(02-08-2013, 04:28 PM)Starscream Wrote: [ -> ]You can't sit there and tell me that when all assault rifles get banned that when the next group of twisted individuals come along and start blasting people with their hand guns that people will not eventually call for all guns to be banned. It's just the next logical step when you let someone who misuses something dictate how you live.
A fair share of the population indeed tends to base their beliefs on reactions to events rather than ideals, principles, and so forth. This is human nature, so no, I won't tell you people won't be calling for a ban on all guns (that would be an outright lie), especially when there are people who have always felt this way and will continue to do so regardless of anything.
Though if you fear these types of people, you are certainly blowing your concerns out of proportion, or you haven't exactly checked the political climate here in the U.S. Any one of us here will most likely never see all firearms banned nationally in our lifetimes. The attitude of the general public isn't there. The NRA, love it or hate it, has done an impressive job of mobilizing support for gun-rights. Since Dec 14, they've added a quarter of a million members.
(02-08-2013, 04:28 PM)Starscream Wrote: [ -> ]It's the same story as it's always been. When something happens in life that someone doesn't like, people come along and try to stop everyone from ever having the opportunity of that happening again by overreacting regardless of any legitimate use it may have. So what ends up happening? Good people have to suffer because there are a few retards out there who don't know how to act. If we followed this example with everything in life, we wouldn't be able to do anything.
But all of that fails to address the heart of the issue, the appropriateness of these types of weapons in our society. A tragedy can very well spur reactionists to propose harmful actions and legislation (though it wasn't triggered by any one single event, remember Prohibition?) However, they should be used to inspire meaningful discussions about contemporary dilemmas. Again, the question should be how suitable are semi-automatic assault rifles for our country? Asking "Will this be the first of many guns
they ban?" or "Can we take gun control further?" equally detracts from the issue we should be looking at.
(02-08-2013, 04:28 PM)Starscream Wrote: [ -> ]There is going to be a time when we're going to need guns to protect our home, our city, our state or even our country. These people who want us to disarm and sit in the corner and hide when something happens need to wake up.
Wish someone would protect the city of Chicago. On track for the deadliest year in homicides already. You've obviously never lived in Illinois either; it's... not a state worth defending
At any rate, denying the use of particular category of firearm is a far cry from complete disarmament. Again, in what reasonable situations are ordinary citizens unable to defend themselves properly with a pistol or shotgun? Where is the need in having the power of a semi-auto assault rifle?
Playing the hypothetical "end-game" scenario, even if the worst of the worst happened (e.g. we ban all guns, everything bottoms out, no one has guns they need) hardware leaks out. There are at least three sources guns could be obtained from: criminal, official, and foreign There's always a criminal network of gun-runners, if not here, then just beyond our borders. In chaos, people could get their hands on military or police-grade hardware. In a rebellion against the government (the dream of every anti-gov fanatic :p) there's always a foreign power willing to intervene for the dissidents in the form of supplies. If people really want to defend themselves when the time comes, they'll have options, even if we take the unlikely step of getting rid of guns from civilian ownership.
But this isn't about banning every single gun; this isn't about defending God, king and country. Do semi-auto assault rifles have a place in America? That's the debate on as far as I'm concerned. Everything else dances around that.