The Supreme Court's Gun Ruling This Week - Not A Debate

[PurpleChicken]

Quote:
That is a valid concern. Friendly fire has killed a lot of people.

IF a person bent on killing kids entered my childs school my son's odds of survival would
be better if I happened to be walking in the front door to pick him up or one of the
other armed parents were nearby. Would my gun in my pocket guarantee anything?
No. Would I like to see every parent armed? No way. In my opinion most people
aren't qualified mentally to carry a concealed weapon.

How about this? We give every teacher Tazer training and thier tazers have fingerprint
recognition to prevent a child from using it?

We are sorta getting away from the original point. That's ok because this is fascinating.

Most people who own guns don't carry them. There is a HUGE difference from
having a few weapons in your home to defend your home, and potentially your nation,
than carrying a concealed weapon.

This subject, like so many others, comes down to "BE PREPARED". Nothing in life
is guaranteed or certain (other than death) but I'd rather have my gun in my pocket
than not.

 

[summerwindsfarm]

Quote:
This is true but i think its very naive to blame guns for over crowding in our justice system. Gang bangers and drug dealers tend to shoot each other thus lightening the load on the prison system not increasing it.

The vast majority of ppl in our prisons are addicts. Yet we give them NO rehab when they are in prison and when they get out they cannot find a job because they are convicted felons. They cannot find housing because they are convicted felons. And they are slapped with a ton of fines to pay off, or go back to jail. And we wonder why 80+% of them end up back in jail?

Since those who own and run the private jails/prisons/work release centers are making big money because there ARE a lot of prisoners there is absolutely no motivation for them to rehab them.

The *war on drugs* is one big joke. Its nothing more than an income maker for police departments and the prison system. If they really wanted to *clean up our streets* theyd put the dealers in jail instead of just confiscating their money and drugs and bonding them right back out to the streets..often after the da bumps down their charge to a misdemeaner possessions charge. This lets them rearrest them over and over and over again..and in the process how many more kids become addicted?

Dont blame guns for the evils of our society or the vast failings of our justice system..blame the humans..both the ones behind the guns and the ones enabling them.

 

[PurpleChicken]

Quote:
This is true but i think its very naive to blame guns for over crowding in our justice system. Gang bangers and drug dealers tend to shoot each other thus lightening the load on the prison system not increasing it.

The vast majority of ppl in our prisons are addicts. Yet we give them NO rehab when they are in prison and when they get out they cannot find a job because they are convicted felons. They cannot find housing because they are convicted felons. And they are slapped with a ton of fines to pay off, or go back to jail. And we wonder why 80+% of them end up back in jail?

Since those who own and run the private jails/prisons/work release centers are making big money because there ARE a lot of prisoners there is absolutely no motivation for them to rehab them.

The *war on drugs* is one big joke. Its nothing more than an income maker for police departments and the prison system. If they really wanted to *clean up our streets* theyd put the dealers in jail instead of just confiscating their money and drugs and bonding them right back out to the streets..often after the da bumps down their charge to a misdemeaner possessions charge. This lets them rearrest them over and over and over again..and in the process how many more kids become addicted?

Dont blame guns for the evils of our society or the vast failings of our justice system..blame the humans..both the ones behind the guns and the ones enabling them.

You bring up many valid points here. Our jails are full of people who shouldn't be there
when our streets our full of people who should be there. Guns make no difference as
they are only another tool for a criminal, an effective tool, but a tool none the less.
I'm not even touching the "War on Drugs" thing. That could be for another thread.



A few people have pointed fingers at the police. The VAST majority of law enforcement
officers in this country are honorable men and women doing an almost impossible
task. Our "system" ties the hands of these officers. It's a lot more the "system"
than the "individual". I've never met a cop who wants to remove our right to bear arms.
Most just want to get the illegal guns off the street because they see what those guns
do and know a lot are pointed at them.

 

[summerwindsfarm]

Quote:
Absolutely. Theres not a cop out there that wants to bust the same guys with meth labs over and over and over again. Or risk his life pulling over the same hopped up druggie over and over and over. Sit in on a few drug courts in a few small towns some time. Its an eye opener for sure. And our cops are paying the price just as our kids are.

 

[1acrefarm]

Quote:
Being a large part native american this comment pretty much ended my wish to participate in this thread last night.

I should have explained in the post I did not condone that. I am sorry if you were offended. I am part Cherokee so I have some pretty strong feelings about this myself. If you look back to post 158 I think it was you will notice I stated I agreed with seedcorn about it being a national shame. It would have been nice if the natives were better armed. I think things would have turned out a little differently.

 

[summerwindsfarm]

Quote:
It didnt offend me. It just made me sad to think of all the wonderful things that were lost to the world when the native americans were shoved onto reservations...the ones that survived to be shoved onto reservations anyways.

And yes i could tell from posts that came after that one that it was a statement of fact and not that you thought it was *okay* or a *good thing*. I wasnt upset with you in any way.

 

[PurpleChicken]

Quote:
Absolutely. Theres not a cop out there that wants to bust the same guys with meth labs over and over and over again. Or risk his life pulling over the same hopped up druggie over and over and over. Sit in on a few drug courts in a few small towns some time. Its an eye opener for sure. And our cops are paying the price just as our kids are.

As the son of a retired police officer the best arguement for drug legalization for me
was the idea my father might be shot because he happened to pull over someone
for speeding who has a few kilos of cocaine in their trunk. I feel and worry for
these guys and girls doing that job.

I don't want to change the topic too much here but I felt I must when I read
"And our cops are paying the price just as our kids are" which is SO TRUE.

 

[Royicus]

I also agree that police are the "good guys," most of the time. But during a period of "unrest" or "riot," who will be there to quell the uprising? Who will the government use to try and suppress the people? Either the police or the military, and since using military on our own soil is illegal, probably the police or the guard, at least initially.

So in my view, and in the spirit of the constitution, we need to be armed well enough to fight that kind of fight. Very scary thought, but that guarantees the rights of the people. Hopefully I won't see it in my life time

This thread is going pretty well. Cheers to everyone!

ETA: I can't spellllll

 

[kstaven]

Quote:
You make a good point here. But in the event of a situation like you describe and people fighting a government for their right to survival, I honestly believe a lot of the police, National guard, etc would be taking the day off or generally unavailable for active duty at that time.

More likely conscience and sense of what is right, would win over a sense of duty to a corrupt system.

 

[Royicus]

You'd hope so, kstaven, but during Katrina and some other disasters, this was simply not the case. I'm not saying I'd open up on some folks coming to take my weapons illegally, but it's just an example of how the law can break the law.

I was discussing with my mom the other day, in the 1940s, the United States rounded up all the Japanese Americans and put them into camps. That's something to think about. I have no idea how they were able to do that, and they have since apologized. But dang, think about that for a second...