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Originally Posted by nfotiu
That's a more thoughtful response, but not one I necessarily agree with. That type of thinking has also led to invading Iraq, the Patriot Act, Kindergarten teachers being armed, and many other bad decisions.
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That type of thinking has led to building codes that prevent entire cities from burning, quality standards for water supplies, airplanes that are much harder to crash, cars that absorb and redirect energy in a crash rather than just letting the human body take it all , etc.
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My personal opinion is just that unless you can get the number of guns here from 300 million to about 100 million, then there probably isn't a lot of point, because the really the only way to reduce the number of gun deaths is to significantly reduce the number of guns.
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Agreed. But that is the entire point of this debate. Not just about outlawing various types of weapons, but also encouraging a change in attitude that will result in fewer guns in circulation.
No, it's not easy. But convincing people to quit smoking isn't either, yet concerted efforts have been made and which have significantly reduced the percentage of the population that smokes.
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Implementing laws that make it harder for some people to get guns, or to attempt to say make it harder for mentally ill people to buy guns may make people feel better that they think they made a difference and did something, but in reality, it likely doesn't make anyone all that much safer. Not saying I am against anything like that, just think it is a waste of time, money and political capital.
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"Too hard, don't try" is the excuse a defeatist takes to avoid making an effort. You are also looking at the situation too narrowly. You are viewing it as a case of laws only - and even then, laws that target only specific 'undesirables". This only works if society changes. And that only happens if the populace stands up and opposes the pro-gun lobbies. As Bobblehead has noted with the posting of those articles, the NRA worked very hard to change how people view guns. It will take no less effort to reverse that thinking.