It Was Done on Tobacco. It Can Be Done on Guns.

[Lakhota]

Gun "control" and gun "confiscation" are not the same thing...

 

[Clementine]

By Dennis A. Henigan

The American people can overcome the gun lobby, but only if we confront, and expose, three myths that have long dominated the gun debate and given the politicians a ready excuse for inaction.

First, we must not let the opponents of reform get away with the empty bromide that "guns don't kill people, people kill people." Does any rational person really believe that the Sandy Hook killer could have murdered twenty-seven people in minutes with a knife or a baseball bat? Guns enable people to kill, more effectively and efficiently than any other widely available weapon.

Second, we must challenge the idea that no law can prevent violent people from getting guns. This canard is refuted by the experience of every other western industrialized nation. Their violent crime rates are comparable to ours. But their homicide rates are exponentially lower because their strong gun laws make it harder for violent individuals to get guns.

Third, we must not accept the notion that our Constitution condemns us to the continued slaughter of our children. It is true that the Supreme Court has expanded gun rights in recent years; it is equally true that the Court has insisted that the right allows for reasonable restrictions. In his opinion in the Heller Second Amendment case, Justice Scalia listed restrictions on "dangerous and unusual weapons" among the kinds of gun laws that are still "presumptively lawful." Assault weapons that fire scores of rounds without reloading surely are "dangerous and unusual."

The tobacco control movement overcame some equally powerful mythology to fundamentally alter American attitudes toward tobacco products. The tobacco industry's effort to sow confusion and uncertainty about the link between smoking and disease eventually was exposed as a fraud. The entrenched view that smoking was simply a bad habit that individuals can choose to break was destroyed by evidence that the tobacco companies knew that nicotine was powerfully addictive and engineered their cigarettes to ensure that people got hooked and stayed hooked. The assumption that smoking harms only the smoker was contradicted by the overwhelming evidence of the danger of second-hand smoke.

Once these myths were exposed, attitudes changed, policies changed and we started saving countless lives. Since youth smoking peaked in the mid-1990s, smoking rates have fallen by about three-fourths among 8th graders, two-thirds among 10th graders and half among 12th graders. A sea change has occurred on the tobacco issue.

Similarly fundamental change can come to the gun issue as well. The myths about gun control, however, still have a hold on too many of our political leaders and their constituents. We will hear them repeated again and again in the coming weeks of intense debate. Every time we hear them, we must respond and we must persuade.

There is too much at stake to be silent.

More: Dennis A. Henigan: It Was Done on Tobacco. It Can Be Done on Guns

There isn't a Constitution right to Tobacco
There is one for firearms

True.

Also, how many people could a maniac take out with some pipe bombs?

It sucks that there are crazy and violent people in this world. I still want the sane good guys to have more guns than the bad guys. Some might feel secure that the police will arrive before the rapist with aids has a chance to rape his victim. Some are more realistic.

If any gun owner fails to secure their weapons, they should be held accountable.

How many of the guns used in the daily drive-by shootings were purchased legally? And why hasn't anyone sounded the alarms for decades about all the gang violence? One innocent person murdered is one too many and only the mass killings get attention. We could probably come up with hundreds of names and photos of young victims of street crimes. Yes, the problem is bad. We need to get to the root of the problem and stop squeezing the law abiding with more laws.

Reasonable laws are fine, but we all know the left hates guns. We know dictators hate guns. Many evil dictators have murdered their own people, but first they disarmed them.

If the bad guys suddenly start obeying the law instead of purchasing one of the millions of weapons already in stock by other criminals, this would help. It won't help. Connecticut already had stricter gun laws than most and it didn't prevent a damn thing.

The shooter would have found another way to attack that school. Pipe bombs, poisoning the food or some other crazy method. The guy was insane. No, he shouldn't have been near weapons. Was it his mom or dad's fault? The weapons were easy for him to get, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't have found another way to terrorize that school if he didn't have guns.

How can you pick out the crazies when every other person is labeled a threat? We need to get real. It's just as bad with national security when we aren't allowed to point at the most likely threat and TSA picks on little old ladies and children instead.

