tvashtarkatena

AK47s and any other assault weapon one cares to own are perfectly legal as long as they are not full auto. An owner can obtain a full auto upgrade kit on the web however. Assault weapons are banned in CT, but not federally, so the ban doesn't really mean much.

Most gun deaths are family members shooting themselves or other family members. The argument that "this tragedy could not have been prevented through stricter gun control" doesn't wash nationwide when these thousands of incidents annually are considered. Perhaps any one incident would not be prevented by stricter gun control, but many, many other tragedies would be. Again, the statistics for other civilized nations regarding gun violence and the effectiveness of their strict gun control policies in preventing it speak for themselves. The difference between those societies and America is stark and tragic. There is no real argument (although there are plenty of non data based phoney baloney ones) that strict gun control doesn't reduce all kinds of gun violence: it does. Anecdote: a guy I used to work with bickered with his wife a lot. What set him apart from the standard Bickersons family situation was this: He had a handgun handy, coming from a gun totin' family, and when he got really pissed, a condition fueled by alcohol, he chose to wave it around at his wife. Fortunately for him and everyone else, this situation did not end in tragedy or even arrest, just divorce. It's a very, very common one here in America, however, and one that we can do something about with better gun control policies.

Well, the Constitution is the highest law of the land, so there's that. I don't suppose you disagree with a concept of the rule of law, given that the alternative is, well, to put into place systems like shariah - which is basically carte blanc for religious zealots to do pretty much whatever they want to, or not even bother and just go with an omnipotent dictatorship. Any constitional scholar would readily agree that the 2nd Amendment was very poorly written - even to the point of nonsensical grammar, and therefore very ambiguous in its intent or meaning. As with any part of the Constitution, its up to us moderns to interpret what it all means and make changes accordingly. The right of self defense is a basic one. The right of self defense with a gun is not. Most free societies today get along very well without it.

I never said more guns is the answer. If there are laws on the books that this guy violated to obtain the weapons, then gun control clearly is not effective, is it? If this guy has a history of mental instability and was allowed to stay free and clear (rather than be treated, medicated or possibly institutionalized), then clearly there is a problem there, isn't there? To fix what went wrong you actually have to identify the failure first. How many other crazies would have shot their way through a few clips had these laws not been in place? Who's to say that even more restrictive laws wouldn't have prevented this particular incident from happening? FYI: the policy strategy is called harm reduction. Not a lot of Righty Tighties grok it, but it works. Cherry picking the one that got away to argue against the strategy in general is for morons, of course. The logic is exactly the same as arguing against drunk driving laws because drunk driving accidents still occur. It's funny how the Right argues against social services - for the mentally ill, for example, then switches to the 'let's focus on the crazies, not the guns' argument when a mass shooting occurs. We will never, ever be able to preempt people losing like this. Such folks show few signs of their intentions beforehand. What we can do, of course, is restrict gun availability overall to reduce the problem. With massive increase in mass shootings, I would think this would be a number one national security priority by now. Yet another tide of history issue the Right will eventually lose on, I expect. We'll see.

Cuz you can't have a truly free society without the right to shoot people. Sure, nearly every other first world country is as or more free than ours despite near total gun bans (our incarceration rate would indicate that we are the one of the least free societies on the planet), but that's not real freedom. No, real freedom is protected by well moneyed and organized special interest groups like the NRA who are ever vigilant regarding the public good.

Pass stricter gun ownership restrictions, and pretty soon the government will require everyone to wear their underwear on the outside. It follows. Don't you see?

Rob, our gun ownership policies are clearly working perfectly. Yes, this is a tragedy, but there's nothing to be done. Talking about it won't bring those kids back. Ah well, we'll get over it. Just like all those previous times. In the meantime, it's important to propose absolutely no solutions. Out of respect for the families, you know.

Can you let us all know how much your ignoring me again? You know, for effect.

The bottom line is that anytime - and that would be many times a year these days, we have a incident like this the NRA and FOX mobilize to shut down the debate through the kind of public shaming KKK and AK are attempting right here. These parrots are reliable mimics, if not much else in the bright idea department.

Does he have a history of mental health problems? Has he committed violent crime in the past? If he obtained the weapons legally and has none of the above in his history, then, no there is nothing we can do about it. Um...you can have strict gun ownership policies like in all those other civilized nations who don't have a gun violence problem. Cheerist, why don't you guys just patch in a feed from Fox News instead of posting? Exact same verbage. And no, censorship o9f entertainment isn't the same...at all...as stricter gun ownership policies. Yes...another Fox argument there.

A person who's paid to shoot people for a living (and never misses an opportunity to puff up his chest about it) is not one I'd consult regarding gun control policy. Nope...not so much.

Classy, utilize a horrible tragedy as a political tool; despite the fact that you know nothing about the manner in which this individual obtained his firearms. How did I know I would find this filth on this website? You too Rob. Classless. Ignoring the glaring fact that America has a gun violence problem due to its practically non existent gun control policies, then trying to shame those who raise the issue into shutting up. Classy.

Encouraging, but Obama never stated the feds wouldn't go after WA and CO. He said it wouldn't make sense to make it a priority. There's a huge gap between these two statements. I'll wait for Holder to come out with his plan before celebrating. He hasn't exactly been a pot friendly AG lately. In the past two years his DOJ has really stepped up raids against the med MJ community. In the end, that clusterfuck of a Congress, TeaMorons included, will have to reschedule pot for this all to go away. I do think we'll see several more states legalize sooner than later. That should shove the issue closer to Congress's front burner. Of course, this is the same Congress that can't even perform its most basic duty of coming up with a budget we're talking about. Not the most 'data driven' or 'democratically minded' group. I'd wager a bunch of Teamorons will have to get deep sixed for non performance (merit based society!) before any rescheduling effort is successful - 4+ years from now at the earliest. Hope I'm wrong in a good way.

Automating percussion: 1) Reduces the probability of a drum solo to zero 2) Frees up a body to run the smoke machine and laser light show or man a fire extinguisher in case a band member catches their mane on fire

Why don't you guys just pay me $5000. By this time next year, everything will be OK.

Oh, I almost forgot... DRUM SOLO!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm certainly no Adonis like Bone LOL. Or wasn't that you at that Portland slideshow, cuz the guy I saw posing as you looked to me like a big ole loaf of pink bread. NTTAWWT. Father with youngunz n' all. Spare tire practically mandatory I reckon.

Don' wancha, girl on the radio this ain't Tokyo not this land, no This ain't Stockholm, n I ain't Emmylou oooo butt rock's fine, yeah without you

He can now...

Hey Deep Purple you're feelin' blue, yeah we're lookin' down down the Hall lookin' for you, yeah But you ain't around no no no baby you're nowhere to be found, yeah you're ain't gone, no you're just Quilceda bound, yeah

Rush is the Twinkies of rock and roll.

we had a thing ooooo, yeah still doin it baby, baby, no no no, yeah burnin down the Five Feathers burnin, burnin, wheels a' turnin' watchin those S curves stop and go yeah

Surprise weather shadows the inexperienced. It's like tornadoes and trailer parks.

Fighting solll-diers, from the sky....

I'm from WA, too, (and not 10 miles from the Oregon border, LOL) and that sure looks like a crevasse I wouldn't want to fall into. The puffery round here is amazing sometimes. Cheerist. Time to give this a rest, I'd say. It crossed the outer edge of the Buffoon Galaxy a while ago.