Here's an interesting article from Helmke which I read & just had to reply to - if they bother to post it!
http://www.opposingviews.com/articles/opinion-new-day-dawning-for-gun-violence-preventionI wrote:
“Reducing the toll of 100,000 Americans killed or wounded every year by gunfire – including 20,000 children and teens....“ --- Only if you include twisted statistics such as the grouping of 18-21 year old 'druggies' & 'gang-bangers' in your statistics! The real number is about 6 child deaths! Not that any are good, but the decrease has been brought about by education & safety training by gun owners, not by bigots who twist facts to scare the uninformed.
“President-elect Obama's statements were consistent …..“ --- Only if you did not listen in various parts of the country. He said one thing to one group & another diametrically opposed thing to another group as a typical politician. He never stated his real agenda of total gun control. During his limited political career, he constantly took a stance on squashing gun rights in any form and has never recanted!
“…..the NICS Improvement Act.” --- This bill only made NICS uniform across all boundaries. It does nothing to stop criminals from purchasing or stealing guns. It does nothing to help law enforcement be in all places at once to protect citizens (nothing can – they do a great job under impossible conditions & then are taken to task by the media for doing their job!!!!). The truth is if guns were allowed on campuses by trained students & faculty, there would be no more 'Virginia Techs' & that massacre would never have occurred. Gun Free Zones are an open invitation to killers. Do you ever see that happening to a police station or a gun range or on military bases? No!
“...Heller...gun violence prevention advocates praised...” --- The Brady Campaign & other gun control advocates had no choice but to claim victory since their briefs to the court were called BS by the Supreme Court & were all but thrown out as ludicrous. The reason for the reference to the existing gun control laws being called 'presumptively awful' is the Heller case had nothing to do with those laws. The Supreme Court must limit the scope of their rulings to the case at hand and extraneous subjects handled separately.
"…sensible gun legislation...” --- Does not mean gun bans of any type. This is hype put forth by the Brady Campaign & others to slowly ban all guns. Full automatic weapons have been restricted for years (ever since Hollywood immortalized Capone, et al). The Clinton AWB restricted most modern guns & the proposed 'improved' AWB will restrict essentially any modern gun no matter what. The Constitution clearly prevents that.
“...2008 election...we won and the NRA bosses lost...” –- The Brady Campaign & other gun groups did not win & the NRA did not loose – where did this come from; more twisting of the facts. I don't remember either candidate at any time say “I favor guns” or “I oppose guns” In fact the issue was purposely danced around so as not to inflame either side .of the issue. The manipulated economy was the only issue. That over-shadowed any other topic. The better politician won because he was charismatic (good speech writer!), not because he was & always will be the anti-gun candidate.
“...only a handful of national gun control laws...” --- There are over 200000 gun control laws on the books today across the country & with others requested by the Brady Campaign et al, it is obvious they do not work. All gun control laws should be repealed en mass at all levels of government & all the monies spent on poor legislation like this should be funneled into local law enforcement. This would provide operating capital to prevent crime & enforce existing criminal law as well as prosecution of the guilty instead of plea-bargaining criminals to a token offense & releasing them so they can become repeat offenders.
The misguided Brady Campaign et al should become the Campaign for Criminal Reform And Punishment & be abbreviated more appropriately.
I left off the following: Brady Campaign for CRAP - didn't want to hurt any feelings!