Starik20X6 said:
Couldn't agree more. In my mind guns for nobody is the best solution, but as you said, it's so culturally ingrained at this point it may be inseparable. So, as much as I would like to see them gone completely, I think if anything's going to change it will have to be gradual, or it'll be met with too much resistance.
The problem being, "removed completely" means removed from people who actually follow the law. Unfortunately, as an earlier poster mentioned, the crime problem thanks to other overzealous laws brought about by knee jerk reactions have permeated our streets, jails, and even military with members of drug gangs, and propped up cartels in this hemisphere who support them. If guns are removed from all the law abiding people who would follow such laws, the only ones that would be armed are an ineffectual police force and gangs/criminals who would have open reign over the newly disarmed populace.
I live in a state where criminals have to think twice and fear for their own safety, because it's as likely as not that they'll be shot and killed in robberies/home invasions/other dastardly criminal shit. Remove that fear, and they'll have no mortal fear of breaking the law- worst case? They end up in jail with their homies for a stretch. As a law abiding citizen, I don't wan't to live under those conditions.
So to move on and offer solutions instead of arguing over the perceived problem- Here's the best I've seen yet: End the ridiculous "war on drugs" and do as a few states with the balls to butt heads with the Federal Government have in this past election, and legalize. Drugs are illegal and it's illegal to buy them, but marijuana is as ubiquitous as guns in this country, probably more so, I bet more people in the US have a dimebag in their house than a gun, so what does that say for the ability to ban something through making it illegal? Anyway, legalize- gang violence over turf to sell on, over money, those cartels, evaporate overnight. No sense spilling blood for your corner on which to sling that rock when citizens can now go buy a pack of marlboro greens or whatever at the corner store. Wham, law enforcement and prison costs reduced drastically, legal system becomes efficient now that it's not so clogged with drug related offenses, law enforcement and courts can focus on true crime instead of being completely narcocentric.
Next step: Tax it. With the ridiculous reduction in law enforcement/court/prison/correction spending and new tax base, along with job growth in a new sector, state and federal governments now have much more money to through into social programs, for the sake of this topic, to help the mentally ill and help train people how to identify people who need help.
So... do we spend hundreds of millions of dollars if not more in ineffectually banning another item, further clogging courts and jails with otherwise upstanding citizens, and cause criminals to no longer have mortal fear of committing crimes against law abiding folks, or do we roll back some asinine bans that have shown decade after decade to be causing more problems than good, and start helping people who need help, and hopefully catching them before they go off the deep end?
*wonders how many people will read past the first line or two thinking this is another pro-gunner and dismissing my post without hearing it out*