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Rant

And so it begins

Mar 9, 2018 1:56AM PST

and it figures that it would start in Obama/Manuel territory....

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/03/08/illinois-house-passes-bill-requiring-18-20-year-olds-hand-assault-weapons/

It doesn't seem to matter in the least that it was the Obama/Holder rules that put schools in the position of 'don't report problem kids to law enforcement' because they wanted good records of stopping the 'school to prison' pipeline. And it doesn't seem to matter that, especially, women who live alone and are under 21 won't have their own protection available anymore.

Discussion is locked

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Assault weapons
Mar 9, 2018 4:17AM PST

Does someone need that sort of weapon for personal protection?

Protection against what?

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The flip answer is of course "assault".
Mar 9, 2018 6:15AM PST

However, when I go to the VA hospital I see notices all over encouraging GIs, especially women, to report sexual assaults to a confidential line. Couple of years old. In most cases the rapes et al. were perpetrated by fellow soldiers. Who are issued assault rifles. Real ones, with burst settings. In order to ensure security of the homeland.
Do the women feel secure in their homeland? Do they remember to pledge allegiance?

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It's an "ego" gun.
Mar 9, 2018 2:35PM PST

I also blame violent video games for increasing sales of AR-15, since that's the gun typically used in the war type games. I think many buyers of it do so for some "image" they have of themselves more than need or utility. Personally, I wouldn't want one. You can get much the same capability from a standard looking rifle.

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Yup
Mar 9, 2018 5:34PM PST

It's not need it's want.

As for personal protection I think I can do that quite well with a .38 or a 9mm pistol.

The situation changes a little if I lived very rural surrounded by large wild life.

For that think I would want a rifle with more muscle but it does not lead me to an AR-15 type weapon.

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You DO realize that a 9mm PISTOL
Mar 10, 2018 4:44PM PST

IS A SEMI-AUTOMATIC "assault" gun? PLEASE EDUCATE YOURSELF SO YOU CAN STOP MAKING A FOOL OF YOURSELF.

As for 'more muscle'....the AR-15 is FAR less powerful than some of my son's actual HUNTING rifles.....and they are also semi-automatics.

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Please STOP your crying
Mar 10, 2018 8:00PM PST

They are coming after your guns a piece at a time.

If your lucky they might let you keep a single shot .22 rifle.

Suck it up and STOP moaning.

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(NT) In your dreams....SCOTUS, here we come
Mar 11, 2018 10:07AM PDT
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Perhaps SCOTUS
Mar 11, 2018 3:07PM PDT

Will get it right this time.

What militia do we have that requires it's members to supply their own weapons?

Answer.....none.

Which makes the 2nd null and your right to own void.

Bye bye guns.

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"This time"?
Mar 11, 2018 5:33PM PDT

So, in YOUR wants/desires/dreams, you are smarter/wiser than 9 experts in their field because for over 200 years, they've 'gotten it wrong', even when they were challenged already and stuck with the Constitution? OK.....done here.

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Bye bye
Mar 11, 2018 6:08PM PDT

Gun lovers are stuck in their belief they have a right.

Florida/Illinois......has the movement started?

I don't think so.....it will take a few more mass shootings to move things along.

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RE:smarter/wiser than 9 experts in their field
Mar 11, 2018 8:13PM PDT

YOU think these guys are "smarter, wiser/experts in their field", even though THEY don't agree with YOUR argument?

Supreme Court lets California gun control laws stand

AND

The court has never said, however, that the right to bear arms in this country is absolute.

In declaring an individual right to bear arms, the court made clear that there are limitations on that right, just as there are limitations on other constitutional rights.


kinda shoots YOUR argument/points down, Don't ya think?

You and your experts don't agree.

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Limits were not written in the Constitution
Mar 11, 2018 8:25PM PDT

Therefore the "activist" judges of today are just adding things that do not exist and acting like their "rulings" are of greater worth than what actually is written as Law. They are becoming law makers, in violation of Constitution, all while pretending they are not. Devious Devils.

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Laws
Mar 11, 2018 9:14PM PDT

Laws that were written 200 yrs ago may have made perfect sense at the time.

Times change so the law/interpretation has to be adjusted for the times.

Your looking at this from a gun lovers point of view.

I can have any gun I want and I don't want to hear about any restrictions.

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BUT you are forgetting that
Mar 12, 2018 9:45AM PDT

in order to have those laws changed, you need CONGRESS to do it....NOT individual States deciding to NOT enforce the laws that are ALREADY on the books on a Federal level. AND you couldn't even get DEMS to re-enact the assault weapon ban from the 1990's that Clinton put into place when that law expired.

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Yup
Mar 12, 2018 10:27AM PDT

Laws are made by congress.

Interpretation is done by the court system.

As for what congress does I have no control over those folks they seem to dance to their own drummer.

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I'm told the 2nd was written for the same
Mar 12, 2018 1:39PM PDT

reason as the passage about 'no ex post facto laws or bills of attainder', which few people understand today. Needed then, and worked.

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RE:Devious Devils.
Mar 12, 2018 3:44AM PDT
Devious Devils?

