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Americans and Guns
Josey1
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Americans and guns
Debate pits the rights of individuals against controlling the use of arms
By Kerry Duke
Kentucky Life editor
When it comes to the issue of guns in America, there is never a cooling off period.
The debate over guns and controlling them always simmers hot, boiling over whenever a high profile shooting occurs, a new gun law is proposed or an advocacy group steps up its campaign.
Those who advocate gun control laws point to the daily headlines on gun violence and grim statistics on senseless slayings as proof of the need to curb handguns.
Those who advocate for gun rights point to the Second Amendment and counter anti-gun arguments by noting that crime rates have actually fallen as more and more states have allowed citizens to carry concealed weapons.
These are not just theoretical arguments. They shape laws, affect court decisions and influence politics. They end up on agendas at city hall, the state capital and Washington. Consider:
Anti- and pro-gun sides are marshalling forces for a fight next year in Congress over renewal of the Assault Weapons Ban. The law, which outlaws the sale of semiautomatic assault weapons in the United States, expires in September 2004 unless Congress and President Bush renew it.
Anti-gun forces are readying to battle a bill in Congress that would grant gun manufacturers and dealers immunity against many lawsuits, including ones already in court brought by shooting victims and municipalities. The lawsuits target gun makers for not adding safety features and gun dealers for practices that make it easy for criminals to get guns. Anti-gun forces claim the law would allow gun makers to build defective firearms and dealers to negligently sell to traffickers without recourse. The bill also seeks to prevent lawsuits that have merit and are in progress, such as one filed by the victims of snipers in the Washington, D.C. area against the dealer who sold the guns to both the accused and has been unable to account for over 230 weapons sold, including one used in the shootings. Pro-gun forces, like the National Rifle Association, characterize the law more as "tort reform," saying it will protect firearms manufacturers and dealers from malicious lawsuits aimed at bankrupting a law-abiding American industry. Already 33 states have enacted laws blocking such lawsuits.
Since 1998, at least 33 municipalities, counties and states have sued gun makers, many claiming that manufacturers, through irresponsible marketing, allowed weapons to reach criminals. No suits have been successful in collecting damages. Among the lawsuits filed was one by the city of Cincinnati, which was dropped earlier this year because of concerns Congress would grant immunity to gun manufacturers and make the case more difficult to pursue.
Gun rights advocates have made gains as an increasing number of states have enacted legislation permitting citizens to carry concealed weapons. In 1986, a total of 30 states had laws allowing some form of the concealed carry of weapons. By this year, the number had grown to 43. In 1986, 19 states forbade guns to be carried altogether; by this year, the number had dwindled to five.
Kentucky passed legislation seven years ago that established a permitting system under which most law-abiding residents are able to obtain permits to carry concealed weapons. The Kentucky State Police report that there are currently slightly more than 77,000 permits to carry concealed weapons in force in the commonwealth.
Legislation to permit Ohioans to carry concealed weapons bogged down this fall over disagreements between the House's version of the bill and the Senate's. And an Ohio Supreme Court decision upheld the state's ban on carrying concealed weapons in a case arising in Hamilton County, Ohio.
Gun-control forces have won on other fronts. New Jersey's state legislature this year voted to require all new handguns sold to be so-called "smart guns," as soon as the technology is in place. Smart guns, which are still in development, use microchips inside the gun that allows only their owners to fire them.
Earlier, the state took another gun-control lead as the first to require guns to be sold with trigger locks.
Gun-control advocates say smart guns can help prevent accidental deaths or suicides as well as curb some homicides by rendering the weapon useless if stolen. Tennessee, New York and Ohio are considering similar smart-gun measures.
Every American, armed or otherwise, has an opinion on the role guns should play in our society.
Should handguns be outlawed? Is tough gun registration the answer? What about waiting periods, sales at guns shows and mail order weapons?
Because the Second Amendment was written hundreds of years ago in a different time, is it still relevant?
Is it only applicable today to the right of state militias to arm themselves?
Could our forefathers, who loaded single shots into muskets, have ever envisioned a world of weapons that rip off 400 rounds per minute?
Indeed, many who argue for gun rights say gun ownership is such a fundament right of individuals that its erosion might lead to the erosion of other individual rights such as free speech, right of assembly, right to worship and freedom from non-lawful search and seizure.
They contend more gun control laws wouldn't keep guns out of the hands of criminals since they don't obey laws anyway but only make it harder for law-abiding citizens to own them.
