I just came across this site, and I like it. All the arguments provoke thought and that’s a good thing. However, I pretty much do not agree with anyone totally. Since this is an opinion blog; I will give you mine. For starters, the whole argument is a bit pointless. I would compare it to abortion. Regardless of all the talks, debates, protesting, ect… nothing really changes to make one side happy or the other. For all the republicans reading this, you had a R- president, congress, senate, and a couple added supreme court judges and nothing changed, but that’s the republican hot button issue and that was their chance. Yet everything basically stayed the same. The main reason, $$$! The medical industry is to big and to wealthy to go up against. Their money would largely go towards the D-party if the R’s put to much regulation on them. Democratic party has just recently been put into power so the jury is still out on “how much more pro-abortion” they will get. I believe abortion will get less regulated with this party in power now, and the reason? To get more women on the D-side and prop up the medical industry for more donations. On the other side of the coin - All you democrats, everyone hated the patriot act (which I do too), Gitmo, troops in Iraq, ect… and yet nothing really has changed. The party before Obama gained more power and that’s something that this administration is not going to give up. Unfortunately, the next president after Obama, will continue this same trend and that trend is to gain more power just as each has tried to do. Two things control both parties, MONEY & POWER - period…

Anyways, Back to guns!!! I personally do not like to much regulation in any aspect of government, but that’s not going to happen. Each year, each party tries to gain more power. I would ask you all to ponder, if 1,3, 10 or all the passengers on 9/11 had been carrying, would all that took place on that horrific day turn out as it did? Would a plane full of people, been able to be taken over with 1 inch box cutters? I doubt it. That being said, should there simply be no rule of law on guns? I think some rules are appropriate. I had read on this site an analogy about 10 year olds buying guns at 7-11, I have to agree with him/her, that would not be a wise move. I would also ask, if only police and military carry guns (in our civilized country) how would the events recently played out in the holocaust museum turned out if security guards didn’t have guns? How many more lives may have been lost? I’ve been to states that have liberal laws on guns; I have walked into stores and seen people carry guns openly; I personally felt secured about it. My thoughts were, if there is 1 or 2 crazies in here (in the stores) right now and they are about to snap, they will not make it long. There is something about an exposed gun that deters most criminals. If I were a criminal and I had a choice to go after the guy with the gun or the guy without one, the choice is obvious. I have no political sides to be on or be against - both are equally as bad. If I could give one analogy about the guns issue, I would give this: Nuclear weapons - Enemies of ours with them haven’t pulled the trigger in fear of us retaliating the same way. There is a certain “fearful respect” you gain by having the capability of retaliating with equal or greater force.

Lastly, to the person who wrote about how socialism is a good thing… Really? Have you asked people from socialist countries if they concur? In my college days, I had professors talk about how socialism would work if it were a perfect society, but there is one major flaw with that, none of us are perfect, and we definitely do not live in a perfect society.

For those who are arguing that the public must be armed in order to resist tyrannical government, consider this: The Weavers and the Koresh people had huge arsenals. That didn't stop the government from running roughshod over them.

The government has everything from magunms to nuclear bombs. As things stand now, if the government wanted to wipe you out, you'd be wiped out, period. So if that's really what you're worried about, you need to stop worrying about arming yourselves and start working on a way to DISARM the government.

I figured one of you liberals on this site would have equated Global Warming with being Gun Crazy. Hey where's the Kool Aide?......

haha i love how the comments re-enforce the statement in the cartoon

doesn't ANYONE use spell-check?
really bad spelling makes you look stupid.

Obama is a tyrent. and if trys to take my guns than he is trying to take my freedom. the 2nd amendment says the right to bear arms. so if he comes to try and takes my guns i will defend my freedom like the patriots of the Revolution.

I think obama is a tyrent, and if he trys to take my guns he might as well take away my freedom. Because the 2nd amendment says the right to bear arms. So if Obama comes i will defend my freedom, just like ansestors in the revolution.

I agree guns should be taken away from the law abiding citizen,we live in such a civilized world these days that we don't need guns anymore,hu wonder why they want them taken away if we live in such a civilized world you'd think they wouldn't even give guns a second thought like you don't give a bread stick a second thought because you don't expect someone to get beaten with it eh,strange why they want them banning considering it is such a pieceful world out there,
anyway just look how safe the UK isnow they have banned guns a marvelous place and very safe,

for anyone stupid enough please don't come to the uk and think it is really safe,please do bring a stab proof vest

Do you really believe that guns will protect your family? Then if so, you can go ahead and read http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/04/18/national/a12...

People should not fear their government,
Governments should fear their people.

V

The Nazi's took away the German people's guns and that didn't cause any type of problems now did it?

You guys need to worry less about people owning guns, and more about how people become violent and hateful towards eachother in the first place.... This is just another ploy by the powers that be to initiate class warfare. Wake up, make your own decisions and stand by them. Stop using the law as a weapon against your fellow men. Conservatives and Liberals might not always agree, but I would think everyone could understand the principles of Liberty. And the government telling you what weapons you can and can't own is a long way from it. A free man is a dangerous thing, live with it a----s.

Thank God I live in Canada, where guns are something only in video games and movies!

You guys are just so pathetic.

The world laughs at you and you just don't know it.

most gun shows like wac(wa arms collectors) submit a background check to allow you to purchase weapons. its liberal f--ks like you that dont do any research that are going to get weapons taken away from everyone.

What a load of BS. Next time you are out in a public place, look at the people around you. Try to point out which ones are gun owners. You'll have a tough time. Why? Because we're just like you. We are not crazy. We are not blood thirsty. We don't want to shoot people. We are normal, everyday people just like you. And as far as the liberal VS. conservative thing goes-that's a great job you are doing. You are both equally bad. Petty squabbling between parties gets us nowhere.

I herd this personally from a meth dealer in winnipeg manitoba.

I love it when people arnt allowed to carry guns , it means I have power over everyone except cops, and I can just shoot cops. and if they make guns illegal everywhere in the world and make it IMPOSSIBLE for anyone but cops and military to buy guns legally or illegally it wont matter, gangsters like me will take machinery courses and make our own guns and ammunition , even primers and powder aren't hard to make if you have the equipment, which costs less then 5 000 (canadian dollars) , thats less then 3 days worth of money dealing rocks & ice (local street names for crack cocaine and methanphetamine) on a bad day. and if i can make my own guns i can learn to put heat tempered steel rods on a lathe and make bullets that can go through even III-A body armor (my later research showed this to be what SWAT teams wear) and if im making handguns why not make full auto, its cheaper and easier. so now i can make an SMG (a kind of small machine gun you can hide) every day in my garage for less then $100 (canadian dollars.)

he then bragged about his skill in making guns and pulled out three what i could only assume were machine gun pistols. he refused to let me take any pictures so i can only describe them as a large box like handgun about 25 centimeters in length with a grip on the front and large magazine(about 30 centimeters in length) the second and third about the same size as a common handgun with a very ugly box like look. i can only assume these are fully automatic with high capacity magazines loaded with armor piercing bullets. i asked him if he had ever tried firing it and he said he had fired them at vests to make sure they would pierce armor. i only hope he hasn't taught any of his friends to make these weapons or been distributing them among the criminal underground here.

i believe this proves Exactly how effective taking guns away from the population is. this criminal is now even more dangerous then he would have been if the government had Given him a handgun.