Gun Control vs. Gun Rights. Debate it

Jul 8, 2016 16:00:55 GMT Vince Cable's Exotic Spresm said:

Here's my view for what it's worth, then:
America's gun laws are backwards and stupid. But, and there is a but, no good will come of changing them. At this point, firearms are so numerous and widespread in America that outlawing them will do no good. In places like Britain, they've been banned since forever. So there aren't many of them in the country. Thus, it's harder to obtain them. A lot harder. But in America, if you outlaw them, they'll be very easy to obtain even then, because of just how many there are in America already. Frankly I see no viable solution to the, in my opinion, dire and retarded position America finds itself in. If, say, there was a theoretical way of outlawing certain types of firearms (assault rifles, sniper rifles, that sort of thing), and getting rid of all of them, that would be the solution. But that cannot and will not happen. Strict gun laws need to be enacted as early as possible for them to be viable, but in the US gun ownership is institutionalised and has been around and accepted since the creation of the country itself. At this point that's unchangeable, and I honestly cannot see a good way of sorting out the problem.

SLB...You have some good perceptions regarding the numbers of firearms in the country...there are estimated to be over 300 million. They have been ingrained in our Constitution and are part of the fabric of this country (Switzerland actually has a higher per captia ratio of guns in their households, but has a miniscule gun violence rate- part of a larger discussion on culture and socioeconomic conditions such as poverty, drug use, single parent families, education, etc.).

There are many thoughts on how to reduce gun violence with people on the extreme ends of the spectrum on both sides of a very passionate debate.

I for one think that we should strictly enforce the laws that have been in effect for many years. It is well known that they are very seldom enforced. A good example using hard facts from the FBI is that in 2012 80,191 people tried to illegally purchase a firearm, yet only 44 (.00055%) were prosecuted. I believe that if we strictly enforced the laws on the books, and allowed real access to mental health records, it would then allow us to have a realistic debate regarding firearms in the US.

I get extremely defensive and fussy when talking heads and politicians stand up there and pontificate on the subject knowing full well there are significant mechanisms already in place that go virtually unused or unenforced.