10 year old shoots 9 year old sister in face over chips with dad's shotgun

[Smash255]

A 10 year used his dad's shotgun to shoot his 9 year old sister because she wouldn't give him potato chips.  This isn't even the first time he pulled a gun on someone.....

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/crime/2008/02/14/burkett.sc.child.shot.wbtw

[Smash255]

If tougher gun laws were passed, things such as mandatory trigger locks and what not the kid would have been much less likely to be shot or harmed in this manner. 

The whole thing with Gun control its not about banning guns, its about doing whatever we can to keep the guns out of the hands of people who shouldn't have access to them.  More extensive background checks (including gun shows), reducing the amount of guns someone can buy at once, registering guns, having more ability to trace the bullets back to the guns it came from, trigger locks, and what not don't interfere with someone's legal ability to own a gun.

[Smash255]

I don't see how the comparison is invalid.
If you agree that a line should be drawn somewhere when it comes to weapons/dangerous materials, then how can you suggest that it's unwise to consider restricting gun ownership?

Because handling and pulling the trigger of a gun is different than handling and exposing others to anthrax.

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I don't think there would be any notable difference. Most of the gun crime is because of illegally obtained guns anyway. "Hey, they're banned now!" won't stop the people who are already getting them unlawfully.

Oh, and banning them won't prompt Americans to line up and dump all their guns in a government collection bin.

However, how those illegal guns actually get on the street is a problem.  Many of them were legally purchased than sold off on the black market.   More needs to be done in order to prevent this from happening   Limiting the amount of guns someone can buy during a certain period of time (something similar to what was proposed by Rendell), more stringent gun registry systems

[Smash255]

  Limiting the amount of guns someone can buy during a certain period of time (something similar to what was proposed by Rendell), more stringent gun registry systems

One gun a month is BS because, again, an overwhelming majority of these crimes are committed with illegally obtained weapons.

Yes and how to those guns become illegal in the 1st place??  People buying them legally then selling them off on the black market.

[Smash255]

  Limiting the amount of guns someone can buy during a certain period of time (something similar to what was proposed by Rendell), more stringent gun registry systems

One gun a month is BS because, again, an overwhelming majority of these crimes are committed with illegally obtained weapons.

Yes and how to those guns become illegal in the 1st place??  People buying them legally then selling them off on the black market.

Actually, theft might also be a leading factor but whatever.

I wasn't suggesting its the only factor.  Nothing is going to be full proof, but we need to do more to keep guns out of the hands of criminals, keep guns away from those who shouldn't have them, and keep them off the streets.   People buying guns legally and then selling them illegally on the black market isn't the only problem, but its one of the problems and its a problem we can at least do something to help alleviate. 

[Smash255]

  Limiting the amount of guns someone can buy during a certain period of time (something similar to what was proposed by Rendell), more stringent gun registry systems

One gun a month is BS because, again, an overwhelming majority of these crimes are committed with illegally obtained weapons.

Yes and how to those guns become illegal in the 1st place??  People buying them legally then selling them off on the black market.

You should know that while the system you propose might help reduce the number of guns on the black market, it's not a perfect plan. Reducing the supply won't reduce the demand, so the black market price will ultimately rise. Rising black market prices usually increase the crimes that surround the black market.

I never suggested it was a perfect plan, there is no such thing as a perfect plan.  However, we do need to do more keep guns off of the black market and out of the hands at criminals.  Reducing the amount of guns that wind up on the black market that were originally purchased through legal means is a way of doing so.

[Smash255]

..and terrorists could use public library computers to plan terrorist attacks, thus the govt should monitor internet traffic in public libraries.  Lots of crimes have been made easier by the use of a cell phone, lets monitor them too.  We'll all be a little safer if they do.

It sucks when the govt takes our liberty in attempting to protect us.  The left is usually the side that takes the govt on in these situations. But people on the left never seem to notice it when that liberty has to do with guns, in fact, they are normally the ones pushing hardest to take that liberty from us.  It's the main reason I could never become a Democrat.

having the government monitor internet usage and cell phone use and comparing that to gun registration, and putting limits on the amounts of guns someone can but in a short period of time is apples and oranges.  Not even remotely the same thing.  One thing actually infringes on someones rights, the gun laws don't infringe on anyone's rights to actually get a gun.