- Alan Petrillo Alas, I agree.
- Alan Petrillo The howler monkeys, on both sides of the issue, are taking over.
- Robert Luis Rabello So, how do we encourage rational discussion of a comprehensive approach to such a complex issue?
- Alan Petrillo I don't know. The only thing I can tell you positively at this point is that dealing with all of the anger, from both sides of the issue, is mentally and physically exhausting.
- Alan Petrillo The major problem is that lots of people on both sides of the issue are screaming "WE'VE GOTTA _DO_ SOMETHING!" It's difficult to be the adult in the room saying "There isn't really anything you can do, and anything you try is most likely to be ineffective or counterproductive."
- Robert Luis Rabello There are likely solutions to the problem, but they're multi-facted and take time to implement. Perhaps the WORST thing that can happen is for lawmakers to ram ill-conceived legislation through the Congress (as if THAT would ever happen . . .), or for Mr. Obama to sign an Executive Order that was ALSO ill-conceived.
- Alan Petrillo Indeed. Yet that is probably what will end up happening.
- Robert Luis Rabello Sometimes, I weep for the future. At other times, I hear the hermitage calling my name . . .
- Alan Petrillo I can _so_ relate. If I didn't like wandering around in the fresh air and sunshine so much then that Mars expedition I've been reading about would be calling my name.
I'm going to write this in a note, so it'll stick around where I can find it.
Access to guns is a factor in violent crime.
There, I said it. Are you happy now?
Access to guns is a factor in violent crime.
I never said it wasn't.
Access to guns is a factor in violent crime, but access to guns is only ONE factor in a very complex subject. The solution to the problems of violent crime and homicide cannot, cannot, period, cannot be boiled down to simple access to firearms. Anyone who tells you any different is lying, either through intent or through a failure of critical thinking.
The question you folks on the gun control side of the issue need to ask yourselves is how much damage are you willing to do to the vast, overwhelming majority who are law abiding in order to try, in an attempt which will ultimately be unsuccessful, to keep arms out of the hands of criminals?
The question you folks on the gun rights side of the issue need to ask yourselves is how much more access to firearms are you willing to allow criminals in order to protect the rights of law abiding people, in an attempt to give law abiding gun owners a greater illusion of safety?
And all of you on both sides of the issue need to take a clear-eyed look at actual, real-world crime statistics from reputable sources, including those that disagree with your viewpoint, before continuing to spout off about the supposed dangers or advantages of widespread legal gun ownership. From what I've seen, leaders and activists on both sides of the issue are selling a mixture of ideology, fear, cherrypicked statistics, and wishful thinking, and neither side has a firm grounding in reality.
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