Hmm. So are you disputing that the government failed to protect the citizens of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina? If not, then is your claim that law-abiding individuals who used legally owned firearms to protect themselves from predators who exploit chaotic situations are practicing vigilante justice? Really? Protecting yourself from robbery, rape, or assault in an anarchic situation is vigilantism? Ok, then. Just checking.

Since that's the claim we're rolling with right now, let me just get something straight- if I defend myself from robbery, rape, or assault with a pocket knife, is it still vigilantism? What if it's with my bare hands? Is it that self-defense and vigilantism are two names for the same thing, or is it that the gun magically transforms self-defense into vigilantism? I just want to make sure we're all on the same page here.

The government should ban all private ownership of guns, I say that you can't be too careful, and we must do this to protect the children. Citizens should not have the right to own firearms for self-protection, hunting, target shooting, and recreational purposes.The vast proportions of Americans recognize the reality that individuals do not have a legitimate need for guns.We must recognize that gun violence is a multi-faceted problem and requires a multi-faceted approach. We must recognize that as we sit idly by, that police officers and scores of innocent children are being injured or killed.They are weapons of war and are being adopted in large numbers by the most violent members of our society. Since we first enacted the ban in 1994, there was a 84% reduction in the crimes committed by these weapons. Congress must act to re-enact the Assault Weapons ban.
There is nothing "harmless" about firing a deadly weapon in even the safest of environments. It is just too risky. A stray bullet could richochet and hit someone. As you can see, any reasonable person would support the banning of all guns. It is time we put these gun-toting extremists in jail where they belong! Trust me on this, I was a fundamentalist gun owner for several years. That's why when incidents like Columbine happen, gun clubs across the country get together and celebrate (very discreetly, of course) because there are that many less children in the world to meddle with their gun practices. I've seen it more times than I'd like to admit. I got out of the gun cult 3 years ago and would encourage others to do the same.
It is clear to me that the 2nd amendment needs to be updated for the 21st century.Due to the Constitution's age and the present interpreting "arms" as guns and munitions.I want to stress that the Second Amendment is outdated.The idea of a bunch of right-wing gun nuts armed with rifles and pistols going up against the world's most modern, best-equipped, best-trained army is so pathetically sad it's almost funny.

"That's why when incidents like Columbine happen, gun clubs across the country get together and celebrate (very discreetly, of course) because there are that many less children in the world to meddle with their gun practices. I've seen it more times than I'd like to admit."

Ok, the joke's on me. On the previous gun threads I thought that Bigbenr was a real poster (under-equipped intellectually, perhaps, but real). Now I realize I've been refuting the arguments of a silly troll. My bad. Hey, I'm new around here.

There's no way I'd live in a high crime area like New Orleans without a gun. With about 300 officers in the city, whose crime rate is ridiculously high since Katrina, it makes no sense to take guns away from law-abiding homeowners and leave them to the criminals. If criminals didn't have guns, there would be no need for citizens to have them. But the fact is they do have them, and as long as that is the case, I'm going to keep mine. When you can assure me that an armed gunman won't break into my home to rape and murder me, you can have my weapon. I'll take my chances on a ricochet rather than fighting an armed intruder with my bare hands.

"""previous gun threads I thought that Bigbenr was a real poster (under-equipped intellectually, perhaps, but real). Now I realize I've been refuting the arguments of a silly troll. My bad. Hey, I'm new around here. """ I'm no TROLL and im not joking! I saw this first hand at my fathers gun club.

"and we must do this to protect the children"

I had no idea people said this seriously anymore. Wow.

Va. Tech grieves & wonders what caused a student's rage the NRA is down playing this genocide.America's fascination with guns is well-known throughout the more civilized world. Our enlightened brothers and sisters in Europe have already banned handguns in their countries and may wonder why we have not done the same in the US, especially with the rising crime rate and handgun violence statistics.
Now with terrorism, the threat of gun violence is even more real. Why do NRA madmen persist in their love affair with guns?
They fight tooth-and-nail against trigger locks, even though trigger locks are proven to dramatically reduce accidental shootings. The gun owners would rather have children shooting themselves than have to store their guns responsibly. They also want all schoolteachers to be heavily armed, ostensibly as a "deterrent" against future Columbine-like incidents. Of course they ignore the fact that using violence as a deterrent against violence never works (look how well the death penalty has cut the murder rate in the U.S.)it appears by arming schoolteachers their true agenda is to increase the amount of children removed from society as a result of accidental shootings.DON't put it past the none.

V.T. had a gun ban and what did it do? Stopped the people from defending themselves from the nutcase.Gun laws that do not let you defend yourself make you a victom.The 2nd amendment should be protected as much as the 1st or 4th are.Also bigbenr sounds like someone who has never even shot a gun much less ever owned one.People like bigbenr only bread contempt from people that know the facts and live in the real world.Get a life and stop posting this drivle.

