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

[Rustic]

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

Washington Redskin
That dude is a fucking pussy, and has no common sense whatsoever just like you. Stay out of the fucking fire water

 

[FA_Q2]

The 2nd Amendment is sooo confusing and obsolete. Trying to live modern life according to the Constitution is much like trying to live modern life according to the Bible. Both are obsolete and subject to vast interpretations. Anyone here belong to a militia? Know anyone who belongs to a militia? I don't...

It is only confusing to people like you that want to force it to mean something that it does not. The language in the second is plain and pretty straight forward. It is easy to understand for anyone that is not trying to force it into a preconceived position.

If it is so outdated then the solution is pretty straight forward - the constitution has a method built into it that allows changes to be made.

 

[Rustic]

Still standing on that pile of dead children, heh?

I saw a story on the news last night where the town wanted the reporters to leave. So what did they do? Made a story about it, of course. They're pushing product, you see. And they are willing to stand on people, even dead ones to air their news. ad nauseam.

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.

i would not expect anything less from lakhota. It and others are preforming to expectations.

don't mind Washington Redskin

The firewater is his constant friend

 

[The2ndAmendment]

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.

The only part of American culture that sees violence as a legitimate means of conflict resolution are the 65-85 IQ dark skinned inner city savages. Hence the murder and crime rates in their towns and cities (despite the strict gun control laws, aka Ch-Iraq = Chicago)

 

[Lakhota]

Will Vegas be the straw that breaks the NRA's back? We'll see...

 

[Chuz Life]

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

NEED?

Compromise?

No!

Fuck you.

The answer is NO.

 

[Andylusion]

Will Vegas be the straw that breaks the NRA's back? We'll see...

No. It won't. End of story.

 

[Lakhota]

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

NEED?

Compromise?

No!

Fuck you.

The answer is NO.

We'll see. BTW, your avatar is creepy as hell.

 

[Markle]

The 2nd Amendment is sooo confusing and obsolete. Trying to live modern life according to the Constitution is much like trying to live modern life according to the Bible. Both are obsolete and subject to vast interpretations. Anyone here belong to a militia? Know anyone who belongs to a militia? I don't...

Not confusing at all if you took and passed English grammar and punctuation in grammar school.

 

[Markle]

If the Constitution doesn't restrict tobacco - then it must be an inherent right.

Yes, petulant President Barack Hussein Obama believes that is what is wrong with our constitution.

 

[turtledude]

How did that shooter get 20 guns in his hotel room? It's been reported they included .223 and .308 calibers.

probably because hotel security is to prevent people cheating at the "games of chance" not setting up a sniper's nest

 

[BuckToothMoron]

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

Eww, a couple of little glitches in the tobacco/guns comparison. First, tobacco hasn’t gone away, people still use it and die from it. Second, if you try to take someone’s cigarettes away, they probably will,just blow smoke in your face. Now what do you suppose will,happen when you try to confiscate someone’s gun.

 

[Little-Acorn]

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

Leftist hysterics need to be thinking about four words: "Shall", "not", "be", "infringed".

 

[Dale Smith]

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

Leftist hysterics need to be thinking about four words: "Shall", "not", "be", "infringed".

Most of these mass shooting events have been Operation Gladio style psy-ops perpetrated by deep state operatives and if anyone did even a smidgen of research into the Aurora movie theater shooting, Sandy Hook, San Bernardino, the Boston Bombing, the Orlando niteclub shooting and just recently this pathetically inept "lone crazed gunman" in Las Vegas? You would find enough holes to drive a tank through as it pertains to the official narrative. Go back and research the Port Arthur shooting in Australia that basically disarmed the people and you will be told that some mentally retarded man with an I.Q score of around 73 was an incredible sharpshooter with an incredible kill ratio. The Dunblane shooting as well has many holes in it. It's the Hegelian Dialectic........cause, affect, solution with that solution always taking away the God-given rights of the people.

Leftard commies like Lakhota do not want Americans to be able to defend themselves from a potential tyrannical government that would be communist in nature.

 

[Lakhota]

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

Leftist hysterics need to be thinking about four words: "Shall", "not", "be", "infringed".

Most of these mass shooting events have been Operation Gladio style psy-ops perpetrated by deep state operatives and if anyone did even a smidgen of research into the Aurora movie theater shooting, Sandy Hook, San Bernardino, the Boston Bombing, the Orlando niteclub shooting and just recently this pathetically inept "lone crazed gunman" in Las Vegas? You would find enough holes to drive a tank through as it pertains to the official narrative. Go back and research the Port Arthur shooting in Australia that basically disarmed the people and you will be told that some mentally retarded man with an I.Q score of around 73 was an incredible sharpshooter with an incredible kill ratio. The Dunblane shooting as well has many holes in it. It's the Hegelian Dialectic........cause, affect, solution with that solution always taking away the God-given rights of the people.

