Gyrobob wrote on 12/17/12 at 04:35:51:I was expecting starry and pescatori to chime in with the "guns are evil, they kill kids" mantra. Standard, baseless, liberal screed,.. never does have a basis in reality.
I thought it almost funny how pescatori made comments about mussolini, hitler, franco, and castro,... all of whom made gun control an immediate national law as soon as they took power. They knew full well they needed a disarmed citizenry in order to kill citizens whenever they needed to.
A few cogent thoughts come to mind:
"Disarming innocent people does not protect innocent people."
Morgan Freeman, noted actor and liberal, offered these thoughts,.. note the last sentence:
"It's because of the way the media reports it. Flip on the news and watch how we treat the Batman theater shooter and the Oregon mall shooter like celebrities. Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris are household names, but do you know the name of a single *victim* of Columbine? Disturbed people who would otherwise just off themselves in their basements see the news and want to top it by doing something worse, and going out in a memorable way. Why a grade school? Why children? Because he'll be remembered as a horrible monster, instead of a sad nobody.
CNN's article says that if the body count "holds up", this will rank as the second deadliest shooting behind Virginia Tech, as if statistics somehow make one shooting worse than another. Then they post a video interview of third-graders for all the details of what they saw and heard while the shootings were happening. Fox News has plastered the killer's face on all their reports for hours. Any articles or news stories yet that focus on the victims and ignore the killer's identity? None that I've seen yet. Because they don't sell. So congratulations, sensationalist media, you've just lit the fire for someone to top this and knock off a day care center or a maternity ward next.
You can help by forgetting you ever read this man's name, and remembering the name of at least one victim. You can help by donating to mental health research instead of pointing to gun control as the problem. You can help by turning off the news."
Gyrobob must think I've something against him... actually, I don't, in fact, I couldn't care less.
On the other hand, when you learn to think of "history" in 100-year blocks,rather than 4-year Presidential terms, "history" comes to have a whole new meaning.
Hitler, Mussolini et al did not outlaw guns to kill off thier kind, in fact, they didn't ban anything at all; for your inforation, Gyrobob, there were possibly more (hand)guns in fascist Italy than in liberal England at the time, and they did come in handy once the Resistance started in 1943.
And I'll drop it off here for the sake of your reputation.
What does attract my attention, on the other hand, is your defining my feelings as "standard, baseless, liberal screed".
OK; I had to look up "screed" to make sure you hadn't mistyped the word.
"Standard" has many meanings, one of which is equivalent to FLAG, so I'll take that as your subconscious acknowledgement that you agree with me.
"Liberal"? I am afraid you haven't got a clue to what "liberal" means, unless you mistake it with "libertarian" or "foolish" or whatever other completely wrong adjective...
But "Baseless"? Baseless my donkey's tushy! I am counting bodies

and you had better start counting them yourself !
As for touring the US, some of you may remember I did tour the US - the Southwest - in June/July 2008, and did have the pleasure to meet Verslagen and Paladin on that occasion.
Did I feel at risk? Dou you see gun racks in pickups in downtown Averageville?

I am not afraid of guns, I've been "enjoying" weapons of all sorts and sizes since the age of 19 and I'll be 53 in two weeks.
I have a number of handguns in the home, none of which can be easily got at, because my house is not at risk of burglary.
(I live on the 5th floor, have an armored front door and it's jolly hard to climb 45ft up a brick wall with your bare hands ...)
I have been employed to keep the peace, and I didn't like it, not because I didn't like the job, but when you are Officer Commanding a Company of recruits, anything can happen and it's always your fault

So I was lucky there.
All in all, Gun Control can be applied as the most basic, simple and easy to use rule, just do as you do with cars:
- you need a driver's license -> you need a shooter's license -> go get trained at a certified shooting range -> train the trainers and certify them too.
- you want a car? License it. You want a gun? Declare it at the Sheriff's Office.
- You want to drive on the open road ? Get insurance. You want to carry in public? Get insurance.
Else, get a "sports" permit which allows you to go to the shooting range, but when in the car the gun must be disassembled and ammo kept in a separate container.
I'm not saying "file the people", I'm just saying "as you do for cars, do for guns".
And if people with Greek lamb chop names stopped offending Forum Members, reading his posts would be more pleasant, too.