Well Trumpet ,It is my belief that if we would enforce the gun control laws that are in place and actually put the criminals who break the law and actually keep them in prison for their full sentence we would see evidence that our gun control laws do work.I am not at all opposed to making an act of firearm negligence just as serious as an act of violence with a firearm,there again safety and education become a key component in curbing both firearm violence and accidents.

 

I guess that would be a step forward. Its not specific to gun crime or to the US but I have seen a lot of stats that indicate that the chances of being caught are far more of a deterrant than a long sentence.

What I mean by this is that if a crook is thinking about a career as an armed robber and he thinks that chances are, if he's careful, he will get caught every, say, 100 robberies, but go down for 10 years, those are good odds. Worth the risk.

However, if he was likely to get saught every, say, 10 robberies but only go to prison for 2 years, then that would be more likely to put him off as 10 safe takes aren't worth the risk of 2 years inside.

That, if it's the case in the US, indicates that the money should be going into effective enforcement rather than the prison system, and the arguments for sever sentencing as a deterrent are not based on solid research.

 

so know comes the paradox ,more money for effective enforcement brings the need for greater funds for encarceration .

 

Where are you from in Oklahoma? I live in the Panhandle myself.

 

Yeah, but everybody knows our prison system is shit. I don't know how those people are going to live after prison, since we're spoonfeeding them in prison. Only thing they have to go through is anal rape.

I may have to start a thread about constitutional rights, illegal aliens and incarcerations. Hm.

 

Hello Thandrend,i am i n Sapulpa.Yes our prison system is shit,however the reason for that is we are not allowed to make the prisoners work and to some of them it is a way of life.Why work when i can be put in prison and have everything handed to me,food ,clothing ,shelter and better healthcare than most people on the outside have.Almost sounds tempting but i like pussy way to much to locked up

 

I've had a friend propose an interesting solution to the gun problem: placing a hefty excise tax on ammunition. If bullets were expensive enough, nobody would have more than a few magazines' worth at home for home defense (which realistically is all you need). Also as a stipulation, he talked about creating certain areas where the taxes were not applied, such as when used in shooting ranges and when bought for hunting at certain hunting checkpoints or something. It's only a skeleton of an idea, but it allows people to keep their guns and also buy ammo cheaply for what it is the normal person has it around for.

 

You have obviously never been locked up. Niether has Thandrend your biggest worry in prison is being murdered. But you are right our criminal justice system does tend to take kids in early, institutionalize them to the point thay cannot function outside of prison, thus assuring a life behind bars at an average cost of $28,000 per year.

 

It woudl cost less if you just gave them bread, water and vitamin tablets!

 

Most of the guys I know reload their own shells. And I guess if I couldn't afford ammunition I could always steal it.

 

All I want for Christmas is a Howitzer

If you watch enough violent television and movies, listen to enough Hip Hop and play enough violent video games you become programed to want to kill. You join a gang and the first thing they want you to do is "cap some foo!" I assume that this is the "cultural baggage" that is referred to in the U.S.
To blame guns misses the point all together. Washington D.C. is the murder capitol of America and what do they have? You guessed it... a complete gun ban . Gangs rule in D.C. and they aren't killing politicians. They are killing each other.

 

Actually the cultural baggage that I was referring to has a lot more to do with John Wayne and the legend of the wild west,where every problem can be solved if you can be the fastest draw and the best shot, but you take whatever cultural touchstones you like and feel are appropriate.

 

hooray for re-hashing

 

All of the gangs should be rounded up and placed in a gang reservation where they can have all the guns and ammunition they want to kill each other. Around the reservation, 10ft high unscalable fences and watchtowers with guards with machine guns. Anyone approaching within 50 ft of the wall is killed. No non-gang person allowed to enter the reservation, No gang person allowed to leave dead or alive. They can eat the dead ones. Minimum food airdropped daily. Water originally piped in if they destroy the system, they do without.

Next step is stop glorifying gangs, criminalsj, killing on TV anywhere. Clean up the kid shows.

Good plan, never happen.

 

Granting there was probably a lot of tongue in cheek in this post Z I would still use it as an example of how deeply ingrained the idea of violence is in our culture. Do you realize you are advocating at least two or three different forms of violence while you also claim to oppose it.

I still think gangs take their lead from the biggest gang and gang leader in the world. None other than our own president and our military.

 

i'd like to see a little more gun control in america. maybe make it really tough to buy handguns.