My wife and I were chatting before my radio show yesterday that we both take the view that we should be willing and able to understand the argument of someone with a different political view than our own. I find pro-lifers tend to be better able to articulate the view of the pro-abortion side than the pro-abortionists can explain the pro-lifers. The pro-abortion side tends to stereotype pro-lifers as Bible thumpers who want to control women's bodies. They can't acknowledge that there is validity to the argument that the child in utero is a human being. They don't really want to understand the argument, they just stereotype it.
The Left's hysteria over guns has nothing to do with stopping mass shootings and everything to do with disarming the citizenry. You simply can't have a revolution imposing socialism (always fomented by a rabid minority, by the way) if you don't take the guns away from the majority. The Framers understood this. It is why we have the Second Amendment. It is why the Far Left wants to destroy it. Everything the Left wants to do to regulate guns is done to advance this narrative.
I favor the argument that we have the right to bear arms. More so as support for that argument, consider just by some remote, impossible chance, should we suffer arm to arm combat on our soil, which could NEVER happen in our lifetime, would we call 911? We’ve discovered with our recent “impossible” (aka Covid 19) that we need to be self reliant to survive.
I see far too many generalizations in these comments. Also tons of polarization. Everything is so left vs right. We need to be more about correct vs incorrect or bad vs good. How is asking for a more thorough background check and closing the gun show loophole the same as taking all guns away?These seem like common sense measures to me. Do you really think expanded background checks are the first snowflake that leads to an avalanche?
The other question I have, and I say this as a owner of an AR15, should AR15s be so readily available? Can we find a way to keep those types of guns available but make them harder to obtain? Yes handguns are used more often but their capability to mass kill is far less than an semiauto rifle.
Also, as everyone knows, it's worth repeating: "When seconds count, the police are only minutes away!"
From a public health point of view, the number of fatalities that result from mass shootings in a statistical non-event. Almost 10,000 people under the age of 18 die each year from swimming related events. More toddlers die each year in backyard pools than all the folks who die in mass shootings annually. So, from a public health point of view, we should first ban home swimming pools.
After the Assault Weapons Ban and Brady Bill under the Clinton administration in 1994, the CDC was asked to do a study on personal use of firearms for self defense. This study was buried. Why? Because the CDC discovered that firearms were used somewhere between 500,000 and 2 million times annually by private citizens to defend themselves or their loved ones. Usually this involved only the showing of a gun to deter violence.
"Gun Control" is an emotionally rich topic that our leftist government uses to control the ability of the governed to defend themselves against a tyrannical government. This was the PRIMARY purpose of the 2A. The Founders really understood that the government should fear the people, not the other way around.
Good idea! Unlike you, I actually enjoy the use of firearms. Perhaps my long history as a soldier...
I do object to the use of the word "buyback". It implies two erroneous concepts: 1. that the gun was first purchased from the government; and 2. that this is somehow an equitable and fair exchange, i.e., "I get your money, and you confiscate my ability to protect myself and my family!". Let's call it what it is: gun confiscation by a bullying government.
I live in Boulder, just north west of the King Soopers at Table Mesa. Before Monday, it was my local grocery store when I wanted things that Whole Foods wouldn’t carry on a dare, like Diet Coke and Velveeta.
I am rare in Boulder in that I am a pistol instructor, I have a concealed carry permit, and whenever I leave my house I usually have a pistol on my body.
The gunman at KS had 30 minutes to quietly roam the store and shoot my neighbors. This is because Boulderites, as I mentioned, have a knee jerk anti-gun attitude, and no one in the store seems to have been carrying. Except the gunman.
We should ask why he traveled from Arvada (a suburb of Denver) all the way up to South Boulder. Lots of people in the more conservative areas of the Front Range like Arvada, Westminster and Lakewood conceal carry. My personal opinion is because he knew Boulderites would not be armed and he would emerge from the shooting largely unscathed. He was right.