We are stupid when it comes to security because we are reactionary instead of proactive. Until that changes, we will continue to react to acts of violence with more useless laws that might make people feel good, but otherwise don't accomplish a damn thing.

I heard about a poll on the news and the top concerns among people in this country, regarding the shootings, isn't gun control. They are concerned about mental health and schools being more secure. It shouldn't be that anyone is allowed to walk in any time.

Having security guards, with guns, would help in these cases. Yes, a gun could have been the answer. I'd rather read about a would-be shooter gunned down as he attempted to enter the school carrying a gun.

 

[Avatar4321]

Gun "control" and gun "confiscation" are not the same thing...

So I guess you have no problem if we pass abortion control in an attempt to limit the number of abortions in this country?

 

[Lakhota]

Gun "control" and gun "confiscation" are not the same thing...

So I guess you have no problem if we pass abortion control in an attempt to limit the number of abortions in this country?

WTF? What does abortion have to do with sensible gun control?

 

[bigrebnc1775]

Gun "control" and gun "confiscation" are not the same thing...

So I guess you have no problem if we pass abortion control in an attempt to limit the number of abortions in this country?

WTF? What does abortion have to do with sensible gun control?

There is nothing sensible about gun control.

 

[skye]

The OP says it was done on tobacco..... it was also done in 1919, the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibited the sale and manufacture of alcohol,

Why people always have to bring tobacco into the equation???????

like if tobacco are like guns.

leave cigarettes ALONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

First, we must not let the opponents of reform get away with the empty bromide that "guns don't kill people, people kill people." Does any rational person really believe that the Sandy Hook killer could have murdered twenty-seven people in minutes with a knife or a baseball bat? Guns enable people to kill, more effectively and efficiently than any other widely available weapon.

He might have with a semi-auto rifle not subject to an ‘assault weapon’ ban. Unless the author is advocating all semi-auto rifles be banned, which is clearly un-Constitutional.

Second, we must challenge the idea that no law can prevent violent people from getting guns. This canard is refuted by the experience of every other western industrialized nation. Their violent crime rates are comparable to ours. But their homicide rates are exponentially lower because their strong gun laws make it harder for violent individuals to get guns.

One can’t compare the United States to other Western nations in this regard, American culture is exceedingly more violent. The homicide rates are low in these countries because of their cultures’ attitude toward violence, having little to do with their gun laws. In America violence is acknowledged as a legitimate means of conflict resolution, which no gun restrictions will change.

Third, we must not accept the notion that our Constitution condemns us to the continued slaughter of our children. It is true that the Supreme Court has expanded gun rights in recent years; it is equally true that the Court has insisted that the right allows for reasonable restrictions. In his opinion in the Heller Second Amendment case, Justice Scalia listed restrictions on "dangerous and unusual weapons" among the kinds of gun laws that are still "presumptively lawful." Assault weapons that fire scores of rounds without reloading surely are "dangerous and unusual."

Nonsense.

The Heller Court reaffirmed the doctrine of protected firearms being those ‘in common use,’ there is nothing more common than an AR 15. Firearms not protected must be both dangerous and unusual, not ‘or’; again, there is nothing unusual about an AR 15 that would warrant its prohibition.

The entrenched view that smoking was simply a bad habit that individuals can choose to break was destroyed by evidence that the tobacco companies knew that nicotine was powerfully addictive and engineered their cigarettes to ensure that people got hooked and stayed hooked.

Evidence.

Unlike the harmful effects of smoking, there is no evidence that the availability of a particular type of firearm, or the configuration of a given firearm itself, contributes to gun violence; and there is no evidence that the prohibition of a particular type of firearm will reduce gun violence either.

As with the issues of abortion, illegal immigration, and corruption in campaign financing, there is no quick, easy solution – where bans and restrictions are clearly futile.

 

[Old Rocks]

There are millions of assault weopons out there. So we are not going to go house to house to get them off of the streets. Here is how it can be done.

1. A law that requires you to have the same license for an assault rifle as for a fully automatic gun. If you are caught outside your home with said weopon, the weopon is confiscated and destroyed, and you face jail time, and have a felony offense on your record.

Should you sell or give that gun to someone that does not have said license, it is a felony offense for both of you.

