How about if the girlfriend had had a gun she might have been able to scare him off?

I don't have a gun but don't believe guns should be banned like I could never have an abortion but believe it should be legal and am unlikely to have a gay wedding but think gays should be allowed to marry.

Gun laws will not stop someone from getting a gun to do bad things....they only restrict law abiding citizens. If some dope wants to do a crime or be badass enough they will find a way to get a gun behind the laws back. Do you think that drug dealers go through legL channels to get a gun? No

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As true as that may be, I don't even think that's the issue. We weigh freedom against safety all the time. America was built upon the idea that freedom trumps all other values. Obviously, we don't value freedom today as much as our forebears did. That's why we allow ourselves to be strip-searched at airports and are willing to be heavily taxed to help our neighbors. I'm not passing judgment. There are different ways to look at things. But anyway you slice it, the second amendment is one of the cornerstones of the freedom that was once the hallmark of America. It's not easy to simply give that up. Such ideas die hard. And they probably shouldn't die at all.

Did you ever think about why Americans so abhor the idea of eating horsemeat? It's just another animal. We consume plenty of animals. They eat horsesteaks in plenty of other places. But the horse is a special animal in America. At one time you could be sentenced to death for stealing one. Though those days are long gone, the horse is still a representation of bold American ideas and freedom, manifest destiny. The same thing could be said about guns.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

don't ever change steph...don't ever change.

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@audioidkid

Ever wonder if that shit was made up by the powerful to control the masses? ie send them off to war and get slaughtered among other things?

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

The poor always fight the wars for the rich. I don't see that changing anytime soon. But wars and mass death are only tragic on a small, personal scale. In the big picture they could be seen as population control and relieving the strain on limited resources.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I could not agree more. In fact, I said the same thing. #Truth

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GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH

Voice of reason.

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Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

So should we ban cars or alcohol this week?

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Obviously DUI laws aren't working so we might as well scrap them.

Don't be silly. You're smarter than that.

And I don't think anyone here has said to ban guns.

But its really not worth discussing if the pro gun side is gonna keep acting like guns aren't dangerous at all and should be viewed like other "tools"

No one said ban ALL guns, but many have said that more guns should be banned.

I guess an equivalent analogy would be banning cars that can go over 50 mph, or alcohol with alcohol content higher than 4%.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Oh and the cowboy thing probably wouldn't have happened if they were just smoking weed

Imo, There is no analogy. Guns are a completely unique situation.

So what is your answer to the weekly body count in Chicago? More guns? Easier access?

The same is true if they were just drinking apple juice. I don't see the relevance here.

You are also getting dangerously close to the "Driving while on marijuana is perfectly safe" idea.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Guns aren't that unique. They are simply a part of society with inherent dangers that would not exist in the hypothetical world they don't exist in.
Until we as a society start realizing what really causes gang violence(indifference by the population, supporting them through illegal activities like buying drugs and stolen products, and other excuses made) it won't change.

However, almost all of those body counts are because of illegal guns since your average gang member is smart enough to not buy and kill with a gun registered to them. If we had a situation where the only guns were legal ones then the numbers would be much lower.

Technology will ultimately solve the gun issues, rendering them virtually useless except for mandated use, but it's going to take a while.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

More lazy arguments from the "guns aren't dangerous people". No one has said that murder or crime would go away without guns. No one has said we should get rid of all guns either. We just made the reasonable conclusion that guns make these things easier. Why is that so hard to accept? My best friend that was twice my size was murdered a few years ago by a guy the size of IMU. Is there a great possibility he would still be alive today if that guy didn't have a gun? Of course. The odds of that guy attacking him with any other weapon is very small. Having a gun gave him the courage and it made it easier.

What I don't understand is the odd claim that making guns illegal somehow removes them from the hands of people that would do bad things with them.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

If the faculty were allowed to carry weapons this could have been prevented. These school shootings would stop if these thugs had fear of someone else having a weapon. #Truth

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GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH

I disagree.

I think we can make it tougher for people to get guns legally and illegally

I think it would remove them from some hands

Some wouldnt be able to get a gun
Some would find an illegal way.

Id rather stop some, then stop none.

We can, but that doesn't help the root cause of violence.

I'd love to live in a world where guns don't exist either. We just have to wait for technology to make this happen. Until then, since we can't stop illegal guns, I'm not going to think making guns more illegal will make a big difference.

It's not much different than the war on drugs. No matter how illegal you make something, people find a way to get it. Ironically, if gun ownership was illegal, you'd have people complaining about people going to jail for 10 years for simply holding a handgun like they do for a small amount of drugs.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

It's very tough to think about the politics of all this hearing about all these kids, but there should be tougher background checks, and automatic/assault rifles should be much tougher to buy. It's not going to be nearly enough in a free society to stop horrific events like today's from happening though.