knife before someone stops you?

I hope for everyone's sake that the weapon laws will be tightened.

[phesina]

A person in a small town in Connecticut has a Glock, a Sig-Sauer, and an AR-15 type rifle. This is heavy duty stuff. Jack Reacher would not have such an arsenal. But we still have the right to have them on our dressers, don't we? More likely to shoot a family member or companion animal in any case.

A kindergarten teacher in an idyllic small New England town.. Instead, the family member shot her.

[chocolatepuppy]

I once was listening to a guy talk about a shotgun for home protection.

I had this vision of shooting one inside of a house and just how much damage it would do.

That's not really protecting your home?

My home? My home is insured and is a material thing. My furkids and myself are living beings. Do I want to die and have them die at a scumbag criminals hand in my own home? NO! If it comes down to me or a criminal, I prefer this criminal die than us! Actually, I prefer one shot and the criminal run, but whatever it takes.

[lizbud]

"Richard" is brimming with specious reasoning.
There are none so blind as those who will not see.

Agreed. When confronted with obvious truth about the gun culture in the good old USA, just change the subject.


ps. Thanks for sharing the article.

[lizbud]

Banning ALL guns will likely never happen in the USA. Banning the sale of all automatic, semi auto guns could happen.
What earthly reason could anyone have for owning a weapon whose purpose is to kill as many people/animals as possible
in the shortest amount of time? There was, for a short time, a ban on these kinds of guns & it was allowed to expire. Why?

[jackie]

Banning ALL guns will likely never happen in the USA. Banning the sale of all automatic, semi auto guns could happen.
What earthly reason could anyone have for owning a weapon whose purpose is to kill as many people/animals as possible
in the shortest amount of time? There was, for a short time, a ban on these kinds of guns & it was allowed to expire. Why?

I agree one hundred percent.

Someone will pop back up and restate that the Newtown killer used handguns, not semi automatics, but I think the American right to bear arms is outdated.

"guns don't kill people, people kill people". That may be true, but they sure make it easy to kill many people in a short amount of time.

Even if they banned the sale of all guns now, there are so many in circulation, it probably wouldn't make a dent.

[RICHARD]

Guns do not kill people, bullet do, unless you are pistol shipped to death?

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I can go to Dick's sporting goods, buy a semi automatic rifle, come home, go on the web and within a few days, have the parts to convert it to an full rock and roll gun.

I just typed in a phrase on the websearcher thing and came back with 525,000 hits for ways to fix my gun to shoot like an MG.

I could also buy 15-30 round mags or a kit to convert a gun to use those mags.

The conversion kits are legal.


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So,
We limit large mags and assault rifles.

You get an idiot that will show up with a 9mm pistol, that shoots 13 rounds, he pulls out another 13 shooter, then pull out a ANOTHER pistol - even a small .32 cal gun has 8 rounds.

That's 32 rounds w/o having to reload.

So while I am trying to become one with the tile floor, he's going to have time to reload at least one gun, shoot another 13 rounds.

There's 45 shots, not counting the rifle he may have been carrying and depending on how many shots that gun is capable of?

An idiot with the drive, hatred and means, can carry a small lethal arsenal.

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Who was the joker that shot up the island overseas?

Or did we forget that incident.

[Lady's Human]

Actually, Richard, anyone selling parts to convert a semi-auto to FA to unlicensed people is breaking a few federal laws.

In addition, to meet Federal requirements for sale, a semi atuo is supposed to require more than 8 hours of work by a competent (read: Skilled) gunsmith to convert to full auto, and no competent gunsmith is going to touch any work of the sort.