2. If you store your guns, of any type, irresponsibly, and someone takes them and commits a crime with them, you own the crime.

 

[Old Rocks]

Two killed in a mall in Oregon with an AR. 27 killed in a school in Conneticut with an AR. Three wounded in Alabama with an AK.

Yes, the assault weopons are the weopon of choice for the crazies. And the NRA arms the crazies. Time to get these weopons of war off of our streets.

 

[bigrebnc1775]

There are millions of assault weopons out there. So we are not going to go house to house to get them off of the streets. Here is how it can be done.

1. A law that requires you to have the same license for an assault rifle as for a fully automatic gun. If you are caught outside your home with said weopon, the weopon is confiscated and destroyed, and you face jail time, and have a felony offense on your record.

Should you sell or give that gun to someone that does not have said license, it is a felony offense for both of you.

2. If you store your guns, of any type, irresponsibly, and someone takes them and commits a crime with them, you own the crime.

Most gun owners will not comply with that.

 

[bigrebnc1775]

Two killed in a mall in Oregon with an AR. 27 killed in a school in Conneticut with an AR. Three wounded in Alabama with an AK.

Yes, the assault weopons are the weopon of choice for the crazies. And the NRA arms the crazies. Time to get these weopons of war off of our streets.

He was stopped by a armed citizen remember?

 

[skye]

Do whatever you want to do............LEAVE CIGARETTES OUT OF IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[The Infidel]

Hardcore NRA wingnuts need to be thinking about two words: "Compromise" and "Consensus"...

No. we just have to remember 2nd amendment.

It uses the First Amendment to trample the Second Amendment.

 

[Lakhota]

What about high-capacity clips/magazines and drums?

 

[bigrebnc1775]

What about high-capacity clips/magazines and drums?

What about them? they are a reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well regulated militia

 

[Avatar4321]

Gun "control" and gun "confiscation" are not the same thing...

So I guess you have no problem if we pass abortion control in an attempt to limit the number of abortions in this country?

WTF? What does abortion have to do with sensible gun control?

Think about it. We have a second amendment confering the right to bear arms to individuals in the Constitution. While the Constitution doesn't mention abortion at all, we are also told that it is a Constitutional right. If we tried even in the slightest to "infringe" on that right, you'd flip out. Yet, you have no problem curtailing rights actually guarenteed in the Constitution.

I know Im asking alot of you. But think about it for one second and stop being a hypocritical fool.

 

[Avatar4321]

There are millions of assault weopons out there. So we are not going to go house to house to get them off of the streets. Here is how it can be done.

1. A law that requires you to have the same license for an assault rifle as for a fully automatic gun. If you are caught outside your home with said weopon, the weopon is confiscated and destroyed, and you face jail time, and have a felony offense on your record.

Should you sell or give that gun to someone that does not have said license, it is a felony offense for both of you.

2. If you store your guns, of any type, irresponsibly, and someone takes them and commits a crime with them, you own the crime.

So your solution is to turn otherwise law abiding citizens into criminals for exercising their constitutional rights?

 

[bigrebnc1775]

There are millions of assault weopons out there. So we are not going to go house to house to get them off of the streets. Here is how it can be done.

1. A law that requires you to have the same license for an assault rifle as for a fully automatic gun. If you are caught outside your home with said weopon, the weopon is confiscated and destroyed, and you face jail time, and have a felony offense on your record.

Should you sell or give that gun to someone that does not have said license, it is a felony offense for both of you.

2. If you store your guns, of any type, irresponsibly, and someone takes them and commits a crime with them, you own the crime.

So your solution is to turn otherwise law abiding citizens into criminals for exercising their constitutional rights?

If the ends justify the means liberals don't care.

 

[bripat9643]

Hardcore NRA wingnuts need to be thinking about two words: "Compromise" and "Consensus"...

You don't "compromise" your Constitutional rights. Dictators are always talking about "reasonable restrictions." By the time liberal A-holes like you are done, we will have "compromised" away the Bill of Rights. We pretty much already have.

Go fuck yourself.

 

[bripat9643]

That's what you're doing here. You are using a pile of slain dead children to sell your ideas. It's vile, hypocritical and down right low.

Yes, but it's so beautifully liberal!