You cannot say, as the NRA does, that a gun is an inanimate object and does no harm and that all the blame for the daily mass gun homicides in America is solely the responsibility of deranged people. This the mantra of the NRA. It is America’s biggest lie.
Gun homicide is an equal partnership between human and gun. One without the other can not commit murder with a gun. There would still be homicides in America if the gun was completely removed from society and the 2nd Amendment repealed from the constitution. But there would be a much lower kill rate; very much lower. So tighter regulation of guns would save lives. It is the first duty of government to protect citizens.
That alone is why at least assault rifles need to be eliminated and removed from private ownership across the US and Nevada needs to start regulating guns to a sensible level without upsetting too many die-hard gun fans.
Sorry for interfering and commenting on the US constitution. I know that Americans hate Europeans interfering in this way but in the name of the 59 dead and 500 injured yesterday in Las Vegas, I feel compelled to get it off my chest.
Now back to cats…..
Sorry, I somehow accidentally pasted the text so it’s all redundant. Is there a way for me to edit it?
Carol, I have amended it so it read correctly.
Thank you for the edits.
I just heard a weapons instructor explain how someone could mimic a bump stock with a belt, or a more sophisticated version with a 3-D printer.
Of course you have your right to comment. Cat killers will use anti-freeze or golf clubs to kill, as has happened in my area. And the troll can take a flying leap.
We will just have to agree to disagree. Personally, I would be happier to read some of the informative and interesting articles that you normally run, as opposed to one like this.
This is the problem with people who want to remain irresponsible children their whole lives. They want someone ELSE to save them. By the time some law-enforcement personnel come to save your sorry excuse for an “I still need a mommy or daddy to take care of me” life, that gun-toting criminal who obtained their firearms outside of any laws will have already blown your head off.
I like a saying I read once, “The reason I carry a gun is because an officer of the law is too heavy.”
Quite frankly, I cheer-on any criminal that is blowing the heads off of immature fools and morons that think guns should be made illegal. It’s the only way they’ll learn, it’s the only way everyone will learn.
You could turn your argument on its head. You could argue that it is more adult, mature and civilised to live in a country where guns are very tightly regulated. Have you travelled to Europe? The UK? England? You don’t need to have 300 million guns in the US. You are lowering your standards to the wild west.
You don’t have to make guns illegal in the US. You just need to get rid of the ‘black rifles’ – the military automatic rifles – the machine guns to cut back on the number of dead 😉 Why do guys like Paddock need 40 guns and several machine guns? Why was he allowed to buy them?
Here’s how it works in the real world …
If you won’t bother trying to save your own useless life by arming yourself against criminals with guns (including any criminal government that is turning into a despot’s totalitarian regime, exactly what is happening in the USA today), don’t expect me to risk my life trying to save your whiny immature ass for you. Good riddance to you if that be the case. The law of nature, survival of the fittest, has been lacking in the human race for a century now. It’s time the gene-pool cleaners got their job done, long past due.
I think you are living in an era hundreds of years before the present. You are almost pre-historic in your thoughts. You should be a dinosaur 😉
You are the classic red-necked, gun owning nutcase that gives the US a terrible image.
Michael, did you read above what was said about gun crimes in the most tightly regulated places? That doesn’t turn any argument on its head. Do you have any intention of reading John Lott’s book? It is a great education, if you really want to learn.
Statistically, comparing the US and UK regarding “violent crime”is comparing apples and oranges, because their definitions differ. This is true for much of Europe as well. Also, the N.Y. Times, a liberal newspaper, reported that more than 60 percent of gun deaths in the US are by suicide, NOT homicide. As to whether we need to have 300 million guns, we can decide, thank you. And “lowering your standards to the wild west” is so condescending. I call that burning bridges.
I am well educated, but why should that even matter? Most of us in the US are not elitist, and do not have a caste system. Your reference to ‘black rifles’ has some misunderstanding attached. Did you even read my post? To procure an automatic, the process is tortuous– maybe torturous also- and that is for automatics made prior to 1986. A civilian cannot buy one newer. Besides, Paddock modified semi-autos to make them more like autos!