TONI H refers to them as "smarter, wiser and experts in their field".
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When SCOTUS DECLINES
Mar 12, 2018 9:42AM PDT

to hear a case, the 'final' ruling stays with whatever lower court heard it last. That doesn't mean that SCOTUS disagreed or agreed with that ruling. There are many times that history will show that SCOTUS took up the case at a later date and reversed a lower court's decision. They usually decline when they don't have a full seating because a judge hasn't been appointed/confirmed to give them all nine. I suspect they will actually agree to hear those cases at a later date.

As for your NPR article....90% of it is speculation and assumption on the writer's part so I'm not taking much stock in it as it stands. MY experts and I DO agree....as you can see from how many times during BO's terms they gave 9-0 votes against him, even from the liberal justices.

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RE: When SCOTUS DECLINES
Mar 12, 2018 11:48AM PDT

YOU claimed even when they were challenged already and stuck with the Constitution? OK.....done here


They DECLINED, but stuck with the Constitution?

HOW did they stick with the Constitution IF/WHEN they DECLINED?

What they "stuck with" is the previous ruling by a lower court....

I suspect they will actually agree to hear those cases at a later date.

More speculation on YOUR part?

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(NT) Big game? .303. A classic.
Mar 11, 2018 5:31AM PDT
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That's a good beginning.
Mar 9, 2018 7:47AM PST

There is no real logic in not allowing 18-20 year to buy alcohol and allow them to buy all weapons they want.
While it can't be denied that drinking alcohol and driving makes you more dangerous for other people (apart from being bad for your own health if used excessively) weapons surely are more dangerous, so restricting that makes sense.

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Drinking age was lowered to 18 in 70's...
Mar 9, 2018 2:37PM PST

...due to the belief that if 18 year olds could be drafted and sent to fight with M-16's, then they could also be trusted to drink responsibly. Of course that isn't the way it worked out. Later that age limit was raised back to what it had been previously.

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Good point
Mar 10, 2018 4:52AM PST

I suppose it could also be argued that, should they be able to serve in the military and handle an assault rifle, they should be able to have access to one prior to entering the service. If they end up in the motor pool, certainly the training received in learning to drive a car as a civilian would be of value. I would think, however, it would be a weak reason to allow such a weapon to be owned in the uncontrolled environment of civilian life.
As a side note, I believe I read that one reason the NRA was born was out of the recognition that the younger northern soldiers were relatively ill prepared to handle weapons while their southern counterparts had more exposure to them. The idea was that, since all able bodied males were subject to be called for military service, weapons training in advance of that possibility had a purpose. Of course this does not mean one practices their marksmanship in unrestricted public areas.

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RE: Good point
Mar 10, 2018 8:11AM PST

Saw that during basic training.

You were required to pass a marksmanship test with a rifle.

There was not much to it....hit the silhouette of a man at some short distance.

Since I had used a rifle or pistol since about age 12 it was a quite easy test.

Some guys had to go back multiple times to pass.

In my case it was a waste of time since I was never issued a weapon even in a combat zone.

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I, like many boys back in the 50s
Mar 10, 2018 12:39PM PST

had a BB gun but mostly young boys had gun and holster sets that fired "caps". We pretended to shoot each other. When shot, we'd make a big dramatic scene when falling dead to the ground. This is what we saw on TV and we emulated those on cowboy shows. Later, it was decided that this was not a healthy activity and toy cap guns disappeared from the stores. I suppose it was feared that we'd all want real guns later and would still be shooting at each other. I don't think that proved to be true for kids of my generation. Now, we see TV and movies to which kids are exposed to far more violence than we were. They buy the realistic toy weapons that shoot soft projectiles at each other. Their fantasy games have nothing to do with good guys against criminals and robbers but super heroes against roaring monsters of death. So why is this OK but our play acting like Roy Rogers was evil? Go figure.

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Good comment.
Mar 10, 2018 4:28PM PST

I know of two cases where cops, answering a possible-burglar call, encountered small children home alone. One greeted the cop with a toy pistol.
Both children shot to death. Justifiable: line of duty; no argument.
Neither cop worked ever again.
Line from The Unforgiven. "It's a hell of a thing to kill a man." Or ...

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To be clear.
Mar 12, 2018 4:45PM PDT

They were cleared to go back on patrol. They couldn't suit up.

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BTW I see Trump has picked up our teaching,
Mar 10, 2018 4:54PM PST

about the harm of violent video games.
I wonder if we can sue for plagiarism.

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The Navy gave us about a half day
Mar 10, 2018 4:23PM PST

of "deadly force" in boot camp. Weapon was the Garand M-1. If you remember that then you'll understand that the lecture and demo made me deathly afraid of "M-1 thumb". So, on the range, single shot, I took about 5 minutes to load each one. Or would have, if the Chief hadn't booted me off after the second. Happy
Only other contact was with the legendary Automatic Pistol, Caliber .45, M1911A1 I carried on quarterdeck watch. In the States, so no rounds in the weapon or belt. Even so, the weight gave me a permanent list to starboard.
And to think that I stood between you and godless Commie hordes ...

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Actually, there was a black conservative republican woman
Mar 10, 2018 4:50PM PST

on a Fox News show a few days ago that was giving the history of how the NRA started and it was in the South, giving guns and training to blacks in order to protect themselves from the KKK.