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America's gun problem Consider President Donald Trump’s speech responding to the Florida shooting: His only mention of guns was a vague reference to “gunfire” as he described what happened. He never even brought up gun control or anything related to that debate, instead vaguely promising to work “with state and local leaders to help secure our schools and tackle the difficult issue of mental health.” This is America’s elected leader — and he essentially, based on his public response, ignored what the real problem is. And although the White House has in recent days come around to bipartisan proposals to very slightly improve background checks and ban bump stocks, the compromises amount to fairly small changes to America’s weak gun laws. America can’t get to those solutions until it admits it has a gun problem and confronts the reality of what it would mean to seriously address it. 1) America has a unique gun violence problem The US is unique in two key ways when it comes to guns: It has way more gun deaths than other developed nations, and it has far more guns than any other country in the world. The US has by far the highest number of privately owned guns in the world. Estimated in 2007, the number of civilian-owned firearms in the US was 88.8 guns per 100 people, meaning there was almost one privately owned gun per American and more than one per American adult. The world’s second-ranked country was Yemen, a quasi-failed state torn by civil war, where there were 54.8 guns per 100 people. 2) The problem is guns, not mental illness Supporters of gun rights look at America’s high levels of gun violence and argue that guns are not the problem. They point to other issues, from violence in video games and movies to the supposed breakdown of the traditional family. Most recently, they’ve focused particularly on mental health. This is the only policy issue that Trump mentioned in his speech following the Florida shooting. 3) The research shows that gun control works Consider Australia’s example. In 1996, a 28-year-old man walked into a cafe in Port Arthur, Australia, ate lunch, pulled a semiautomatic rifle out of his bag, and opened fire on the crowd, killing 35 people and wounding 23 more. It was the worst mass shooting in Australia’s history. Australian lawmakers responded with legislation that, among other provisions, banned certain types of firearms, such as automatic and semiautomatic rifles and shotguns. The Australian government confiscated 650,000 of these guns through a gun buyback program, in which it purchased firearms from gun owners. It established a registry of all guns owned in the country and required a permit for all new firearm purchases. (This is much further than bills typically proposed in the US, which almost never make a serious attempt to immediately reduce the number of guns in the country.) Australia’s firearm homicide rate dropped by about 42 percent in the seven years after the law passed, and its firearm suicide rate fell by 57 percent, according to a review of the evidence by Harvard researchers. 4) State and local actions are not enough Chicago has fairly strict gun laws (although not the strictest). And it’s true that the city has fairly high levels of gun violence (although also not the worst in the US). This doesn’t, however, expose the failure of gun control altogether, but rather the limit of leaving gun policies to a patchwork of local and state laws. The basic problem: If a city or state passes strict gun control measures, people can simply cross a border to buy guns in a jurisdiction with laxer laws. Chicago, requires a Firearm Owners Identification card, a background check, a 3-day waiting period, and documentation for all firearm sales. But Indiana, across the border, doesn’t require any of this for purchases between two private individuals (including those at gun shows and those who meet through the internet), allowing even someone with a criminal record to buy a firearm without passing a background check or submitting paperwork recording the sale. So someone from Chicago can drive across the border — to Indiana or to other places with lax gun laws — and buy a gun without any of the big legal hurdles he would face at home. Then that person can resell or give guns to others in Chicago or keep them, leaving no paper trail behind. (This is illegal trafficking under federal law, but Indiana’s lax laws and enforcement — particularly the lack of a paper trail — make it virtually impossible to catch someone until a gun is used in a crime.) 5) America probably needs to go further than anyone wants to admit America’s attention to gun control often focuses on a few specific measures: universal background checks, restrictions on people with mental illnesses buying firearms, and an assault weapons ban. It is rare that American politicians, even on the left, go much further than that. Something like Australia’s law — which amounts to a confiscation program — is never seriously considered.    Honesty is the best policy. |
