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...If the bulk of our society doesn't push back, this will continue to worsen....

...I understand your desire for a political viable process to change things for the better. Unfortunately, it's just not going that direction. ...

If I may be so bold, I suggest you are not as jaded as your reply suggests.

I think the answer to the 2nd phrase quoted above is the 1st phrase quoted above.

We have to find ground upon which to unite and push back. It's either that or just give up like a weak quitter.
 
I'd take a slightly broader view. It's not so much left winning, right losing, or even about freedom to bear arms.
It's a decent into regulation of most people's daily lives. Restriction of all real freedom. You know, the good ol Nanny state.

Almost everyone I know complains about the encroaching nanny state all the time.

The leftists all want it.

The center and right do not want it, but cannot find ground upon which to unite to oppose it.

Back to issue:

Is there a line between who should and should not have protection of a right to arms? If so, where and how is it drawn?
 
I understand your point, but the "bad people access" is being effectively used as justification for ending all access.
There may be a trade-off at some point. A required psych exam in order to possess a firearm. In such a scenario, you would still be permitted to have a gun, but you'd have to demonstrate (to the practical extent possible) that you aren't crazy.

US Code 18 section 922 only covers known "crazy" people, and on the 4474, the government relies on the applicant to be truthful. Not always reliable. But the bigger problem are the unknown crazy people. Which a psych exam would expand knowledge of. I'm glad I don't have to decide any of this; I no longer have a dog in the fight because I won't be buying any more guns. But I sure as heck don't want to get shot by a crazy person.

It's a very real problem that many people on the left believe the only way to keep crazy people from having guns is to eliminate ownership for all.
 
I'm self-employed, but I remember when a portion of my paycheck was missing every week--it sucked but of course, those working for a paycheck have zero choice in the matter
Neat-O
What were you referring to when you said, "someone who finds enjoyment in killing animals and ripping their guts out as a pass time?"
To be brief, as I'm getting tired of back and forth quoting, from a mental health perspective, and therefore some people's opinion that certain other shouldn't have guns, I don't see how wearing knives makes one riskier than applying death and dismemberment for fun. That's it. I'm with you on "where's the line" and how it's odd the line is blurry at best
 
Oof .
Man , it's tough to say but I think everyone should be able to access any object or substance in the normal course of living their lives. Citizen is a big word that some just don't want to recognize.

Yup , full auto, cocaine and opiates, 200mph cars ,sex robots. Freedom is an absolute.

Send me the flames, I know they're on the way.
 
Last Edited:
There may be a trade-off at some point. A required psych exam in order to possess a firearm. In such a scenario, you would still be permitted to have a gun, but you'd have to demonstrate (to the practical extent possible) that you aren't crazy.

US Code 18 section 922 only covers known "crazy" people, and on the 4474, the government relies on the applicant to be truthful. Not always reliable. But the bigger problem are the unknown crazy people. Which a psych exam would expand knowledge of. I'm glad I don't have to decide any of this; I no longer have a dog in the fight because I won't be buying any more guns. But I sure as heck don't want to get shot by a crazy person.

It's a very real problem that many people on the left believe the only way to keep crazy people from having guns is to eliminate ownership for all.
Uh ,
Salem 1692/93?
 
I understand your point, but the "bad people access" is being effectively used as justification for ending all access.

That's a reality. It is actually happening.

The "freedom isn't free" argument is not untrue, but it won't succeed in preserving the citizen right to arms. It is not a politically viable course of action.
You can stand on a stump and yell it for 20 years, but when you come off that stump, 2A will be long dead.
I know im not swaying anyome with that... But thats not my intent with the post...

But here among fellow shooters it should go without saying. There is no room for wishy washy gun owners in the pro-2A movement.
 
There is no simple solution to the quandary faced by an armed citizenry that wants minimal or no infringement on their right to arms, but also wants a way to prevent crazy people from shooting up schools.

