You frequently frame subjects as "all or nothing." Who said anything about eliminating gun violence? By that standard, Japan is a total failure with a whopping 60 gun homicides per year. The US has about 18,000. Our goal should be saving as many lives as possible.
I enjoy the irony of members of the House who campaign on a platform of shifting more power to local governments working to change laws in DC.
When D.C. is able to govern by itself, Congress will have no need to intervene; since that's a long way from happening, Congressional oversight is mandated for the foreseeable future!
Honestly, you have no problem with officials who were not elected by DC residents usurping the local power of officials who were elected by DC residents?
Actually, I and others have a real problem with a few select stupid D.C. residents becoming elected and imposing their stupidity upon the rest of the district.
So because you don't like who DC residents elect to govern them then it's fine for Congress (a body in which DC has no representative) to express domain over DC?
The District of Columbia (D.C.) is not a state but a district, as its name implies. If it was the State of Columbia it would have appointed representatives to Congress and a vote in Congress.
Another idea: 18 years olds in the states are alowed to buy a gun (with the propper licence, I know), but not a beer...?
Ok, so we both agree that DC's elected city government is being run roughshod over by a body comprised of members elected from every part of the United States except for DC. While we're busy spreading democracy in the Middle East it may not hurt to spread it in DC, too.
I know I oversimplify a lot, but you get my point. Ready availability of guns isn't the single reason for the high numbers of violent crime committed in this country. It's the combination of access to guns and poverty. And any serious attempt to tackle violent crime has to include both gun control and tackling poverty. While Japanese society isn't as stable as it used to be, the size of the underclass hasn't risen close enough to rival the United States'. Otherwise, black market firearm can easily make it into the country and raise incidents of gun violence.
Dude, this is all about the perceived dick-size. Don't bring rational thought into it. Or are you telling me that Texas is so damned unsafe that you actually NEED a gun? If so, could you tell me why?
... says the mouth-breather who lives in Northern Virginia. Listen, I don't give a flying fvck what you do in your state, and I expect you and your ilk to leave MY city alone. We are able to govern ourselves, and we have every right to. If you still believe we shouldn't have representation, then do NOT tax us and do NOT ask us to sit on juries. Your opinions mean nothing until you live a day in my city.
the bot is better characterized as a "slack-jawed prokaryotic," I mean that's the visual that works for me, but whatever floats your boat...
Keep it... I might visit occasionally to support a Soccer Team you folks royally screwed but beyond that I see NOTHING in the District desirable to anyone....it's the joke of the nation! Based on your crime rate, about a "day in your city" is the most some folks can hope for! Keep it... SEE Tom Knott's article in today's WASHINGTON TIMES: "Problems at RFK Typical of District" The Washington Times http://www.washingtontimes.com/sports/knott.htm I quote: "City employees routinely sleep on the job, if not help themselves to the public till, only to be given raises and sparkling evaluations -- a few after they have been found to be dead. A snicker accompanies the news that trash pickup at the stadium has been spotty.Join the city-wide club. Just for fun, call 202/727-1000, the trash hot line number whose operators pretend to be employed in the public service sector. They give a tracking number and a vow to remove the trash one of these decades. The tracking number is as useless as the hot line, which inevitably leads to the alternatives of last resort. Pack the maggot-filled refuse in your vehicle and haul it to the city dump by Catholic University, as one of the operators suggested, presumably with a straight face." Your cite is a joke! A disaster run by morons! Keep it!
They'd have one hell of a time finding all of them, and if a law came down tomorrow that I had 24 hours to turn in my guns or become a criminal...then paint me a criminal. (And I've heard Hunter's Paradise or whatever sucks. Plus I don't hunt, actively. I just like guns.) To continue bumper sticker mode, may I remind you that "When they outlaw guns, only outlaws will have them". Seriously, Gringo, you giving up your firearms when the law man comes knocking?
It's probably a little safer since there's probably a greater than 50% chance that whoever you are going to rob might very well be armed. I'm not asking for fully automatic assault rifles or teflon-coated "cop killers", but the government really has no right to tell me how I can protect my family. If somebody attempts to harm me or my family within my home, I should have every right in the world to not only shoot, but to shoot to kill, if need be.
Sheep don't put up too much resistance... I know some neighborhoods that have bigger, better, and more guns than whoever might show up from the government attempting to remove them! These areas tend to be very safe!
One thing that I don't get is the love for concealed carry laws. If the object is to protect yourself, would you want your would-be assailant to know that you're armed? Or is the point to lure criminals into trying to rob you so you can get all Dirty Harry on them? Or to have the assailant wrestle you to the ground before you can get your gun out of your purse? That seems silly to me.
Except no one's trying to take your guns. Well, no one with any power, anyway. It's gun control, not gun criminalization.
Mel, I see where you're coming from, but my faith in the Supreme Court since December 2000 or so has taken a pretty sharp hit. This isn't exactly a bunch that feels the yoke of precedent is a heavy burden. The law in this country is whatever five justices feel like it is. It's a fortunately slow and inefficient version of the House of Lords, appointed (theoretically) by merit instead of birth. It has made as many appalling decisions as good ones in its history - in other words, it's as good as any other branch of our government. Don't confuse me with one of those people who wants to scrap the Constitution and start with a clean slate. I just think it helps to be realistic about how the Court defines its limits.