Gun-control returns as campaign issue

[donsu]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070418/ap_on_el_pr/virginia_tech_gun_control2008;_ylt=AuqRFvB9KpYlMNCGH4NP.c_MWM0F


Republican presidential candidate John McCain (news, bio, voting record) declared Wednesday he believes in "no gun control," making the strongest affirmation of support for gun rights in the GOP field since the Virginia Tech massacre.

-snip-

GOP rival Rudy Giuliani, too, voiced his support for the Second Amendment on Wednesday, but not in such absolute terms. Once an advocate of strong federal gun controls, the former New York mayor said "this tragedy does not alter the Second Amendment" while indicating he favors the right of states to pass their own restrictions.

Other candidates in both parties have stayed largely silent on the issue in the immediate aftermath of the killings, except to express their sorrow.

-snip-

Democrats have been deliberately muted for months on an issue that, by their own reckoning, contributed to and perhaps sealed their defeat in the 2000 presidential election. That's when Al Gore's call for gun registration cost him votes in rural America and dulled the party's appetite for taking on the gun lobby.

-snip-

The other New Yorker in this race, Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, also supported proposals for state-issued photo gun licenses, as well as a national registry for handgun sales, in positions laid out for crime-weary New Yorkers in 2000.

-snip-

Democratic candidate John Edwards, despite recently highlighting his boyhood outings hunting birds, rabbits and deer as well as his respect for gun ownership rights, backed his party's main gun control measures when he was in the Senate.

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record), as a state lawmaker in the 1990s
-snip-
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will the dems still be afraid of the gun lobby or will they act.

[Captain Hilts]

1. Handguns are designed to kill people. They're not for hunting, etc.

I don't have a hard time with people owning rifles.

[Craftsman]

7. I killed 3 hogs this past year with a handgun

It is more of a challenge that way.

[donsu]

8. did the hog think it was a challenge?

nt

[Craftsman]

10. Hogs are varmints and tear up crops and ranch land

and are treated as such. And with that attitude some wonder why the rural Americans who once were solid democrat, aren't anymore.

[donsu]

11. you didn't say it was a wild hog

why aren't rural americans democrats anymore?

[Craftsman]

12. Many left over guns.

[donsu]

13. what do you mean?

nt

[Craftsman]

18. Gun Control is a losing issue with many in the south

It has pushed many to the rethugs. If the party keeps supporting gun bans of any sort they will keep losing in the south. And no Democrat president has won in living memory with out at least winning a few southern states.

[donsu]

19. why is the south so obsessed with guns that they would vote neo con?

nt

[Craftsman]

23. Good question? But it does not matters, it is not changing anytime soon

So if the dems want to win they have to make peace with the NRA.

[Captain Hilts]

27. It's not just the South, it's PA, ND, NH, etc. Rural areas. nt

[Captain Hilts]

22. That's DemocratIC President, pal, not Democrat President. nt

[mtnsnake]

16. Let us know when you kill a wild hog with your bare hands

Then maybe someone will be impressed.

[Captain Hilts]

25. I'll bet they enjoyed being killed slowly. nt

[mtnsnake]

14. and they're easily concealed.

I'd have no problem with seeing all handguns banned (unless for antique purposes) and the second amendment wouldn't have to be screwed over. People would still have their right to bear arms. Constitution remains intact and United States murders and deaths by handguns would drop drastically like they did in every other sane country that controls handguns.

[Captain Hilts]

24. People can join a "well regulated militia" or have a musket. nt

[Na Gael]

21. Your statement is false.

Handguns can, and are used quite frequently for hunting. In your opinion, handguns are ineffective hunting weapons. I much prefer the poster killing feral hogs with a handgun, as opposed to a rifle. Bullets from hunting rifles have quite a range, some can carry for over a mile. If you are going to rail against certain guns, please educate yourself.

Guns are not the issue, they are a means. Someone who wants to commit mass-murder will not be deterred if handguns are made illegal. They aren't going to grab a knife, as some have suggested.

Our problem aren't guns. We talk the talk, but neglect to walk the walk. Our problem is the fact that we argue about gun control, indecency...then as a society, we go and rent, "Smokin' Aces," and leave our unsupervised children who knows where, doing who knows what. Then, we pacify them with their wants. They grow up thinking they are owed something, and that life is about "bling," getting it by any means necessary. Not to mention the disgusting state our mental health is currently in. Those kids get the same kind of pressure I stated previously, but have diminished capacity to deal with the stress and anxiety society puts on them. Most everyone to some degree is guilty of neglection of our society. I know I am, but I'm trying really hard to do more.

So before anyone says its this issue, or that issue...Take a look around you, there are A LOT of issues lending to the gut-wrenching acts of violence today.

[Captain Hilts]

26. Why do Canadians, per capita, kill each other much less often? Stricter gun laws.

This looney would have killed no matter what, but the truth of the matter is he should not have been eligible to buy those guns.

I've no problem with rifles.

[Na Gael]

29. Got a reference for that inductively reasoned opinion?

It's also against the law when he scratched the serial numbers off those weapons. What is your point?
I do believe he broke the law when purchasing those weapons under current law, as he had to fill out a questionaire concerning his mental history.

Furthermore, you believe he would have killed no matter what. If there were no handguns in the world, what do you suppose he would have used? I think he would have gone down bomb road myself, as suggested by his previous bomb threats. Are 30+ dead, but killed by a bomb more digestable to you? The bottom line is, he was going to do this up regardless of the means. The travesty: He was not helped to remedy his derangement long before this ever became a situation.

[slackmaster]

2. McCain is a lying son of a bitch, Guiliani and Romney are flip-floppers

I hope we can come up with SOMEONE who isn't as dirty as all of the GOP front-runners.

[Crazy Dave]

3. Is it really necessary?

Anybody determined to kill that many people is going to do it one way or another. Can't buy a gun at Walmart....then use the Oklahoma, Timothy McVeigh option. When are we going to start having fertilizer control laws?

[donsu]

4. it's really necessary

and man made fertilizer needs regulated too as it is polluting our land, water and food

[Crazy Dave]

6. First they make laws and restrictions just to say they did....

....then they create legal loopholes or don't enforce the laws already on the books so that they can have it both ways.
Just another distraction from the problems that really need attention.

Edit - More than 32 people died in this nation last year from lack of adequate health care and in an illegal war.

[donsu]

9. true

nt

[yellowcanine]

5. Once again Rudy toody tries to have it both ways......

the former New York mayor said "this tragedy does not alter the Second Amendment" while indicating he favors the right of states to pass their own restrictions.

So Rudy, how does that work when your batshit crazy NRA supporters think the Second Amendment says states cannot pass their own restrictions?

[JustFiveMoreMinutes]

15. Maybe firming up Background Checks and Mental Health

... should be the bigger issues at the moment than Gun Control.

[donsu]

17. how do you firm up background checks?

nt

[JustFiveMoreMinutes]

20. Actually, I'll plead ignorance on what CONSTITUTES a background check

... but would think Restraining Orders, court ordered mental health issues, and the like should be reported on and evaluated.

After all, if I forget to pay my credit card one month, it's on my 'record' for 7 years. Seems like our 'Credit Check' is more thorough than 'background'.

[donsu]

28. true

nt