bmw wrote: ↑Wed May 25, 2022 1:31 pm
And no, it isn't availability of guns because on a per-capita basis, while the US leads the world in school shootings by leaps and bounds, we're not even in the Top 10 when it comes to other types of shootings.
Please document this in some way. I can't seem to find any backup for this.
However, there is some research that shows "fewer guns = fewer deaths"
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/201 ... tings.html
(and please don't give me the "Ah, The Times is a liberal rag that just wants to take away my firearm" - the author documents everything with the original source.)
bmw wrote: ↑Wed May 25, 2022 1:31 pm
there's lots of correlations between availability of things and people ending up dead. Take alcohol for instance. I'm sure there's a direct correlation between traffic fatalities and the availability of booze. But how well did prohibition turn out?
Prohibition was a failure. Raising the drinking age to 21 was not.
https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/fil ... 11n2-8.pdf
(oh, the Cato Institute - see, some of us like to look at facts despite the perceived "political leanings" of the source.
Perhaps some ideas on who can get guns and how they are obtained. Liquor is tightly controlled by state and local governments. Guns are sold at state fairs by unvetted vendors.
bmw wrote: ↑Wed May 25, 2022 1:31 pm
Take that issue up with our founding fathers, not the entity that defends a Constitutional right. There are many groups that take absolutist positions defending the 1st and 4th Amendments, and they rarely get criticized. I'm not sure what is so special about the NRA.
What's special about the NRA is the amount of money they spend to achieve their one specific goal. But I can see your point, so let me change my statement -
"We should start voting out those who take large amounts of political donations from any organization or corporate entity"
You are right, the founding fathers had NO vision on how much money would get spent to obtain governmental power. I say take all the money out of it, and go back to those local debates in high schools and public meeting rooms so a House candidate's constituents can ask questions and make a decision.
And I'm truly tired of constant reference to "our founding fathers." They owned slaves, didn't think women should vote, and didn't want the federal government to be able to tax its citizens. That all got changed because they also created a system to change it. (In fact, they IMMEDIATELY changed some of it themselves.) We can change it...