They say falling crime statistics point up that law-abiding gun owners and concealed carry laws are helping reduce crime.
When it comes to laws, they say there are plenty already on the books and that the problem is they aren't enforced.
http://www.kypost.com/2003/11/19/kylifemain111903.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878<P>
Debate pits the rights of individuals against controlling the use of arms
By Kerry Duke
Kentucky Life editor
When it comes to the issue of guns in America, there is never a cooling off period.
The debate over guns and controlling them always simmers hot, boiling over whenever a high profile shooting occurs, a new gun law is proposed or an advocacy group steps up its campaign.
Those who advocate gun control laws point to the daily headlines on gun violence and grim statistics on senseless slayings as proof of the need to curb handguns.
Those who advocate for gun rights point to the Second Amendment and counter anti-gun arguments by noting that crime rates have actually fallen as more and more states have allowed citizens to carry concealed weapons.
These are not just theoretical arguments. They shape laws, affect court decisions and influence politics. They end up on agendas at city hall, the state capital and Washington. Consider:
Anti- and pro-gun sides are marshalling forces for a fight next year in Congress over renewal of the Assault Weapons Ban. The law, which outlaws the sale of semiautomatic assault weapons in the United States, expires in September 2004 unless Congress and President Bush renew it.
Anti-gun forces are readying to battle a bill in Congress that would grant gun manufacturers and dealers immunity against many lawsuits, including ones already in court brought by shooting victims and municipalities. The lawsuits target gun makers for not adding safety features and gun dealers for practices that make it easy for criminals to get guns. Anti-gun forces claim the law would allow gun makers to build defective firearms and dealers to negligently sell to traffickers without recourse. The bill also seeks to prevent lawsuits that have merit and are in progress, such as one filed by the victims of snipers in the Washington, D.C. area against the dealer who sold the guns to both the accused and has been unable to account for over 230 weapons sold, including one used in the shootings. Pro-gun forces, like the National Rifle Association, characterize the law more as "tort reform," saying it will protect firearms manufacturers and dealers from malicious lawsuits aimed at bankrupting a law-abiding American industry. Already 33 states have enacted laws blocking such lawsuits.
Since 1998, at least 33 municipalities, counties and states have sued gun makers, many claiming that manufacturers, through irresponsible marketing, allowed weapons to reach criminals. No suits have been successful in collecting damages. Among the lawsuits filed was one by the city of Cincinnati, which was dropped earlier this year because of concerns Congress would grant immunity to gun manufacturers and make the case more difficult to pursue.
Gun rights advocates have made gains as an increasing number of states have enacted legislation permitting citizens to carry concealed weapons. In 1986, a total of 30 states had laws allowing some form of the concealed carry of weapons. By this year, the number had grown to 43. In 1986, 19 states forbade guns to be carried altogether; by this year, the number had dwindled to five.
Kentucky passed legislation seven years ago that established a permitting system under which most law-abiding residents are able to obtain permits to carry concealed weapons. The Kentucky State Police report that there are currently slightly more than 77,000 permits to carry concealed weapons in force in the commonwealth.
Legislation to permit Ohioans to carry concealed weapons bogged down this fall over disagreements between the House's version of the bill and the Senate's. And an Ohio Supreme Court decision upheld the state's ban on carrying concealed weapons in a case arising in Hamilton County, Ohio.
Gun-control forces have won on other fronts. New Jersey's state legislature this year voted to require all new handguns sold to be so-called "smart guns," as soon as the technology is in place. Smart guns, which are still in development, use microchips inside the gun that allows only their owners to fire them.
Earlier, the state took another gun-control lead as the first to require guns to be sold with trigger locks.
Gun-control advocates say smart guns can help prevent accidental deaths or suicides as well as curb some homicides by rendering the weapon useless if stolen. Tennessee, New York and Ohio are considering similar smart-gun measures.
Every American, armed or otherwise, has an opinion on the role guns should play in our society.
Should handguns be outlawed? Is tough gun registration the answer? What about waiting periods, sales at guns shows and mail order weapons?
Because the Second Amendment was written hundreds of years ago in a different time, is it still relevant?
Is it only applicable today to the right of state militias to arm themselves?
Could our forefathers, who loaded single shots into muskets, have ever envisioned a world of weapons that rip off 400 rounds per minute?