Leftard commies like Lakhota do not want Americans to be able to defend themselves from a potential tyrannical government that would be communist in nature.

Yeah, let us know when you have access to bazookas, tanks, fighter jets, etc. - like the government has.

 

[Windparadox]

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

`
Excellent article.

 

[Dale Smith]

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

Leftist hysterics need to be thinking about four words: "Shall", "not", "be", "infringed".

Most of these mass shooting events have been Operation Gladio style psy-ops perpetrated by deep state operatives and if anyone did even a smidgen of research into the Aurora movie theater shooting, Sandy Hook, San Bernardino, the Boston Bombing, the Orlando niteclub shooting and just recently this pathetically inept "lone crazed gunman" in Las Vegas? You would find enough holes to drive a tank through as it pertains to the official narrative. Go back and research the Port Arthur shooting in Australia that basically disarmed the people and you will be told that some mentally retarded man with an I.Q score of around 73 was an incredible sharpshooter with an incredible kill ratio. The Dunblane shooting as well has many holes in it. It's the Hegelian Dialectic........cause, affect, solution with that solution always taking away the God-given rights of the people.

Leftard commies like Lakhota do not want Americans to be able to defend themselves from a potential tyrannical government that would be communist in nature.

Yeah, let us know when you have access to bazookas, tanks, fighter jets, etc. - like the government has.

So what you are saying is that the American people should simply surrender, eh? If communists didn't fear an armed citizenry, they wouldn't bother to take them away, no? The first thing a dictator does is disarm the populace and why is that? He has the full backing of his military so what does he have to fear????? Comments, Lakhota?????

I shan't hold my breath for a coherent and thoughtful response......

 

[Chuz Life]

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

Leftist hysterics need to be thinking about four words: "Shall", "not", "be", "infringed".

Most of these mass shooting events have been Operation Gladio style psy-ops perpetrated by deep state operatives and if anyone did even a smidgen of research into the Aurora movie theater shooting, Sandy Hook, San Bernardino, the Boston Bombing, the Orlando niteclub shooting and just recently this pathetically inept "lone crazed gunman" in Las Vegas? You would find enough holes to drive a tank through as it pertains to the official narrative. Go back and research the Port Arthur shooting in Australia that basically disarmed the people and you will be told that some mentally retarded man with an I.Q score of around 73 was an incredible sharpshooter with an incredible kill ratio. The Dunblane shooting as well has many holes in it. It's the Hegelian Dialectic........cause, affect, solution with that solution always taking away the God-given rights of the people.

Leftard commies like Lakhota do not want Americans to be able to defend themselves from a potential tyrannical government that would be communist in nature.

Yeah, let us know when you have access to bazookas, tanks, fighter jets, etc. - like the government has.

If (when?) "We the people" reach the point where our founding fathers did and we actually do have to take up arms and fight another revolutionary war to secure our freedoms again. . . Do you seriously have doubts that "we the people" will have and use all those weapons and more?

 

[The2ndAmendment]

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

Leftist hysterics need to be thinking about four words: "Shall", "not", "be", "infringed".

Most of these mass shooting events have been Operation Gladio style psy-ops perpetrated by deep state operatives and if anyone did even a smidgen of research into the Aurora movie theater shooting, Sandy Hook, San Bernardino, the Boston Bombing, the Orlando niteclub shooting and just recently this pathetically inept "lone crazed gunman" in Las Vegas? You would find enough holes to drive a tank through as it pertains to the official narrative. Go back and research the Port Arthur shooting in Australia that basically disarmed the people and you will be told that some mentally retarded man with an I.Q score of around 73 was an incredible sharpshooter with an incredible kill ratio. The Dunblane shooting as well has many holes in it. It's the Hegelian Dialectic........cause, affect, solution with that solution always taking away the God-given rights of the people.

Leftard commies like Lakhota do not want Americans to be able to defend themselves from a potential tyrannical government that would be communist in nature.

Yeah, let us know when you have access to bazookas, tanks, fighter jets, etc. - like the government has.

We have access to vehicles of mass destruction!

 

[FA_Q2]

^ BAN TRUCKS!!!!

We do not want liberty - we want security.

/sarcasm