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StumblePublished Thursday, May 21, 2009 | 1:44 p.m.
Updated Saturday, May 23, 2009 | 9:16 a.m.
Gun Control
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diggJon is off covering every hiccup at the Legislature so hosting duties fell to me this morning. While Jon possesses a tremendous ability to keep his own feelings on a topic in check, I am sometimes challenged to do so, as was the case today.
As we began taping a program on gun control, a Channel 8 crew was en route to the scene of a shooting involving children apparently playing with a gun. One of our guests, John Cahill of the Nevada Democratic Outdoor Caucus, notes on the program that such incidents almost always involve legal guns left unsecured in the home. The ability to pass a background check apparently does not guarantee responsible gun ownership.
Statistics show that guns used in violent crimes are frequently stolen from registered gun owners. I admit I'm scared silly by the prospect of only outlaws having guns should guns be outlawed. But how much security do firearms provide their owners if so many of the guns are being stolen and later used to commit crimes? Burglar alarms offer protection and are non-lethal.
Almost five dozen Americans have been gunned down in mass shootings since March. President Obama and Congress have done nothing but to expand gun rights to national parks.
The Second Amendment seems to me an anachronism, something that could have been tossed out with the Minutemen and tricorn hats and not really missed. But fighting government tyranny remains a priority among gun rights advocates.
I prefer to battle tyranny with a more subtle, yet often powerful weapon - my computer keyboard.
When I read that second-to-last paragraph, my brain hourglassed in disbelief. How on Earth can you possibly claim that the right to defend one's life is anachronistic? Are the rights to religion, assembly, and press also anachronistic? If not, why not? How can you POSSIBLY say that the need to bare arms in defense of oneself, one's family, and one's country is anachronistic? Are muggings anachronistic? What about the dude that stabbed that man and woman in California in front of their 9-year-old recently? Was that dude anachronistic? Is crime anachronistic? When there is no more evil in the world, I'll be the first to toss my firearms. Until then, the Second Amendment will be just as relevant today as it was in the 1700's.
You go ahead and use your burglar alarm to protect yourself and your familiy. I will use something a little more effective. When someone breaks into your home by kicking your door in, with the intention of raping or killing you or your children, your burglar alarm may not be the best method of defense. If someone enters my home with those intentions, I will blow their head off, plain and simple - But I guess I'm just an extremist that way. BTW My weapons are kept so they will not be stolen and so they are not available to children, as are most responsible gun owners'. And one more point, it is not up to the government to decide whether I have the right to defend my life and the life of my family. It is my inherent right and my duty to do so.
I'm all for the right to bare arms, just not sure on the right to bear arms. How does one properly store and lock a gun and yet access it quickly to defend against an invasion? Alarms are instantaneous. As for defending my country... the military seems better equipped.
It is all about having a strategy and being prepared. Alarms are just a supplement.
More children die each year by being run over by cars than by guns.
More children die by being left inside hot cars than by guns.
More children die in fires each year than by guns.
Let's run a story on the right to own a car or have a swimming pool.
It's all about responsibility.
Burglar alarm? Ask any cop how long it takes them to respond to a LOW priority Burglar alarm. Especially during times of high call volume.
Educate your children about guns, keep them away from the toddlers and adolescent.
Dana, ROCKHOUND -- every right carries the duty of responsible use with it. I always found it best with children around to teach them proper respect for guns and any other weapon -- kitchen knives included. That takes away the mystery and instils a sense of duty and pride. When their friends get curious just ask their parents' permission to take them shooting with us next time. Problem solved.
The proposition that Congress can "expand" gun rights to national parks would be laughable if it wasn't so scary. All members of Congress swear their oaths of office to get the job, and that includes supporting the Constitution. That includes the Second Amendment which the U.S. Supreme Court clarified for the first time last year. This proposition shows their gross ignorance of the fundamentals of their jobs.
"I prefer to battle tyranny with a more subtle, yet often powerful weapon - my computer keyboard." - tell that to the students of Tiananmen Square or the news reporter in Moscow
"I prefer to battle tyranny with a more subtle, yet often powerful weapon - my computer keyboard."
I find this statement quite amusing. As a journalist, you feel that the First Amendment is the solution to eliminate tyranny. However, history shows that the freedom of the press in one of the first things a tyrant eliminates. That is, of course, immediately after the removal of any weapons that may threaten their ultimate goals.
So Dana, with history in mind, how would you battle tyranny without a means to truly fight it? Are you going to run a printing press or television station out of your basement to get your message across? Or maybe you are going to go to battle with just your keyboard, notepad and pen?
Without the second amendment and the PEOPLE'S right to defend themselves and, if necessary, remove a tyrannical government, the rest of the amendments are merely suggestions.
