>>>>>>>>>>>Every country in the world but one agrees with you.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>That is simply not true.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>Please provide the stats for every country. :o)
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>OK, it was a little exaggerated. A little.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>I'll try again. We are willing to accept a much higher level of gun fatalities than any other developed nation. Better?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>That's an assumption. I don't know anyone that is willing to 'accept' them anymore than we are willing to accept break-ins, robberies, rapes, or murder...
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>...yeah it's an assumption but I think it's a safe one. If citizens of the USA didn't want to deal with the gun problems then I would assume the majority would want them banned, but apparently that's not the case.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Exactly. It's more important to hang onto the image of the frontier days (and the movies) than to confront the impact of guns in modern society.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>But then how would you address the legitimate fears of the gun owners. You need to remove the illegal weapons and create an air of safety before you prize the guns from their cold dead hands. Thats always the problem about gun legislation. Its only going to reach the law abiding people anyway.
>>>>
>>>>We can get rid of most of the illegitimate guns if we want to. Obviously it will take time given how many guns there are out there. (I believe we have more guns than people -- some commentary, huh?) But even the knuckleheads will eventually comply if the penalties are severe enough. Possess a handgun, go to jail, something like that. It works in the UK, doesn't it? To me it's a copout to say bad guys will always have guns, as though it's an immutable natural law.
>>>
>>>Mike,
>>>What happened when the government banned alcohol? The same thing will happen if they ban guns. I don't understand why this is such a hard concept to accept.
>>
>>It works in other countries. Is there something so unique about us that it can't work here?
>
>Because Americans pride ourselves for living in a free country, and they won't lie down for an unreasonable gun ban. Like I mentioned, Americans didn't for an unreasonable alchohol ban. Oh, and there's that pesky thing called The Constitution, but liberals only put stock in the Constitution when critcizing Bush - otherwise The Constitution is outdated.

The meaning of the 2nd Amendment is debatable (not that I really feel like debating it now). I have always taken it in the context of a "well regulated militia," before we had an army and police forces.

Is Japan not a free country? Are the European nations not free? Australia? I bet there are a heck of a lot of countries where you would have some serious legal issues if you had a gun and shot someone, whatever the reason.