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REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS
Batman Shooting
Friday, July 20, 2012 4:34 AM
ANTHONYT
Freedom is Important because People are Important
Friday, July 20, 2012 4:40 AM
6IXSTRINGJACK
Friday, July 20, 2012 4:58 AM
KWICKO
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)
Friday, July 20, 2012 5:11 AM
Quote:Originally posted by Kwicko: News said one of the injured is a 3-month-old baby. Who the hell takes a 3-month-old baby to a midnight movie premier? Or to ANY movie?
Friday, July 20, 2012 5:44 AM
Friday, July 20, 2012 6:58 AM
AURAPTOR
America loves a winner!
Quote: News said one of the injured is a 3-month-old baby. Who the hell takes a 3-month-old baby to a midnight movie premier? Or to ANY movie?
Friday, July 20, 2012 7:17 AM
WISHIMAY
Friday, July 20, 2012 7:32 AM
PIRATENEWS
John Lee, conspiracy therapist at Hollywood award-winner History Channel-mocked SNL-spoofed PirateNew.org wooHOO!!!!!!
Friday, July 20, 2012 7:41 AM
Quote:Originally posted by AURaptor: Per this attack, & speaking of idiots, ABC news already tried to connect this guy to the TEA party. Classic far Left MSM, getting it wrong, again. Their claim has been retracted.
Quote:BREITBART: Shooter maybe registered Democrat... http://drudge.tw/NGemxq
Friday, July 20, 2012 7:46 AM
Quote:If only 1 movie patron had carried a gun, 50 shootings would have been prevented.
Friday, July 20, 2012 7:50 AM
PHOENIXROSE
You think you know--what's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun.
Quote:"In the early 1960s, America's top military leaders reportedly drafted plans to kill innocent people and commit acts of terrorism in U.S. cities to create public support for a war against Cuba. Code named Operation NORTHWOODS, the plans reportedly included the possible assassination of Cuban émigrés, sinking boats of Cuban refugees on the high seas, hijacking planes, blowing up a U.S. ship, and even orchestrating violent terrorism in U.S. cities. The plans were developed as ways to trick the American public and the international community into supporting a war to oust Cuba's then new leader, communist Fidel Castro. America's top military brass even contemplated causing U.S. military casualties, writing: "We could blow up a U.S. ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba," and, "casualty lists in U.S. newspapers would cause a helpful wave of national indignation." The plans had the written approval of all of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and were presented to President Kennedy's defense secretary, Robert McNamara, in March 1962. But they apparently were rejected by the civilian leadership and have gone undisclosed for nearly 40 years. The Joint Chiefs at the time were headed by Eisenhower appointee Army Gen. Lyman L. Lemnitzer, who, with the signed plans in hand made a pitch to McNamara on March 13, 1962, recommending Operation Northwoods be run by the military. Whether the Joint Chiefs' plans were rejected by McNamara in the meeting is not clear. But three days later, President Kennedy told Lemnitzer directly there was virtually no possibility of ever using overt force to take Cuba, Bamford reports. Within months, Lemnitzer would be denied another term as chairman and transferred to another job. Ironically, the documents came to light, says Bamford, in part because of the 1992 Oliver Stone film JFK, which examined the possibility of a conspiracy behind the assassination of President Kennedy. "The scary thing is none of this stuff comes out until 40 years after," says Bamford." —David Ruppe, ABC News, "Friendly Fire - U.S. Military Drafted Plans to Terrorize U.S. Cities to Provoke War With Cuba," May 1, 2001 http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=92662&page=1 "We could blow up a drone (unmannded) vessel anywhere in the Cuban waters. The presense of Cuban planes or ships merely investigating the intent of the vessel could be fairly compelling evidence that the ship was taken under attack. The US could follow with an air/sea rescue operation covered by US fighters to "evacuate" remaining members of the non-existant crew. Casualty lists in US newspapers would cause a helpful wave of national indignation. We could develop a Communist Cuba terror campaign in the Miami area, in other Flordia cities and even in Washington. The terror campaign could be pointed at Cuban refugees seeking haven in the United States. Use of MIG-type aircraft by US pilots could provide additional provocation. Harassment of civil air, attacks on surface shipping, and destruction of US military drone aircraft by MIG type palnes would be useful. An F-86 properly painted would convince air passengers that they saw a Cuban MIG, especially if the pilot of the transport were to announce