More guns... I mean control

It's funny....because what most people don't realize about military rounds is that they weren't designed to be "stoppers".....they are designed to cause wounds.  If you shoot someone and kill them you got one of the enemy.  If your round travels fast and flat (accurate) and is small, it will cause quite a bit of wounding....a wounded soldier takes at least 2 out of the fight, and more likely 3.  

The Aurora shooter shot over 70 people.....12 died.  That's the nature of those rounds fired from military style rifles.

Sorry....I forgot it's better to start off these threads completely irrational. 

Uhm I never knew that the weapon was designed to pierce bullet proof (or what ever term you may want to use) vest.  Silly me thought it had to due with the actual bullet.  It must be some of those super evil 5.7 rounds from F&N

You are wise...

Gun threads to COJ are what IM Tatoo threads are to Tri Talk......Now where is my Bazooka with the IM sticker.

Like I said in the other thread "Assault rifle" is now a buzz word giving off a meaning to the non shooting public to cause fear for propaganda reasons. The average person who is not an informed on firearms hears the word assault rifle and thinks a military rifle which so far has not been the case in most of the shootings.

OK, now that was funny.

Powerman please don't encourage him

If you read the article... Hickenlooper also question the need for magazines.

We can get over the semantics for a minute and understand that most people "get" what you are talking about when you say assault rifle. Yes it is a term for military full auto rifles, but it does have features that make it good for a combat rifle.

But even the ASB that was in effect with 10 round magazines. forgat for a moment it did nothing to actually ban hi cap magazines cause you could buy pre-ban magazines all day and twice on Sunday... 10 round magazines are still going to work quite well for a determined shooter... so he has to carry more mags. And so far, I have never heard of a mass shooter actually stopping because he ran out of ammo... they come with plenty. whether it is 10 mags or 20 makes no difference.

What is most troubling is that these mass shootings happen pretty infrequently. Sure we can be compared to a place they never happen, but in a country of 300 million, the statistical possibility of me dying ina public shooting with an "assault rifle" is still astronomically high.... but ya, let's curtail the rights of millions, to save less than a hundred lives a year.

Because it makes better news and political quotes than other things that kill more people every year.

Don't you just love it when the broad-brush fear mongering splatters paint on you?

Sure, I have a couple hunting rifles. Calibers of .30-06 and .308. Haven't been fired in several years, the last being when I was deer and elk hunting with my dad. And yes, I've taken down some of those animals with 300+ yard shots.

I guess that makes me a sniper with an assault weapon.

Forget the fact that these weapons have never been fired in any situation other than legal hunting or at a firing range. As is the case with likely 90% of the weapons out there.

Oh, yeah, we'll just go after that 10%.

Geez...

I'd guess the percentage is more like 99.997% of the weapons out there

Here's how I honestly feel:

• I believe and support gun control and gun restrictions.  But I don't think THAT'S the debate or even discussion with regard to this incident.  In three-quarters of most of these mass shooting sprees, the gun used was obtained legally.  And the weapon of choice is typically a semi-automatic handgun, NOT a fully-automatic assault rifle.  I own a semi-automatic handgun and don't think in any way that they should be banned.  I want the ability to protect my family in my own home.  We need to have the discussion about gun laws and gun restrictions, but not as a response to an incident.  It should be a discussion about defining the 2nd Amendment and personal liberties/freedoms and how best to protect citizens and what makes common sense.

• I believe that if I had a conceled carry permit and were armed and was in the presence of the shooter, I could have saved lives by taking out the shooter.  I believe that's the case for many conceled carriers...  But the statistical chance of someone carrying who is close and can do something is about as much as winning the lottery.  And more guns isn't the answer.  These random shooting sprees, while the most news-worthy, are the tiniest fraction of gun-related deaths.  Most are drug/gang-related and domestic violence.  So more gun carryers doesn't solve for that or this.  In fact, more gun ownership typically leads to more domestic killings.

• The discussion should be, but never is, is about mental illness.  Training people to spot it and what to do when the signs are there.  It should be about the mental health industry and how since the Reagan years, it has been gutted and de-funded.  It should be about schools, institutions and the general public having a simple and easy means of reporting concerns about individuals.  Check this out:  http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/mass-shootings-map  The predominant link in just about every case is mental illness and almost always, there was some form of warning sign beforehand.  Seung-Hui Cho at Virginia Tech for a year prior practically displayed a billboard with his intentiions.

Departments of Social Services and Child Protective Services (CPS) need more funding.  Think about this:  CPS has one of the most important roles in society; protecting children from physical and sexual abuse and violence.  Yet CPS departments and workers are some of the least funded and lowest paid people in public jobs.  Case loads are huge and the toll the job takes is enormous.  The average service length for a CPS Social Workers is about 18month before burn-out and the need for mental recovery.  Is that right?

Mental illness training needs to be funded.  Public in-treatment facilities need to be re-openned and funded.  Starting in the 1980's they were slashed and many homeless people need in-treatment care.  Laws need to be passed so that when someone is identitifed as a threat to themselves or others, they can be kept detained for more than 30 days.  Medicare & Medicaid needs to pay for the drugs that people need.  Schitzophrenia, borderline personality disorder, disassociative personality disorder...  These are not illnesses to be taken lightly.  When sufferers of these diseases go off their meds - you see what the results can be.

The gun was only the weapon of choice, but it's not the root cause that needs to be addressed here.  In China between '10 & '11, there was a spree of mass killings of children in schools with knives;  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_attacks_in_China_(2010%E2%80%932011)    But again, what was the commonality?  MENTAL ILLNESS.  What we need in this country is more mental illness control!

As with most statistics, I pulled that one out of my posterior. You're more likely much closer to the correct number.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that mine are semi-auto's.

You are evil.