A Gun on Every Corner

[n2doc]

by Gail Collins

Earlier this month — right between Groundhog Day and Valentine’s Day — Senator John Cornyn of Texas introduced a bill that would allow people from states with lax gun laws to carry their concealed weapons all around the country.

The goal, Cornyn said in a press release, is to treat local gun permits “like drivers’ licenses.”

“This operates more or less like a driver’s license,” he told a reporter for The Hill. “So, for example, if you have a driver’s license in Texas, you can drive in New York, in Utah, and other places subject to the laws in those states.”

This is perfectly reasonable, except for the part about gun permits being anything whatsoever like drivers’ licenses. If a citizen from Mississippi shows his driver’s license to someone in Connecticut, the Connecticut person has good reason to presume that the licensee can, um, drive. It’s not a perfect system — witness the fact that there are many, many licensed drivers in America who have successfully parallel parked only one time in their entire life. But, still, no matter what state it comes from, a driver’s license generally signifies a certain level of accomplishment when it comes to the basics of stopping, starting and steering.

more
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/19/opinion/gail-collins-a-gun-on-every-corner.html?smid=re-share

[daleanime]

1. We will only be safe....

when everybody can kill everybody.

[flamin lib]

2. The comments section is worth reading.

Almost all of them revolve around some variation of "what kind of idiot is this guy?"

However there are the ubiquitous "only criminals will have guns" and gawd given rights.

My favorite though was the comment about marriage licenses. If gun carrying has to be recognized across state lines it is only reasonable that marriage licenses are recognized as well. Don't think John Cornhole will buy into that one.

[TimeToEvolve]

3. bread and circuses, that was how Emperor Caesar entertained the priveliged classes.

during gladiator matches, the audience would hurl weapons into the ring, hoping the gladiators would use them on each other.

our streets, schools and communities have now become the gladiator ring; an enormous circus to entertain the rich and wealthy classes. the NRA and the gun building, warmongering corporate pigs who financially support that group, are flooding the streets of America with millions upon millions of guns of every kind, where the citizens of this country; made psychopathic through cultural engineering, use them on each other in bloody massacre after bloody massacre. Overseeing this are the wealthy and PTB, who see our plight and laugh while they sip their wine and eat their caviar.

Keep in mind that the 2nd amendment was written by a small group of wealthy, white, male slave owners. In theory it sounds good (guns protect us from tyrants, etc), but in practice, in a peaceful, modern democratic society, it fails miserably. The 2nd amendment has not "kept us safe", it has made our communities weaker, and destroys trust between individual persons.

[billh58]

4. From the same article:

“The situation in Florida is dire enough on its own. But this law would present a danger to the rest of us because of Florida’s abhorrently low standards,” said Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. “Think about this in terms of states’ rights.”

You’d think that states’ rights would be a winning argument. However, as with so many, many things in this world, states’ rights is a theory that people only like when it’s going to get them something they already want.

In many crowded cities, gun safety means there’s almost nobody carrying but the cops. But it’s impossible to keep that kind of order when people are roaming the streets waving out-of-town gun permits, which local police frequently have no way to verify.

“It’s a nightmare for New York law enforcement,” said Senator Charles Schumer of New York. “In 20 states you can have a repeated history of mental health police visits and you can get a gun. You can have a domestic violence record. In many states, people subject to emergency orders of protection can be allowed to carry.”

The right-wing gun lobby and their neoconservative TeaBilly supporters want to turn the entire USA into an armed society of "anti-government" extremists.

As stated above, we need to support the cause of reason and Liberalism in order to combat the efforts of these gun nuts. Lend your support, and make your vote for supporters of gun control count in every election from the local, County, State, and Federal level.