Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues Guns I’ll kill anybody that steps on my property

This was, as are most such incidents, isolated and rare. There are individuals who have such sociopathic tendencies that they eventually commit violence without any sense of perspective or remorse. They exist the world over. I would agree that they exhibit these tendencies more readily and violently when they have ready access to a gun, as it is an instrument that can wreak havoc more efficiently than others, but bladed weapons can also be quite destructive. The fact that they are sensationalized by certain media makes us more aware when they occur, but actual incidence is declining. Perceptions often do not reflect reality.

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Crime in the United States

Naturally, you are more likely to be murdered if you are in a big American city. Giving figures at murders per 100,000 people per year, Baltimore (46) and Detroit (45) have no trouble competing with third-world mayhem, and the District of Columbia (35.8) is neck-and-neck with its namesake, murderous Colombia (36) --- as is New Orleans (35).

This morning, on NPR, I heard that just this past week, there were more murders in Chicago than occurred in that shooting mayhem at the Batman movie.

It is clear that many parts of the United States are already at a level of violence comparable to other failed states.

Unless you Yankees pull up your socks, your whole country could become like so many other gun-crazy places.

It seems unlikely that you will ever have the good sense to try your leaders as war criminals. For that moral failure, the universe may punish you by making you just like all those places to which you have brought "freedom and democracy."

numan does make a good argument.

I daresay that's much more the problem, more than guns anyway.
We could ban all guns completely, set up the most harsh sentences imaginable and I am convinced we would still see an explosion of incidents involving persons whose mental state was already fragile to begin with, stepping over the edge.

Instead of guns, they might resort to other means of mechanized slaughter, or they might just go ahead and use guns anyway, because there's already enough of them sitting around that no law is going to make a difference.

I believe that the problem has a lot more to do with our society, it's overall sense of morale, wellness and stability, and the gun problem is just a symptom.

You know, people seem to forget that it is very easy to MAKE your own guns. I know several people who have the fabrication talents sufficient to manufacture their very own custom made assault weapons.

Guns are NOT, contrary to popular misconception, high tech devices. They're carefully designed and machined to close tolerances but essentially little has changed over the years.

It's very easy to reverse engineer ANY gun.
It's also ridiculously easy to manufacture your own ammo.

What are you gonna do, outlaw lathes and milling equipment?

Ammonia, diesel fuel and fertilizer.
Much scarier than ANY gun could ever DREAM of being.
All you need is a highly decorated hero who is perceived as being above reproach, sufficient propaganda to wind him up into a patriotic frenzy, a Ryder truck and a plan.

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I am glad that you, at least, understand this very important point.
That is why I am constantly emphasizing the tetchiness of Americans, and how unusually common hysteria, or near hysteria, are in the history of America.
There is something essentially wrong with America, and it is very deeply engrained. As you say, I think there is a deep sickness in the sense of morale of the country.
Moreover, I think the most important first step in dealing with that sickness is getting rid of the old outmoded Constitution and creating an up-to-date constitution from scratch.
As long as Americans do not deal with their own mental and moral sickness, they have no business messing about in the rest of the world.

New Constitutions are usually written just before or just after revolutions and are written by the revolutionary forces.
Believe me, Canada does not want to see any sort of violent uprising which might involve armed Americans attempting to take over government and rewrite the rules and I suggest that any attempt to replace the Constitution would be met by every armed American as a threat worth fighting for.
For good or ill, that is the situation as it is and as it shall remain until there is a fundamental change within our society.

Despite the need for that document to be updated ever so slightly there is no chance it will happen within our lifetimes.

It may not be a terribly long time until no one in America is left who has the skill to operate machinery of this nature.
As our population grows our technical skills seem to be in decline.

Burgers and fries don't need to be made to extremely close tolerances.

Ouch, tell us how you REALLY feel, Greger!
I mean, don't hold back or anything!

I never do Jeff. LOL