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beyond fantasy 3 There are some WHITE people are more normal than others, such as many "Late Night show" stand-up comedians, political commentator, actor, and television host. They are WHITE people Seth Meyers, Stephen Colbert, CNN Anderson Cooper, many columnists on NY Times and Washington Post, and President and Mrs. Clinton, ..... who are educated, have consciences, knowledge of right or wrong. They do speak-up the truth without bias. All I said is "NOT all WHITE are bad people, or all BLACK (colored) are good people". I understand the painful past that Jim Crow laws brought to Blacks. But this blog is about America's gun culture, not how WHITE SUPREMACISTS mistreated other ethnicity. I left SFF sites quite a while and upset about them, but I wanted to move on. You know me very well what my ethnicity, my political points and religion are. I have lived in USA almost 38 years, I want this country to be safe, peace, and political correct. The only purpose of gun and other assault weapons is to kill. There is no peace if we have so many guns and rifles in USA. Once the people own guns, if one day they "snap", they might use the weapon. Those assault weapons are supposed to be in war-zone only. Why is so difficult to understand by lawmakers and POTUS? No gun, no violence. Learn from Australia. Yes, the post is about "guns", but nothing in America is without the racial history intertwined. Be it guns, or how our legal system functions and some of the many laws on the books. We cannot forget, it was by the use of "guns" that nearly wiped out the Indians, and it was by the use of guns, that helped maintain centuries of slavery. America should never have evolved as a nation built on repression and fears that led to the massive hoarding of guns for the sake of containing people, Domestically IF this nation had FIRST honored its own Constitution, for all people, yes, that means women as well as non white people. We would have evolved with a whole different paradigm. The Second Amendment: Is an interesting Amendment, and was drafted at a time in American history, when it did not have the strongest Military nor the most developed Military. Many people were conscripts, when the event of National Defense was to be called upon, to defend the nation as well as those who volunteered. Some claim that having weapons was meant to arm the citizens, in case of the government engaged in moving to a level of Tyranny. BUT, that is not what the Second Amendment says. But read the actual words: 2nd Amendment "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." Note the nature of "well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free state. !!!!, Once the Militia's had been developed and improved, it is no longer a need for the civilian people to be armed for such a cause. Once this nation developed and sustained a Well Regulated Militia, and created multiple branches of the Military... The Second Amendment could very well have been modified, to read: weapons for hunting and personal home protection, is premissible, but no weapons for war or war like weapons will be allowed by or within the general citizen population, upon the grounds that we no longer needed "Every Citizen to function as a "Armed Citizen for the Protection of a Free State", Nor to be armed with any weapon for the purpose or in the sense of being armed for warfare purpose. We had long developed the Draft as a system of conscription. The citizen population were no longer called upon as "civilian, to defend any land or territory, as was done in the early times. The Second Amendment should have been reviewed and amendment. with clarification as to what a citizen can have possession of a weapon, as well as strict limits on the type and capacity of weapon citizens could possess. I think somewhere in the Future... The younger generation will invest themselves to make definite modifications with "clarity" to the Second Amendment.
