Gun control

Thank you for your response. "Nicolo Machiavelli once said that there were five reasons why it was absolutely essential for individuals to enjoy a right to keep and bear arms: to protect one's self, to keep rulers honest, to hunt, to defend the state against foreign invasion and to maintain one's republican character (lol)." I will attack each one of these points respectively: 1. I've never so much as held a firearm, and I seem to have done okay for almost 36 years and counting. Guns are by no means essential to protect one's self. 2. How would one keep rulers honest with guns? they don't allow guns anywhere near the president, and even lower leaders are pretty well protected. So maybe that was an issue in the 15th and 16th centuries when Machiavelli lived, but it is now an obsolete point. 3. I have already conceded that controlled hunting is a necessity. 4. I have already conceded that the military is a necessity. 5. I'm not quite sure what he means by that, but he was very profound with the lol :-) "After all, how could any liberty be more vital than the second amendment? It makes every other civil liberty Americans enjoy possible." Because, of course, I need a gun to exercise my right to choose my religion, or publish a newspaper, or say that I don't approve of the job the president is doing. That is an extremely bold point that you brought up, but you have absolutely no evidence to support it. "Second, one avid gun user writes, "If you really want to be 'armor piercing' then use a rifle. Something like a .50 CAL will do just fine" [2]. In other words, Pro advocates that only guns like rifles be eligible for sale; however, rifles can be just as if not more dangerous than the one legally purchased by Hasan." Unfortunately, that is a true point. That is what the other regulations that I proposed are for. We want to be safe, but at the same time, we can't keep Governor Palin from catching her Carabou. I don't hunt because I'd rather eat humanely killed animals, but I do eat meat, and I do recognize that some people live far away from the grocery store, so they may hunt, as long as their guns are put away once they get into the city, and as long as they're completely visible elsewhere. There is a justifiable reason to buy a gun specifically made for killing food. The only justifiable reason to buy a gun specifically made to kill people would be if you are part of the government, i.e. the military or law enforcement. "Regardless of your opinion on the accused individual, the gun isn't responsible for the deaths at Fort Hood - Hasan is." Perhaps... But we can't just pull people off the street if they are suspicious, but we can do our part to get rid of the means in which they would perform the murder. "Because those motives aren't meant to intentionally harm others, we shouldn't expect that one's intention in owning gun is to commit a crime." Have you ever heard the expression, "hope for the best but plan for the worst?" Well, obviously both of us hope that people won't get murdered, but you almost seem to be looking at it as a necessary evil. But it's not.It's preventalbe, and it's at virtually no cost to non-murderers. And if you have a gun for any reason other than intentionally harming animals, it is to intentionally harm other people. "A 1985 survey by the Department of Justice of inmates across the nation reported that 56 percent of the felons agreed that "A criminal is not going to mess around with a victim he knows is armed with a gun." " I assume that most of us have arms and legs. the first thing you do is run away. If you can't run away, you kick them (especially in a specific area, if they happen to be men) so that they will be at a disadvantage while you run away and call the cops. The only time I could think of where a gun would be particularly beneficial would be if you were disabled. "In that case, I think it's perfectly reasonable that citizens should be able to arm themselves with the same protection (as I said, to ensure that American freedom is protected)." You know, you're right. Speaking of which, I'm still trying to figure out what happened to that armored tank I ordered 2 months ago. And my machine gun hasn't shown up either. And let me tell you, if someone is pointing a gun at you, you do what they say. Doesn't sound like liberty to me. You may say that I'm only concerned about the people on the receiving end of a gun and I am ignoring those who are shooting the gun. I agree, and I don't care, because the person shooting the gun is not in imminent danger of being shot. "In 1798, Congress passed the Sedition Act that made it illegal for citizens to speak out against the national government." Last I checked, banning ill-intended guns and destroying free press are two very different things. "Perhaps American freedom isn't as safe as we all thought [1]." How does this section help your argument? Banning ill-intended guns is not even similar to anything you mentioned. "but moreover gun shop owners, gun makers, gun collectors and the like all have the right to have their products bought and sold." This is going to sound off topic, but bear with me: I am generally in support of drug rights because they don't harm anyone other than the user. Now, one argument I would never use in support of my argument is that we need to legalize them because we are so profoundly concerned about the wellbeing and business interests of drug dealers, drug makers, and drug paraphernalia collectors. That's just silly. "individuals would just buy these guns illegally on the black market. This would create a huge illegal market and expand the influence of corrupt organizations like the mafia and street gangs which would sell these firearms illegally." Earlier you made an argument that we shouldn't be so concerned with the guns as we should with the perpetrator. Using your logic, we wouldn't be so concerned with the murderers as we would with the people selling the guns. So there you go, you just answered your own question. You have made many references about how we "need" guns for self defense, but you have never addressed the millions of Americans who are quite safe and do not own a gun. You might want to look in to that. Good luck, my friend.