Putting to rest the *Gun* debate

[exploited]

[Ben Huh]

Because firearms are a perfect equalizer. Tell me how a 110lb teenage girl is to best protect herself whilst being assaulted by a man twice her size. Call the cops? She'll be a homicide investigation at worst by then and who knows, the cops may shoot her themselves these days. Plenty of things polarize our country....Abortion, gay rights, foreign policy, etc. Should we just forget about all of our rights because people may fall on both sides of a policy argument? No. Gun ownership is a federally protected right and it should always be a federally protected right. Abortion is a federally protected right and look how much polarization exist on the topic, should we just ban abortion to stop political bickering? Look at how much flack states the make it nigh impossible to have abortions get.

[exploited]

She could use a knife, learn a martial art, scream, call police, or do whatever else the rest of the women in the Western world do. You're acting as if guns have succeeded at preventing crimes from happening, meanwhile your crime rate is either the same (minus murders of course) or worse than every other first world country. On a societal level, guns have not worked to control or prevent crime. Individual examples abound, of course, but they do for the other side (people doing retardedly stupid stuff with guns) as well.

The point is, this issue is not at all what you are making it out to be, further proof that gun ownership is not a right (nothing is - all rights are privileges and the entire concept is a convenient fiction that can and should be changed from time to time). The idea that if the US decides to put aside a contentious issue it must put aside all contentious issues is equally as fallacious. You can choose to abolish the Second Amendment and empower the Sixth, for instance. You can choose to end federal limits on gun control while strengthening federal protection of reproductive rights.

So, to conclude: the reason why you should abolish the Second is because you can finally get what you want, while also putting aside a stupidly divisive issue that is doing tremendous harm to your government. If the people of your State want no gun control, have at it. If they want moderate gun control focused on handguns, as most states do, have at it. This "right" simply does not have the importance it is treated as having.

[Mogli]

Privileges? That's preposterous. Our govt. is supposed to work for 'We The People'. Govt. doesn't get to grant rights and because of the 2nd, citizens don't get to disarm their neighbors for frivolous reasons.

Exploited, why do you trust govt. but do not trust the common man to do right?

[exploited]

Again, "We the people" doesn't mean just those who share your ideology.

The Constitution was designed to be changed. Arguing that the Second Amendment is a right because it is a right because it is a right, and that's why it shouldn't be abolished, is silly. You have asserted that this right exists outside of government, but rely upon the founding document of your government to justify it. Then when confronted with the idea of changing that document, you object by asserting the right.

The reason you do this is either because rights don't exist or because gun ownership is not a right. Your move.

[Ben Huh]

Learn a martial art? Haha come on man. There's reaching and then there's expecting a young woman to be Bruce Lee to defend herself. Face it, in the hands of responsible people, guns are the best form of self-defense there is. I shouldn't have to learn Kung fu to provide for my own defense.

[Dylan]

[The Comrade]

is goldfish slang for 7 year olds?

[Dylan]

[Ben Huh]

That's nice and all, but crimes are going to be committed regardless of guns or not. Treating felonies that result in homicide based on the murder weapon is not logical. Intent above everything else. How about instead of fighting guns, you fight causes of crime. As long as people remain desperate and poor or mentally unstable with no help in sight, people will commit crimes.