assult automatic weapons....

[ron l edmiston]

--- someday following more deaths and within & out wounds.., we may learn..

ronnie.., "been there & a part of that.."

[bigbill]

A lot is going to come out today, but automatic weapons require an extensive federal permit to own. Automatic is a machine gun, semiautomatic is an AR15 or the like. If he had a machine gun, then it would be easier to trace when and how he got it. Either way, it's hard to figure out a motive from the news available now, especially when the shooter doesn't really match what we've come to expect as a profile of a mass shooter.

[Matthew J]

Automatic is a machine gun, semiautomatic is an AR15 or the like.

Components necessary to convert a semi-automatic AR15 to fully automatic are readily and depending on the part legally available. There are how to videos that walk yo through the conversion on the internet - although I think those un-American elitists at Google bump them off of Youtube now.

[ron l edmiston]

"assault weapons have no place in/on the market --- PERIOD.."

ronnie

[xjoex]

To quote Lenny from the Simpsons.

"Assault weapons have gotten a lot of bad press lately, but they're manufactured for a reason: to take out today's modern super animals, such as the flying squirrel, and the electric eel"

I guess I understand getting a rifle to hunt(which I am not in favor of, but lesser of evils), but what on earth do you need an assault rifle for?

-Joe

[Chad]

Avid hunter, close friend in the gun manufacturing business. Carried an M-16 for it's intended purpose. Don't see the need for them to be publicly available.

However, not completely comfortable with taking them from law abiding citizens.

Praying for those in Vegas.

[Saab2000]

Avid hunter, close friend in the gun manufacturing business. Carried an M-16 for it's intended purpose. Don't see the need for them to be publicly available.

However, not completely comfortable with taking them from law abiding citizens.

Praying for those in Vegas.

Thoughts and prayers don't help. Let's quit using that worn out statement and do something.

The shooter was a law abiding citizen until he wasn't. Do his rights outweigh the rights of the hundreds of people he killed and maimed and injured?

People defending these things in the name of "freedom" is sickening. I'm not referring to Chad here, but in general. The NRA and their paid off congress members have dirty hands.

[colker]

Thoughts and prayers don't help. Let's quit using that worn out statement and do something.

The shooter was a law abiding citizen until he wasn't. Do his rights outweigh the rights of the hundreds of people he killed and maimed and injured?

People defending these things in the name of "freedom" is sickening. I'm not referring to Chad here, but in general. The NRA and their paid off congress members have dirty hands.

I am not american so i should stay out of this but i just can´t. With all due respect: praying is easy. It takes courage to change things so the innocent are protected. Actually i believe Jesus was a man of action when action was necessary.

[ides1056]

I know jack about statistics, but I am certain that as #of guns increases, their off-label use does as well.

As I listened to the first reports yesterday driving my son to school, there was a parenthetical report that 3000 had been killed in Syria last month. My 14-year-old noted the irony.

And Colker, your opinions are both welcomed and valued here, at least by me.

[j44ke]

Meanwhile the stock price of weapons manufacturers went up following the massacre due to anticipated elevated profits. Evidently events like this increase sales because people are afraid certain guns will be made illegal to purchase.

[Chad]

Thoughts and prayers are as effective as endless online discussions and posturing. Just giving my honest feelings. Defending no one.

[Saab2000]

Thoughts and prayers are as effective as endless online discussions and posturing. Just giving my honest feelings. Defending no one.

My point is that we hear the paid pundits and politicians using inane and tired buzzwords. And again no action will take place because the gun lobby is powerful in this country. I'm not even remotely anti-gun but at some point we have to have an adult conversation in this country about what freedom really means. Many here, including myself, have spent a lot of time in places other than the US. We hear in the US all the time about freedom and what that means as if we're the only place with freedoms and individual liberties. I don't know what that means anymore. The places I've been didn't feel oppressed to me.

I'm not sure a nation where this kind of murderous rampage is more and more routine can truly be considered free. We're certainly not free of violence that is rare in other nations not at war.

[mzilliox]

it sucks to realize the country you grew up in is no longer a first world civilized nation. usually countries move toward this goal, not away from it. as far as motives and such, why must there always be a motive and reason. i bet there isn't one. But we all have to search for one, hope for one, because the alternative is that our society just creates monsters. i bet this is your run of the mill crazy as a product of our society, so we must not look elsewhere for motive, we must look to ourselves to figure out why our society creates incredibly out of touch humans, or sub humans.

[woodworker]

I know jack about statistics, but I am certain that as #of guns increases, their off-label use does as well.

As I listened to the first reports yesterday driving my son to school, there was a parenthetical report that 3000 had been killed in Syria last month. My 14-year-old noted the irony.

And Colker, your opinions are both welcomed and valued here, at least by me.

There's an article on Vox (wish I could provide the link) entitled, "Gun violence in America, explained in 17 maps and charts."

It's worth a read. In simple graphs and charts, it shows that this is one of the easiest problems to address based on the available facts. If you reduce the number of guns in society, the number of deaths, and especially those from mass shootings like this one, will fall dramatically.

