[quote=CA renter][quote=Jazzman]The whole pro-gun argument is pretty vacuous. The overwhelming evidence suggests the higher the rate of gun ownership, and the more lax the gun control measures, the higher the rate of gun-related fatalities. It is so simple a child could understand it. However, common sense has been besmirched by visceral arguments, which emanate from an overly-possessive desire to allow the current status quo to prevail. With the waters so muddied, fallacy can masquerade as reason, and is stoked by prejudice and fear. It is the creation of a pluralistic society that has severed ties with competing interests by allowing corporate hegemony the unfair advantage to influence legislation. For sensible gun control to happen, the debate needs to be kept alive until the next (inevitable) Sandy Hook. Hopefully, the impetuous will compel constituents to pressure their representatives enough to shake-off the NRA’s grip.[/quote]

You’re referring specifically to “gun-related fatalities.” Those of us who support the Second Amendment couldn’t care less about how one decides to kill; we care that someone is willing and able to kill, irrespective of the tool(s) they chose to use in their crimes.

In the U.K., where they have some of the strictest anti-gun regulations, violent crime is off the charts. IMHO, we have the right (and duty!) to protect ourselves and our families. Nobody else’s emotionally-based feelings about guns should trump our rights to self-defense.

The legislation that’s been pushed would not have prevented Sandy Hook, nor the devastation caused by the scum in Boston. Gun registration does NOT prevent crimes, and background checks (which I would support if we could be sure that once someone is checked, their information would be permanently deleted) provide minimal protection against homicidal acts. Criminals can use stolen guns and background checks would do nothing to stop this.

Please provide *evidence* that gun bans and registration reduce homicides or violent crimes. From everything I’ve seen, cities/states with some of the strictest gun laws tend to have the highest crime/murder rates.[/quote]

I care neither one way, nor the other, so am completely dispassionate and divorced from the event. From where I am standing, the pro-gun arguments are completely sterile in the face of a rationale profound in its simplicity. Attempts to derail the truth, with puerile, and hackneyed arguments, or demands for factual evidence that clearly needs no evidencing are as misguided as they are unhelpful. The world watches on in total bewilderment as brokers of fictitious nonsense ply their craft, in an episodic pantomime. The absurdity is so wearisome, most prefer to rise above the fray, in the (fairly) safe knowledge that time will allow the truth its moment of glory. The question is how do you wish your legacy to read? The world was flat?

FYI, violent crime statistics in the UK are distorted by a large number of kid-on-kid assaults over cell phones. This is just another example of an untruth being manipulated to serve an end. I’ve heard all these arguments over and over, and have read enough statistics and facts that have satisfied my own curiosity.