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Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013 | 2 a.m.
Another view?
View more of the Las Vegas Sun's opinion section:
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Las Vegas’ 19 homicides so far in 2013 exceeds Chicago’s 44 on a per-capita basis. Sheriff Doug Gillespie is correct in saying that the totality of violence in Las Vegas is a major concern.
Gun owners should do an honest self-evaluation of their behavior under the most stressful and unexpected circumstances. If they don’t have 100 percent control of their emotions and understand the legal justification of using a gun, they should not own a gun or have access to one.
I would also question if a shootout is justified because someone wants to steal your Rolex watch. For the safety of society, your family and the gun owner — if he or she doesn’t want to risk spending the rest of their life in prison — it would be prudent to avoid guns if you cannot satisfy this self-evaluation.
Owning a gun made me paranoid, so I got rid of it. I have been fear free, with no need of a gun for many decades.
I agree with you completely.
Henry says "Gun owners should do an honest self-evaluation of their behavior under"
Well Gun Owner Joe Biden says everyone should BUY and USE a two-barrel SHOTGUN for protection
Biden told his wife Jill to use one of their shotguns even though they have secret service protection
Actually murder ,manslaughter rate in Nevada slightly above National average
http://www.cityrating.com/crime-statisti...
Gun violence in Chicago and in Vegas is a black and hispanic problem.
http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~roos/Courses...
60% gun ownership rate in Wyoming, 1.9 homocides per 100000 over the last 10 years..
http://www.cityrating.com/crime-statisti...
violent crime is down, turn off Piers Morgan
http://www.cityrating.com/crime-statisti...
Henry, homeowners prefer to abide by the law. What about home intruders? Well let's see. Home intruders have broken into your home which is against the law. Burglarizing a home is against the law. Using a weapon in the course of the crime is against the law. If the home intruders attack a homeowner or his family by shooting their weapons and causes bodily harm then that's against the law. Home owners should have the same standard police handgun with clip size as that of a police officer. Police officers can carry as many as 2-4 extra clips in case they run out and need to reload. If a police officer requires a gun with backup clips to protect themselves and us then why would we want to limit the homeowners from having the same protection capability as police officers? Why put homeowners in a serious disadvantage in a life or death struggle with home intruders? Would a 911 call guarantee a police officer arriving at a home with intruders just in time before a physical confrontation with the intruder takes place? What if there are multiple intruders? Home owners need the capability to protect themselves and their families.
What, exactly, is there to agree with? It's a silly letter and doesn't make any attempt to evaluate just who is doing most of the kiling. It's minorities & gangs, stupid! The lowest of the low class is responsible for most of the murders and random violence, so why demonize honest & responsible gun owners who take no part in the mayhem? Just more poppycock from the left who refuse to see where the trouble really lies!
Just do the same thing Vice President Joe Biden recommended to his wife. Buy a 2 barrel shotgun with 2 rounds. Stand on the balcony. When the intruder comes close, cock the rifle and shoot off 2 warning rounds [the limit of a shutgun]. As Vice President Biden told his wife that will scare the home intruder and attacker away. Say it ain't so Joe! Democratic Presidential candidate in 2016? Say it ain't so Joe!
CarmineD
Know thyself I guess is the theme of this letter. Having a gun for protection can sometimes lead to unintended consequences. These include:
Misuse of the gun in a a family quarrel.
Misuse of the gun to resolve a neighborhood dispute.
Unintended access to the weapon by a child living in or visiting the home.
Accidental discharge of the weapon.
"I would also question if a shootout is justified because someone wants to steal your Rolex watch. For the safety of society, your family and the gun owner -- if he or she doesn't want to risk spending the rest of their life in prison -- it would be prudent to avoid guns if you cannot satisfy this self-evaluation."
Schmid -- I see you didn't say you actually had your Rolex stolen. We all have certain freedoms protected by our Constitutions. Fortunately for the rest of us, just because you can't handle yours doesn't mean you get to choose for anyone else.
"What about home intruders?"
RefNV -- excellent reminders! Having been in the situation of actually dealing with a violent home intruder, I can affirm opining in the comfort and isolation of this forum and facing the real thing are two completely different things. It was a life-changing experience. That's why my home has been protected ever since.
"Buy a 2 barrel shotgun with 2 rounds. Stand on the balcony. When the intruder comes close, cock the rifle and shoot off 2 warning rounds [the limit of a shutgun]."
CarmineD -- you lacked caffeine before you posted this, no? Or you don't know anything about "shutguns."
"Having a gun for protection can sometimes lead to unintended consequences. . . . ."
pisces -- actually good advice. As I mentioned above to the writer, some people just can't handle their freedoms.
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote." -- attributed to Benjamin Franklin
Only some 3% of all murders are caused by rifles.
So why all the whining about gun control and rifles?
More people die from cars.
So let's ban cars or restrict the use of them.
I'd like to see Metro's data on who specifically has been doing the shootings (sex, age, race, criminal history, home address), who their victims were (same), purported motive for the attack (if determined) and where/how did the shooter obtain the weapon BEFORE concluding that additional gun control measures are needed. I suspect that the majority of the crimes committed here in the Valley involve gangs and/or drugs -- and maybe more aggressive controlling actions in those areas are what's needed instead.
SgtRock: I've heard it before: The pro-gun violence people argue that the licensing and regulation of cars and drivers hasn't eliminated deaths in auto accidents, so why should we try to stop gun-related violence by licensing or regulating guns and shooters.
