all those things are true, and all those things have been corrected. The framers of the constitution knew what they were doing. they set it up so that changing it is a slow, time consuming process, to fight against irrational, emotional judgements and not-thought-out changes to it.

Rob, you lost me there. The "Framers" of the Constitution thought that slavery for all black folks and genocidal mass murder for all indians was also perfectly reasonable. That being said, I hardly trust their judgement. I like how you are tying to call me irrational and emotional, when YOU and !@#$%! are relying on fear-mongering, not the reality of history or statistical data. Interesting there. Believe me, I ain't mad at you, we are just having a discussion, but it is beginning to border on disingenuous bickering over hyperbole. I am not suggesting eliminated ALL guns, just those which pose the biggest threats with the least need. I keep getting surprised that none of the gun proponents seem ever willing to compromise with their fellow compatriots. That is sad. We are compromising with gun supporters, why are they so selfishly obstinate? Lord have His mercy :(

slavery was a condition of much of humanity, not just black folk, back when the constitution was written, and believe me, you need to do some research because the fight to ban slavery in the constitution was long and heavily contentious. The main reason it did not go through is that the main source of money for the colonies was the cotton being sold from the colonies in the South.

You may not be talking about banning all guns my friend, but the people behind the push for this truly are. Remember, trust no one, especially those who say they come to protect you.

on the subject of civil liberties there should never be any compromise. That is why I hate and decry shit like the Patriot Act, no-fly lists, etc, just like I decry people who want to disarm law abiding people.

what gets me is how people claim "there is no reason" for a regular citizen to have a machine gun, or a powerful gun. Who are they to make that determination?

suchfriends -- you say somewhere above that i'm fear-mongering, but in my experience cops are never around when you need them. what's your experience with the cops?

No. By the time of the drafting of the Constitution ONLY black peoples were enslaved in the Americas. In fact, some Indian communities even owned black slaves too! However, we digress into an entirely different tangent here. I only brought up slavery to point out the historical hypocrisy and unreliability of the Constitution. I agree I don't trust ANYONE, which is particularly why I don't trust my fellow Americans with dangerous weapons. If I have to compromise and accept some weapons, they need to compromise and accept some restrictions. It must be a mutuality, and thus far, proponents have not accepted compromise which by default all Americans are currently accepting. Its simply not fair.

terrible, but my experience with other armed Americans is as bad if not worse. Several of my folks have been shot, a few others are dead. Some were shot and killed by the police, but not the majority. Therefore at this point in my life, as begrudgingly as I don't want to admit this, I have to say I trust the police more by default, as they have killed and harmed less Americans through gun violence than Americans in general harm and kill each other :(

sounds like you're sieged by criminals on both sides of the law, so let me ask-- if you or your family need defense or protection from your criminal neighbors-- what's your plan?

From my direct and tangible experience, having a gun only exasperates the problem. Having a gun provokes the hostilities. I've owned and indeed been forced by circumstance to USE several guns. Nothing good came from it, period. I pray you never have to use those carbines you keep promoting, it will kill you inside after the smoke clears. Guns result in more people getting shot by default, where as in my life I am striving daily for less :/

Its not just criminals with guns I am concerned about, it is vigilantes and wanna-be heroes like Zimmerman who might just shoot me too one day walking in the dark. What, Americans have the right to own guns, but not to walk their own streets? Lord have His mercy

are there any women in your household?

“We woke up and they were there standing in our bedroom and we gave them everything we had but it wasn’t enough,” said the woman. ”Then one of them took me out of the bedroom and he took a gun out and then he started to sexually assault me.”

The woman said that the suspect’s started to hit her husband and then she ran downstairs and that she ran out of the house screaming.

Again, from my own tangible and direct experience, guns don't solve those problems. Further having actually USED a gun several times in my life to defend myself from assholes and to defend my families (including women and children) I pray you never have too. Its not as heroic as y'all are proposing :(

nobody is saying here that we want to shoot anyone or that we want to be in a position where we have to shoot anyone, or even that we ever want to be in a position where we have to defend ourselves or the people we care about from harm.

but in the case that something horrible ever happened, you know it well, 911 is a joke, so what else can you do? defenselessness is not an option.

ps- i have a fire extinguisher at home and i'm not an arsonist and i also take every precaution so i don't have to use it.

I've never been threatened my whole life. I've never been robbed. I've never had an issue with the police.

*knock on wood*

feelsgoodman

oh shit yes it does. i'm jealous-- in a good, non ill-willing way.

ive been held at gunpoint by robbers, i've had my home burglarized, my brother had his vehicle carjacked (at gunpoint of course), a girl i know was recently beaten up badly on an attempted rape, two women i know used to have stalkers (one was sent to prison), an ex was mugged with a shotgun... shit, almost everyone i know has been a victim of crime at some point-- it's like buddha's mustard grain story almost!

violent continent, this one.

ps- globally, about 28% of women get raped btw.

well i think there is such a thing as gun violence. would you rather be hit with a fist or a bullet from a magnum.

you make a semi reasoned comment on education then make a silly one about bathroom floors causing more deaths per year etc. i dont think you know what side your breads buttered on.

the idea that those trained should carry them is also flawed on many levels not least of which is why trianed killers should be allowed to carry assault weapons.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013...kyle-shot-dead

all that means is that it hasn't happened YET. Good luck!

hey, JB, the statement about bathroom deaths is just to show what the media focuses on. If it bleeds it leads, and the more people hear about just the sensational crimes the more sensational crimes the people think are happening, when that is not actually the case.

I am all for background checks (already law), waiting periods (already law), and the effective policing of these laws.
What I do not like are laws restricting individuals. Go ahead and make a law making it unlawful to MANUFACTURE assault weapons. That will hit the spot, but they will never ever do that because the manufacturers are the ones who pay for the NRA and who make a TON of $$ from the US Govt and other nation's governments selling their weapons.

There are a million sides to the argument, but the solution to violent gun crime is not to place more limits on law-abiding citizens, of which the vast majority are.

being yer friend sounds like a curse....

You have no idea, amigo...

Like I put on facebook

"I'll give you my pressure cooker when you pry it from my cold, dead hands"