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beyond fantasy 3 There are some WHITE people are more normal than others, such as many "Late Night show" stand-up comedians, political commentator, actor, and television host. They are WHITE people Seth Meyers, Stephen Colbert, CNN Anderson Cooper, many columnists on NY Times and Washington Post, and President and Mrs. Clinton, ..... who are educated, have consciences, knowledge of right or wrong. They do speak-up the truth without bias. All I said is "NOT all WHITE are bad people, or all BLACK (colored) are good people". I understand the painful past that Jim Crow laws brought to Blacks. But this blog is about America's gun culture, not how WHITE SUPREMACISTS mistreated other ethnicity. I left SFF sites quite a while and upset about them, but I wanted to move on. You know me very well what my ethnicity, my political points and religion are. I have lived in USA almost 38 years, I want this country to be safe, peace, and political correct. The only purpose of gun and other assault weapons is to kill. There is no peace if we have so many guns and rifles in USA. Once the people own guns, if one day they "snap", they might use the weapon. Those assault weapons are supposed to be in war-zone only. Why is so difficult to understand by lawmakers and POTUS? No gun, no violence. Learn from Australia. Yes, the post is about "guns", but nothing in America is without the racial history intertwined. Be it guns, or how our legal system functions and some of the many laws on the books. The Second Amendment: Is an interesting Amendment, and was drafted at a time in American history, when it did not have the strongest Military nor the most developed Military. Many people were conscripts, when the event of National Defense was to be called upon, to defend the nation as well as those who volunteered. Some claim that it was meant to arm the citizens, in case of the government moving to a level of Tyranny. But read the actual words: 2nd Amendment "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." Note the nature of "well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free state. !!!!, Once the Militia's had been developed and improved, it is no longer a need for the civilian people to be armed for such a cause. Once this nation developed and sustained a Well Regulated Militia, and created multiple branches of the Military... The Second Amendment could very well have been modified, to read: weapons for hunting and personal home protection, is premissible, but no weapons for war or war like weapons will be allowed by or within the general citizen population, upon the grounds that we no longer needed "Every Citizen to function as a "Armed Citizen for the Protection of a Free State", Nor to be armed with any weapon for the purpose or in the sense of being armed for warfare purpose. We had long developed the Draft as a system of conscription. The citizen population were no longer called upon as "civilian, to defend any land or territory, as was done in the early times. The Second Amendment should have been reviewed and amendment. with clarification as to what a citizen can have possession of a weapon, as well as strict limits on the type and capacity of weapon citizens could possess. I think somewhere in the Future... The younger generation will invest themselves to make definite modifications with "clarity" to the Second Amendment.
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I understand that the genie can't put back in the bottle and Americans won't surrender their firearms or assault weapons what-so-ever. Look the USA history, Americans mainly escaped from British government to USA more than 2 centuries ago. They are mostly Europeans too. It has amazed me that "During the buyback program, Australians sold 640,000 prohibited firearms to the government, and voluntarily surrendered about 60,000 non-prohibited firearms. In all, more than 700,000 weapons were surrendered". I am really impressed Australians willingly to surrender such amount of weapons and the crime rate has been reduced to very minimum. I wonder how much Australian government paid for the people per rifle in 1996. It was amazing. As the photos showed so many rifles in big truck and large dumpster, what did Australian government do with those surrendered rifles? Did Australian government burn down those 700,000+ rifles? Do you have gun stores, gun shows, magazine advertisement in Australia ever since 1996? Apparently Australia government has much strict gun laws and enforce the gun laws ever since 1996. I am really impressed for what Aussies to surrender their rifles and government to have strong will to enforce the gun laws. I am VERY disappointed about our America's government can't enforce the gun law or buy back the guns, rifles, and weapons from people. Every time the gunshot incident occurred, people talked about the "gun control" for a while and then quiet down. The shooting just happens again and again. It seems to me the NRA is more powerful than our government, NRA control the country. Those lawmakers (Congress and Senate) don't want to change gun laws, change the 2nd Amendment or buy back rifles from the people who have possession of rifles. It is sad, very sad. Trump wants increase 3 years to purchase rifles and bans "bump stock". That is very minimum change. I have never heard the word "bump stock" till after Las Vegas shooting happened. Trump praised NRA that "they are good people". OMG, what kind of POTUS he is. He said he won't change "2nd Amendment". I am very disappointed. It is sad we live in this bully, aggressive country. Maybe we should move to Australia or NZ that I have traveled in Feb 2015. Honesty is the best policy.
