The Terrible Tragedy in CT, and what do we do about it?

[Gunsmith]

Man you all know how I love analogies but that one has them all beat!

[RRoller123]

I think it was on Jeff Kuhner's radio show that I heard that. Heh heh heh, just about right. I am open to anything that will actually help stop the violence, but opposed to stupid things that will not, and only erode our rights further.

[Kevin1]

Having read this entire thread two overlooked aspects of the conversation come to mind.

First: Since when have rights been negotiable? Rights are easily confused with priveledges. Priveledges are granted by agreement with some authority and therefore negotiable. Keep in mind that this isn't the "Bill Of Priveledges" we are talking about corrupting.

Second: The second ammendment is not about hunting.

Relative to the Bill Of Rights, balancing liberty and security is a complex task with so many contributory factors (emotions, laws, parenting, devolving social norms, etc.) it becomes easy to get off track and focus on some single aspect in the desire for an answer to the question "what can prevent this?". In a broad sense, undermining rights (i.e., restricting the liberty) of law-abiding people is not going to change anything.

[RRoller123]

Well said. Our rights derive from our creator, not from any man nor government. Makes us unique and we need to hold on to this dearly.

[Jimb]

Our rights derive from our creator

Your mom?

[RRoller123]

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Neither, it was the Rooster.

[TX82FIAT]

I was at a Dairy Queen with my youngest the other day and saw a rather portly lady digging into a very large ice cream sunday. No doubt in my mind she was killing herself slowly and I wondered how far her disease spread into the lives of friends and family. It reminded me of a photo I'd seen on the intranet a couple days earlier. Seems we should outlaw spoons or at least regulate the size of them. If we have smaller spoons (the tool we use to eat), smaller portion sizes or regulate what can be served (California soft drinks). Then we could do society as a whole a great benefit.

This ice cream argument can be applied to gun control very easily. I'm not trying to trivialize the tragedy. It is somthing that makes me feel ill inside. I'm not saing that buying Ice cream is a right. I could not agree more with the difference between Rights and Privileges. We are travelling in a direction as a country that will continue to erode our liberties, opportunities and wealth. Any legislation made in a knee jerk reaction is flawed legislation. I just hope they (our elected officials) read anything put in front of them completely like any reasonable person would do. The answer is not legislation, the answer is in that place we dare not go. The answer is living a life that recognizes you are not the center of the universe. We must live a life that respects and serves your family, communit and others. If you are living for yourself then you can not see the wrong in killing others when your world falls apart. Yes, this is a mental illness. No one is advocating going back to the 50's. I am advocating moving "very carefully" in a direction as a culture that respects life. Gratuitous Violence and Sex is everywhere in our culture. Video games, movies, TV, advertisements and so on. These items move in the wrong direction each year and the US has led the way with the exception of some more violent and progressive cultures.

[surfingfreeman]

"This ice cream argument can be applied to gun control very easily."..............maybe in your mind it can??????? Duh! Was she killing people (besides herself) with said spoon. Come on, you can put forward a more well thought out argument than that..........can't you?

[Gunsmith]

Surfingfreeman,

Brother surfer I am still waiting for your solution to the problem and how it will work? Any chance you letting us know what you would do if you could?

[surfingfreeman]

Not a solution, but have put already forward areas to start. The False equivalency I response to was a low hanging fruit too tempting not to "shoot down" as it were.

[Gunsmith]

I must have missed it because all I remember is start with guns but I don't know what that means?

[Jimb]

Sugar plum fairies and candy Cain trees...virgins and prostitutes...fat ladies and ice cream?

You have to admit, at least it must make you smile to yourself.

Jim

[surfingfreeman]

Cheers to that! Happy Holidays to all!

[RRoller123]

The best solution I can come up with is to ask our public officials to vigorously enforce the existing laws, punish the perps with jailtime, and sweep the streets to get the lion's share of illegal guns off said streets.

[fiat218]