alabuck wrote:
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Low-keyed,
Your reference to Switzerland is a bit ignominious toward yourself. It's well known that the Swiss have those weapons because they are subject to be called to active military duty without much notice. It's part of their country's military setup.
While on active duty, IDF members are allowed to keep their weapons at their homes. Of course, should an active-duty IDF member lose his/her gun, it's a 3 month prison sentence for doing so. The IDF thinks a lot of their Tavors.
------- br Low-keyed, br Your reference to Switzer... (
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That was not the point, as you know. The point being that there are countries with high incidence of civilian firearms ownership that have far lower murder rates than countries where civilian ownership is forbidden. Gun control advocates, in spite of all the evidence, persist in their belief that stirct gun control is a magic wand you can wave at the murder rate and make it disappear. A spokesman for the DOJ has admitted that registration without any provision for confiscatory measures will not work. The Centers for Disease Control, hardly a fan of firearms ownership, concurs. FBI statistics, which I have posted repeatedly, show the number of firearms murders have been cut in half in the past 20 years, not per capita, but the actual number. This in spite of a large population increase, a huge spike in the number of privately owned firearms, and the issuance of several million concealed carry permits. The dire predictions of blood baths has not happened and will not happen.
The last figures published by the State of Texas show 497 convictions for murder and manslaughter. One was a permit holder.
I do not have the exact number handy for here in GA, but our "guns everywhere" state has a lower per capita murder rate than NY, CA, or NJ. Out of more than 600,000 permits issued, considerably less than 100 have been convicted of firearms crimes.
You mentioned Canada. Now i get to be a racist, with RCMP stats to back me. Canada has about the same population as California. California has 3 times the number of murders as Canada. The murder rate for non-Hispanic Caucasians is almost identical.
Chicago, everyone's favorite whipping boy: Thirty percent non-Hispanic white population, commits about 5% of the violent crime. I wonder who commits the other 95%? (Hint: It isn't the Asians ). This was also gleaned from FBI statistics.
In short, proponents of registration are careful not to say this is a first step toward confiscatory policies, with "buyback" being a popular euphemism. Adjudicating "mental competence has always been, and rightfully so, the province of the courts, with the accused and accuser both having their turn at bat. The "domestic violence" provision of disqualifiers for firearms purchase is applied so arbitrarily and haphazardly that it is nearly useless in some states, where spanking an unruly child can get you a conviction and a disqualification. I am not talking cruelty or spousal or child abuse here, I am talking disciplining an unruly child. Apparently places like CA and NY think that a method used all through recorded history is no longer valid. You were never spanked or sent to bed without your supper? If you were, your parents are not fit to own firearms in some states.
By the way, your reference to ignominious in your post was entirely contextually incorrect. There is nothing contemptible about stating a fact. Attempting to twist it, as you did, is, indeed, ignominious.
One last thing: Your reference to Wounded Knee is also Ignominious. You are attempting to justify the killing of over 150 mostly unarmed Indians by "Federal Officers."
The fight started when one Indian refused to give up his rifle. A shot was fired while he was being disarmed. No one is sure who fired it. Most of the Indians killed were unarmed, and most of those who were armed did not shoot first. Federal officials excel at murdering unarmed people. They carried the tradition right on through to Ruby Ridge, where Lon Horiuchi, an FBI sniper, "accidentally" shot and killed and unarmed woman holding an infant. At a distance of less than 100 yards. He was promoted. That is ignominious.