Why are we always on the defensive?

[Carl N. Brown]

The people who want restrictions on legal manufacture, distribition, sales, purchase, ownership and use should be required to demonstrate how their propositions would actually impact bad behavior by bad people, beyond their just claiming it's against guns so it has to be good.

To be justified under article I section 26 of my state's constitution, regulation of arms must impact crime without interferring with lawful, tradition use of arms.

And what is so benign about non-gun violence that we should be obsessed with gun violence only? There is more in common between people who commit gun and non-gun violence than there is between the non-violent people who own or don't own guns.

 

[R.Ph. 380]

Because everyone you either talk to or run into is so da** aggressive

 

[Telemachus]

We are on the offensive. It just doesn't get coverage. Over the past 10 years or so there have been major pushes at the state level to expand gun rights. I'm not quite sure about the date but sometime around 2004, the NRA saw that it wasn't going to be able to make any headway in Congress. The best they could hope for there was to prevent new measures from passing. Instead, they began to work at the state level, slowly pushing forward on gun rights there. Because people are often less interested in their state representation than in their federal representation, the NRA has made good headway in many states. Deep blue states are probably a lost cause.
Regarding media coverage, I don't necessarily think that it is a bad thing that this hasn't gotten a lot of coverage. It has allowed a massive grassroots campaign to flourish.
This all being said, I do think that it is time to start thinking about taking this to the next level. The Hughes amendment and/or sound suppressors would be a good place to start. Either way, we need to be aware that this political climate will not last forever. We need to start thinking about contingency plans either way.

 

[Telemachus]

The number of mass murders per year has remained constant for 30 years. The reason it is such a big deal now, and was not a big deal in the past is communication. National "on the spot" coverage of any event that the media thinks will draw viewers. As pointed out above, this inspires potential mass murderers.

Do you have a link to this? People don't realize how important this is. It applies to many areas other that gc.

 

[zxcvbob]

And what is so benign about non-gun violence that we should be obsessed with gun violence only?

That's how you know they don't really give a damn about the violence, all they care about is the guns.

BTW, the biggest nightclub mass-murder in the US was not a shooting, it was arson. Nobody mentions that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Land_fire
So was the biggest mass-murder at a school: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_School_disaster

 

[JohnKSa]

That's how you know they don't really give a damn about the violence, all they care about is the guns.

There are some folks touting the effectiveness of the Austalian ban by talking about how rare mass shootings are in Australia since the ban.

What they don't mention is that while there are fewer mass SHOOTINGS, the number of mass murders (of all types) in the past few years is actually higher than it was before the ban.

In Australia, over the past 8 years, there have been 7 mass murders as the result of all types of violent attacks. That includes 3 mass shootings (11 victims), two arson attacks (21 victims), 1 blunt instrument attack (5 victims) and one stabbing attack (8 victims).

Prior to the ban, nearly all mass murders were carried out with firearms and they occurred at a lower rate--13 in the 17 years before the ban according to one source. Since the ban, it seems that some mass murderers have switched to other means for carrying out their crime but it hasn't actually reduced how many mass murders take place (7 in the past 8 years).

I guess they think things are better when people are burned, bludgeoned or stabbed to death instead of being shot.

 

[captainamerica]

Mass shootings are certainly awful but even though the attention they get is deserved no one should ever forget, discount, ignore or try to dissuade from the fact that lawful firearms owners protect themselves successfully every day all across America and the total number of deaths, serious bodily injury, and other crimes that would have occurred would likely be astounding; if properly tabulated and properly considered.

Firearms ownership saves many lives and prevents injury/crime every day.