What's your take on the Ohio Aurora "Copycat/Vigilante"

I also don't see vigilantes as the solution mass murder in America.

Thanks Larry, glad some agree.

Mass shootings will continue until action is taken to tighten posession laws, Chris. Both Obama & Romney are afraid of the NRA lobbying money, but I have seen polls that say that the majority of Americans are in favor of stricter gun control laws.

The question is not IF another mass murder will occur, but WHEN.

Yes.was it one week or two, between Aurora and Oak Park?

But should a deer or a squirrel have invaded the theater, he could have exercised his God-given right to blow it away with a fully automatic .75 cal. recoilless pistol firing double magnum depleted uranium cop-vaporizer rounds, because the NRA is always looking out for recreational gunners.

:)

Sad that so many with psychological problems are able to so easily get guns.

I understand it this way, David. In thE USA we are are considered sane until we prove ourselves not. Gray areas to be totally ignored.

Being under counselling does not apply. You have to be in a facility, or judged out of your mind in a court.

Or you can, you know, go shoot up a theater.

Right! That will get it done! :)

There is something wrong with a society where the only cry for help that gets answered is from the back side of a gun. Our priorities are wrong, where people with issues cannot get care, are made to feel broken or second class if they are have problems coping. Freedom of speech, including hate speech, is fervently defended along with gun rights, as income disparity and hopelessness rises. We pay $50k per year to lock up people for our safety, more per capita than any other country, and yet we become less safe. In our macho assertion of global power, we send our youth overseas to be crushed and broken by the senseless violence, and wonder why a few crack under the strain when they come back and try to rejoin society. If mental health care is a privilege, then only the privileged will be able to afford it. What are our priorities, and what are we willing to do as a society to further them?

Amendment II: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

So-o-o-o... The anti-regulation folks on Gather break into two camps (setting aside those of us who just like guns so we can go kill our little fuzzy and feathered friends for fun), and both those camps are card-carrying members of the most extreme NRA true believers -- whether they belong to the NRA or not.

Group one argues thusly: "We have a Second Amendment because the Founders wanted a "well regulated militia" who would fulfill their function of being "necessary to the security of a free state" by... defending America against its own government. The logic escapes me. the Founders expected what? Periodic Napoleons? Government so out of hand that the country's militias rose up as one? So, how does that go? Every so often the disparate militias of various the states decide that they believe the government now needs to be subject to armed insurrection? Then what? And if the government sends the military after them, the militias and their private weapons (including fully automatic rifles, shoulder-fired missiles and anti-tank weapons, etc., however illegal), are going to do what against America's three-war armed forces? As I said... the logic escapes me. Most of the folks who espouse this belief seem to also be convinced that President Obama is about to declare himself Emperor and move the Capitol to Kenya.

The second group sees the language as envisioning a Heinleinian world in which the Mr. Smiths of society stride the streets and fill public spaces with armed citizens, prepared at all times to defend themselves, each other and the unarmed citizenry against the berkowitzes and James Holmes's of society. John Ford would have loved this movie. "Kill spots" just between the eyebrows notwithstanding, There's a damned good likelihood that bad guys with guns would still be successful.

And a note of interest... I don't know how it went in Viet Nam or Korea, but in WWII, during most fire-fights, only 10% of soldiers in the fight actually fired their weapons. What do you think most civilians are gonna do?

I think the whole purpose of the Second Amendment has been misunderstood because somebody didn't understand punctuation. Be that as it may... everybody gets to own guns (with a LOT of exceptions) under the SCOTUS's interpretation, and I'm good with that. But I'm NOT good with the exceptions (insanity, criminal background, etc.) having so many exceptions (at a gun show, none of the above matters). And I'm not good with the hysteria around "fingerprinting' each gun's ballistics, where it's possible, and issuing licenses like driver's licenses to everyone who buys a gun.

I once wondered if the high incidence of "collateral damage" in gang shootings here in L.A. might be cut by spending less money on afterschool basketball and craft fairs and more on teaching these drooling imbeciles to shoot straight. That way, they kill each other off, sparing the 3-year-old girls in the neighborhood.

Chuck, you may remember that the citizens in Heinlein's Beyond This Horizon who opted out of the dueling culture, wearing 'Brassards of the Peace', were considered second-class citizens. Of course, that's the way the NRA considers anyone who disagrees with their official "Kill! Kill for the love of killing!! Kill for the love of Kali!!! Kill!!!! Kill!!!!! Kill!!!!!!" policy, so I don't suppose that it will make much difference when only NRA-sanctioned and funded candidates can afford to run.

And you're right about the punctuation; commas were used more frequently and with more "force", 200 and some years ago. If a modern editor were given the Constitution for proofing, he'd probably take out at least a third of the commas.

We will, Lebrea, we will.

As soon as you awake from your late morning nap in the rocking chair.

Unless, of course, you've slid off to the floor again, and are off your rocker.

Your post is such a coincidence, Chris.

I was just complaining to my court-ordered psychiatrist earlier this week that the g**damn government is trying to steal. $50. from my pocket to renew my concealed carry permit.

Man, do they have another think coming!

HI, if you can't afford both the permit and a new roll of aluminum foil for your hat, I'll send you a few sheets of mine.

Are you threatening me?

You're the one with the gun. All I've got is an aluminum foil knife.

Let the theaters set policy, and patronize those theaters that best satisfy your preferences.

Then let's assume we get situation in a theater in which 4 guys randomly show up carrying a concealed handguns with the intent of defending the public. Most folks have better things to do than devote every weekend evening to this, but let's pretend. All 4 are eyeballing each other frantically for two hours. Figure that all 4 are smart enough to not fire first?

If they are concealed it's not likely that any of the four will see the other's gun. And if they did I doubt that would matter. Your example requires someone pretty immature for any problems to develop.

I oppose government gun control completely. However, there is need for sensible regulations regarding guns: non-government regulations, a.k.a. businesses making rules, like, no bags of weapons allowed, perhaps proof of proper training and sanity, etc.