Thank you for all the thoughtful and thought-provoking comments. As one who has never had to sacrifice for the sake of freedom I'm sure I take many liberties for granted. I may be the first to reach for a weapon in the unlikely event our republic begins to crumble.
Sadly, not all gun owners are responsible and even children who are educated about the dangers of guns commit senseless acts. Remember Syber Wells, the 12-year old trained to use guns by his father, a veteran of the military? Syber used one of his father's unsecured rifles to kill himself. And tonight a seven year-old is hospitalized after being shot in the face by a 10-year-old. Someone made that gun available.
Democrats are always trying to take people's guns.
If you are a gun owner....vote Republican.
Personal security is an illusion that many have. If you have a secured weapon for defense you are already at a disadvantage against an attacker who is on offense and needs no time to retrieve a weapon. If you carry a weapon around your home all the time including dinner and bathroom you may reduce your reaction time but you will still be behind an attack where the person is expecting you to be armed and will shoot you at first chance. If you carry a weapon everywhere you go in your hand, loaded, and ready to fire you could probably be about even if you do not delay using the weapon.
The only good part is that most thieves that enter your home are stupid to start with and will give you time to react with a weapon. The smarter ones wait until you are not home to rob you of your stuff. The dangerous ones are the ones like I mention that intend to use their weapon when they enter.
I do have a loaded weapon in my home for that time where I my have time to retrieve and use it if needed. If I ever do need it I hope I have the time to protect myself and family but I also understand that the chance of success is not the best.
The absolute best first defense, in my opinion, is a large dog that is territorial. I have two very large and protective dogs that would give me the time to get my handgun and fire it while the intruder was begging me to shoot him.
justabiker, et al. -- don't be so quick jumping on the "battling tyranny with my keyboard" comment. It's a valid point. Read some real Revolutionary War history. A big factor in winning it was published letters, Thomas Paine being one of the more notable writers.
Gun licenses need to be tied into a much lengthier approval process. Mainly in the form of having to pass a certified gun ownership class, in which the new owner must be educated and trained to properly use the weapon. In order to get a driver's license, one must pass a driving test. In order to get a real estate license, one must pass the PSI test. In order to get a gun, all you have to do is show up with the money and wait a few days for the background check to clear. It's ridiculous, it leads to irresponsible people walking around armed and dangerous without a clue.
And the 2nd amendment loons are totally against anything like this. Why? Why in the world would you be against proper education and training for the use of a deadly weapon? The ignorance and selfishness shown by the NRA lovers is simply appalling. I fully support the right to own a gun to defend yourself...but there is a right way and a wrong way to do things...and making deadly weapons available to any Joe Schmo without proper education and training is just downright retarded.
Uh Oh, JahReb...
Most liberal cuckoos are too PC to use the word "retarded" in that context. You're in serious danger of jeopardizing your left wing credibility!
I recommend http://www.guncite.com/ for vital information and discussion on the gun issue. I am a professional researcher and journalist.
There are an estimated 1.5 to 2 million defensive "uses" of guns in America every year. Often no one is shot; criminals, being cowards, are often so shocked by armed resistance that they panic and run.
In this metro area of aroung 600,000, we have almost daily reports of an act of violence by "a felon in illegal possession of a firearm." This is IN SPITE OF strict gun bpurchase laws and the NRA's Project Exile, under which "an illegal gun gets you five years in federal prison." Obviously crimials care little about that; being able to dominate and kill is all that matters to them. The fact that they are ARRESTED ALIVE indicates that they fear the police, who are men WITH GUNS and the authority to use them to kill, if necessary.
The right to stay alive by armed self-defense predates the Constitution and even firearms. Accidents and misuses involving that tool are tragic, but 99% of privately-owned guns are never used in crime or involved in accidents, according to the Justice Department Bureau of Justice Statistics.
When everyone had a gun, people did not fear guns. They knew how to handle them seafely, even very young children. Education is the answer, not locks.
A man and his wife were pruning a tree when the chainsaw saw kicked back and fatally injured her. No one calls for mandatory training for chainsaw buyers, and owning a chainsaw isn't even a right.
Permits and mandatory training generate a list. Such a list was used in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina to confiscate guns FROM THE LAW-ABIDING, most of which have never been returned. If respecting privacy and self-sufficiency make one a "Second Amendment loon," then count me in. People are being assaulted by the Border Patrol at INTERNAL checkpoints because they refuse to allow their vehicle to be searched without a warrant or probable cause to believe a crime has been committed. Put me down as a FOURTH Amendment loon too. And also a FIRST Amendment one.
I say I am a journalist. I was until this week. I was laid off by my newspaper due to falling subscriptions and ad revenue. Several anti-gun columnists are still there. I told management that people won't pay to be insulted forever. I suggested a little research, such as I am suggesting now. Management interprets that as criticism, as questioning their ethics. Dana, they broke the contract. Draw your own conclusion as to who's ethical and trustworthy and who's a tyrant, and please don't be on the wrong side through insufficient information.
