Who has proposed that the US Constitution be amended so as to remove the Second Amendment?
According to the Declaration of Independence:
WE hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness--That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed.
The Founders were declaring that we are all equal, and that we are defined by rights that we are born with, not given to us by government. Among those rights is the right to pursue happiness--to live our lives as we think best, as long as we respect the right of all other individuals to do the same. The Founders also declared that governments are created by people to secure their rights. Whatever powers government has are not "just" unless they come from us, the people.
Now according to the NRA that means that the right to own a gun pursuant to the Bill of Rights is an unalienable right given by God and not from the government.
Therefore government limiting the right is defacto violating it. It's the government making a conscious effort to remove a right.
Now in Canada the government can limit a right pursuant to section 1 of the Charter. So the only way to make a comparison between Canada and the US is for the Canadian government to actually remove a right to be a violation on the level of the limit in the US.
Hence the poor analogy as you can't directly compare the two.
Now you can argue that the government already limits the right to bear arms. And you'd be correct.
But
And this is the thing
That doesn't matter.
In order to implement effective gun control in the United States you have to win in the court of public opinion. Which means you have to understand what John Q Public (and the NRA) believe. And here's the real kicker, their logic is flawed.
But you have to accept their logic as fact and improve upon it until you can come up with a scenario where their flawed logic either changes or is still intact but with gun control.
It doesn't matter that you're right. It doesn't matter that lives will be saved. It doesn't matter what the statistics demonstrate.
You have to win public opinion. And nitpicking analogies where people are trying to tell you how the US population feels isn't going to get you anywhere in mental exercise that is US gun control. It's the wrong fight.
No, no one is saying abolish the second amendment, but that's how gun control plays out via the NRA. Like it or not you that's the way it is.
All I'm doing is trying to demonstrate "this is how you win the fight".
I think there should be gun control. But I don't know enough about the various types of guns to effectively come up with a strong working theory. What I do know is what needs to be done to get gun control. And it's finding a way to show that people can have guns without the threat of government hanging over them. Make it so people don't feel like they are losing their God given rights.
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Last edited by Maritime Q-Scout; 05-28-2014 at 08:02 PM.
A gunman is in custody after four people were shot on the campus of a Christian university in Seattle on Thursday afternoon, police said.
Two people suffered life-threatening wounds.
The Seattle Pacific University campus was locked down and students and staff were evacuated from Otto Miller Hall after the shooting, which happened about 3:30 p.m. PT near 3rd Ave. West and West Nickerson Street. Two victims were shot in the hall, Seattle police reported.
A man and a woman were in critical condition at Harborview Medical Center, police said. Another man and woman were in stable condition with minor injuries.
The Seattle Times reported seven people were shot, but that has not been confirmed by police. The gunman reportedly used either a rifle or shotgun.
Police initially reported that a second armed suspect was being sought but later said only one gunman was involved.
Seattle Pacific is Christian university with an enrollment of 4,000. Founded 125 years ago by Methodists, the school is located in the city's Queen Anne Hill neighborhood, about 10 minutes from downtown.
An armed man and woman shouting about a "revolution" opened fire and killed two Las Vegas policemen who were eating lunch in a pizza parlor on Sunday, then fatally shot a civilian in a nearby Wal-Mart store before killing themselves, police said.
It's come to this. We've now had so many mass shootings that entrepreneurs see space in the market for a bulletproof blanket, made specifically to shield small children from gunfire.
The Bodyguard Blanket, made by a company called ProTecht, is a bulletproof 5/16-inch pad, made from the same materials used by our military, except it's for kids. They even come in different sizes.
If mass shootings weren't such an integrated part of our culture, you'd think this was an SNL skit or an Onion article. Kids are being gunned down in their 1st grade classrooms, but what can we do? No we're not talking about gun laws, just arm your children with these bulletproof shields, you'll sleep easier at night.
So that's what, 3 shootings in the US in the past week? It's like they were upset Canada took the spotlight away with what happened in Moncton and went nuts
A tweet says there have been 74 school shootings since Sandy Hook, can this be true? That's roughly 4 a month in that time frame.
Lists the schools on his feed.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Shooting in Oregon is the 74th school shooting since Newtown, which happened less than 18 months ago <a href="http://t.co/vGRTSO6kKp">http://t.co/vGRTSO6kKp</a></p>— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) <a href="https://twitter.com/JuddLegum/statuses/476396567692587009">June 10, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Last edited by Galakanokis; 06-10-2014 at 01:54 PM.
Reason: can't get the embed to work...
The fact that a product like the 'Bodyguard Blanket' will actually be marketable, should be an incredible wake up call to the US. But nope, gun rights advocates and the NRA will happily allow children to be blown away weekly, just so they can caress their murder toys like a throbbing dong.
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Speaking in Washington, President Barack Obama said the nation should be ashamed of its inability to get tougher gun restrictions through Congress in the aftermath of mass shootings that he said have become commonplace in America.
"Our levels of gun violence are off the charts. There's no advanced, developed country on Earth that would put up with this," he said in response to a question about gun violence.
Most members of Congress are "terrified" of the National Rifle Association, the President said, adding that nothing will change until public opinion demands it.
"The country has to do some soul searching about this. This is becoming the norm, and we take it for granted, in ways that as a parent are terrifying to me," Obama said.
Really too bad the president can't really do anything, he would leave his post a hero if he could change gun laws.
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It's so far beyond gone at this point, changing gun laws will accomplish nothing in a country with more guns than people (not adults...all people). I just cannot see it ever happening or having much effect. America more than anything needs a massive cultural shift, but they also need to address so many issues that drive gun violence (and not just mental health). But no one wants to take on that task because its even more difficult.
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It's so far beyond gone at this point, changing gun laws will accomplish nothing in a country with more guns than people (not adults...all people). I just cannot see it ever happening or having much effect. America more than anything needs a massive cultural shift, but they also need to address so many issues that drive gun violence (and not just mental health). But no one wants to take on that task because its even more difficult.
At some point it will happen. As all these poor kids affected by this #### grow up and have their own kids they won't be supporting the nra and the nonsensical constitutional interpretations that happen now.
It's just too damn bad so many more people are going to die.
The las Vegas shooting...the guy killed in Wal-Mart was the good guy with a gun. It's one thing to carry a weapon and something completely different to assess and react in an effective fashion. A 2 hour gun self defense course doesn't mean ####.
Well if people wanna give up guns that's one thing, but any even remote attempt to take them away will send those right wing militias into insane mode which nobody wants. With how many guns are out there, and the ease at which contranband can be smuggled into the US (i.e. drugs), guns will go underground like everything else. Trying to address the root causes of gun violence would have a much larger impact. But 400 million guns is difficult to just make go away.
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