Cattivo wrote:

A baby in the theatre, let alone a midnight screening. That's fucked up, but not as fucked up as this incident. I'm all for reasonable levels of gun control that ensure that crazies like this guy don't get their hands on firearms, but it can be argued that those kinds of regulations are already in place. I mean, what else can you do besides having three day waiting periods, extensive background checks, not letting felons buy, or people who have been institutionalized? You can't outlaw guns, because that'll only affect law-abiding citizens because criminals will always get their hands on guns - almost all gun crimes involved unregistered guns. Everyone in the news is jumping on the gun control bandwagon already, and we don't even know yet if the perp's guns were bought legally or illegally yet. Regardless, it's not law-abiding gun owner's fault that this crazy guy did this. Hell, just a couple days ago there was that uplifting story about that senior citizen in an internet cafe shooting two robbers with the gun he was legally carrying. So, there's that end of the dynamic as well.

This even is heinous. I lost a friend in VA Tech, and as hard as it was for me, I've watched his once-wonderful family spiral into severe problems ever since.

Cattivo, three-day waiting periods are pretty much gone where it matters. Many state-regulated background checks are instantaneous, not to mention states with "gun show" clauses. I bought a .45 handgun recently here in Pennsylvania with little to no fanfare. They only required that I show my driver's license and fill out some forms. I walked in and out with a Browning .45, a gun that some NATO countries dropped because it was considered inhumane. Buying an AK wasn't much harder. I'm not familiar with Colorado's laws, but I can't imagine them being much more strict.

And for every story someone has about someone defending themselves with a gun (shooting robbers, really?), there are even more that involve kids finding one and hurting themselves, people hurt with crossfire or stray bullets, or the fact that we have an insane fucking homicide rate in this country. And honestly, I despise the idea of an elderly man carrying around a firearm and dispensing justice his own way. Even if you do approve of it, there are at least hundreds of firearm injuries/crimes in this country for every one time something like this happens.

Recently, my aunt went to Turkey. Everyone she knew, including my parents, warned her that all the brown types of people were going to kidnap, rape, then suicide bomb her. This is the same aunt who grew up in the Bronx and lived in Detroit for a time. We just don't realize how crazy fucking bad it is in this country with gun crimes. I think the problem is a mix of culture, and having a mish-mash of laws that vary from state-to-state.

You know what I want? Get rid of state-specific laws, and administer gun ownership license test. We have them for cars, why not for weapons? In order to drive a car, you have to be aware of safety rules and procedures, and if not, there are strict legal consequences to your actions. Make sure anyone with a gun knows not to leave it loaded in a house full of children, or that loaning a firearm to that weird guy you're sort of friends with may not be smart. We keep talking about how it's our "right" in this country, but few seem to accept the responsibility of owning a gun.

And for the first person who brings up "the black market," you are an idiot who lives in a fantasy world and are part of the problem.

Can always rely on Catt. You're that old-school type of Conservative who's fun to debate with.

And my comment about the black market usually revolves around this discussion:

"Let's regulate guns"

"People will just by it on the 'black market.'"

The Black Market isn't this place you go, buy whatever you want, and leave. It's pretty much only a descriptor of a business style employed by certain distributors, usually utilized by criminals to get un-marked goods like weapons or even people and services. A single, unsolicited person can't just walk up to a "black market" like how your typical privileged first-world dope believes, and ask for a handgun (especially when it's so fucking easy to, you know, just buy one), because that'd be insanely risky on the suppliers' parts.