OK, first of all, I've never lived in US, and my information about it comes form internet/movies/ etc.
So, in the shadow of recent Florida shooting, the deadliest of its kind in the history of US, I thought that it might be a good idea to start a topic dedicated to gun rights in US. Especially, it would be interesting if we can get American users to participate in the discussion.
In my opinion, gun in general, and not only assault rifles must be band. It just looks like common sense to me to stop selling something which is made solely for the purpose of killing people. Apparently, the whole argument behind the 2nd amendment had been to guarantee that an oppressive government might want to take over people's life, and in order to prevent from that, people must be able to have guns to take actions agains the government. This maybe had been a good idea a couple of centuries ago, but I really do not think that shotguns and handguns are going to resist against the government with biggest/most powerful army in the world that can use F-22, drones, nuclear weapon, Sr-72 etc. Also, it would be interesting to see what percentage of gun use in US had been rightfully against government overreach.
If we accept the right of people to have guns, then why not setting some limitation and extending back ground check. I know that this might not work all the time, but at least will make it harder for people with disturbing history to get their hands on gun when they feel angry/ sad or they had not had sex in a long time.
The other thing is the type of guns that can be purchased. So, what exactly this AR-15 can be used for? Moreover, I would say some rules limiting the magazine capacities must be in place in all the places, and not only California
One argument against any gun restriction is that bad guys will get their hands on guns anyway even if the guns are banned. The exact same thing can be said about anything else in the world, so what is exactly the reason for following and setting some rules. Moreover, a ban on guns will at least make them more expensive, because it will get harder to find them and people must go to black market for buying one. This just makes guns less spreadout, and hence reduce the deaths caused by guns.
There is this Good Guys With Guns VS Bad Guys With Guns argument also that is too childish to be discussed here.
It is strange that a country so hard on drugs is so soft when it comes to guns. After each high profile gun violence, gun sells and stock market share prices of gun manufacturing companies go up. More gun violence is equivalent to more profit for them, which means they can spend more money on political prostituted and send them to The House/ Senate/ etc. Gun lobbying is one of the strongest forces inside republican party, and seems that they are pretty much popular, in contrary to the likes of ALEC. So, it looks that there is a greater force than just NRA, and people also feel happy to be able to carry guns easily.
What is your opinion about this topic? Do you think that being able to having gun is a part of your personal freedom? And if so, do you think that guns do more good than harm for the society?