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pretty much
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These are the same type of people who have abused from the moment they set foot on the North American Continent..... One can't name a group of NON White people they have not abused, attacked and looked down up. The history of their conduct is the legacy, that makes them want to "hoard guns"... because its inherent in them of the vile they have done to others, not only in America, but in Lands around the world. No sane minded person needs an Assault Weapon. That is something fear filled weak minded people, want to try and make them feel as if they are more than they are. American people should realize, the NRA does not run this Nation. We have a government system which has that responsibility and that job. but, it only goes to show, that many of the "white politicians" sold themselves to the NRA for money... and they are bought and paid for, because they "worship" money, more than they care to respect the dignity of the Nation. There are some WHITE people are more normal than others, such as many "Late Night show" stand-up comedians, political commentator, actor, and television host. They are WHITE people Seth Meyers, Stephen Colbert, CNN Anderson Cooper, many columnists on NY Times and Washington Post, and President and Mrs. Clinton, ..... who are educated, have consciences, knowledge of right or wrong. They do speak-up the truth without bias. All I said is "NOT all WHITE are bad people, or all BLACK (colored) are good people". I understand the painful past that Jim Crow laws brought to Blacks. But this blog is about America's gun culture, not how WHITE SUPREMACISTS mistreated other ethnicity. I left SFF sites quite a while and upset about them, but I wanted to move on. You know me very well what my ethnicity, my political points and religion are. I have lived in USA almost 38 years, I want this country to be safe, peace, and political correct. The only purpose of gun and other assault weapons is to kill. There is no peace if we have so many guns and rifles in USA. Once the people own guns, if one day they "snap", they might use the weapon. Those assault weapons are supposed to be in war-zone only. Why is so difficult to understand by lawmakers and POTUS? No gun, no violence. Learn from Australia. Honesty is the best policy.
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These are the same type of people who have abused from the moment they set foot on the North American Continent..... One can't name a group of NON White people they have not abused, attacked and looked down up. The history of their conduct is the legacy, that makes them want to "hoard guns"... because its inherent in them of the vile they have done to others, not only in America, but in Lands around the world. No sane minded person needs an Assault Weapon. That is something fear filled weak minded people, want to try and make them feel as if they are more than they are. American people should realize, the NRA does not run this Nation. We have a government system which has that responsibility and that job. but, it only goes to show, that many of the "white politicians" sold themselves to the NRA for money... and they are bought and paid for, because they "worship" money, more than they care to respect the dignity of the Nation.
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OMG, look the photo 3 that people attended NRA gun shows and buy that huge assault weapon. NRA lashes out at boycott movement as United Airline, Delta Airline and other corporations cut ties. Shame on NRA and those people who bought firearms at gun shops or magazine or gun shows. Honesty is the best policy.
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I have repeated many times that America's gun violence is GUN, not Mental illness. I am a California licensed pharmacist since 1987 and have seen many "mentally ill" patients far more often than most people because my pharmacy was next to a psychiatrist MD. Those patients have bipolar, schizophrenia, depression, hallucination, .... Their family told me a lot of stories how difficult to take care the "mentally ill" patients. However, they don't own guns at home, so there are no any harm to anyone in the family. The patients might scream, shout or hit family member, but they didn't have gun, so the violence are minimum. I am also a mother with a pair of children. Their safety is my priority. How can I not care about gun violence? Although I was not born in USA, but I love this country as well as any American who was born here. I want USA to be #1 in everything, e.g. Olympic games, academically, .... but the worst nightmare is USA is the #1 gun violence in the world. You can refer to the two charts I posted here. There was bloggers commented on my blogs said to me "if you don't like this country, go back to your country". As far as I am concern, they are moron, they said the things to hurt me because they can't see an Asian woman who is better, smarter than them. If I don't care about USA, I just keep quiet and say NOTHING. Because I care, I said something and hope things will change. Trump said the shooting is caused by "mentally ill" killer. I call BS. Trump wants to ban "bump stock" but it is NOT enough. Trump wants to increase 3 years older for people to buy assault weapons, e.g. AR-15, I said it is not enough. We have Australia, England (UK), and Canada examples to show us, we need to ban ALL the assault rifles, machine gun, semi-automatic rifles,... We even don't need those weapons to hunt deer or bears. If we need to defend ourselves, just purchase pistol. Our government should have strict "buy back assault rifles" program, educate people put down guns. I think Australia PM refused to give advice to Trump because he knows Trump won't listen to him and Trump is the typical "2nd Amendment" advocator. Mr. Australia Prime Minister knows Trump's bully attitude, so he just kept quiet. If Trump wants to learn from Australia, Trump should be humble to ask Australia PM. Honesty is the best policy.
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