Well done sir. Let me preface my next comment with...I am a staunch 2A advocate. But I also believe there are some very common sense things we can do to make gun ownership and safety more prevalent that the "staunchly right" citizenry equates to gun control. Starting with digital tools that citizens can use to make sure they are not selling a gun to a person with an exhibited past that is unwise to sell a gun to. It's nuts to sell a gun to someone you do not even know well.
Remember the lesson of Kennesaw, Georgia in 1982. Georgians may recall as I do, Mayor Stephenson of Kennesaw made it mandatory that every household (with valid exceptions) have a gun. It was obviously unenforceable, YET note these burglary statistics for the small city, according to the mayor, "In 1981, the year before the ordinance was adopted, Kennesaw recorded 55 house burglaries. The next year there were 26, and in 1985 only 11.”
I can only assume it's because of what you articulated Erick, the bad guys ran the odds of coming face to face with a homeowner or apartment resident with their own gun. Advantage, good guys! It would seem breaking and entering wasn't worth dying for. The whole argument is rhetorical because we don't have a President who thinks like the former Mayor of Kennesaw.
I don’t believe it’s a coincidence that mass shootings only became commonplace until after Roe v Wade. One half of the country along with media elites have devalued human life for the past half century. Instead of going on defense after these tragedies, conservatives should be pushing legislation to build a culture of life in opposition to the nihilistic worldview being widely propagated. Slavery had long term negative societal consequences and so does abortion.
Looks like we're back to the Wild Wild West stage . . . back to the previous WWW that we had before the www that we have now. We need a Wyatt Earp. Where's Wyatt when you need him?
I am confused by the left who in the same week describe the police as inept and racist in the Georgia spa shootings then later in the week in discussing the Colorado shootings declare citizens should not have guns of their own and rely on the police to deal with criminals.
I am with you Eric in having guns but they make me nervous. I have a carry permit, but do not carry because until and unless I become more comfortable, I feel I am in more danger in a confrontation that someone could take the gun from me than I am of whatever else may be going on. That is all on me. I am hopeful that there are many "good guys" out there that are trained and comfortable with guns so that if the "bad guys" show up where I am that I may be a "free rider" on their exercise of the second amendment for the time being at least.
Force everyone to buy something they might not want. About as dumb as forcing everyone to buy health insurance.
The Left's hysteria over guns has nothing to do with stopping mass shootings and everything to do with disarming the citizenry. You simply can't have a revolution imposing socialism (always fomented by a rabid minority, by the way) if you don't take the guns away from the majority. The Framers understood this. It is why we have the Second Amendment. It is why the Far Left wants to destroy it. Everything the Left wants to do to regulate guns is done to advance this narrative.
I favor the argument that we have the right to bear arms. More so as support for that argument, consider just by some remote, impossible chance, should we suffer arm to arm combat on our soil, which could NEVER happen in our lifetime, would we call 911? We’ve discovered with our recent “impossible” (aka Covid 19) that we need to be self reliant to survive.
I love it. Guns are like drugs , you are never going to get them out of the hands that abuse them.
I see far too many generalizations in these comments. Also tons of polarization. Everything is so left vs right. We need to be more about correct vs incorrect or bad vs good. How is asking for a more thorough background check and closing the gun show loophole the same as taking all guns away?These seem like common sense measures to me. Do you really think expanded background checks are the first snowflake that leads to an avalanche?
The other question I have, and I say this as a owner of an AR15, should AR15s be so readily available? Can we find a way to keep those types of guns available but make them harder to obtain? Yes handguns are used more often but their capability to mass kill is far less than an semiauto rifle.
I agree. We should all live in cities like Kennesaw: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/03/06/us/kennesaw-georgia-gun-ownership/index.html
Also, as everyone knows, it's worth repeating: "When seconds count, the police are only minutes away!"
From a public health point of view, the number of fatalities that result from mass shootings in a statistical non-event. Almost 10,000 people under the age of 18 die each year from swimming related events. More toddlers die each year in backyard pools than all the folks who die in mass shootings annually. So, from a public health point of view, we should first ban home swimming pools.