As for “guys like Paddock needing 40 guns and several machine guns”, there are not many homicidal maniacs “like” him, and you read what I said about his modifications. There are collectors who have every right to collect, like philatalists and gardeners… and cat owners.
Michael, your final post is just plain insulting. You seem to be lashing out because of differing political views. I really wish you had not posted this opinion, which is completely completely unrelated to cats, a love we share!
You know Carol, I have a right to express my views on this subject. It is a very important topic of conversation and it is not completely unrelated to cats because cat owners get killed in gun homicides and feral cats get shot with some of the 265-300 million guns by trolls and cat haters like the guy “TimeToGrowUp” I responded to. TimeToGrowUp is Woody a well-known cat hating troll and an arrogant fool who should be living amongst the dinosaurs.
I simply am making a point to counter the argument from the NRA that humans kill people with guns and guns are inanimate. It is not that simplistic as I state. I stand by my argument. I say it is a damn good argument. One day looking back in 200 years time in 2217, Americans will be aghast at the number of gun homicides of today. There is one mass gun shooting (4 or more people) every day.
The world is international and global and joined by the internet. I have a right to comment.
May you be walking your cat when another van or truck comes barreling down your road driven by someone who finds that obtaining guns isn’t even an issue.
Too bad that you didn’t have a gun to stop them.
So, I cheer them on!
Today’s headline:
Is this clever of the American people?
John Lott is not an objective reporter. He is a gun advocate/apologist who is also a Fox News columnist. I am not anti-gun — in fact, I am an excellent shot — but I see no need whatsoever for weapons of war to be widely available. Their purpose is to kill and only to kill. We have enough assholes without arming them with automatic weapons.
Agree to disagree…
Places where there is strict gun control have astronomically high gun homicides. Chicago, Baltimore, New Orleans are just 3 examples in the USA. The gun related homicide rates in each of those 3 cities is nearly as high as the Las Vegas massacre every month! Tegucigalpa, Honduras is the gun related murder Capital of the world and they have very strict gun control laws. Switzerland where virtually every citizen is armed has the lowest gun related death rate in the world. Gun control advocates fail to understand that criminals do not obey laws, and that disarming law abiding citizens only helps criminals. Shortly after gaining power Hitler disarmed the entire civilian population. As a result 6 million Jews went like lambs to the slaughter unable to defend themselves against a tyrannical government.
Excuse me? There have been many more deaths in Europe where guns are more heavily regulated, or banned outright. Read “More Guns, Less Crime” by John Lott. It will open your eyes. Pepper gel would not help in most circumstances. In the argument regarding the volume of the “clips” (the correct term is magazines), as in New York State, a young mom heard someone break into her house. She took her kids into a second-floor closet, and had her pistol, hoping they would not find her. It turned out it was one thief, who opened the closet door and went for the mom. Her first shot completely missed him, even though she and her husband regularly target practiced. Even as she opened up on him, he struggled with her. Her final shot finished him. Had there been a second thief, she and her kids would have been historie.
And what the heck is an assault rifle? There is no such thing! That is a term the mainstream media loves to use because it sounds so scary. An assault rifle is actually a deer rifle, which in the military is adapted to best suit the soldiers using it. In other words, it just looks different. And as far as fully automatic weapons, you have to jump through hoop after hoop in the US to get one of those. The other way is to illegally buy one, or to adapt a semi.
ISIS followers have proven the effectiveness of using motor vehicles to kill people. Knives, anything they can get their hands on. “Yeah, but not as many people are killed!” Had a large truck driven through that crowd in Vegas, they could have killed many more than 69. So don’t be deceived about the ineffectiveness of other means of murder. And this jerk Paddock also had fertilizer, the same used by the Oklahoma City bomber. That brought down the entire Federal Building.
The tactical planning put into this mass murder far exceeds any real discussion of guns. There is also the seemed to be dropped subject of the special ammo he used to inflict maximum damage to his targets.
The weapons used serve no purpose as hunting, sport/target or self defense. Sadly the increasing divide of two minority extremes in our country make rational discussion next to impossible. A good read is the 2008 Supreme Court Decision for Wikpedia this is fairly well put together.
For the record I am a gun owner but prefer to carry a far shooting very accurate pepper gel.