Did you catch that? Pretending that gun control folks actually believe gun registration will prevent people from going off the deep end by using such sarcastic language as this, is absolutely mendacious.Wendy Cukier and the CGC are grasping at straws in a desperate measure to retain any or all of the long gun registry. These are public scare tactics filled with half truths and flat out lies.
Wendy seams to be under the impression that the only thing stopping an otherwise law-abiding gun owner from going on a shooting rampage is a little piece of paper. Sick people are sick, and require treatment. I’m sure $2 billion could have been better spent on mental health issues rather than harassing law-abiding citizens.
Wendy seams to be under the impression that the only thing stopping an otherwise law-abiding gun owner from going on a shooting rampage is a little piece of paper.Nobody thinks that. But, well aware of that fact, gun-rights extremists both north and south of the border say stuff like this and make serious arguments against it as if we actually believe it and have said it. We done and we haven't.
The benefits of gun registration have been clearly defined. They have nothing to do with preventing people from going on shooting rampages. They have everything to do with preventing guns from flowing into the criminal world. They will help the so-called law abiding gun owners to hold onto their guns and stop allowing them to reach criminal hands.
And guess what, it's been proven to work.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.
The real question here is what kind of society we want here in America. Canadians must choose for themselves, as must the citizens or subjects of other nations.
ReplyDeleteMikeb302000, Laci the Dog, and Dog Gone appear to want a European model for society here. Of course, Mikeb302000 lives in Rome, according to his profile, so he's already made his choice. The European model is for collective action, central planning, and a caste system. The American model, by contrast, favors individual liberty, neighbor helping neighbor, and a meritocracy. In both cases, I'm talking about the ideal, so please refrain from pointing out how we've fallen short. The Europeans have failed to live up to their choice at times too.
In the European view, rights are given to us by our society. Americans see rights as belonging to the individual.
The question of registration is an illustration of this. In the European model, the government has the right to know who has firearms. The American model says that individuals have the right to privacy with regard to their possessions.
I'm sure that someone will criticize my choice of labels here. If you don't like European vs. American, just call it X and Y. I'm just asking for some clarity in our respective philosophies. To me, the basic unit is the individual. To many here, it appears that the basic unit is the society.
Greg Camp: The American model... a meritocracy.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it was once, but no more. Check this out:
http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/06/zakaria-fix-education-restore-social-mobility/
Quote from the article:
I think underlying [Occupy Wall Street demonstrators, etc] sense of frustration is despair over a very un-American state of affairs: A loss of social mobility. Americans have so far put up with inequality because they felt they could change their own status. They didn't mind others being rich, as long as they had a path to move up as well. The American Dream is all about social mobility - the sense that anyone can make it.
TIME magazine's Rana Foroohar has a great cover story this week that highlights that social mobility in American is declining. She points out that if you were born in 1970 in the bottom one-fifth of our socio-economic spectrum, you had only a 17% chance of making it into the upper two-fifths. Data show that its much easier to climb the socio-economic ladder in many parts of Europe. Rana points out that while nearly half of American men with fathers in the bottom fifth of the earning curve remain there, only a quarter of Danes and Swedes and only 30% of Britons do. The American dream seems to be thriving in Europe more than it is here at home.
The meritocracy is no more. We have gutted public education, and this is the price we pay for it.
Sorry this is off topic, re: guns, but I couldn't let that pass. It just is no longer true.
Thus, we have a society of "individualists" with nothing to distinguish themselves except brand names and more consumerist bullshit. Competition leading nowhere, which leads to anger, resentment and violence.
And maybe that DOES lead to the topic of guns, now that I think of it.
Greg, I appreciate the way you describe things, it's simple and clear. But I don't think it holds up underscrutiny. Wht you say is not all that different from the Tennessee mountain man who runs an illegal still, or perhaps now a meth lab, and wants his privacy.
ReplyDeleteGun availability is out of control in the US. Something could be done about that without stripping you of your rights or your privacy. That's what I'm talking about.
You're allowed to own hammers and saws, but you're not allowed to own anthrax and plutonium, at least not without special licenses.
Guess what category I'd put guns in?
Mikeb302000,
ReplyDeleteAs I said, you've made your choice, and I've made mine. Your response to my comment didn't disagree with my assessment; it confirmed it. You said that gun availability is out of control in America. My point was that Americans don't want centralized control over their lives.
The good news is that my side is winning for now.
DaisyDeadhead,
You and I actually agree. We've lost our way and desparately need to get back to what you describe. A meritocracy is the ideal, even if we've forgotten that.
Greg said, "My point was that Americans don't want centralized control over their lives."
ReplyDeleteFirst of all you don't speak for "Americans." And even if you did and the majority thought like you do, which I don't think is the case, it's not a popularity contest. You gun-rights guys always tell me that.