Kanye West Gives and Amazing Speech at the White House.

[vivster]

DarthMetalliCube said:

vivster said:
Can't wait for the time when all illegal guns got rid of. Finally people will only kill others with legally obtained mass murder weapons.

I think the logic here is that people who buy guns legally are more likely to be "good guys" who don't just shoot eachother in the streets or in schools, etc, vs people who buy guns illegally. Obviously this won't always be the case but probably more often than not. I believe in the 2nd amendment though I also think with how powerful and efficient guns have become there definitely needs to be updated restrictions on the availability of guns in America. Obviously the founders had no conception of automatic, military grade weapons, and these mass killing machines that can be obtained these days when writing that amendment. There's also the issue of a typically benign citizen going off and shooting (road rage, domestic dispute gone haywire, etc).

Though at the same time we have to be careful to not disarm well meaning people who use guns as a means of self defense, hunting, etc. Especially nowadays with how many guns are here in the US illegally, I'm of the belief that we're pretty much past the point of no return anyway, and that criminals who really want to get their hands on guns will get them regardless, and that if you tighten up restrictions TOO much, you're merely weakening the average citizen and putting them further at the mercy of criminals, who have means of obtaining weapons. This is a tough issue and there really is no one singular answer. I think it's just a matter of finding the right balance.

It sucks because Chicago is my home town and it bums me out to see so much gun violence running rampant here. I just want to see things improve, so I'm willing to listen to Kanye in this regard, especially since he was born in the city. It also gives me pause that Chicago is near the top in terms of gun control and yet holds one of the highest rates of gun violence in America.

I think the biggest thing pro gun activists don't understand is that more legal weapons also mean more illegal weapons. More legal weapons in circulation means more ways to illegally obtain weapons. I'm going on a limb here and say that the vast vast majority of illegally possessed weapons entered the country legally. I don't believe in the actual "weakening" of civilians by taking away their guns. There are way more deaths caused by legal weapons than prevented deaths. Chicago's strict gun laws do nothing because they literally are nothing. The US is a free country and cars exist. Shit like this needs to be dealt with on a federal level, which is yet another problem the US has that prevents effective legislation.

There are bigger things in play when you cannot feel safe without a firearm in a supposedly developed country. This is a social and cultural issue first and foremost.