As you can see, any reasonable person would support the banning of all guns. It is time we put these gun-toting extremists in jail where they belong!

The military and governement have far more "intellegent" and sophisticated weapons than the average gun nut? Don't these gun nuts realize that if war broke out between the government and a handeful (even a large handful) of the population, the population would be murdered in a huge huge way. The age of violent revolution against our government is LONG LONG gone.

"V.T. had a gun ban and what did it do?"

Which means nothing, when surrounded by places where one may buy and carry a gun. It is for this very reason that we need consistent federal gun laws...so guns aren't brought in from elsewhere.

Give it up. There will be no gun ban. The feds can't stop anything coming from the Mexican border(e.g. suitcase nukes and etc.) and the AK47's in the containers from China at the Long Beach port. The feds will not stop the smuggling of drugs(you know why). Just learn to live with your fears. The probability of getting into a car accident tonight is more than getting robbed. Read the stat's on the true dangers to you. Don't forget STD's, got to scratch.

"Which means nothing, when surrounded by places where one may buy and carry a gun. It is for this very reason that we need consistent federal gun laws...so guns aren't brought in from elsewhere."

Ummm. I didn't write this. I don't know why someone is posting under the same handle I am.

"I'm no TROLL and im not joking! I saw this first hand at my fathers gun club."

No you didn't. I might as well make posts about how I saw members of the ACLU sacrificing children to the devil or some such nonsense. Your arguments are pathetic and childish. You do not address direct refutation of your claims, nor do you offer evidence (other than your personally redacted versions of the 2nd Amendment and made up statistics) for them. Please go away before you shame yourself and discredit the side you claim to represent further.

Fact: Gun Control is Naziisem. If you support Gun Control then you might as well say Hitler was a good person. After all he is the founding father of gun control. Political Prisoners and Death Camps can't exit without gun control. The liberals think that gun control is a good idea. To save America from these Nazi lovers such as Rosie O'Donald we must destroy Gun Control once and for all.

Anyone care to invoke Godwin's Law on this topic?

The Bill of Rights is outdated, and should be repealed.Banning all guns if it only saves one innocent child's life, isn't it all worth it?

http://denver.yourhub.com/HighlandsRanch/Blogs/News-Politics/Commentary/Blog~298960.aspx

As a queer, I love my firearms. I think firearms are necessary for the protection of all our rights including my right to love a man who might love me. We ought to open up weapons stores in queer neighborhoods and teach 'em to shoot and be responsible for their weapons. Bloomberg, who cares. Arm everybody in Greenwich village. Sure, there will be one or two problems from time to time...but if somebody thought queers might shoot bashers to protect themselves, it would be a more peaceful world. A polite community is an armed community.
Republicans, Democrats...who cares. They'll sell out anybody including gun owners when it suits them. But if everybody owned guns...what are they gonna do? I like that small town that requires a homeowner to own a gun. A homo-owner ought to own one, too. And we all know that New York has alot of our kind. Make 'em pink, blue, green, mauve and a light shade of olive. Guns for everybody, guns for progress, guns for peace, and guns for freedom. Tell your local weapons dealer that Big Fag sent ya.

Queer Eye for the Subguns Guy?22:03. Don't tell anyone, but i use Isotoner Gloves. ... Subguns.com NFA Firearms Discussion Archive is maintained by Administrator ...
www.subguns.com/boards/mgmsgarchive.cgi?noframes;read=429492 - 6k

Tobes! Here we are, a century later, and there are less gun control laws on the books today in many areas of the U.S. than there were in many parts of the Old West. Despite what today's gun nuts would have us believe, in most of the U.S., it is still remarkably easy to buy a gun these days.

Of course, you'd never guess this was the case, if you listen to the NRA's hysterical propaganda. The NRA would have us believe that guns are already heavily regulated in America today and that the feds are on the verge of kicking in our doors and confiscating every last gun in the nation.

However, if you take a close look at the specific issues that drives the NRA ballistic these days, you realize just how weak gun control laws are in this country.

Take, for example, the NRA's furious, ongoing opposition to the Brady Bill. This modest legislation does nothing more than simply require a check on the backgrounds of gun buyers for criminal activity. And thanks to the NRA, the law is filled with enough loopholes to drive a truck through (such as the gun show loophole).

It's hard to imagine any sane person opposing the Brady Bill. But the NRA took up the case and raised such a hysterical fuss that one might have guessed that the law called for nothing less than the repeal of the Second Amendment.

Despite what the NRA would have us believe, controls on guns in America have actually weakened over the past quarter century. For example, when George W. Bush was Texas governor, he signed a "concealed-carry law" at the NRA's bidding. When he did so, Texas joined 22 other states that since 1986 had made it legal to carry concealed weapons. Today, some 48 states allow some form of concealed carry.

Bush also signed a bill denying Texas cities the ability to sue gun manufacturers (so much for his lip service to the idea that local entities ought to be able to conduct their affairs without meddling interference from state government).