Thread: An interesting question on a prospective gun law

Having had access to the no fly list and terrorist watch list which was initially based on the INS lookoutbook I can tell you that for many years King Kong was on the list. I kid you not.

Usually I'm a bit more 'middle of the road'...

But there are sometimes days when I think everyone over the age of 21 should be REQUIRED to take firearms safety courses and carry a firearm. It would give those intent on wrong doing a hell of a lot more pause, considering the immediate, heavy, final retribution they would face from everyone around them... it would force people to start taking more responsibility for their own protection and safety... and it would force people to stop trading in hard won freedoms for the ILLUSION of safety. In the words of Ben Franklin, "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

In the end, if someone is nuts or criminally intent on causing harm, they're going to find a way to do it. If a stranger nonchalantly walking past you suddenly turned and smacked you in the skull with a rock or screw driver hidden in his pocket ... or your neck with a straight razor just as easily hidden under his sleeve cuff... it'd be just as deadly as a bullet.

... requiring all adults to carry would probably do wonders to reduce overcrowding of the prison system too.

Of course, there are also days where I shudder to imagine a world without a firearms purchase waiting period...

Originally Posted by LarryP

Innocent until proven guilty if you're a citizen. If you're a citizen & got on the watch list because you've committed a felony, then no gun. If you're a citizen & got on the watch list because some bureaucrat with dough between his/her ears just thought it was a good idea, then said bureaucrat can go pound sand. If you're not a citizen, no matter what the circumstances, then you don't get to own a gun here. Period. This is how it would work if I was in charge. Just my .02 worth.

Yet it's actually easier for a "resident" non-citizen to buy a gun than a US citizen

Originally Posted by ehammers

Here is some more food for thought: According to an internal audit released in September 2007 by the Justice Department, there were 700,000 names on the terrorism watch list, and that list was growing at an estimated 20,000 names/month. There were also serious flaws in the ways in which this information was sorted and updated, as well as in the ways in which people could A) get themselves removed from this list, and B) even find out if they are ON the list to being with.

See the report here: OIG Audit Report 07-41

For more links to public documents about such watch lists, see Watch Lists | American Civil Liberties Union

The federal gov't also lost something like 300 guns from officers leaving them in bathrooms, etc. Makes you wonder...

One of the pastors at my church David Allen was once held up for quite a long time when boarding a plane for England as apparently David Allen was one of the head mob bosses around there or something...

i feel that guns should simply be sold over the counter like sodapop.. what terrorist buys guns legally anyway?

if everyone had a gun.. people would have more respect for them... kinda like kids drinking wine with their parents and growing up to understand what responsible drinking is..

Originally Posted by vthomlinson

i feel that guns should simply be sold over the counter like sodapop.. what terrorist buys guns legally anyway?

if everyone had a gun.. people would have more respect for them... kinda like kids drinking wine with their parents and growing up to understand what responsible drinking is..

Or they wind up becoming alcohoics.

When people feel a need to settle differences with another they usually employ the closest weapon they have near them as an assist.

Originally Posted by vthomlinson

i feel that guns should simply be sold over the counter like sodapop.. what terrorist buys guns legally anyway?

if everyone had a gun.. people would have more respect for them... kinda like kids drinking wine with their parents and growing up to understand what responsible drinking is..

I have to agree with this, if you teach a kid responsibility when they are younger, you will end up with a responsible adult.

I voted yes... who knows what group will be considered "terrorists" in the future? Who is that govt clerk typing the list and misspelling the name...

There is no judicial process that puts you on the watch list.
Yet it can apparently deny you rights under the law including
the right to travel freely.

A phone call from a pay phone...
Ill chosen in a letter to the department of motor vehicles....

Goodness help you if your dog uses the neighbors lawn
for the wrong reason.

Now some names on the list should be prosecuted but that
is a different thing. There are now

Who gets included in the TSDB?

"Per HSPD-6, only individuals who are known or reasonably suspected to be or have been engaged in conduct constituting, in preparation for, in aid of, or related to terrorism are included in the TSDB."

These people should be investigated and prosecuted but denying a right or property or anything else with out due process would be wrong.

I in 2008 by one account ""TSA's “no fly” terrorism watch list contains between 400000 and 1,000,000 names""

That many bad guys... -- might be right... but is likely wrong.