That answer is very simple: They are trying to get re-elected, not to actually do anything useful. They take stands that keep them “tied to the party base”, so you have Republicans blocking every attempt to regulate guns in any manner, and Democrats pushing for abolitionist style moves that just won’t fly. Neither side is doing anything beneficial for the public, but they are appealing to the electorate that keeps the congress critters in congress longer. Term limits (2 terms maximum) would go a long way to resolving the issue.

I actually have a problem with watch list and that is that the government maintains the watch list and they are not exactly honest about who is on that list or why, yes it makes sense that you shouldnt be able to buy a gun if you are on the watch list but who and why is on that list is in many cases very arbitrary and what if the governmenrt decides to put all NRA members on the watch list, or all christians or even all muslims. The arguement that weapons today could not be foreseen by our forefathers is garbage, there had been attempts to ban citizens from owning muskets before we were even an independent country. Banning a weapon because of how it looks is retarded. Our founding fathers were a LOT more suspicious of a federal government and its motives than we are and they, in turn provided us with a number of checks on that government, the last resort being the ability to mount an armed rebellion.

yes I am aware but he and other framers of the Consitution did make similar statements and even wrote about it and it isnt far fetched, as I pointed out they had just led a revolution that overthrew the government and they were adamant that citizens be able to do so. Hamilton wrote about citizen militias, and the need for them in the event that state or federal government became a problem, Thomas Jefferson wrote that every so often a revolution was actually necessary to keep government in check. When they made the right to bear arms number two of ten they knew exactly what they were doing.

Washington never said that. http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/feb/20/facebook-posts/did-george-washington-offer-support-individual-gun/
The reason they wanted everyone to have guns was because youre in northermer New York, the british or french are attacking . You were expected to fight them off, until the 6 months to a year it took the army to get there.
The founding father wanted no one rising up ,they all were rich men with shit to lose. When Shay rebelled it was stepped on by Washington and that was with muskets. vrs muskets. I think you are on any type of watch list no gun for you and expanded background checks. Most want that, the lie is they want to take away our guns. People forget Obama signed the law that you can now carry in some national parks.

The second amendment exists because the formation of this country was dependent on the right of the people to take up arms and force-ably overthrow the government and replace it with a better one.

You could argue that we no longer need that right but until it is removed from the constitution by a 2/3rds majority AND ratification by 3/4 of the states it isn’t going anyplace, and nor should it in my not so humble opinion. It is kind of the thing that guarantees a last ditch effort to save us should our government become out of control. It also operates as a check on government power, There is a reason why despots almost always enact gun control, removing the citizens ability to fight back empowers tyranny.

I do support expanding background checks to not allow people on the watch list to purchase guns, hat makes sense. I could support requiring training in order to have a concealed carry permit, but ONLY if that training is NOT performed by the government, it should be a neutral third party. I would love to see the day when this whole argument is moot, but I don’t think even then I would be in support of disarming the citizenry, that has never ended well.

@rawalex

This is not one side of the fence or the other, with every suggested solution 1001 questions pop up.

We already have federal weapons enhancement for crimes with some states going beyond the minimum i.g. the Florida 5-10-20 mentioned. Brandish a gun as a threat is 5 years, show it to rob someone is 10 and shoot it whether anyone is injured or not is 20 ON TOP of the underlying charges. Within two years they had to drop the no concurrent time for weapons enhancement convictions when prison overcrowding exceeded federal max. Far from picking on you I’m seriously considering the ideas you took the time to share and asking a few of the 1001 questions.

How do we stop black-market weapons & ammo purchases? Jail and felony convictions are not top of the priority list for guys like Mateen & suicidal maniacs.

The answer for you is pretty simple: Stop trying to make everything black and white, all or nothing.

Read my post. I didn’t say ban guns. I said make it much harder to have them, limit them to points that are reasonable for their intended purpose, and make people responsible for them and their resale. Smart locks and other tools that limit a weapon to only work for a certain individual would be a big step in the right direction.

As for your crock pots and fertilizer, the answer is always simple… they have valid uses not related to killing people. Guns, especially AR-15 style assault weapons, are intended to kill people and nothing else.

A weapon “ban” is actually pretty simple: If you are caught with a gun, you go to jail – and it’s a felony, not a misdemeanor. If you use a gun to commit a crime, you rot in jail for a long time (like, double the sentence for the underlying crime).

Oh, and require that ammo is sold only through licensed dealers, who must ask to see your permit, that your permit must be verified, and must match the weapon that you own. Serial number each bullet if needed and register every sale if you must. Do what is needed to assure that the 2nd amendment is respected, but don’t make it an open field for any idiot to arm themselves to the teeth.

I’m with rawalex in that its OK to own a gun legally but you do not need assault weapons and machine guns. The only thing those guns are useful for is to kill lots of people very quickly. Yes our forefathers created the Constitution and included the right to bear arms but that was at a time when guns fired 1 ball and then it took tyou a minute to reload the gun to fire one ball, etc… I’ve been around guns most of my life as well as owned them. Up until 2-3 years ago I owned a .45 automatic and regularly went to the range to fire it so I’m not some yuppie scum against guns that has never been near one. I’m just someone with common sense when it comes to assault rifles and 100+ people being shot.