Indeed, many who argue for gun rights say gun ownership is such a fundament right of individuals that its erosion might lead to the erosion of other individual rights such as free speech, right of assembly, right to worship and freedom from non-lawful search and seizure.
They contend more gun control laws wouldn't keep guns out of the hands of criminals since they don't obey laws anyway but only make it harder for law-abiding citizens to own them.
They say falling crime statistics point up that law-abiding gun owners and concealed carry laws are helping reduce crime.
When it comes to laws, they say there are plenty already on the books and that the problem is they aren't enforced.
http://www.kypost.com/2003/11/19/kylifemain111903.html
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878<P>
Comments
Michael Moore's provocative new documentary tries to come to grips with a school massacre in Colorado
By Dana Thomas
NEWSWEEK INTERNATIONAL
June 3 issue - On the morning of April 20, 1999, two gun-wielding teen-agers walked into their school, Columbine High, in Littleton, Colorado, opened fire and killed 12 fellow students and one teacher-perhaps the most shocking recent example of gun violence in America. The massacre prompted U.S. filmmaker Michael Moore, armed with cameras and boom mikes, to travel across America-and Canada-to try to understand why the United States has the highest gun-related murder rate in the world. The result is "Bowling for Columbine," a provocative and disturbing documentary that examines how America's violent history, frayed social fabric and culture of fear have led to children killing children. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last week and received a 10-minute standing ovation. Critics hailed the documentary-the first in competition at Cannes in 46 years-as a revelation destined to win awards as well as viewers.
MOORE WASN'T ALWAYS so anti-gun. As a teen growing up in Flint, Michigan, in the early 1960s, he was a member of the National Rifle Association (NRA) and a prize-winning marksman. But when the United States got involved in the Vietnam War, Moore, then 19, gave up his membership. "I didn't want to be a part of that culture anymore," he says. Since then Moore has made social documentaries, including the award-winning 1989 "Roger & Me," which shows how, with a slew of factory closings and layoffs, General Motors turned Flint into a slum. He founded the Center for Alternative Media, which funds independent filmmakers and social-action groups. He hosts a satirical TV show, "The Awful Truth," and has written a best-selling political-humor book, "Stupid White Men," in which he stands up for the little guy.
Now the Columbine killings have given Moore his latest chance to look into society's darker corners. He didn't even try to find funding in the United States because he was convinced that the NRA-"the most powerful political lobby in America," he says-would fight the film all the way. Instead, Moore contacted his television producer, Salter Street Films in Canada, which immediately wrote the check. Moore began his odyssey at Columbine with haunting security-camera footage of the two armed teens roaming the cafeteria, hunting down and killing their classmates. He visited the Lockheed missile factory just down the road from Columbine, and reviewed 200 years of American history to try to establish a pattern of fear and violent overreaction.
In Canada, Moore assumed that a lack of guns contributed to the relative peace. He was wrong. "There are 7 million guns in 10 million households in Canada, yet they don't kill each other," Moore says. "It blew apart my whole theory. It's not about the guns. It's about us. But what is it about us?" Moore blames America's "culture of fear," which is played out nightly on television news programs. Though the U.S. murder rate has dropped in the last few years, television coverage of killings has increased by 600 percent, Moore reports in his film. "Most people who own guns in America are white, suburban and middle class," says Moore. "They are afraid and want to protect themselves."
The NRA reinforces this fear, charges Moore. Within days of the Columbine shooting, the association arrived in town and staged a big pro-gun rally hosted by its president, actor Charlton Heston-a move that offended Moore. For his documentary he interviews Heston, who remains unbowed. "It's in our history," he says. When Moore presses the issue, Heston gets up from his director's chair and walks away. Moore expects that "Bowling for Columbine" will cause turmoil in America as well as abroad. "I hope the film creates discussion, provokes, makes people think," he says. "We can't just think that if we get rid of the guns and the bullets, we'll be OK. We're not OK. We have a collective problem, and we have to solve that first."
Already the movie has spurred change. During filming, Moore and two Columbine students permanently handicapped by the shooting confronted Kmart executives at the retailer's headquarters in Troy, Michigan. The killers had used bullets purchased at Kmart, and Moore wanted officials to see their effect firsthand. The next day Kmart announced it would stop selling bullets for handguns and assault weapons. "I don't intend to stop there," says Moore. Nobody expects him to.
c 2002 Newsweek, Inc.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/757323.asp
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878