patrick.net

I agree, way too many idiots get to drive cars. I'm all for a car ban.

That would solve multiple problems as well. Then we can worry about killer bicyclists.

For the record, I do not own a tote board nor am I toting.

Call it Crazy says

Besides gun idiots, just make sure you add all these other idiots to your list...

Hmm... lots of motor vehicle fatal accidents. What have we done about that?

1. License required to drive a motor vehicle
2. Passive restraint system required on all vehicles manufactured
3. Crash test rating required for all vehicles manufactured
4. All occupants required to wear seatbelts
5. Extensive traffic safety laws
6. Draconian drunk-driving laws
7. Mandatory insurance
8. Special seats required for all children
9. All vehicles must be licensed

What have we done about accidents with firearms?

1. Prohibit regulators from seeing records on firearms purchases
2. Made it nearly impossible to appoint an ATF director

Murder by weapon:

Firearms: 8,583
Poison: 5
Drowning: 15
Fire: 75
Motor Vehicle: Doesn't even have its own category

What kind of fucking idiot fool think that accidents, overdoses and cancer are linked to MURDER DEATH KILLS!!

Fools who do, please list your names below for the record!

Call it Crazy says

Like these categories??

Try to read, o.k.? I wrote "murders by category". What does your chart say? "Motor vehicle ACCIDENTS" and "UNINTENTIONAL poisoning". Dumbass.

Also, your chart is complete fiction. Total murders in 2011 were 12,664. Murders with firearms were 8,583. To say that there were more non-firearm homicides than firearm homicides is just an outright lie.

Statistically,

What does Tobacco use have to do with MDK by GUN?

NONE!

and

What do medical errors and car accidents have in common with MDK via GUN?

NONE!

I'm a gun owner, proud to be. I would identify my political leanings as liberal - and yet, I don't meet the definition of every label that angry-white-conservative-gun-toting-narrow-minded-Obama haters have attempted to pin on me.

For example, I'm a gun owner. I might have mentioned that in my first paragraph. I believe that the Constitution has given me the right to own guns, to use them to protect myself, my family and my property. I believe that everyone should have the opportunity to understand how to safely handle and shoot a gun.

Funny thing - I don't recall President Obama saying that I shouldn't have the right to own a weapon. My interpretation of what he is saying is that high-powered assault rifles weren't considered when the Constitution was written. At that time, there were black powder pistols capable of one shot, and the possibility of a gun being able to fire multiple rounds without reloading didn't even exist.

But it exists now, and then some. President Obama is proposing some changes that don't even affect me because:
- I legally passed a background check,
- I don't own an assault weapon,
- my automatic pistol's magazine holds less than 10 rounds,
- I don't own or intend to own armor-piercing bullets,
- I don't buy guns for people who can't pass a background check,
- I have no problem with 15,000 more police officers being on the street (as long as they are well-trained),
- I have no problem with the nomination of a permanent head of ATF,
- I have no idea why we need to import weapons that are 50 years old when we build our own (safer) weapons here,
- I have no problem teaching first responders as to how to deal with active armed attacks,
- I have no problem tracking violent deaths,
- I have no problem providing funding to our schools to develop disaster plans (and think we should throw in extra $$$ to fund music, PE, and other programs that have experienced cuts,
- I strongly believe we need to address our national mental health issues.

Those are the proposals of the Obama Administration - and they don't sound so bad, do they?

Yet, people are reacting as though all guns will be banned. That Obama was waiting for an event such as the elementary school shooting in order to advance his "librul agenda" and take away our God-given right to bear arms. Law Enforcement agencies across the country are writing open letters and people are holding rallies - hell, a guy even showed up to a deparment store in Northern Utah slinging his rifle (probably in the hopes that he could get the "gunslinger discount").

Read the following post, cut & pasted from the New York Times, which lists President Obama's proposals. The knee-jerk reaction the country is experiencing is an emotional response perpetuated by Faux News and other Obama-haters, with accusations such as his exploitation of children to make his point.

Since it was mostly little children that were senselessly killed in CT, it's not exactly exploitation as much as a reminder of what we lost the day a mentally ill man walked into an elementary school and changed our social consciousness. We need to change the narrative, from "Obama bad" to "what can we do to start a conversation on gun control.

I guarantee you that the victims of Columbine, Aurora, Sandy Hook and other mass shootings are open to discussion. Why aren't the rest of us?

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/01/16/us/obama-gun-control-proposal.html
What’s in Obama’s Gun Control Proposal

The initiative to reduce gun violence announced by President Obama on Wednesday includes both legislative proposals that would need to be acted on by Congress and executive actions he can do on his own. Many of the executive actions involve the president directing agencies to do a better job of sharing information.

