Gun Control

I have been reading a lot about gun control lately in the wake of the latest shooting here in the US. A lot of people think violent video games like ours are part of the problem.

I remember the same national discussion after the Columbine shootings. At the time, the villian was the game "Doom", which was played by the shooters. Eric Harris actually made his own map levels for that game.

Considering that millions of people play violent video games, and maybe 0.0001% of those people go on to shoot someone in real life, I do not see a link.

I would be the first to acknowledge that games like Wolfenstein ET promote violence and desensitize young people to its effects. The game is supposed to be that way.

If the game showed you the true horror of warfare, then no one would play it for fun. In real war people die horrible deaths, and they do not hit the space button and respawn into the world with a new body.

Games like ours are a combat simulator. After playing ET or similar games, the player has gained comfort and familiarity with weapons and wartime combat. They know that in real combat you hide behind corners, you reload before battle, you work with a team, etc. These games are a tremendous asset to the US military.

However, the game does not encourage people to act out this way in real life. The setting is a real war zone. There are no schools or civilians to shoot in Wolf ET. It does not encourage anyone to behave this way in "real life".

The real problem in the US is providing access to weapons to mentally ill people. The people and the weapons are the problem, not the games.

Unfortunately our current mis-interpretation of the Second Amendment allows lunatics like Lanza, Cho, Holmes, Loughner, and Eric Harris to get access to weapons. I severely doubt this was the intent of the authors of the Bill of Rights.

If we can detect and monitor violently insane people who have access to assault rifles, we could prevent incidents like what just happened in Connecticut.

The NRA of course wants to keep assault rifles legal and easy to get, so their corporate sponsors (the gun manufacturers) can keep making profits. Gun sales are actually increasing in the US, as new customers buy weapons for personal defense, and collectors go out and buy more weapons before they could be made illegal.

I would speculate that the gun manufacturers actually benefit from these mass shootings. They get more sales. They need incidents like this, and a President publicly musing over what to do about the ready availability of weapons, to increase sales.

To reduce the availability of weapons in the hands of the violently insane, we need better ways to detect the violently insane, and ways to keep them (and their family members) from purchasing weapons. And we need more security at our schools.

As a parent, I have worried that another Adam Lanza might go to my children's school. Security cameras around all schools in the US would be far more effective at detering a school shooting than a ban on assault weapons. Armed guards would quickly bring down an attacker. Keeping our schools unprotected is unacceptable.

It's not games that are sick. It's the people that do those horrible things that are sick. If a person is capable of killing another human, there is something wrong with him/her, whether he/she has played FPS or not.

In my country it is really difficult for the normal person to have permission for a gun. It still doesn't make the crime rate lower, or harder for the criminals to obtain a gun. The only thing that it changes is that innocent people can't protect themselves while in danger. In our language weapon is called "broń" which means the same as "to protect" or "to defend". Well, we can't defend ourselves from those who have weapons.

Guns are not the problem. Our society has labeled anyone that doesnt fit in to be mentally ill. Then the doctors and drug companies start feeding them drugs. This usually makes things worse. I have seen this time and time again. The drugs is what has these people out of they're minds. Take that learning disability, ADHD. I think thats right. Studies show they give these kids what is basically speed. Has to be messing them up somehow. Obviously, right. The only way I see to protect schools is to make them almost a prison. Except in reverse. These attacks will keep getting worse. These killers have to out do the last media frenzy.

Looks like the NRA is blaming movies and video games... typical deflection from their own guilt. No video game ever gave a crazy person access to a firearm in real life.

The NRA is the political group lobbying the Republicans to keep these weapons available. The NRA has ensured that the crazies can get assault rifles, which nobody needs outside of a war zone. You don't need an AR-15 to go deer hunting or to shoot a home intruder.

They are calling for armed guards in US schools. which I think is a good idea.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324461604578193364201364432.html

I agree with armed guards in schools. There are police sub-stations in the high schools in ALL of Tyler and surrounding districts. They have been there since 2001. This has seemed to work well for the most part. I graduated in '84 and we had one deputy sheriff on campus at all times. This was in Pasadena, Tx. So there is plenty of data that can be studied to make these schools safer. Rumor is all us Texans carry guns!
I do not agree with the NRA. What are they thinking. I guess that its a rush owning one of these guns in question. I have never understood the need for one. Anytime I have ever even thought of grabbing a gun for defense, It was the pistol that came to mind.

As a former member of the NRA(they waited to increase price before inviting me to be lifetime member so I basically told them to **** off about 20 years ago) and a lifetime member of the North American Hunting Club, I can catch every lie and half truth that the press puts out there.

I only watched about an hour of news coverage before I turned it off.

