Charleston

[drjim]

Regarding Obama and racism I really won't argue that point too much, I'm aware of plenty of stories as well.

 

That said, my general take is that for many people that engage in this, they don't like him for partisan reasons and racism is the easy/lazy way to express it.

[TheLeviathan]

I completely agree with drjim, the rhetoric against sitting presidents by the opposing party has been ramping up ever since Newt and the Republicans went after Clinton.  It got nastier and nastier throughout the Bush administration and now it ramped up even more with Obama.

 

As for gun violence - the NRA does have way too much power, but so does basically every lobbying group from telecommunications to labor unions.  Lobbying is easily the most toxic part of our politics on all sides.

 

But the distinction in America is not the ease with which you can get a gun.  Gun violence is worse here because nowhere else in the world are guns as cool and badass and manly and awesome and whatever....as they are here.  It is a uniquely cultural phenomenon IMO.

[Hrbowski]

 

 

As for gun violence - the NRA does have way too much power, but so does basically every lobbying group from telecommunications to labor unions.  Lobbying is easily the most toxic part of our politics on all sides.

I agree, get rid of lobbying groups, they do not represent a living being.

[Willihammer]

The NRA is powerful because gun owners are politically active and there are a lot of gun owners. If non-gun owners want to organize similarly, that's their right. Lobbying is part of the system, its all about who has the gumption to go do it.

[Willihammer]

Raise the legal age for buying a gun to 25. Who says no? No new restrictions on automatics, magazine size, etc and no problem with inheriting guns or using them legally. Simply keeps the testosterone raging youths from buying one until they are a little older, little mellower and less likely to commit a crime with one.

 

edit: Buying, not owning.

[drjim]

 

Raise the legal age for buying a gun to 25. Who says no? No new restrictions on automatics, magazine size, etc and no problem with inheriting guns or using them legally. Simply keeps the testosterone raging youths from buying one until they are a little older, little mellower and less likely to commit a crime with one.

 

edit: Buying, not owning.

 

The NRA. Slippery slope from there.

[diehardtwinsfan]

The problem isn't gun rights.  It never has been.  I think the thing that bothers me the most about all of this is that politicians have zero interest in actually solving these problems.  We had a horrible tragedy here and all people are talking about is the Confederate flag (at least they are in the South where I've been traveling the last two weeks).  Not saying the flag is right, but it's presence has nothing to do with what happened at this church and the fight over it is doing nothing but polarizing people and forcing them to take sides on an issue that has nothing to do with the problem at hand. 

 

I know it's too much to ask, but at some point, we need leaders that are actually willing to identify our problems and try to fix them as opposed to grandstanding for political reasons.  I'm getting so sick of this type of behavior out of our politicians. 

[Craig Arko]

I'd buy this with no religious affiliation at all.

 

Samuel L Jackson said this about the Sandy Hook shooting: "I don't think it's about more gun control. I grew up in the South with guns everywhere and we never shot anyone. This [shooting] is about people who aren't taught the value of life."
 

[ashbury]

 It starts with how kids are raised. From there I think there are thousands of things that start coming into play: Access to health care (physical and mental), poverty, environment, tolerance of attitudes, etc. 

"To reform a man you must start with his grandmother."

 

So on this topic I'm hopeful for my great-grandchildren, based on how I married.

[Bark's Lounge]

 

"To reform a man you must start with his grandmother."

 

So on this topic I'm hopeful for my great-grandchildren, based on how I married.

I wish she was able to read your post. Your doo-dads would be in a vice if that were the case.

[ashbury]

I meant that our grandkids will turn out good, and then things will go forward.