You can go back to Reagan's eighties to trace the deterioration of the Mental Health Association in this country. Yet another social program gutted to enhance the War Machine. Not all of the children in our society are well adjusted human beings, and because they are able to slip through the cracks, the ones that need help aren't getting it.

They make us get permits to hunt and fish, but any unstable asshole gets to be a parent. What happened in Connecticut is a societal breakdown on many levels including parenting, teachers, school counselors, pedestrians. And I'm not defending the crime either, there was personal responsibility for him to get help as well.

Originally Posted by: DakotaT 

That is a better versed restatement of my position the last time this conversation came up. I agree.

There are many layers to this discussion.. not just the guns themselves.. and not the people that adopt or oppose them. There are the extremists on both sides, but for the most part, we can improve the situation if we talk as a nation intelligently and consider all aspects of the problem itself.

Not just the guns.. but the people that use them.

Originally Posted by: Pack93z 

Haven't you been watching? This country is polarized, and an intelligent conversation on any issue is impossible, yet alone a resolution.

Originally Posted by: DakotaT 

But when they wrote the words "right to bear arms" the world was equipted with muzzleloaders not AK47's and M16's. To me this issue is just like the tax issue of raising taxes 3% on the wealthy. It really isn't that big of a deal to make a compromise but you have radical people on both sides that won't budge and inch. And then the masses get caught in a black and white resolution when the real answer is grey.

Originally Posted by: DakotaT 

States have killed far more people without a legitimate reason to do so than individual criminals, accidents, and spree killers combined. By two or three orders of magnitude.

Damn right I think crazy on this one.

Yeah, weapons technology has progressed far beyond the muzzleloaders and swords of old.

That, to me, makes the right to bear arms *more* important than ever.

Damn right I'm crazy.

Originally Posted by: Wade 

Maybe they should sit your crazy ass in a room with the twenty families that just lost their babies forever so you could explain your theory?

Originally Posted by: DakotaT 

Maybe they should sit your crazy ass in a room with the twenty families that just lost their babies forever so you could explain your theory?

Originally Posted by: DakotaT 

Maybe they should sit your crazy ass in a room with the twenty families that just lost their babies forever so you could explain your theory?

None of us has the right to own a machine gun. Semi automatic rifles and pistols are not necessary for hunting or self defense. We live in a violent society and the people that would benefit the most from destroying these types of weapons are the ones fighting to keep our "freedoms". Coincedentally, these are the same people who continually vote against their economic interests. I love living amongst dumbasses.

Originally Posted by: DakotaT