An example I saw this week is a pro gun control guy was interviewed about his article on CNN. The question was about the 4 million members NRA has. This guy stated that the figure was misleading and that alot of the members join because it is required to shoot at firing ranges(like all ranges make it a requirement).

This is bullshit half truth. Persons only have to join if they compete in NRA events. I have never been asked by a range to join the NRA.

People join the NRA to promote their hobby and learn gun stuff, compete in NRA events and protect their right to own firearms.

I have shot and owned guns all my life and have never harmed anyone, but would not hesitate to do so if my life was threatened.

Also, another guy stated that "assault type rifles" have no hunting value. This is plain ignorance. AR type rifles can and are used for hunting and can be made to be very accurate. You must use a limited capacity magazine just like with a shotgun. Hell there are even crossbows that you can attach to an AR receiver for hunting.

LMAO, my ak-47 on the other hand is useless for hunting(too inaccurate at hunting distances) but great for plinking and cutting trees down. It will shoot through most anything.

Houses, cars, trees, bulletproof vests, etc.

The news also stated that the .223 cal round used in modern assault type rifle is one of the most powerful cartridges. Actually it is a very small and weak compared to most center fire rifle cartridges.

The view of most gun owners is that new laws are stupid because the existing gun laws are enough if they were only enforced.

If a criminal is caught with a gun he should be locked up and the key thrown away to protect the public. The weapons laws are there and we see every week that one thug or another is charged.

However enforcement does not happen and they are repeatedly released until they kill some one before any real jail or prison time is enforced.

I consider guns to be like motorcycles. A guy who grows up shooting or riding a motorcycle is usually safer.

A guy who does not and gets one or the other as soon as they ar legal without instruction are accidents waiting to happen. This is why you see all the young stupid guys killing themselves on sport bikes.

Guns are like attack dogs, you must maintain control of them at all times. It is never the guns fault it is just a tool.

Ignorant people should know what they are talking about before they are allowed to spout disinformation on an international news station.

Crazy people don't need guns to kill. OJ used a knife. Go look at all the creative ways that the chinese kill with knives on liveleak.

Another sad fact is most of the really crazy people can't be cured( I have a degree in psychology so I an an expert on the subject). Drugs treat the symptoms not the disease and the ones who need the drugs the most are usually non compliant(don't take their drugs).

We used to warehouse all the really crazy people(like schizoprenics, sociopaths, pedophiles,arsonists, etc) and make them take their meds so they were no threat. Starting in the late 1970s through the 90s all the large public psychiatric facilities were systematically shut down and defunded.

All the crazies ended up as homeless or in jail. New crazies get outpatient treatment at best and are not restrained or monitored closely until they do harm. Forty years ago all these people would be safely locked away to do no harm.

Next time you see a homeless person talking to themselves just realize that it is most likely a schizoprenic in the middle of an full blown episode that could grab a knife and stab you but it is now considered normal for these people to be walking the streets.

I don't think an assault rifle has any hunting value. I have a real hunting rifle with a scope and it is far better than an assault rifle. I only need one bullet. There is no reason for a 30-round magazine unless you are a terrible shot or you are in combat.

You cannot hunt with 30 round mag its illegal have to use 5 round mag.

The value is that you can hunt varmits up to medium game with AR and also use for home defense and use it for target practice. One gun three uses.

A bolt action deer rifle is useless for home defense. If you only can buy one gun an AR is a great choice.

Of course most people use assault rifles just for shooting targets. After you shoot an AK-47 for plinking a .22 holds no interest for most shooters.

Look at the economics. You can buy a great AR(before the current gun rush) for 700 to 900 bucks or you can buy a 600 dollar pistol or shotgun and a 700 dollar deer rifle and a 200 dollar .22 rifle to perform the same job as just the AR.

Best tool for home defense is by far a shotgun..

As far as using an AR-15 or other assault style riffles for hunting, I find it ridiculous. Instead use a single round bolt-action style hunting riffle.

Gun control means hitting your target.

Ouch seems like the controversy is pointed towards video games now.

SPEEDY wrote:Ouch seems like the controversy is pointed towards video games now.

Yes the NRA wants to deflect blame to us, because so many people have died from video games. At least once a month someone dies in an internet cafe in Asia from playing World of Warcraft or some other game for 48 hours straight, with no sleep and too many pep pills.

I think since the games are selling like hot cakes the NRA wants to discourage people from buying games and instead buy guns. At the end of the day its all about the MONEY.

Well it looks like the Senate did not pass Obama's gun control bills. So much for that nonsense.

If we could remove all the guns from everyone equally it would be an improvement for society (imho). But just disarming the people who actually obey the law is stupid. Criminals don't care about gun control.