quote:
Originally posted by Matt Kennedy:
I'm not a vegan just because i love cuddly wuddly lil' critters. I was blind-sided by pure REASON, not emotion. I'm just a regular guy who became a vegan after reading a massive amount of info on the subject from a variety of sources.
Hey that's fine. Although judging by your Aviator (the image is of my rabbit, Dakota Ben-Hur), you do like some. [wink] I read sources and quit being a vegatarian, lol. But I will post some topics on animal cruelty/meat comsumption (perhaps two topics might be better) so we can stick to gun control.

A lot of good arguements have been made on both sides. To summerize the points I want to address:

Pros:
Self defense
Constitutional Right (US arguement)
Enjoyment, Food, Collectable
Business and Industry

Cons:
Letal long-range weapon
Easy to get
Misused and Abused

The trick is, there need to be retrictions. That can be said of any right. And like many rights, the addition of so many state and federal laws has created a legal nightmare. Now Dave, you are in the legal business, and you have probably seen the best and the worst of the law. I think we need some sort of a reboot of many state and federal laws (sort of a 'Ulitimate US Constitution' for you comic-book fans). Make guns hard to aquire. There are many ways you can do this. Have everyone take some classes on gun ownership--safety, laws, and protocol. Something will have to be done about pawn shops and online sellers. We have a law in Florida by Governer Bush called '10-20-Life'.

(from http://www.dc.state.fl.us/pub/10-20-life/):
This landmark public-safety reform requires a mandatory sentence of at least 10 years in state prison for any criminal who is convicted of possessing a gun while committing a violent felony such as robbery, rape [sexual battery,] aggravated battery, kidnapping, drug trafficking, and murder. If the criminal actually shoots a gun while committing the crime, Governor Bush's 10-20-Life initiative requires a minimum-mandatory sentence of 20 years in state prison. If the criminal uses the gun to shoot another person and causes serious bodily injury or death, the Governor's 10-20-Life initiative requires the courts to impose a mandatory sentence of at least 25 years and up to life in state prison.

This shows the two campaigns of gun control, leading to responsible gun ownership: tough aquiring of said weapon and harsher penalties for being caught with an illegal weapon. On a similar front, animal hunting can have restrictions so that animal populations are not desimated, but hunters (both the trohpy and the eating kind) can catch some animals.

This is important to me because I am a responsible gun user. I do not own my own, I just borrow my dad's. I don't want a posse of idiots that stole weapons and use them to terrorize people leave a black mark on a time-honor hobby that I maintain to dignify. I will have to get some pics of me on my website, me in my top gun jacket and sunglasses shooting a S&W or a Sig. That'll change some of your opinions on gun control! [wink]