Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
By the way there is a Newsweek article now available about Gabby Giffords recovery. Here is a little tease for you:
One of Giffords’s Democratic House colleagues, Rep. Shelley Berkley of Nevada, visited Giffords in Houston and emerged to say that she was eager to return to the House. “She’s raising money now,” Berkley told a Las Vegas television reporter. “She’s running a campaign from the hospital.”
I find this shocking...the parents of the kids killed and injured at Virginia Tech (many of whom live in my neighborhood)can tell you this is not the answer. Meanwhile in VA, our nutjob Attorney General just issued one of his "legal opinions" that it's ok to carry guns in church.
ReplyDeleteI am waiting for a hospital in Arizona, Alaska or Texas to offer a free 9mm to each baby born..
ReplyDeleteOr one of these states to allow kids in grade school to carry guns to class...
There is no sanity with gun nuts...
Ummm, her staff may be running a campaign of sorts, but from my reading of that article, Gabby sure isn't. I wish her a wonderful and speedy recovery, but the news about her from the start has been aimed at making her injuries less than what they are. Remember James Brady?
ReplyDeleteBeing a gun owner myself, I am all for restricting who can buy large magazines, especially for handguns.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, I think we should allow a 30 round clip only for law enforcement folks, game wardens, and possibly a very small minority of others who may have a legitimate need for them.
Back in the 1930's, the feds restricted who could own machine guns. I don't hear anyone arguing that soccer moms should own full auto Thompsons, except true nutcases.
Beyond that, it's pretty ridiculous to argue that the average Joe or Jill needs large clip firepower in any semi-auto
No deer hunter needs a 15 or 30 round clip. If you're hunting large game in Africa, maybe. But then I don't often see many rhinos on main street. (sorry Repubs :)
For home defense, if you need to fire more than 5 shots, you have a war going on, and you're going to be better off getting on the cell phone and calling 911, or escaping the house if possible.
I own 4 firearms, among them a 12 gauge 5 shot pump action shotgun. It is the most intimidating gun out there for home defense, imho.
If you are playing the "I need to protect my family" card, you really need the shotgun. You can be the worst aim in the world, and still hit someone from 30 feet away with devastating force loaded up with buckshot.
I challenge anyone to give me a GOOD reason for a 30 round clip in any firearm, outside of police, armed forces, fish and game, or federal officers.
I did not see the whole piece, Did anyone talk about the Guns on Campus bill that is waiting for signature in AZ? That is just about to flip my lid. Guns on campus?????? We are certainly going backward. The bill passed both houses according to what I read yesterday.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe in "concealed" weapons. If someone wants to carry a gun, he or she should have to wear a day-and-night glow holster that is locked so that the rest of us can know who the crazy person is with the gun in the church, school, store or restaurant. Guns are not a good idea. Period.
ReplyDeleteI'm of the ethos that just the sight of a gun is enough to cause trouble and enough fear in you. But to have so many options on the kind of damage you can inflict on another human being or the targeted animal for your freezer is simply a frightening display of free market prowess.
ReplyDeleteI know we can't cherry pick what kind of access citizens have at the type of gun they want anymore than the Right can pick and chose what kind of access women and children have in Health Care, but a pap smear is a pap smear whereas a gun is good for stopping or for blowing up your insides before it leaves your body.
AJ Billings @ 4:41 - I wrote my opinion on the variety of guns available to private citizens before reading your comment. I agree completely.
ReplyDeleteWhile I've 'grown' in my opinion on the Second Amendment (I once felt it was right for the time, a Revolutionary age, but it didn't seem to make sense in the 20th Century) but then there is always the possibility that public safety won't meet your needs when it counts or that the government military may not always be on the side of the people.
It doesn't mean I want private militias peppering the country the way they do in Alaska or Montana, etc.
Some people want stopping action, some want bodily destruction way more than a simple bullet can do. Mercury tipped, hallow point, armor piercing? It staggers the mind.
I fully support the second Amendment...
ReplyDeleteI think everyone should have the right to own a FLINTLOCK rifle or pistol.
I do not think our founding fathers ever imagined machine guns or semi-automatics
did everyone feel this way after Columbine? Do people only care about controlling guns when their candidate is a victim? Sad that one woman is more important than others in the past. Stricter gun control isn't going to change things. As long as weaponry exists (any) and violence remains a form of entertainment, real violence will exist.
ReplyDeleteThank you, AJ Billings, for your wise and reasonable counsel. There are no guns in my house, and I didn't grow up with them, so I always appreciate hearing from someone who knows what they're talking about on the subject.
ReplyDeleteGuns don't kill people, people kill people.
ReplyDelete~Sarah