Gramps
Mayor
I sift through all of the ideas for curbing violence and ways and means of curtailing the widespread use of weapons and what I don't see is practicality.
Buy backs might take (a conservative guess) 1% of the weapons off the street. Beefing up restrictions for purchasers might keep a few weapons off the market but will never take a single gun off the black market. IMHO "right to bear" laws have loosened up in recent years so that thousands of people who years ago didn't tote weapons to today and most of the people I know who did obtain permits needed them like they needed another hole in their heads. It's a macho thing in more cases than not.
So, about mental cases. Someone define that for me. At what point do we say "no" to people, many of whom are really no threat in the first place?And at what point to we label some of the nuts that are running around wearing camos and hob-nailed boots pretending to be modern day minutemen as more of a threat than some poor bastard who has been struck with illnesses? Are we really going after the wrong bad guys? We have a potential of three hundred million mental cases here in this nation but really when we boil it down are there a thousand screwballs who might pickup a guy and go on a shooting spree? Who is going to ferret them out and how in the hell do we know who they are until they tip their hand? And in almost every case to date the deeds were performed bu suspects who hadn't raised many eyebrows previously.
As much as I would like to see a solution I cannot find one. It's a people thing that's been going on since Cain killed Abel over a trivial topic. And if you believe the Scriptures he pulled it off right under god's spyglass and then god asked him about it and he went into denial. It's sad, awfully sad, but I really believe we are wasting our time trying to legislate human conduct in cases such as these.
Legislation for prohibition fell on its face just like legistlation to control drug use has. Would that we had the money back we've wasted trying to keep people from getting wasted when they should realize indulging in drugs and booze isn't in their best interest and can lead to death or mental states where reality abandons their sense of judgement. That's sad too but I've known a few cases of people who self-destructed and they were not a pretty sight and the history they left behind was a terrible tale of aggravation for not only them but their loved ones. So, what happens now, two states recently legalized some drugs that are injected into the body by smoking the stuff all while we spend millions trying to educate people about the hazards of tobacco.
Johnny Cash summed up lots of things we have to endure in the words of a song which went something like, "I don't like it but I guess things happen that way." I don't like it. I hate it. And I hate very few things. But I think we are wasting our time trying to legislate this thing away with knee-jerk remedies.
The first time anyone said to me when something didn't go to please me, "It is what it is" I was upset. I said, "Oh, I'm supposed to just lie down and roll over, huh?" and they said, "Remember the saying about changing the things we can and accepting the things we cannot and knowing the difference?" and I said, "Yes" and they said, "this is the newest version in a lot less words." I surrender to change. It is what it is and may those who are short-changed by such hideous crimes be blessed and find their way back to some normal kind of life and find peace and contentment through whatever means or god they trust.
One comment just to piss-off whoever disagrees; as for the NRA, that to is what it is which isn't much in my opinions but a gathering of rabblerousers who believe guns are the answer to their prayers. For the sake of mankind I would hope someone might twist the barrels of their sanctimonious guns into a 180 degree turn so that that blow off their own asses while pursuing their thoughtless hobby. My apoloigies to some of them who, I realize, are not so brain dead as to believe all of the crap they promote about "rights" being their real agenda.
Gramps
Buy backs might take (a conservative guess) 1% of the weapons off the street. Beefing up restrictions for purchasers might keep a few weapons off the market but will never take a single gun off the black market. IMHO "right to bear" laws have loosened up in recent years so that thousands of people who years ago didn't tote weapons to today and most of the people I know who did obtain permits needed them like they needed another hole in their heads. It's a macho thing in more cases than not.
So, about mental cases. Someone define that for me. At what point do we say "no" to people, many of whom are really no threat in the first place?And at what point to we label some of the nuts that are running around wearing camos and hob-nailed boots pretending to be modern day minutemen as more of a threat than some poor bastard who has been struck with illnesses? Are we really going after the wrong bad guys? We have a potential of three hundred million mental cases here in this nation but really when we boil it down are there a thousand screwballs who might pickup a guy and go on a shooting spree? Who is going to ferret them out and how in the hell do we know who they are until they tip their hand? And in almost every case to date the deeds were performed bu suspects who hadn't raised many eyebrows previously.
As much as I would like to see a solution I cannot find one. It's a people thing that's been going on since Cain killed Abel over a trivial topic. And if you believe the Scriptures he pulled it off right under god's spyglass and then god asked him about it and he went into denial. It's sad, awfully sad, but I really believe we are wasting our time trying to legislate human conduct in cases such as these.
Legislation for prohibition fell on its face just like legistlation to control drug use has. Would that we had the money back we've wasted trying to keep people from getting wasted when they should realize indulging in drugs and booze isn't in their best interest and can lead to death or mental states where reality abandons their sense of judgement. That's sad too but I've known a few cases of people who self-destructed and they were not a pretty sight and the history they left behind was a terrible tale of aggravation for not only them but their loved ones. So, what happens now, two states recently legalized some drugs that are injected into the body by smoking the stuff all while we spend millions trying to educate people about the hazards of tobacco.
Johnny Cash summed up lots of things we have to endure in the words of a song which went something like, "I don't like it but I guess things happen that way." I don't like it. I hate it. And I hate very few things. But I think we are wasting our time trying to legislate this thing away with knee-jerk remedies.
The first time anyone said to me when something didn't go to please me, "It is what it is" I was upset. I said, "Oh, I'm supposed to just lie down and roll over, huh?" and they said, "Remember the saying about changing the things we can and accepting the things we cannot and knowing the difference?" and I said, "Yes" and they said, "this is the newest version in a lot less words." I surrender to change. It is what it is and may those who are short-changed by such hideous crimes be blessed and find their way back to some normal kind of life and find peace and contentment through whatever means or god they trust.
One comment just to piss-off whoever disagrees; as for the NRA, that to is what it is which isn't much in my opinions but a gathering of rabblerousers who believe guns are the answer to their prayers. For the sake of mankind I would hope someone might twist the barrels of their sanctimonious guns into a 180 degree turn so that that blow off their own asses while pursuing their thoughtless hobby. My apoloigies to some of them who, I realize, are not so brain dead as to believe all of the crap they promote about "rights" being their real agenda.
Gramps
