6237

I guess I never understood the argument that we can’t put restrictions on certain type of guns.Even if we have the right to bear arms, why do people think that means people have the right to bear any class of weapons they want without restrictions?

The one good thing Trump did was ban bump stocks.

6238

Great article. Stevens just doesn’t understand that this is a shithole country with shithole people.

Until Heller , the invalidity of Second Amendment–based objections to firearms regulations had been uncontroversial. The first two federal laws directly restricting the civilian use and possession of firearms—the 1927 act prohibiting mail delivery of handguns and the 1934 act prohibiting the possession of sawed-off shotguns and machine guns—were enacted over minor Second Amendment objections that were dismissed by the vast majority of legislators participating in the debates. After reviewing many of the same sources that are discussed at greater length by Scalia in his majority opinion in Heller, the Miller Court unanimously concluded that the Second Amendment did not apply to the possession of a firearm that did not have “some relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well regulated militia.” And in 1980, in a footnote to an opinion upholding a conviction for receipt of a firearm, the Court effectively affirmed Miller , writing: “[T]he Second Amendment guarantees no right to keep and bear a firearm that does not have ‘some reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well regulated militia.’”

So well settled was the issue that, speaking on the PBS NewsHour in 1991, the retired Chief Justice Warren Burger described the National Rifle Association’s lobbying in support of an expansive interpretation of the Second Amendment in these terms: “One of the greatest pieces of fraud, I repeat the word fraud , on the American public by special-interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime.”

Even if the lobbyists who oppose gun-control regulation actually do endorse the dubious proposition that the Second Amendment was intended to limit the federal power to regulate the civilian use of handguns—that Burger incorrectly accused them of “fraud”—I find it incredible that policy makers in a democratic society have failed to impose more effective regulations on the ownership and use of firearms than they have.

6239

I don’t know where to put shit like this anymore so here you go.

Seems plausible. I mean, every time I hear about another school shooting, I just assume it was perpetrated by a Muslim. Oops, misspelled “white guy”.

6240

Seriously, these School shootings are always some white guy.

6241

Yeah, but the next one will assuredly be a deep state terror agent from a brown country and WE MUST BE VIGILANT! They’re just probing our school defenses with these white sympathizers, preparing for the main assault.

6242

They should just ask the most socially dysfunctional goth gamer outcast to play the part of the shooter.

6243

You know we’re numb when 11 people are killed in yet another shooting and no one’s mentioned it yet.

6244

I’ve been numb since Sandy Hook, although the Parkland teens stirred me out of my torpor a bit.

6245

The price of freedom, y’all.

6246

I thought this was compelling and nicely written. So I’m sharing it with you!

6247

What the fuck did I just read? That was just weird.

6248

It felt like he wants to hate guns but oh man it feels so good to shoot one,oh boy! I don’t really get the point of the article but maybe it’s just me.

6249

Great, but based in that logic, we should all be shooting up heroin. I am told that feels pretty good as well

6250

As the saying goes: If god made anything better he kept it for himself. Still not recommended. Trust me.

6251

That was my reaction too. Bizarre, that piece.

6252

I agree as would the author I presume. But I thought it was the good kind of bizarre and confusing because that sums up his experience. No simple narrative or clear answers, but a unique emotional experience.

6253

I’ll never truly understand the obsession some people have with guns. I’ve been shooting when I was younger, with Boy Scouts and a family friend. Just want for me I guess. I have a bow and love to shoot at targets. It’s fun, challenging, and usually involves some nice time outside. I don’t hunt and would never use it in that manner. It’s kid safe as it takes quite a bit of effort to string it. Even if someone had a bow and went nuts in a crowd, you could maybe hit one or two people at most before getting tackled. And any injuries wouldn’t likely be fatal anyways. Much less dangerous than a machete or long knife I would think.

Maybe a bow wouldn’t evoke the feeling of power or whatever it is that compels a person to need something that exists solely to kill multiple people in a short period of time. I don’t know. I also enjoy shooter type games, using the big guns that can wreck my imaginary enemies. But no computer gun is actually able to kill anyone. And my daughters will never pick one up and accidentally blow their heads off.

Anyway, nothing new, just think I’ll never really understand why our country is obsessed with them.

6254

It definitely takes a lot of work to understand someone else’s perspective. I don’t blame you if you don’t want to really take the time.

For me it’s been worth the investment to understand how a liberal thinks, for example, because it removes the frustration and the emotion behind it. I understand exactly how values and beliefs shape someone’s opinion and how difficult it is to change those. At that point it’s a scientific curiosity and I can leave it be.

6255

Shooting at the mall down the street from me a little bit ago. Luckily not of the mass variety this time.

6257

Thoughts and prayers.