You are only as safe and stable as your neighbor, the gunman

[mdmc]

We have the right to bear arms, but we do not have the right to mental health treatment.

I must admit that I am a Bill of Rights purist. I don't use much political capital fighting to curb the second amendment. Perhaps this will change.

I have always passionately advocated for mental health parity.

Mental health coverage will make America safer. I want my political party to fight for mental health coverage.

I don't care who we run in 2008 - I want mental health parity on the table. I want health care on the table. I want... so much. What do you want to see from our party in 2008?

[BOSSHOG]

1. I'll continue my aggravation of some

We have the right to bear arms FOR THE PURPOSE OF DEFENDING THE COUNTRY. Just like it says in the constitution. The NRA does not like that distinction so they spend millions claiming the second amendment is ambiguous. Meanwhile more will die because the NRA wants it to be easy for people to get their hands on deadly weapons.

[uppityperson]

2. thank you. Too many start from "right ot have guns", I see OP didn't but still thank you.

[mdmc]

3. I hear you. Our country has so many enemies

both foreign and domestic.

Does a man have the right to bear arms against the KKK (especially if the local law enforcement is complicit in the KKK)?

Does a man have the right to bear arms against a street gang (especially when the local cops have given up some "ghetto" "turf" to the gangs in order to secure the suburbs)?

[BOSSHOG]

4. I would suggest

that your argument is irrelevant to my logic. I'm not commenting on gun ownership or gun control or any other aspects of the argument. I'm clearly stating what the second amendment says and as conservatives would insist I am reading it without prejudice.

I believe the amendment should be canked and rewritten to include the realities of the 21st century.

[mdmc]

8. I agree with you regarding the second amendment

It was written to keep the King out of our hair, imho. It is all in how we interpret it today.

Abortion isn't a constitution right, but out interpretation of the Constitution (that citizens should have the right to privacy, right to medical treatment by a doctor) grants us this as a right (as of today. TSCOTUS is chipping away, as usual).

Without a doubt I agree with the idea that we, as a society, have an absolute right to regulate weapons / arms. We have the right to interpret the Bill of Rights, and to draw conclusions as to what is allows.

The 2nd amendment could be construed to claim that only soldiers and cops have the right to bear arms. It is up to society to decide what the second amendment allows.

[BOSSHOG]

10. Kinda !

Its up to society to decide? Wouldn't it be great if that weren't necessary? That we had a definitive amendment which in no way was subject to interpretation. I do not offer what it should include but I would that hope once such a document was written there would be absolutely zero chance of dispute about its wording. And I also would hope that any NRA input would be tempered with sanity.

[mdmc]

15. kick

:hi:

[AndyA]

6. I keep thinking of those idiots driving around aggressively in pickup trucks,

no consideration or respect for anyone else on the road. They tail gate, speed, swerve, honk, shout at you, cut you off, etc.

Someone who acts like that when behind the wheel of a vehicle that could be a deadly weapon should not have a gun. They are not responsible enough.

And all too often, they're the ones with the NRA and "You can have my gun when you pry it from my cold hands" stickers on their vehicles.

[BOSSHOG]

9. Interesting

because that's what they did to cho, they took his gun from his cold dead hands.

[mdmc]

11. murder suicides are the crime of the future... crime of right now

recently a couple of good local dems ended up in a messy foreclosure / divorce. It ended with both dead. One murdered, the other, suicide.

I was once mugged by two kids, age 12 and 15. They came up behind me and knocked me down. The younger one looked scared to death as he pointed a shiv (some sort of ghetto knife) menacingly at me. The other went to kick me and punch me, but was too afraid to get too close, as I might grab him and beat the shit out of him (I was bigger then both of them). "Give me the money he kept yelling." They had just watched me deliver a pizza, so they knew I had some money on me.
I know that if I had a gun, I would have killed them both. There would have been no way to suppress the flight or fight reaction I had to this mugging.
I would have kept my 12 bucks, and these little thugs would have lost their lives.

I guess I am glad that I didn't have a gun when these kids mugged me. Sure, I would have been "safer" (they wouldn't have mugged me). Sure the ghetto would have had two less "poor thugs" on the street (I would have killed them).
I just don't think I could handle the knowledge that I ended their lives.

Sorry to rant on, BOSSHOG. Peace and low stress to you.

[BOSSHOG]

12. Rant on my friend

My law breaking is limited to a speeding ticket in 1984. I carried a weapon in the military and fortunately I never had to use it. My neighbor has a registered handgun and I'm glad he has it. He stayed behind in our neighborhood after katrina to ward off looters. I appreciate that he had it but did not have to use it. I do not appreciate that cho had his weapon. The NRA is not so flexible. Fuck you and me and our families. The right to bear arms, regardless of who suffers because of it.

[mdmc]

13. so do you think the dem party is unified enough to take on the nra

I personally don't, but that shouldn't stop us. Someone has to do something...

[JuniperLea]

5. Mental health coverage will make America safer

That is the bottom line. You cannot take all the guns out of the country; it's stupid to think that can happen, really, really stupid. Just like prohibition, people will find a way. Drugs are illegal too, but we all now how prevalent they are in society.

We are forever putting the horse before the cart on this issue. Mental health is the bottom line. You can have a country full of guns, but if you have a sound mental health system... well, just look at Canada for example.

If we take care of the country's mental health issues, most of what we are arguing about will take care of itself. Less paranoia, less hate, fewer murders...

I'm sick to death of hearing about the goddamn guns already! We know that tact won't bear fruit right now, but it might later on down the road if we take care of the more pressing issue, mental health.

[mdmc]

16. kick

:kick:

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

7. What do I want from the Party? Health care and peace

It's nice to imagine that if the Democrats had the house, senate, and white house, we might be able to get those things. Some environmental improvement would be a plus, too, but that's a little lower on my priority list.

But I doubt we get any of that. We'll get the usual pile of pork and some feel-good legislation. Maybe even more gun control, so we can hand the majority back to the Repubs in 2010.

[EFerrari]

14. Right on. Mental Health Parity in '08

:toast: