Quote:
Originally Posted by james0246
The 2nd Amendment has to do with the creation of a well regulated militia (too many commentators focus on the second half of the 2nd amendment, which eliminates all context for the amendment within the bill of rights/constitution). Consequently, any and all gun laws should always be focused on how to create such a militia. I'm of the opinion that only members of a militia (that has been approved by the people of the state (hopefully with certain regulations and guidelines also put in place)) should be allowed to stockpile ammunition and firearms (any and all firearms and ammunitions...save for tools of large scale destruction (explosives, etc)), otherwise I do believe that an individual citizen should be limited in their firearm capacity (I'm also of the opinion that anyone wishing to own any type of firearm should be forced to undergo training in the use of said type of firearm, and additionally training should be given for 'advanced' firearms (similarly to a car license and testing)).
That being said, if a person really wants to kill someone, they will kill them (or at least try to kill them). The presence of guns may make the possibility of murder easier, but the underlying motivation is not created by the culture of guns that America possesses.
Truthfully, I think the underlying question of this thread should be: Do Guns really protect people?
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I've *always* thought gun ownership should go hand in hand with being a member of the community Civil Defense group. Few here probably remember the Civil Defense teams that were made up of community members as well as "first responders". They were all the rage during the Cold War and also useful during natural disasters. The disconnection of "Citizen Joe and Jane" from duties of being part of a community seems to be an integral part of the problem here.
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The most recent thing I learned from this incident is that one can purchase ammo over the Internet? I thought I knew all the pertinent gun laws and I thought that was illegal. In all the states I've lived in, when I purchase ammunition I have to provide identification and my name/address is logged by the store. When I ship a gun (like, say, to a relative) I cannot ship it myself. I have to take it to a licensed gun dealer who ships it to another licensed gun dealer near my relative who has to come pick it up. In fact, in this example my gun dealer wouldn't ship ammo for me (it was a .38spcl and I had no further use for the ammo since the gun was going hither). He said it was because of rules of shipping explosive materials.
Soooooo, someone know off the top of their head what the hell here?
So I guess I learned something new... :P
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Anecdotally, I've used a gun exactly four times in my life to stop/prevent a crime. Three times on my home property and once while out and about. I've only had to *fire* one once (my shotgun) and that was to shoot in the ground to make a statement to the attacker. In every case, the mere presence of the gun short-circuited the situation (they ran like hell, etc).
Another example is a female friend of mine who had a home intruder scamper when she chambered a shell in her shotgun in her bedroom. That rather distinctive noise has stopped more than a few potential bad ends for many.