The Gun debate sandbox

Wow, I'm obviously not up on my chainsaw current events...
So I guess there are no more chainsaw accident now? or just among the non-professionals?

Ken, what law would you propose that is going to keep guns out of the hands of felons and nutjobs?...cuz I'm pretty sure they won't obey it anyways.
BTW, it is already a felony to sell a gun to a felon or anyone who is prohibited from possessing a gun.
Have you ever even read any of the thousands of existing gun laws?

That said we need not to lose our right to own guns we need to control who gets guns better.

Tell me how you would like me to defend myself against these individuals
a) idiot with a gun who thinks it's fun to cause mayhem
b) meth addict with knife intending to rob me
c) gang of 3 looking to subdue me and rape my wife
d) insane person shooting at me while I'm hiking through the woods

I've personally faced one of these. Can you guess which and how I responded? I don't want to hear a lie-down-and-die option. Sorry, I'm not that passive.

As was posted in another topic, we are lucky that here in this country the vast majority of those bent on harming others don't know and/or use explosives.

Federal laws provide criminal sanctions for offenses involving the manufacture and sale of explosives. Such laws include the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, which Act was enacted in response to the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. Federal laws also provide regulatory controls over interstate and foreign commerce in explosives. The regulatory controls are designed to assist states in regulating the manufacture, sale, transfer, and storage of explosives within their borders. The regulatory controls also require certain records to be kept with regard to transactions involving explosives and prohibit the making of false statements or false entries with regard to such transactions. The regulatory controls further require a theft of explosives to be reported to the federal government.

The Department of the Treasury is the licensing authority for explosives. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms is responsible for enforcing the regulatory provisions of the federal laws regarding explosives.

A person commits a federal criminal offense if he or she imports, manufactures, or deals in explosive materials without a license. The terms "explosive materials" include explosives, blasting agents, and detonators. Although the term "deals" is not defined in the federal statutes, a single sale of explosives is sufficient for a conviction of the offense. A person also commits a federal criminal offense if he or she withholds information or makes any false oral or written statement for the purpose of obtaining explosive materials.

A person commits a federal criminal offense if he or she engages in the knowing interstate shipment, transportation, or receipt of explosive materials without a license. A person also commits a federal criminal offense if he or she knowingly distributes explosive materials to a non-licensed person who does not reside in the same state.

A person commits a federal criminal offense if he or she receives, possesses, transports, ships, conceals, stores, sells, or disposes of stolen explosive materials in interstate or foreign commerce and knows or has reasonable cause to believe that the explosive materials were stolen.

A licensee commits a federal criminal offense if he or she willfully fails to keep appropriate records of transactions involving explosive materials. This offense is a specific intent crime. In other words, the government is required to prove that the licensee acted willfully and not just knowingly.

The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 makes it unlawful for any person to manufacture plastic explosives without a detection agent. The Act also makes it unlawful to import or to otherwise bring into the United States or to export from the United States any plastic explosives. The manufacture, importation, and possession of unmarked plastic explosives are considered to be federal crimes of terrorism if the offense was calculated to influence or to affect the conduct of the government by intimidation or coercion or if the offense was in retaliation against the government's conduct. Federal crimes of terrorism are investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

If a person violates any of the above federal laws, he or she may be subject to imprisonment for up to ten years, to a fine of up to $250,000, or both.

Calling the police is not an effective deterrent in most cases, as is obviously proven.

I agree, situational awareness does add some level of personal safety, and many bad things can be avoided by being aware of your surroundings. Some, however, are not. IHOP was not. Colorado was not. Victims of home invasions mostly are not avoidable. Martial arts would definitely add to your ability to protect yourself and your loved ones. Not in all cases though. You must be in contact range, which is not always possible. You must be physically capable of overcoming your attacker.

Tell me, what would YOU have done? Please don't say I shouldn't have been there. You simply cannot avoid everything.

By the way, I do think some gun control is reasonable. Background checks to prevent prohibited persons from having them is a good idea.

KenM, LOCKS were made to keep HONEST people HONEST. IF someone wants in to just about ANY building or home, they will indeed get in. Ive had freinds shoot burglars coming in through their bedroom windows.

What point did I miss regarding martial arts? What training are you referring to... guns or martial arts?

Why do you assume I follow the NRA? Do you also assume I'm conservative? do you make a lot of assumptions?

Point is, you want to restrict my rights because you're afraid of becoming the victim of a legal gun owner.

I think of guns as giving you the ability to fight back from a distance and/or against a much stronger opponent. Not necessarily up close and personal. Not appropriate for every situation.

You want the government to protect you from me.

There are published cases of individuals successfully defending themselves with firearms; but you act like those don't exist. Will you acknowledge them or are you too biased?

A study in the Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery found that the gun murder rate in the U.S. is almost 20 times higher than the next 22 richest and most populous nations combined.
Among the world’s 23 wealthiest countries, 80 percent of all gun deaths are American deaths and 87 percent of all kids killed by guns are American kids.

A study in the Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery