Is anyone else just disgusted with this country's stupid position on guns?

I’m fed up, but for the opposite reasons as you, I expect. We seem to have learned nothing from history. Prohibition isn’t going to work. It never did, and it never will.

I’m sick of the people who see mass shootings happening on a monthly basis now and say NOTHING can possibly be done. I get that it’s not an easy problem to completely fix, and no one solution will fix it all. No one traffic light will prevent all accidents at an intersection. But it will help. There are things we could do that would help, but the lobbyists for the weapons manufacturers hold too much power.

I am also fed up with @CWOTUS trotting out his same zombie argument about prohibition. He’s been told over and over that it’s a straw man. He knows that. Prohibition is not only not the only answer, it’s not even an answer under serious consideration. And yet the zombie argument lives to walk again after being killed yesterday. That sort of “There is no solution.” knee jerk thinking is just what the NRA shills have been paid to instill in their loyalists.

Yes.

I live just across the river from D.C., in northern Virginia. The mass shooting yesterday morning? The killer recently bought his gun in Virginia. When I travel and someone asks me where I’m from, I always say “Washington, D.C.” I’m too ashamed and embarrassed to own-up to Virginia.

I am quite fed up. I have written my Congresswoman and Senators. They know my feelings. Guns should be regulated.

@CWOTUS I haven’t heard anyone mention banning—“prohibition” as you call it—guns outright. I have heard a lot of very sane people call for regulation, though. That’s an entirely different matter.

Is there any doubt that we have “regulation” up the ass on guns? Seriously? We have tons (literally) of regulation on the federal, state and local level. The regulations in place make it difficult to impossible for people like me, with zero criminal record, zero bad intent and decent eyesight, interest and training, to acquire, transport and use weapons legally. If I really pursued it, I could get a Connecticut pistol permit, apply for a handgun purchase at a local dealer and wait for the mandated federal background check and waiting period, then (probably) buy ammunition (when I produce the pistol permit to show that I can buy it), and then, if I’m careful in how I transport it and carry it, use it at a range to practice. But I can’t take it out of the state unless I obtain permits for the surrounding states, and transport through each state in an approved manner (which varies from state to state). And I can’t carry the weapon into areas posted as “gun free”, including Federal buildings, court houses, post offices and any number of other places where guns are “banned”.

The regulations in place have prevented at least one “good person” from owning a weapon. Congratulations. You’ve saved yourself from… me.

In the meantime, I know that within five miles of where I live (literally) there are hundreds of illegal guns (illegal under current law) owned by people without permits, without training of any kind, and probably without a clean bill of sale on the weapon, either. And some of those may be used in shootings tonight, because Hartford, for all that it’s kind of a sleepy little capital city that doesn’t get a lot of press, does have a significant number of homicides each year. Mostly from weapons that are already illegal.

We do not need more fucking laws. You do not need more protection from “me”.

@CWOTUS It seems I struck a nerve. I wrote a very short three-sentence post citing you, and you’ve answered with a screed.

I am no longer following this thread.

@CWOTUS All I’d like to see in place is universal background checks on firearm sales, laws with real teeth preventing straw sales, and a reasonable limit on clip size. That and better reporting to the background-check database of violent crime, terrorist activities, and mental health issues that make violent acting out a real probability.

Massachusetts is as bad as, or worse than Connecticut on restrictions on law abiding citizens. I do not like such prohibitive laws, because you and I both know they prevent law abiding citizens from being able to protect themselves from criminals who could give a shit less what laws we pass. I just want us to do our best to keep the criminally insane, the violent, and the terrorists among us from being about to easily buy weapons and ammo.

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No. I’m disgusted with the lack of empathy. So many young men are angry and sad and feel the need to take it out on the innocent. Where did this come from? It’s not the fault of a gun.

Guns don’t kill. People do.

A cure was never found by addressing the symptom.

I remember reading an article that the culture in this country is that guns solve problems. Whether it’s a problem with a rival gang across the city, or the threat of home invasion, guns are the solution. Legislating will not make this culture go away. Certainly banning will not make it go away. It is not just about the NRA pumping money to make certain legislation is pro guns. Americans have a deadly love affair with guns. I keep picturing that gun episode of the Simpsons, where Marge is admiring her reflection as she poses with a gun.
We love guns, and they are killing us. How to fix that is anyone’s guess.

As far as I can see, Americans are essentially living in fear, so much so they feel it necessary to “bear arms.” That, i’m afraid, is truly pathetic & tragic.

As a constant ranter against guns, I will make only this short reply to @RealEyesRealizeRealLies:

“Guns don’t kill. People do” is the most inane, self-delusional mantra in the NRA’s arsenal. Yes, people kill people and always will. But they wouldn’t be able to do it so quickly, efficiently and at such a safe distance without frigging guns.

I’m with @ETPro and the other anti-gunners on this issue 110%.

The argument about guns themselves seems to get us nowhere. But can there be any serious justification for those with mental illnesses or anger issues or itchy trigger fingers not having easy and or immediate access to guns? If we are going to have guns, and I might agree with the notion that prohibition doesn’t work (although you could look at Australia), then surely there has to be some curb on the randomly aggressive people being able to get a gun any time they want to shoot some people. Sadly, this won’t do anything about those who appear sane who already own guns, but maybe it can help a bit.

Remember those westerns on TV when the towns became “civilized” they banned guns in the saloons, and then when they brought in their families, they banned people from wearing guns all the time. Remember those shows? There were always the bullies who didn’t want to give up their guns, but if they wanted to participate in the new modern town, they had to obey the rules.

Why is it that we have no rules?

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies I suppose if you killed ALL people, then gun violence would go down. But I’m not willing to settle for a solution where the operation is a great success, but the patient dies. I totally agree with @Pachyderm_In_The_Room, that’s an inane and useless bumper-sticker slogan from the gun industry’s lobby.

Relevant.

I’m not against some gun controls. Controls have purpose.

How can anti-gun advocates be satisfied, yet still provide a means for a person to protect themselves against armed criminals who don’t purchase their firearms legally anyway. You know the old argument… Anti gun laws don’t disarm criminals.

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies I’m not an anti-gun advocate. I stopped a home invasion in my house with an M1 Carbine. I love shooting. I just want to see universal background checks and real, enforceable laws against straw sales. I want to see the background check database really improved to flag people with known mental illness and hostility or anger management problems. I’d like to know that if someone has mental health issues and reaches out for help, they can actually get it.

Would that stop all gun violence? Of course not. But it would dull the roar, and over time with background checks de rigueur, it would make it increasingly easy for police officers to identify illegally owned weapons where serial numbers don’t match records of sale, or have been defaced, and to lock up the criminals possessing such weapons..

The suggestion that unless we can solve 100% of gun violence we should do nothing strikes me as being as absurd as withholding chemotherapy and surgery for cancer because it doesn’t work 100% of the time. Saving some lives is better than throwing them all to the dogs.