After the Assault Weapons Ban and Brady Bill under the Clinton administration in 1994, the CDC was asked to do a study on personal use of firearms for self defense. This study was buried. Why? Because the CDC discovered that firearms were used somewhere between 500,000 and 2 million times annually by private citizens to defend themselves or their loved ones. Usually this involved only the showing of a gun to deter violence.
"Gun Control" is an emotionally rich topic that our leftist government uses to control the ability of the governed to defend themselves against a tyrannical government. This was the PRIMARY purpose of the 2A. The Founders really understood that the government should fear the people, not the other way around.
Finally some common sense advice. :) i hope you do not wear yourself out with 5 hrs of radio every day.
Good idea! Unlike you, I actually enjoy the use of firearms. Perhaps my long history as a soldier...
I do object to the use of the word "buyback". It implies two erroneous concepts: 1. that the gun was first purchased from the government; and 2. that this is somehow an equitable and fair exchange, i.e., "I get your money, and you confiscate my ability to protect myself and my family!". Let's call it what it is: gun confiscation by a bullying government.
I live in Boulder, just north west of the King Soopers at Table Mesa. Before Monday, it was my local grocery store when I wanted things that Whole Foods wouldn’t carry on a dare, like Diet Coke and Velveeta.
I am rare in Boulder in that I am a pistol instructor, I have a concealed carry permit, and whenever I leave my house I usually have a pistol on my body.
The gunman at KS had 30 minutes to quietly roam the store and shoot my neighbors. This is because Boulderites, as I mentioned, have a knee jerk anti-gun attitude, and no one in the store seems to have been carrying. Except the gunman.
We should ask why he traveled from Arvada (a suburb of Denver) all the way up to South Boulder. Lots of people in the more conservative areas of the Front Range like Arvada, Westminster and Lakewood conceal carry. My personal opinion is because he knew Boulderites would not be armed and he would emerge from the shooting largely unscathed. He was right.
Well done sir. Let me preface my next comment with...I am a staunch 2A advocate. But I also believe there are some very common sense things we can do to make gun ownership and safety more prevalent that the "staunchly right" citizenry equates to gun control. Starting with digital tools that citizens can use to make sure they are not selling a gun to a person with an exhibited past that is unwise to sell a gun to. It's nuts to sell a gun to someone you do not even know well.
Remember the lesson of Kennesaw, Georgia in 1982. Georgians may recall as I do, Mayor Stephenson of Kennesaw made it mandatory that every household (with valid exceptions) have a gun. It was obviously unenforceable, YET note these burglary statistics for the small city, according to the mayor, "In 1981, the year before the ordinance was adopted, Kennesaw recorded 55 house burglaries. The next year there were 26, and in 1985 only 11.”
I can only assume it's because of what you articulated Erick, the bad guys ran the odds of coming face to face with a homeowner or apartment resident with their own gun. Advantage, good guys! It would seem breaking and entering wasn't worth dying for. The whole argument is rhetorical because we don't have a President who thinks like the former Mayor of Kennesaw.
I don’t believe it’s a coincidence that mass shootings only became commonplace until after Roe v Wade. One half of the country along with media elites have devalued human life for the past half century. Instead of going on defense after these tragedies, conservatives should be pushing legislation to build a culture of life in opposition to the nihilistic worldview being widely propagated. Slavery had long term negative societal consequences and so does abortion.
Very well said. The politicians need to reread the constitution! Not try to change everything to suit themselves.
Looks like we're back to the Wild Wild West stage . . . back to the previous WWW that we had before the www that we have now. We need a Wyatt Earp. Where's Wyatt when you need him?
I am confused by the left who in the same week describe the police as inept and racist in the Georgia spa shootings then later in the week in discussing the Colorado shootings declare citizens should not have guns of their own and rely on the police to deal with criminals.
I am with you Eric in having guns but they make me nervous. I have a carry permit, but do not carry because until and unless I become more comfortable, I feel I am in more danger in a confrontation that someone could take the gun from me than I am of whatever else may be going on. That is all on me. I am hopeful that there are many "good guys" out there that are trained and comfortable with guns so that if the "bad guys" show up where I am that I may be a "free rider" on their exercise of the second amendment for the time being at least.