This is more about whether some line should exist, and how to draw it, and where it is drawn.
I'll take a stab at the dilemma your proposing. To me its simple, I would be more open to regulations if the regulations were not based on a prohibition model.

So what line should exist is one that puts the responsibility on the person committing the crime, not the honest lawful gun owners. We can talk about preventing crazy people from getting guns when the anti-gun politicians stop passing laws that disarm the honest good guys with guns, eg: SB544.
 
...

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I'll take a stab at the dilemma your proposing. To me its simple, I would be more open to regulations if the regulations were not based on a prohibition model.

So what line should exist is one that puts the responsibility on the person committing the crime, not the honest lawful gun owners. We can talk about preventing crazy people from getting guns when the anti-gun politicians stop passing laws that disarm the honest good guys with guns, eg: SB544.
You cannot legislate personal responsibility. Period. This is a purely factual statement.

Personal responsibility is something I take for my own actions. You or I cannot force anyone to be responsible.
Punishment for lack of responsibility doesn't reverse the irresponsible actions.
 
You cannot legislate personal responsibility. Period. This is a purely factual statement.
Sure you can, we are all held responsible to follow the laws. You cannot legislate common sense but you can make someone accountable to any law. I don't really care how we philosophically look at the subject, as long as the law doesn't affect the lawful person.
 
The OP said:

My goal would be to make Brady/NICS work now, and spend ~20 years effectively improving management of crime and mental illness, and then scale back or eliminate background check requirements after we bring crime and mental illness under more effective control.
I should say this: I am interested in solutions that are politically viable. I like the idea of nullifying Brady over night, but I don't think that is a politically viable solution.

The problem with this is that the Government never backs off on any authority it has been given. There are instances where they have been forced to back off by the courts, but never willingly.

For example, look at the policy of not enforcing shoplifting laws. This is not the government "backing off." It is the government modifying policy to achieve a goal (the eventual imposition of totalitarian rule) by using that particular power. Call it "passive-aggressive."

The best we could hope for is holding the line at the current level of background checks, while pushing for improvements in mental health and holding criminals accountable.
 
My suggestion is that the broader issue is neither about knife-guy or animal-killer. If I'm hearing you correctly, my response would be that the varmint-shooting issue is part of a broader dominion argument, which no one is making here, so it's a red herring here.

The issue here is an observation that a lot of people on this board who oppose any form of gun control are quick to marginalize other people based on appearance, and an excellent question was raised: not whether knifeguy was a nutjob, but whether many members on this board have a personal line they use to distinguish between who should have a gun and who shouldn't.

That personal issue is not actually a personal issue. It is a societal issue.

And only one side of the argument is in agreement: the left side.

The left side agrees that no one should have a gun.
The right side is in complete disagreement: no one can agree on anything.

Again, as i have mentioned in other threads, this is why the left always wins and the right always loses when it comes to the citizen right to arms.

In this thread, I thought some folks might like to talk about that.
We'll see.
False - the left doesn't agree "no one" should have a gun, they agree that their enforcers in government should have guns, and their private security should have guns, but the common American not have guns.
 
Step one: eliminate rules repugnant to the constitution, which would be all gun laws because they are all infringements.

Step two: institute public hangings for violent felonies related to firearm use (could expand beyond firearm use though) with proceedings being dealt with promptly, and not these decade long drawn out bologna.

Step three: let the vast majority of Americans who can safely, morally, and legally exercise their God given right enjoy doing that.

Step four: Hang those who cant (described in step two)

Step five: enjoy a society with significantly less crime because repeat offenders would be near 0.

(How many times do we heae about a felon in possession doing crime again. Clearly the system is broken.)
 
The knife-guy thread got locked. For good reason, it was going nowhere : https://www.northwestfirearms.com/t...igh-speed-low-friction-operator.377836/page-3

On page 3 of that thread, @gmerkt made an interesting comment. I hope I understood it correctly.

