America's Gun Violence

Gern Blansten said:

PJPOWER said:

Gern Blansten said:

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-38365729

How Japan has almost eradicated gun crime....I like it....get us there

If you want to buy a gun in Japan you need patience and determination. You have to attend an all-day class, take a written exam and pass a shooting-range test with a mark of at least 95%.

There are also mental health and drugs tests. Your criminal record is checked and police look for links to extremist groups. Then they check your relatives too - and even your work colleagues. And as well as having the power to deny gun licences, police also have sweeping powers to search and seize weapons.

That's not all. Handguns are banned outright. Only shotguns and air rifles are allowed.

The law restricts the number of gun shops. In most of Japan's 40 or so prefectures there can be no more than three, and you can only buy fresh cartridges by returning the spent cartridges you bought on your last visit.

Speaking of pipe dreams...Are these the “common sense” measures that are suggested?  Maybe there could be a gun fairy that gives you market value if you put your gun under your pillow at night?
”Sweeping powers to search and seize weapons”...with that statement, it’s not the 2nd amendment you would have to hurdle, it is the 4th that would be in the spotlight.

2nd amendment refers to "well regulated"

It obviously works in Japan.  You would be a fool to call it a pipe dream there.

stuckinline said:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court, which has avoided major gun cases for seven years, on Monday declined to hear a challenge backed by the National Rifle Association to Maryland’s 2013 state ban on assault weapons enacted after a Connecticut school massacre.

The court turned away an appeal by several Maryland residents, firearms dealers and the state NRA association, who argued that the ban violated their right to keep and bear arms under the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment. 

The justices sidestepped the roiling national debate over the availability of military-style guns to the public. 

The case focused on weapons that have become a recurring feature in U.S. mass shootings including the Nov. 5 attack at a Texas church that killed 26 people, the Oct. 1 attack at a Las Vegas concert that killed 58 people, and the 2012 massacre of 20 schoolchildren and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, which prompted Maryland’s law.

Assault weapons are popular among gun enthusiasts. 

The challengers, who had sued Maryland’s governor and other officials in 2013, appealed a February ruling by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia that upheld the state’s law. The 4th Circuit, ruling 10-4, said it had no power to extend constitutional protections to “weapons of war.”

Maryland’s ban outlaws “assault long guns,” mostly semi-automatic rifles such as the AR-15 and AK-47, as well as large-capacity magazines, which prevent the need for frequent reloading. 

Backed by the influential NRA gun lobby, the plaintiffs said in a court filing that semi-automatic rifles are in common use and that law-abiding citizens should not be deprived of them. 

“The sands are always shifting with the Supreme Court,” Democratic Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh said. “I hope that this means they have reached a conclusion that they are not going to fiddle with assault weapons bans across the country.” 

The Supreme Court last year left in place assault weapon bans in New York and Connecticut.

Article continues:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-guncontrol/top-court-spurns-challenge-to-maryland-assault-weapons-ban-idUSKBN1DR1SE

tbergs said:

Meanwhile, in gun land...

http://thefederalist.com/2017/11/27/supreme-court-guts-second-amendment-refusing-hear-semi-auto-ban-case/

oftenreading said:

gimmesometruth27 said:

we had a 9 year old girl come into the ER the day after thanksgiving. she was being taught to hunt in a stand. she went to pass the shotgun back to her dad and it went off. it shattered her collarbone, took off a bunch of skin and muscle, and glanced her face. just missed her subclavian vessels, which would have been fatal if she hit them. they are still trying to figure out what they are going to do to fix her clavicle, as you can't just bone graft it.

not a gun violence story per se, but and example of even supervised children with the dad and arms length away can still shoot and nearly kill themselves.

We don't let 9 year old children drive. We don't let 9 year old children do a whole lot of things that are dangerous and that require both the physical coordination and the judgement that maturity brings. I can't for the life of me understand why the US lets young children operate guns.

Yeah, yeah...tradition....I hunted with my dad, and he hunted with his dad before him, and so on...it's still ridiculous. If, as a parent, you're so keen to pass on your hunting traditions to your kid, then he or she can come out with you, absorb the atmosphere, and (with any luck) learn how to safely operate a firearm. That doesn't mean that they should get a chance to shoot one yet. 

Halifax2TheMax said:

Sure am glad all those guns were sold on Black Friday. We’re a whole lot safer now.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/362286-gunman-in-high-rise-opens-fire-on-reno-street

Halifax2TheMax said:

Only 58 killed. That’s it. No big whoop. Cancer kills more. So do car wrecks. Alcohol. No need for changes.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/local/las-vegas-teens/