Either way you look at this argument there are valid points on both sides. I dont think either is strong enough to change our current condition. I think many ppl on this post need to “think before speaking” and grant each side of this argument respect and not lash out against an opinion because it differs form your own.

True conservative offers no change
True liberalism is to open minded to even argue their own opinion

People have warped that phrase to its post-Incorporation meaning of “Without Private ownership of guns, only outlaws own guns.”

But the meaning is still valid. 2nd Amendment is to protect us from government, and yes, Obama is going to try and infringe upon that further by encouraging states to do what California did.

As for people having to defend themselves with a gun, happens approximately every 13 seconds:

http://www.learnaboutguns.com/2008/08/01/every-13-seconds-an-american-uses-a-gun-in-self-defense/

Today’s paper carries the tale of a brother who shot his own brother in the back while unloading a handgun in the backseat of the car while returning from a hunting trip. Not sure why they would need a hqandgun for a little deer hunting but anyway. What do you feel would be the appropriate punishment for the youngster?

If it was intentional, jail. If it was accidental, a thorough course in firearms safety and a few years of probation.

And handguns are used for deer hunting more often than you think. Some handguns were specifically designed for hunting.

It is the ANTI’s menatality that one can not defend themselves against criminals that causes death in reality. I know reality is a scary place but crime exists. No law is ever going to stop them. Something you might be more willing to admit if we were talking about marijuana but that of course is ‘different’.

The blood of any gun related crime is on the hands of every individual who feels that we are not allowed to protect ourselves from people with evil intent.

That’s how guns continue to get into places like Chicago and DC, despite their bans on guns.

Here’s another thought. Instead of talking about banning assault weapons that your average NRA member may lust for, let’s talk about the ease with which TERRORISTS can abuse the loopholes and lax gun laws to purchase weapons and ammunition to use in terrorist attacks on US soil and abroad.

What will the NRA say one day when it is proven that a terrorist or a terrorist sympathizer kills an American with a gun purchased with no background check at a gun show? Will they even admit their complicity in the terrorist act?

Why would a terrorist buy a gun in the US when they can buy them elsewhere cheaper and not have to worry about any paper trail or setting off someone’s suspicions? In Somalia you can buy a fully automatic AK-47 off the street for $35. In the US, even the cheapest semi-auto AK clone is going to cost you a minimum of $200. That’s probably why there haven’t been many if any terrorists purchasing guns in the US.

If I were a terrorist, i’d buy my gun in a place like Africa or Mexico and have it snuck over the border with the tons of drugs that come into our country.

Why would any President want to ban the most popular rifle in the United States???

Because they are black and they scare the uneducated, thus it’s easy to put together some useless, unconstitutional “feel good” legislation to ban them.

It’s the same approach the democrat party took towards black people so many years ago when they came up with the useless, unconstitutional “feel good” Jim Crow laws.

Why would any President be afraid of gun owners???

Why would any President want to ban the most popular rifle in the United States???

This came from his website http://www.change.org

Address Gun Violence in Cities: Obama and Biden would repeal the Tiahrt Amendment, which restricts the ability of local law enforcement to access important gun trace information, and give police officers across the nation the tools they need to solve gun crimes and fight the illegal arms trade. Obama and Biden also favor commonsense measures that respect the Second Amendment rights of gun owners, while keeping guns away from children and from criminals. They support closing the gun show loophole and making guns in this country childproof. They also support making the expired federal Assault Weapons Ban permanent.

This basicaly bans all AR-15’s…the most popular hunting/sport/compitition rifle in the United States

1. No one is rushing to buy automatic weapons. There are only 180,000 available to the public, because it is illegal to purchase one built after 1986. And in order to purchase one, you’d have to first cough up the 3k-20k dollars needed to purchase it, submit to a 3-4 month BATF background check, get the permission of your local chief law enforcement officer, be finger printed and photographed, and pay for a $200 tax stamp. This same process also applies to suppressors.

An automatic AK-47 will cost somewhere upwards of $5k. No one hunts deer with a rifle that expensive. Especially when it would net you 10 years in prison if you lost it. However, some people do use semi-automatic AK-47 clones to hunt. That’s because the ammo is cheap and it has just enough power to humanely kill a deer and other medium sized game.

2. “Assault weapon” is a term created by man named Josh Sugarman with the expressed intent of confusing people and deceiving people into thinking they are banning machine guns when in reality they are banning everything from certain models of 9mm handguns all the way up to the AR-15 which is the most popular “sporting” rifle in the country. BTW, “sporting use” was a concept created by the Nazis in order to disarm the Jews of their non-sporting arms. It’s no surprise the gun control advocates picked up the term. Hitler was a big gun control advocate himself.

3. The Second Amendment is not about hunting. It really does “guarantee the “right” to outgun the duly elected authorities of our country.” in the event they start working against the interests of people in this country. For those who think a bunch of guys with guns can’t fight off the US military, just look at Iraq. A bunch of insurgents with guns have essentially brought the US military to a stalemate. But in the US, it wouldn’t even be that complicated. We have something the Iraq insurrection don’t have: Access to the people who give orders to the military. To quote Ben Franklin, “Nothing concentrates the mind so wonderfully as the prospect of being hung in the morning.” Substitute “hung” with “shot” and you can easily see how the Second Amendment works as a check on government power.

4. Free people aren’t limited to their needs alone. Don’t ask someone why they need such and such evil looking gun. Free people have all kinds of things they don’t need:cars, televisions, cellphones, air conditioning, shoes, etc… There are people all over the world who do quite well without those things.

5. “A right delayed is a right denied.” – MLK Jr. With that said, waiting periods are stupid. They’ve been shown to have absolutely no effect on whether someone uses a gun for nefarious purposes or not. That’s because someone committed to breaking the law has no problem ignoring the law and inquiringly a gun the illegal way: Instantly.

6. I love background checks. I love them so much, that I think we need background checks for more things. If you’re not eligible to buy a gun, you shouldn’t be eligible to vote, buy a car, buy alcohol, or procreate. All those things are just as dangerous as guns if they’re in the wrong hands.