(July 9, 2011 at 4:12 pm)LastPoet Wrote: Of course making guns harder to get won't end gun deaths Paul, neither will end crime. But it will increase the difficulty that much. Its like:
"What's the point in making anti DUI campaigns? People will still drive drunk!"
"What's the point in making anti tobacco campaigns? People will still smoke and die from it!"
Those examples are not the same thing as the gun issue. DUI campaigns are meant to discourage drunk driving. In the 'carrot and the stick' it is the stick. Anti-smoking campaigns are designed to educate people about the dangerous effects of smoking. Gun control laws keep guns out of the hands of people that weren't going to shoot anyone with them, but leaves them in the hands of those who are. That's why I consider it an ineffective attempt at a solution to gun related crime.
I think people are fooling themselves if they think making guns harder to obtain legally will lower the actual number of guns in existence or the number owned by the criminal element. Remember, Roderick Dantzler (from the original post) did not own his gun legally. That didn't stop him from having (and using) one. So much for the law preventing gun violence.
(July 9, 2011 at 4:12 pm)LastPoet Wrote: The point is not to end gun deaths, it is to DECREASE them. Even if increasing the difficulty of getting guns saved only one life it would be worth it. I don't say to prohibit them completely, but make it harder to get. To have a gun here legally for instance, you need a physical and psychiatric evaluation, then take a few lessons on handling guns
Okay. So you successfully prevent anyone that doesn't pass the rigorous physical and psychiatric evaluations, or complete the 'gun safety' training, or has a criminal record (etc) from owning a gun. Guess what. The number of shootings only decreases incrementally... as you've probably prevented a few accidental shootings... but crime? It doesn't even notice. All you've done is kept guns out of the hands of people that were not, in all likelihood, ever going to shoot anyone.
You could go so far as outlaw guns across the board and they would still exist... and criminals would still have them... and use them.
