re: Payton rails against guns after Smith's death

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Kinda like how the drug supply has dried up?

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Apples and oranges.

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Couldn't have said it better myself. He's 100 percent right.

Coach nailed it. Gun nuts just don't get it.

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He's just another blue state bitch. He blames the tool and the NRA instead of the killer. This is not Australia or the UK. There are 300 million guns in this country, and y'all are never going to take them. Get your own, or keep whining. I don't really care.

How about this compromise? Release all non-violent drug offenders and start throwing the book at anyone with an illegal gun instead.

You can keep your gun, following a legit process and licensing exam that proves you know how to use it and are mentally stable with regular updates like with a driver's license.

Caught with an illegal one though? Your arse is in the slammer.

Stricter gun control will simply make it more difficult for typical citizens to defend themselves against people that have no concern for laws. Someone that is willing to murder another person isn't going to be phased by gun laws.

Just look at the war on drugs. We continue to spend more and more money "keeping drugs off the streets" and yet addiction levels have remained mostly steady since the war began.

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man was murdered and his wife was shot, but you think he was better off by not having a gun to protect himself?

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In this situation witnesses report that Smith told the shooter that he had a gun and the shooter said So do I. If that is what happened then If Smith doesn't have a gun/threaten the shooter with the gun who knows what happens very likely he is alive.

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Just look at the war on drugs. We continue to spend more and more money "keeping drugs off the streets" and yet addiction levels have remained mostly steady since the war began.

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And that has been true for countries with both a war on drugs and strict gun control. Their drug addiction rates stay the same, and yet they have extremely low gun related deaths.

It lends itself to the idea that people will get drugs no matter what...but they will not get guns.

To do anything about it, it would take an extremely radical effort and many, many decades.

It will never happen in this country. And as I said, it would require a changed Constitution.

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Apples and oranges.

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You should stick to being a football fan.

He's 100% Correct

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You should stick to being a football fan.

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Again, as I have pointed out, many Western Nations have both a war on drugs, and strict gun control. Drugs proliferate just as much there as here, but they have extremely low gun violence.

As many of those nations have shifted to treatment of drugs instead of prosecution, they have done better.

This is a more nuanced discussion that you want to believe.

Again, I'm playing a bit of devil's advocate here. I have owned guns in the past. I'd like to buy a handgun soon.

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Couldn't have said it better myself. He's 100 percent right.

Coach nailed it. Gun nuts just don't get it

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I'm not one, but I know several "gun nuts". They aren't the ones out killing people. In fact, they probably have the most respect for the power of guns.

It's nothing more than a culture problem. A culture that does not respect human life and sees no issue whatsoever with using a gun to kill a rival/combatant/someone who has wronged them. In fact, using a gun to kill someone else is glamorized. When you have a culture where many, quite literally, aspire to be "thugs" or "gangsters", there is no hope.

2nd amendment issues aside, the whole "banning guns" argument is akin to banning drugs. Most of the people doing many of the killings in inner cities aren't doing with guns they picked up at Jimbo's Firearms store. They are doing it with stolen guns they are buying off the streets. Chicago has some of the strictest guns laws in the country. Yet they also have one of the highest gun related homicide rates in the country. Drugs are illegal. There are no stores (at least in LA) that sell them. Yet, people who want to use drugs somehow are able to get them. Likewise, people who want to use guns for illegal purposes have no problem with using illegal means to obtain them. "Banning" guns in America will just create and increase an illegal black market for obtaining them. They will come in from other countries (just like drugs) and the criminals will continue to purchase them.

Simple people just look for the simplest solution. No more guns = no more shootings. Right? Sure, that's if the people doing the shootings are willing (voluntarily or by force) to give up their guns. Only the naive think they will by either means.

If someone is willing to bust into your house and hold you at gunpoint, or simply just willing to shoot you on the street, do you not think they are also willing to break the law to obtain the gun to do it?