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Permalink Reply by Neal on June 2, 2013 at 12:29pm

Not quite bonkers. In the 1970's, 50% of the U.S.population owned a firearm. Currently that percentage is around 30%. I posted a video by Maher where it was stated that instead of the usual gun owner having 3 or 4 weapons, he now is stockpiling. Keeps the money flowing.

Basically, owning a gun in the U.S. is becoming a minority obsession. The percentage of gun owners would seem to be pretty much in line with the hard christian right. You have to be afraid, very afraid, to own a gun.

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Permalink Reply by Lester Unega Waya on June 2, 2013 at 1:01pm

Re;
"The percentage of gun owners would seem to be pretty much in line with the hard christian right. You have to be afraid, very afraid, to own a gun."

That's my point. Stark raving bonkers. Without the gun issue, the "hard Christian right" are stark raving bonkers.

There is no evidence that what is written in the Bible is a true record of what was said at the time. So the only writings that can be believed are those that are just common sense.

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Permalink Reply by Michel on June 2, 2013 at 10:22am

Americans need to protect against their own government's potential tyranny. That's the current explanatory myth. Obvious facts like illustrated below don't seem to matter for these people.

It's a childish, romantic notion that has hardened into adult paranoia. Because too many Americans have a poor sense of history, lessons like Waco, Tx. are often wasted.

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Permalink Reply by doone on June 2, 2013 at 10:24am

We only average one gun per person, 

GUNS IN THE UNITED STATES:
Americans Own Between 262 Million And 310 Million Firearms
By Edward W. (Ned) Hill, Ph.D.1
No one knows with certainty how many of America’s households own guns or how many guns are in existence.
In 2012, the Gallup Organization estimated 44 percent of the households have at least one gun and in 2010 the
General Social Survey put the percentage at 32. The best estimates of how many guns are available to the civilian
population are between 262 million and 310 million

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Permalink Reply by Neal on June 2, 2013 at 3:42pm

That's because of those who own 40 or 50. =(

Despite the high number of guns estimated to be in the U.S., indications are that gun ownership is actually on the decline. The long-running General Social Survey, maintained at the University of Chicago, has been asking about gun ownership since its inception in the 1970s. It has found that the number of people who say they have a gun in their home is at an all time low – hovering around 30 percent, from a high of 50 percent in the 1970s.

“When you see all the numbers, the overall pattern is quite clear,” Tom Smith, director of the General Social Survey, told TheBlaze.

Survey data shows self-reported gun ownership peaked at 53 percent in 1973 before seeing a fairly steady decline to 32 percent in 2010, the most recent year available. He cautioned singling any one year out, saying the numbers are better judged in the context of a whole: the 1970s averaged about 50 percent, the 1980s averaged 48 percent, the 1990s at 43 percent and 35 percent in the 2000s.

Smith pointed to several main factors responsible for the overall decrease in firearm ownership: a general decline in hunting, the rise of single-adult households and an overall drop off in crime.

Hunting, while still a major part of American life, has seen a decline in part because of urbanization.

The household effect is twofold: first, because fewer adults in the house mean fewer potential gun-owners, and second, that women are much less likely to own a firearm. “Millions of women of course do have firearms but their level is significantly lower than man,” Smith said.

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Permalink Reply by Lester Unega Waya on June 2, 2013 at 10:43am

Michel.
Re;
"Americans need to protect against their own government's potential tyranny."

They do, it's called free elections.

But if the worst did happen, they will adapt and live with it and life will go on.

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Permalink Reply by doone on June 4, 2013 at 10:16am

Genius

So sounds like those Congressmen hooking up with Steven Seagal for their ‘fact-finding’ mission to Russia was part of his new marketing gig for the Russian arms industry.

Josh Marshall

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Permalink Reply by Lester Unega Waya on June 4, 2013 at 8:32pm

Josh.

You could use that picture for anything. You could add any story you like to it.

 

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Permalink Reply by Neal on June 11, 2013 at 8:55am

Santa Monica Mass Shooter Planned To Kill Hundreds With Stockpile O...

By Aviva Shen on Jun 10, 2013 at 11:45 am

The gunman's arsenal. (Credit: NBC Los Angeles)

Five are dead after a gunmanrampaged through Santa Monica, CA, on Friday, ending at the local community college. The Santa Monica shooting marks the tenth mass shootingon a school campus in California since 1976.

The suspect, 23-year-old John Zawahri, was known as an angry young man with a “fascination with guns” that worried family friends. Zawahri was born in Lebanon but has lived in the U.S. for at least 10 years. In a press conference on Sunday, police said the troubled young man had planned out the attack and likely hoped to kill hundreds. The spree lasted 10 minutes, ending when police shot and killed Zawahri on the scene.

Zawahri allegedly killed his father and brother and burned down their house before heading toward Santa Monica College, armed with a ballistic vest, an AR-15 assault rifle and a duffel bag filled with an estimated 1,300 rounds of ammunition, magazines, and a .44 revolver. He shot and wounded a woman driving by his house, then carjacked another woman. On the way, he shot at pedestrians and a city bus, injuring 3 people.

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Permalink Reply by doone on June 11, 2013 at 8:59am

How can we allow people to stockpile enough ammo for a war?  We can copy all of our telephone and email convo's but are not not allowed to track people who buy thousands of rounds of bullets?  Seems crazy to me.

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Permalink Reply by Neal on June 11, 2013 at 11:41am

You got it. It is frackin insane.

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Permalink Reply by Lester Unega Waya on June 11, 2013 at 11:58am

Doone.

It's a supply chain thing. The longer the chain the more difficult it is to track anything especially when transactions are not recordable.

But would knowing who had what make any difference.

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