Here are some of the points established by the article:

1) America has six times as many firearm homicides as Canada, and nearly 16 times as many as Germany.

2) America has 4.4 percent of the world’s population, but almost half of the civilian-owned guns around the world.

3) There have been more than 1,500 mass shootings since Sandy Hook.

4) On average, there is more than one mass shooting for each day in America.

5) States with more guns have more gun deaths.

6) It’s not just the US: Developed countries with more guns also have more gun deaths.

7) States with tighter gun control laws have fewer gun-related deaths.

8) In states with more guns, more police officers are also killed on duty.

This is not an issue like abortion, for example, where two sides can look at the facts and disagree on how the problem should be addressed. We know how to address this, and we fail to do it. And then we (meaning our society and our leadership) wring our hands and call each separate and horrendous data point a "tragedy." It's not that. It's greed and political expedience couched in the rhetoric of a Constitutional right that is and should be limited.

[Corso]

Yes, the gun lobby is powerful. So is the tobacco lobby and alcohol lobby.

In all cases, it’s easy to blame the “lobby” ---but all the above are still purchased by the PEOPLE. As ugly as it is, “we” WANT these things.

I’ll take politicians seriously about gun control when they give up their armed Secret Service details, and stop sending their children to private schools that have armed guards.

That’s never gonna happen, is it?

I’m not opposed to common sense gun laws. But I’m not in favor of taking away guns from those citizens who follow the letter of the law.
But, we don’t enforce the laws we have now, for Christ's sake.

My sincere prayers go to those in Las vegas.

[dgaddis]

Yes, the gun lobby is powerful. So is the tobacco lobby and alcohol lobby.

In all cases, it’s easy to blame the “lobby” ---but all the above are still purchased by the PEOPLE. As ugly as it is, “we” WANT these things.

I’ll take politicians seriously about gun control when they give up their armed Secret Service details, and stop sending their children to private schools that have armed guards.

That’s never gonna happen, is it?

That's a lame argument. No is here is suggesting that no one, including police/security/etc, should have guns. I'm not anti-gun at all, but I do think there should be limits on what's available to the average citizen, because there's no real reason for someone to own those types of weapons. There already are restrictions on what you can own - you can't go buy an RPG launcher for example.

I think it's important that people are allowed to own firearms, both for hunting and for personal protection. And I know many gun owners fear the 'slippery slope' - thinking that putting any restrictions on firearms will lead to outlawing them all together. I don't want that. But I think we can do better.

[Saab2000]

Yes, the gun lobby is powerful. So is the tobacco lobby and alcohol lobby.

In all cases, it’s easy to blame the “lobby” ---but all the above are still purchased by the PEOPLE. As ugly as it is, “we” WANT these things.

I’ll take politicians seriously about gun control when they give up their armed Secret Service details, and stop sending their children to private schools that have armed guards.

That’s never gonna happen, is it?

I’m not opposed to common sense gun laws. But I’m not in favor of taking away guns from those citizens who follow the letter of the law.
But, we don’t enforce the laws we have now, for Christ's sake.

My sincere prayers go to those in Las vegas.

There is absolutely a place for weapons in society. I have no issue with trained individuals in official positions carrying weapons. They undergo a vetting and training process. I've met many LEOs (Law Enforcement Officers) in my job and to a person, they're articulate and act professionally. Personally, my favorites have been FBI and Secret Service agents. Smart, insightful people. But that's a tangent for another day.

That's not the same as me or anyone else walking down to the store and buying dozens of ARs and thousands of rounds of ammunition. The ARs can be modified and that's probably what happened yesterday in Las Vegas.

The debate will die down and nothing will happen.

I'm curious if that raging idiot Alex Jones will say this didn't happen but is a liberal fake news story.

[Matthew J]

Components necessary to convert a semi-automatic AR15 to fully automatic are readily and depending on the part legally available. There are how to videos that walk yo through the conversion on the internet - although I think those un-American elitists at Google bump them off of Youtube now.

Further to my point from yesterday.

[Matthew J]

My sincere prayers go to those in Las vegas.

Thoughts and prayers.... The meme of our time.

[Matthew J]

There is absolutely a place for weapons in society. I have no issue with trained individuals in official positions carrying weapons. They undergo a vetting and training process. I've met many LEOs (Law Enforcement Officers) in my job and to a person, they're articulate and act professionally. Personally, my favorites have been FBI and Secret Service agents. Smart, insightful people. But that's a tangent for another day.

That's not the same as me or anyone else walking down to the store and buying dozens of ARs and thousands of rounds of ammunition. The ARs can be modified and that's probably what happened yesterday in Las Vegas.

The debate will die down and nothing will happen.

I'm curious if that raging idiot Alex Jones will say this didn't happen but is a liberal fake news story.

Yes. He did yesterday. Pat Robertson in turn blamed it on people not respecting Trump and those scary black football players and their friends protesting racism in the United States.

This upset Fox News so much they issued a broadside against Hilary Clinton for having the temerity to opine these things will keep happening as long as our gun laws remain as lax as they are - and that maybe now is not the time to be pushing legislation allowing silencers and armor piercing bullets into the gun market.