Today was the 74th school shooting since Sandy Hook.

[CF DolFan]

Just would like to interject one thing ... It's not necessarily Democrats who oppose gun ownership. Many Democrats are for gun rights  including many of the Hollywood liberal elite. Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Bruce Willis, James Earl Jones, Ice T, Johnny Depp. Heck ... Even the Dalai Lama said ""If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun."
Read more at http://www.snopes.com/politics/guns/dalailama.asp#YFijeb4cxmuOx9xZ.99

[Phishfan]

Is that what he meant when he said Gunga Galunga?

[dolphins4life]

Do gun control laws vary from state to state or are they federally regulated?

[Cathal]

Do gun control laws vary from state to state or are they federally regulated?

I'm fairly certain that they vary considerably per state.

[dolphins4life]

I'm fairly certain that they vary considerably per state.

interesting.  Then there must be studies that compare gun control laws to violence.  I'll have to find one

[CF DolFan]

interesting.  Then there must be studies that compare gun control laws to violence.  I'll have to find one

Detroit has some of the most restrictive and toughest laws in the country and yet they are one of the highest for murder rates.

[Spider-Dan]

Nice hypothetical talking points, however like I said. Go argue with the members of your party that voted it down. Then go argue with the supreme court. Also you're wrong on the concealed carry point, the supreme court ruled that prohibiting carrying a firearm is unconstitutional. That's why all 50 states now allow carry of some kind.

That is an incorrect assessment of the facts; 17 states do not ban open carry, but also do not prohibit local laws from restricting the practice.  Furthermore, in IL, you can only open carry on private property, which is exactly the kind of tobacco-style legislation that I'm talking about.

Like I said, it's never gonna happen in my lifetime. Even if it does, there are 300 million firearms out there that have  already been sold that can't be taxed again and I'm stocked to the ceiling on guns and ammo.

I'm sure you're familiar with the concept of mandatory registration (i.e. a tax), so yes, they can be taxed again.

As for whether or not it will happen, that depends on several other factors.  If I were you, I would be concerned that the party that most stalwartly defends gun rights is currently on a demographic path to be mathematically irrelevant in 20 years.  The real question, in my mind, is whether it can be done, and even I can think of several ways to severely curtail firearms in a manner consistent with established constitutional law.

[pondwater]

Just would like to interject one thing ... It's not necessarily Democrats who oppose gun ownership. Many Democrats are for gun rights  including many of the Hollywood liberal elite. Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Bruce Willis, James Earl Jones, Ice T, Johnny Depp. Heck ... Even the Dalai Lama said ""If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun."
Read more at http://www.snopes.com/politics/guns/dalailama.asp#YFijeb4cxmuOx9xZ.99

I agree with you that there are some democrats who don't oppose firearms. However, for the most part, it's the democrats that push the gun control agenda. The democrats that don't push that agenda are a small minority.

interesting.  Then there must be studies that compare gun control laws to violence.  I'll have to find one

Yes, up to now, the places with the highest shootings usually have the most restrictive gun laws and are usually democrat stronghold cities. States that had restrictive “may issue” or “no issue” concealed carry laws between 1980-2009 had a 10% higher gun murder rate than those states that required no permit at all, or who had “shall issue” permitting. That's a fact.

Criminals have nothing to fear if they know that the victim isn't armed and can't fight back. That's why the crime rates are through the roof in those places.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

 I mean ... knives kill many people each year as well. It seems a bit prejudice to only pick on guns.

It will be impossible to stop all violence, that is a given.  But can you realistically walk into a school and kill 20 children with a knife?  with a bat?  with a single shot muzzle loader?  No.  You might get one or two or if you are very effective 3 or 4, before you will be overtaken by the adults at the school. 

On the other hand with a semi-automatic with a 50 round magazine you could be completely incompetent and still kill 25-30 people. 

This argument is saying, we will never completely get rid of murder so lets not try and reduce the number.  That is just stupid.

We will never get rid of teen age pregnancy, yet we should take steps to reduce it. 
We will never get rid of obesity, yet we should take steps to  reduce it. 
We will never get rid of rape on college camps, yet we should take steps to  reduce it. 
We will never get rid of drunk driving, yet we should take steps to  reduce it. 
We will never get rid of soldiers dying from friendly fire, yet we should take steps to  reduce it.   
We will never get rid of cancer, yet we should take steps to  reduce it. 

So the question should never be will this specific gun control legislation complete get rid of gun violence, just will it reduce it. 

[dolphins4life]

The logical next question I suppose is, in the states with lax gun control laws, have there been news stories and about a private citizen stopping a gunman by shooting them.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Detroit has some of the most restrictive and toughest laws in the country and yet they are one of the highest for murder rates.

This is often cited by the anti gun control crowd, however, the cause and effect is backward.  Places with high gun violence are more likely to pass restrictive gun control laws than places w/o. 

[Brian Fein]

This is often cited by the anti gun control crowd, however, the cause and effect is backward.  Places with high gun violence are more likely to pass restrictive gun control laws than places w/o. 

You'd think that, once gun control laws went into place, the number would decline sharply.  But, has it?

Fact is: people who shoot other people with guns don't care about laws (clearly), so how do you expect to control them with more laws?

[dolphins4life]

You'd think that, once gun control laws went into place, the number would decline sharply.  But, has it?

Fact is: people who shoot other people with guns don't care about laws (clearly), so how do you expect to control them with more laws?

To me it seems that even if you made guns illegal, people would still find ways to get them

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

You'd think that, once gun control laws went into place, the number would decline sharply.  But, has it?

Fact is: people who shoot other people with guns don't care about laws (clearly), so how do you expect to control them with more laws?

People who want to hijack an airplane don't care about laws either, so it isn't enough to just make hijacking illegal.  We make carrying a gun, knife or bomb on to an airplane illegal too.

Making guns illegal is not the answer.  But a good steps to reduce gun violence would include: closing to loophole on gun show gun purchases, making it illegal to own, sell or use high capacity magazine, do a better job with background checks, require gun owners to secure their guns safely so kids don't accidentally shoot themselves, etc.   

[Spider-Dan]

Detroit has some of the most restrictive and toughest laws in the country and yet they are one of the highest for murder rates.

So if we are going to discuss gun laws and their effect on violent crime, should we also compare America to, say, Japan?

The problem with saying "Detroit has tough gun laws but there is still lots of gun crime there" is that anyone in Detroit who wants a gun just drives to a nearby town and buys their gun legally and openly there, then drives back into Detroit without any scrutiny.  This doesn't happen when firearms are restricted nationally, any more than you can drive into Mexico and buy a rocket launcher then casually drive back across the border.