There is no simple solution to the quandary faced by an armed citizenry that wants minimal or no infringement on their right to arms, but also wants a way to prevent crazy people from shooting up schools.

Setting:
A member posted a picture of an individual wearing knives & stuff.
Other members responded.
The majority of responses were derisive.
Then gmerkt cut us with a razor.
He quoted three responses, then, if I understand him correctly, he succinctly asked, "Which is it? What exactly do you want?"

IMO, this is an opportunity to reconcile your preferences for minimal infringement on your right to arms, with your desire, if you have one, to prevent crazy people from being empowered with the same rights you have.

Importantly, this is not about the knife guy in the other thread. We don't know anything about that guy actually.

This is more about whether some line should exist, and how to draw it, and where it is drawn.

Obviously, the Brady Bill and its ancillary legislation represent a societal attempt to draw that line. And we know that this effort has been unsuccessful, due to lack of consistent and comprehensive record keeping, and to lack of prosecution of denials and straw purchases, and to an absence of an effective system for identifying and cataloguing real mental illness threats.
We also know that current policy is trending towards Universal Background Check requirements that encompass non-dealer transactions, and we generally believe that this latest development will not help the overall objective at all, because there is no point of enforcement, and because people who ignore laws will ignore this law. We also don't like UBC because it creates a defacto registry. But it is still being rammed down our throats, primarily because crazy people and criminals are still shooting up our society.

Challenge: address gmerkt's comment.
If I read him correctly, possible responses span a spectrum: from zero restrictions and just live with the outcome, to massive restrictions and their side effects.

Don't attack people. Attack the problem. (edit: deleted unnecessary phrase here)

Thanks to gmerkt. (If I understood him correctly. :D )

Below is the piece of gmerkt's reply to the earlier thread, that I am referring to in this thread:



I'll go first.

It seems like FIX NICS, and NO to universal background checks, may be a reasonable approach to managing an obvious problem, but I'm only okay with this approach if we simultaneously improve management of crime and mental illness.
My personal view is that Brady/NICS background checks are an unnecessary infringement in a society that effectively manages crime and mental illness.
We presently are not that society. We need to get there.
My goal would be to make Brady/NICS work now, and spend ~20 years effectively improving management of crime and mental illness, and then scale back or eliminate background check requirements after we bring crime and mental illness under more effective control.
I should say this: I am interested in solutions that are politically viable. I like the idea of nullifying Brady over night, but I don't think that is a politically viable solution.
For crime, the solutions are mostly governmental: we need to make our government much tougher on crime.
For mental illness, the solutions are shared IMO. As a society, we need to improve how we deal with obvious crazy people on a daily basis. A little less MYOB, a little more, "Hey, we need to collectively get ahead of this person before they shoot our school up." With regard to gov't, we need to cause our government to build much larger infrastructure than we currently have for effectively dealing with crazy people. Prisons and homelessness and ignoring obvious warning signs, are not getting the job done.
I have read a lot of late 18th century American history lately. The term "lunaticks" is not absent in their discourse and laws. The idea of control of mental illness is not new in America.

Your thoughts?
My thoughts? This post is a total wreck.
I see what you "say" yer tryin to do. I believe you want to accomplish something totally different.
No time to address it all at the moment....I'll be back.

Joe
 
How you present yourself when in public in regards to firearms ( or knives ) is a important consideration.
As seen from the thread that was closed ....you will be judged.
When doing anything in public with firearms , like it or not...you now represent all gun owners in many viewer's eyes.

Perception is also something to consider..how you see what you are doing...how you mean for it to come across....may be completely different to how another person views it.

Plus since almost everyone nowadays has a cell phone with a camera...
Your picture may become the next internet meme..and with clever use of photo shop...it could easily be spun or made to look like something other that what you intended.

Having to take and pass a psych eval , before buying a firearm...is wrong.
Too easy to be abused and the questions can be tailored for a certain result.
And...if that is required for one Right...what is to stop it from becoming required for all of our Rights...?
Andy
 

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