Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. - George Santayana
Whoo Brother! You just stepped in there and kicked that hornet's nest didn't you! Good for you :) For the record, I own guns for hunting.
It's a tough problem and you're right - it boils down to the heart, not the object. What bothers me more than the issue itself is watching the radical polarization occurring across our country and people refusing to engage in intelligent meaningful conversation and compromise (and I do think the solution will take compromise on both sides of the fence). We can all agree there are problems, but its truly disturbing to see our society tear itself apart the way it is rather than coming together to solve the problem.
I agree with your comments on the origin of the 2nd Amendment and its purpose. However, I do think that even with ARs, AKs, etc, are not "equal" to the might of the U.S. military, and the American people would be hard-pressed to defend themselves against the U.S. Government if it truly wanted to suppress them with military power. Civilians have no capacity to deal with air strikes, drones, robotics (look at some of Boston Dynamic's work - they're not just doing that for fun), and other methods that I'm sure are not publicly known. The only hope that civilians would have would be if the military itself fragmented. Either way, the results of that outcome would be catastrophic and I pray we never live to see something like that.
So, that said we do have to offer solutions, and none of them will be perfect. All of them will cost money (other than improving society's morality, but that's been on a rapid decline for quite some time)
I think there could be more done to screen people, but I also think that will only slightly help the problem, not stop it. Actually, nothing will stop it - even banning will not stop it because those who want to will obtain illegally or hell, they'll just 3d print one and make it at home (it's easy enough). Or they'll just go look up how to build a bomb on the internet. Either way, banning is not the solution.
Ban 3d printer's, Ban the internet! - someone just yelled on the internet - haha..
So the armed security 'could' work, but the challenge there is the cost. It would be interesting to see the NRA use its own funding to offer that as a solution. But we all know that the school systems in the U.S. are underwater financially so some solution would be required to fund the added security.
I don't know what the real answer is. I'm glad you lead your post with educational content, and that you're not afraid to stand up against the tidal wave of hate that the interweb likes to propagate.
Man, this looks like a reasoned, thoughtful response that I may disagree with somewhat, but don't mind as much because it was done politely!
Another win for steemit.
Now if the same process could just happen on capital hill :) civil intelligent conversation FTW..
Be as big as the Government - straw man. You have to understand you don't have to be as big as the Government, just kill enough soldiers that haven't defected to our side yet. Take their weapons and volare your as big as the Government and more powerful. Our gun rights aren't for hunting, their for self defense, hunting is a by product.
I agree that the rights are about defense and aren't about hunting - that wasn't what I was saying. I was just stating the hunting aspect b/c that's my use for them, and to indicate that I'm not someone who is afraid of guns because they are "evil weapons". I'm also not particularly "Left" on the issue either. I don't know if I'm misinterpreting your comment or not, but my point wasn't about being as big as the government. My point was that if the military turned against U.S. citizens for suppression, guns are the "small weapons". Civilians don't have the resources to combat the EM weapons, "intelligent weapons systems" and other tech that the military has. They don't have to make it a close quarters game, and civilians wouldn't be able to "get their hands on the government's weapons" because, by the time they're close enough to be in your hands, you're dead. The controls for those weapons systems usually aren't even close to the area of effect. I'm not saying you couldn't put up a fight, but there is a crap-ton of high-tech dedicated junk the military can use and never have to get near their adversary. I guess I'm what I'm saying is that when it was musket vs musket, there was some level of equality and reasonable chance to resist a government army. Now it's more like musket vs drone launching a missle at your butt from 10 miles above. Those odds are a lot less in the musket's favor. I could be wrong of course, and I truly hope we never have to find out. That said I still want to keep my musket :)
We really do not have a funding problem in this country, we have a spending problem.
Gun rights are to keep the govt honest.
You're 100% right but how do we create the change that is needed to alter that? I totally agree with you as I'm a big proponent of folks like Mr. Money Mustache and Dave Ramsey and lead a debt-free lifestyle myself, but getting others onboard is a tough nut to crack. Part of that answer is educating others, but they have to 'want' it. In my experience it's almost like trying to convince people to eat healthy :)
The 30 minute sitcom ruined America. Think about it, the show presents a problem and solution all in 30 minutes. We got accustomed to having all our problems wants and needs filled ASAP. So in response to getting people on board to a debt free lifestyle, it will forever be hard because we are now an instant gratification society. We want "it" now and I deserve "it" now.