Wrong. It's not only a widespread simile, it's also a totally invalid one.
Guns (or people using guns) kill people. I agree. Cars, (or people driving cars) kill people. Again, I agree. The difference is that the shooters are CORRECTLY using guns for their originally designed purpose - to kill people and break things. By using a gun to kill people (others or yourself) or to break things you are using it for its specifically designed purpose. When people use cars in a manner that kills people (themselves or others) they are INCORRECTLY using cars for other than their specifically designed purpose - to safely and quickly move people or things from one place to another.
Gun nuts would have us believe that some of us are automatons. It's crazy to deny our human condition. The humane thing to do is an assault weapons ban and limiting the capacity of ammunition clips.
FYI, if you could talk to some of the victims of guns, you know...folks who got shot and are gone now, I think you will find something very odd - 100% of THEM will be on the side of seeing to it that this kind of sh*T didn't happen to ANYBODY!
But then who ya gonna call? Right? Cops got guns. Crooks got 'em too. And hunters, doing the American thing...killin Bambi so she doesn't overpopulate and cause too many coyotes to die in three years when all the deer are gone and the herds of coyotes starve each other out. Thank God for GUNS! Now we have plenty of Bambis, some for dinner, some to watch and some for our herds of coyotes. We really don't need guns so long as everybody is, you know, civil... Hahahaha
"We really don't need guns...."
airweare -- not as long as we have vacuum cleaners! Check it out @ http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2013/feb...
"Hell is other people." -- Jean-Paul Sartre from his 1944 play "No Exit"
Yo KillerB
Thanks for kick in pants...
The reason that the great amerikan novel will NOT be based in Las Vegas is that it truly is the hub of despair, the magnet of the new beat generation - the sweltering purgatory where ya can get by living low and on the lam.
And if ever there were a birthplace of the great American novel, Las Vegas has its soul. Only here could a nothing nobody loser find power, morph personalities and develop weasel traits to shame a furrier's concubine. Lust and passion, dignity and despair, yesterday and tomorrow are splattered around the strip, the bario.
But just when it was done and the writer on the way to the bank with the most powerful words in the English language: Pay To The Order Of..., dang, some punk liked his watch and offed the skinny little writer dude and nabbed that sucker's Timex!
MOSSBERG
Henry.......Good letter.
Only about 20% of Americans own guns.
And some of that 20% are unstable and /or crazy.
We can't ban unstable or crazy people but we can
ban assault rifles and mega clips.
Anyone who thinks they need an assault rifle to
defend themselves HAVE NO COMMON SENSE!
PERIOD!
"CarmineD -- you lacked caffeine before you posted this, no? Or you don't know anything about "shutguns." @ Killer B
It was sarcasm. I was quoting the illustrious VP almost verbatim. He doesn't know anything about shotguns [and a host of other topics] not me.
CarmineD
Here's the "clip."
http://www.examiner.com/article/joe-bide...
CarmineD
"Thanks for kick in pants..."
airweare -- not meant as a kick, more like a nudge. And I disagree with you about all that despair, etc. Vegas hardly has a monopoly. It's everywhere. Well, maybe not Seattle.
"It was sarcasm. I was quoting the illustrious VP almost verbatim. He doesn't know anything about shotguns [and a host of other topics] not me."
CarmineD -- oh, and touche~ Then our VP continues to show what a clueless buffoon he really is.
"After the coffee things ain't so bad." -- Henry Herbert Knibbs, cowboy poet, d. 1945
"CarmineD -- oh, and touche~ Then our VP continues to show what a clueless buffoon he really is." Killer B
Biden's on the short list for Democratic President in 2016! Heaven help us. The Peter Principle is alive and well and at work with Senator Biden, VP Biden and in 2016...candidate for President Biden?
CarmineD
Don't get me wrong. Biden is a nice guy. Terrific for the Senate. But President? No. Never. Please, never ever!
CarmineD
The crime rate rose in California after Reagon signed the Mumford Act restricting the open carry of guns in California. Loaded guns displayed in public reduce crime.
Yo KillerB, do you think overcast, rainy skies have anything to do with our state's decision to allow ourselves the right to enjoy cannabis as a legal pleasure?
Many of my family are calling for us to start a chain of Bed and Breakfast houses. We think it's likely the 'doom and gloom' elsewhere might nudge folks to this rainy overcast din of iniquity for a pleasant outing into the realm of legal buds where our chefs and growers, farmers' markets and convenience stores will soon be abundantly effusing Skunky, Gooey and Dopey along with flowers in purples and reds and blues, brownies, cookies, pizza, ratatouille, noodles, butter, etc
Right here in the land of the free and soggy socks and grungy music scene.
Don't need any introspection here, Point a gun at me in an attempt to harm me or steal from me, and die where you stand.
That's how it is, that's how its going to stay. If you don't like guns, or Nevada gun laws, take your whiny beta male self and MOVE to another state. We will not tolerate any new laws, we will not tolerate your crying about gun ownership. End of story. I don't care how much the "Brady center to make all men effeminate and ban all things scary" Pays you to write an article.
To deny that you would not point a gun at lesser circumstances would be unbelieveable at best. We have serial killing police officers in our very town for God sake.
Carmine......
Joe Biden will make a great president and may well
be our next president.
And republicans will not have a say about it.
Our next president will be a DEMOCRAT.
And you can take that to the bank.