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"The mass murder of children last week in Texas will haunt us for a while. America does have a violence problem, and every fair-minded person knows it. We live in a rather chaotic society where standards of civility are dropping to dangerous levels. Barbarians have breached the gate. And there are some very vivid reasons why."
"First, parenting, about 40 percent of children in the United States are now born out of wedlock. Many are abandoned by their fathers and raised in poverty by troubled mothers. The government can do little but remove children from dangerous homes."
"Second, crime and no punishment. The justice system has collapsed in cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. It's now easy to commit violence because punishment is scant. Heavily armed drug gangs run wild, murdering at will. Banning weapons will not stop these criminals as they don't purchase legal guns anyway. With more than 300 million firearms in circulation, the black market gun trade will thrive if legal firearms are banished."
"Finally, the political parties. Liberal Democrats seek to ban almost all firearms. Conservative Republicans want the legal option to arm themselves against criminals and, possibly, an out-of-control future federal system. There will be no compromise here."
Partial Solution
"Now to a partial solution. States should individually regulate guns. That means if ARs are deemed a public safety menace in Philadelphia, they can be banned within the city limits. But in very rural Wyoming, citizens might approve of those guns. The Second Amendment allows Americans to use firearms for protection. But bazookas are illegal. Public safety must be defined by individual states, not the feds."
"Finally, "Red Flag" laws are desperately needed. Nineteen states currently have them. Law enforcement must be able to act if an unstable person is issuing violent threats. Those situations should be aggressively investigated, with the legal authority to confiscate weapons from miscreants. Armed loons threaten every one of us."
"The truth is we can do something about gun violence in this country. But not with phony ideology and Constitutional violations. We need discipline and compromise."
"Obviously, it's not going to be easy."
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11 comments:
The world continues to get worse and worse. The 40% out of wedlock shocked me, too! Back in my day, it was a scandal!
Let the crime fit the punishment. I feel making more laws just creates more outlaws
I totally agree!
It is beyond my personal comprehension how things have developed this way but I do think the social internet has a lot to do with poisoning the minds of children and adults too. I believe general life was better without it. It is both good and evil, depending who can be educated or corrupted. Greed is also a culprit in many circumstances as is the lack of empathy. A sorry mess is the result.
Wow...40 percent are born to single mothers? That's so sad to me. All of it is actually. It just gets worse every year. The last three years feels like we've started to really spiral out of control.
Lots of wisdom here!
I AGREE!!
Agree.. thank you for shouting it out.
Everything the federal government "manages" goes to pot in a hurry. Most things should be regulated by the states (if regulated at all). We must turn this tide by electing true conservatives (if there are any left) for everything from dog catcher to POTUS. xoxo
I was almost afraid to read what you had to say and to read what others commented. I do not know what the answer is. I do know banning guns will not help a thing. It will give criminals an edge if they think no one is armed. Criminals are not law abiding citizens.
I'm not American, but I fail to see how in this day and age (we're not the wild west now, surely - or perhaps we are!) anyone would need to carry a gun of any kind. To me it seems ludicrous to waltz around carrying a weapon which has been made for one sole purpose: killing, and with just about anyone able to access guns.
I disagree with Rose here; she is right, criminals are not law abiding citizens. We are not without criminals here in the UK, but because criminals know that people don't carry weapons, criminals seldom have cause to use firearms.
With all those guns around, surely it means that someone, normally a law-abiding citizen, might suddenly be sent over the edge by a local dispute and use a firearm when this wouldn't be possible if guns were not so readily available? I know Americans have a right to bear arms, but shouldn't this now be consigned to the history books? Just because it's in law doesn't make it right for the 21st century, surely. Laws can be revoked. As that is unlikely to happen any day soon, more random killings by misguided, angry people will continue.
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