Proposed Congressional Actions
•Requiring criminal background checks for all gun sales, including those by private sellers that currently are exempt.
•Reinstating and strengthening the ban on assault weapons that was in place from 1994 to 2004.
•Limiting ammunition magazines to 10 rounds.
•Banning the possession of armor-piercing bullets by anyone other than members of the military and law enforcement.
•Increasing criminal penalties for "straw purchasers," people who pass the required background check to buy a gun on behalf of someone else.
•Acting on a $4 billion administration proposal to help keep 15,000 police officers on the street.
•Confirming President Obama's nominee for director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
•Eliminating a restriction that requires the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to allow the importation of weapons that are more than 50 years old.
•Financing programs to train more police officers, first responders and school officials on how to respond to active armed attacks.
•Provide additional $20 million to help expand the a system that tracks violent deaths across the nation from 18 states to 50 states.
•Providing $30 million in grants to states to help schools develop emergency response plans.
•Providing financing to expand mental health programs for young people.

Executive actions
•Issuing a presidential memorandum to require federal agencies to make relevant data available to the federal background check system.
•Addressing unnecessary legal barriers, particularly relating to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, that may prevent states from making information available to the background check system.
•Improving incentives for states to share information with the background check system.
•Directing the attorney general to review categories of individuals prohibited from having a gun to make sure dangerous people are not slipping through the cracks.
•Proposing a rule making to give law enforcement authorities the ability to run a full background check on an individual before returning a seized gun.
•Publishing a letter from the A.T.F. to federally licensed gun dealers providing guidance on how to run background checks for private sellers.
•Starting a national safe and responsible gun ownership campaign.
•Reviewing safety standards for gun locks and gun safes (Consumer Product Safety Commission).
•Issuing a presidential memorandum to require federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations.
•Releasing a report analyzing information on lost and stolen guns and making it widely available to law enforcement authorities.
•Nominating an A.T.F. director.
•Providing law enforcement authorities, first responders and school officials with proper training for armed attacks situations.
•Maximizing enforcement efforts to prevent gun violence and prosecute gun crime.
•Issuing a presidential memorandum directing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to research gun violence.
•Directing the attorney general to issue a report on the availability and most effective use of new gun safety technologies and challenging the private sector to develop innovative technologies.
•Clarify that the Affordable Care Act does not prohibit doctors asking their patients about guns in their homes.
•Releasing a letter to health care providers clarifying that no federal law prohibits them from reporting threats of violence to law enforcement authorities.
•Providing incentives for schools to hire school resource officers.
•Developing model emergency response plans for schools, houses of worship and institutions of higher education.
•Releasing a letter to state health officials clarifying the scope of mental health services that Medicaid plans must cover.
•Finalizing regulations clarifying essential health benefits and parity requirements within insurance exchanges.
•Committing to finalizing mental health parity regulations.
•Starting a national dialogue on mental health led by Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, and Arne Duncan, the secretary of education.

http://www.argojournal.com/2012/12/poll-watch-pppdaily-kosseiu-d-survey-on.html3

Thursday, December 20, 2012
Poll Watch: PPP/Daily Kos/SEIU (D) Survey on Gun Control
PPP/Daily Kos/SEIU (D) Poll on Gun Control

Would you support or oppose requiring a criminal background check before any purchase of a gun?
Support 92%
Oppose 6%

Would you support or oppose requiring a mental health examination before any purchase of a gun?
Support 63%
Oppose 28%

Would you support or oppose banning assault weapons?
Support 63%
Oppose 32%

Would you support or oppose banning the sale of guns and bullets over the Internet?
Support 69%
Oppose 26%

Would you support or oppose closing the so-called 'gun-show loophole,' which allows unlicensed dealers to sell guns at gun shows without performing criminal background checks?
Support 76%
Oppose 19%

Would you support or oppose prohibiting felons convicted of violent crimes from purchasing guns?
Support 94%
Oppose 5%

Would you support or oppose banning high-capacity magazines on guns - magazines capable of holding more than ten bullets?
Support 64%
Oppose 31%

Do you think assault weapons are necessary for hunting, or not?
They are necessary 18%
They are not 76%

Are you more or less interested in owning a gun today than you were before last week's shooting in Connecticut, or has there been no change in your level of interest?
More interested 22%
Less interested 30%
No change 47%

Do you think the answer to gun-related violence is more widespread gun ownership or tighter restrictions on gun ownership?
More widespread gun ownership 32%
Tighter restrictions on gun ownership 48%

Do you think the guns are a necessary check on government tyranny, or not?
They are a necessary check on tyranny 39%
They are not 40%

Survey of 1,000 registered voters was conducted December 18-19, 2012. The margin of error is +/- 3.1 percentage points. Party ID: 37% Democrat; 32% Republican; 31% Independent/Other. Political views: 43% Moderate; 39% Conservative; 18% Liberal.

Do you think the guns are a necessary check on government tyranny, or not?