I use my keyboard every day to defend my liberty AND YOURS. Often my elected officials respond not at all, or with a form letter that says basically "My mind's made up, don't confuse me with the facts. Now go play in traffic, and remember to re-elect me."
HR 45 is now in Congress, a bill to require that every gun be registered. See "New Orleans" in my comment above.
It is said that liberty is defended by four boxes: the ballot box (every national election in the past 12 years has suffered accusations of vote fraud), the jury box (judges are instructing jurors and defense lawyers not to mention the Constitution), the soapbox (such a we are using here, free speech. Homeland Security has designated some kinds of ideas "radical" and "terrorist indicators" if the ideas are "too conservative") and the cartridge box, the Founder-approved check and balance against tyranny foreign and domestic: an armed populace. You'll see little-discussed Founder quotes on GunCite.com. "To disarm a people is the most effectual way to enslave them." Even Mahatma Gandhi wrote "Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest." It came back to bite the Brits when few Indians volunteered to fight for the Crown in World War I. (GANDHI: An autobiography. Page 446). And the Dalai Lama says if someone shoots at you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun. Remember, he's living in exile since the Chinese took Tibet and Nepal in the 1950s.
The CIFTA treaty Obama favors would conform Amerian gun laws with the dictatorial laws of Latin America. The Founders said that any treaty contrary to the Constitution is null and void. That's where we are.
The government that doesn't trust the people with guns doesn't trust them, period. What do they have in mind for us that, with gun violence and accidents FALLING, they need to move on this NOW?
One last thing: The safest place for a gun is in a holster on your waist. It's hard for someone to take it away, no child is going to find it and play with it, and with practice you can put an accurate shot on target in about one second.
As for national defense, the best explanation I've ever seen is here:
http://billstclair.com/blog/stories/hand...
OK, you want to use your key board to fight tyrrany, but first, it must be registered, you must be fingerprineted and submit to a background check to prove you are not a subversive, before you can publish your views they must be submitted to a government board for approval, and you will be limited to 50 words 300 characters or 2 sentences, which ever comes first.
I have a better idea for you, since tyranny takes many forms, from that of muggers on the street to the SS type, why not use all the freedoms the founders left intact to posterity to preserve your freedom.
The 3rd amendment refers to the quartering of soldiers and states, "No soldier shall in time of peace be quartered in any house, without permission of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law" Pretty archaic isn't it. Bet we could do away with that one too, but I wonder how long it would take with a soldier quartered in your house before you began to cry foul...
I would suggest that you give deep and great thought to the freedoms protected in the Bill of Rights and consider well why the founders thought them so important that they bound the very government they created against violation of them.
"Gun licenses need to be tied into a much lengthier approval process."
JahReb -- you're apparently ignorant on the concept of freedom and how licensing relates to it.
To keep and bear arms is a freedom we are all born with. The U.S. Supreme Court finally clarified the Second Amendment in last year's Heller case. If you're serious on this issue you will find it and read it, preferably with a follow-up post here. Additionally every state Constitution, including Nevada's, protects the same freedom, but usually on the state level it's even broader. Nevada's is one.
Licensing a right is voided when it attempts to block or even chills one's exercise of a guaranteed freedom by putting government's permission in the way of its exercise. And yeah, driving is one of those rights that's been turned into a freedom.
"...the 2nd amendment loons are totally against anything like this."
Count me among those loons. I'd rather be with them than mooing in the herd with you.
Hey Dana, I know that many folks now think that anybody who talks about the Second Amendment and government tyranny in the same sentence is a bit radical. But here are a couple of old timers that not so long ago gave us their thoughts on this issue:
JFK said in 1960 "By calling attention to "a well regulated militia" the "security of the nation, and the right of each citizen "to keep and bear arms" out founding fathers recognized the essentially civilian nature of our economy. Although it is extremely unlikely that the fears of governmental tyranny which gave rise to the Second Amendment will ever be a major danger to our nation, the Amendment still remains an important declaration of our basic civilian-military relationships, in which every citizen must be ready to participate in the defense of his country. For that reason I believe the Second Amendment will always be important." Published in GUNS Magazine
Senator Hubert H. Humphrey, a Democrat Barack Obama described as "a great liberal" in his book The Audacity of Hope, said this in 1960:
"Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government, no matter how popular and respected, is the right of citizens to keep and bear arms. This is not to say that firearms should not be very carefully used, and that definite safety rules precaution should not be taught and enforced. But the right of citizens to bear arms is just one more guarantee against arbitrary government, one more safeguard against a tyranny which now appears remote in America, but which historically has proven to be always possible." - 1960 GUNS Magazine column "Know your Lawmakers"
The beliefs of those Democrats live on now in Nevada at www.NevadaOutdoorDemocrats.com