that fact. Hijacking attampts against US civil air and surface craft should be encouraged. It is possible to create an incident which would demonstrate convincingly that a Cuban aircraft has attacked and shot down a chartered civilian airliner from the United States. An aircraft at Eglin AFB would be painted and numbered as an exact duplicate for a civil registered aircraft belonging to a CIA proprietary organization in the Miami area. At a designated time the duplicate would be subsituted for the actual civil aircraft and the passengers, all boarded under carefully prepared aliases. The actual registered aircraft would be converted to a drone. Take off times of the drone aircraft and the actual aircraft will be scheduled to allow a rondevous. From the rondevous point the passenger-carrying aircraft will descend to minimum altitude and go directly to an auxiliary airfield at Eglin AFB where arrangements will have been made to evacuate the passengers and return the aircraft to its original status. Meanwhile the drone aircraft will continue to fly the filed flight plan. The drone will be transmitting on the international distress frequency "MAY DAY" message stating it is under attack by Cuban MIG aircraft. The transmission will be interrupted by the destruction of aircraft which will be triggered by radio signal. This will allow IACO radio stations to tell the US what has happened to the aircraft instead of the US trying to "sell" the incident. It is possible to create an incident that will make it appear that Communist Cuban MIGs have destroyed a USAF aircraft over international waters in an unprovoked attack. On one such flight, a pre-briefed pilot would fly Tail-end Charlie. While near the Cuban island this pilot would broadcast that he had been jumped by MIGs and was going down. This pilot would then fly at extremely low altitude and land at a secure base, an Eglin auxiliary. The aircraft would be met by the proper people, quickly stored and given a new tail number. The pilot who performed the mission under an alias would resume his proper identity. The pilot and aircraft would then have disappeared. A submarine or small craft would distribute F-101 parts, parachute, etc. The pilots retuning to Homestead would have a true story as far as they knew. Search ships and aircraft could be dispatched and parts of aircraft found." —Jewish Zionist General Lyman Lemnitzer, chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff at Pentagon, Memo to Secretary of War Robert McNamara - Subject: Justification for U.S. Military Intervention in Cuba - Operation NORTHWOODS, March 13, 1962 (declassifed 2000, now a public record at US National Security Archives at George Washington University in Washington DC) http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20010430/doc1.pdf http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20010430/
Friday, July 20, 2012 7:52 AM
Quote:Originally posted by Kwicko: Quote:If only 1 movie patron had carried a gun, 50 shootings would have been prevented. Yeah, and if only one movie patron HADN'T carried all his guns, 50 shootings would never have happened. "I supported Bush in 2000 and 2004 and intellegence [sic] had very little to do with that decision." - Hero "I've not watched the video either, or am incapable of intellectually dealing with the substance of this thread, so I'll instead act like a juvenile and claim victory..." - Rappy
Friday, July 20, 2012 8:03 AM
Friday, July 20, 2012 8:37 AM
NIKI2
Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...
Quote:It turns out that Holmes, who has roots in San Diego, was student at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora. He was in the process of withdrawing at the time of the shooting, university officials said. He was a doctoral student in the neuroscience program. A college syllabus that lists Holmes as a student shows that he may have taken a class in which he studied topics as diverse as substance abuse, schizophrenia, depression and other disorders. Holmes had enrolled at the university in June 2011. Police also revealed that Holmes lived in a small apartment on Paris Street in Aurora, in Apartment 10. Large chunks of Holmes' past prior to medical school remain unknown. The Poway Unified School District in San Diego confirmed that James Holmes graduated from Westview High School in 2006. But his friends, his interests and his personality remained a mystery. http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/20/us/colorado-theater-suspect-profile/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Friday, July 20, 2012 8:57 AM
NEWOLDBROWNCOAT
Friday, July 20, 2012 9:11 AM
Friday, July 20, 2012 9:31 AM
Quote:New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an outspoken advocate of stricter gun-control laws, said in a radio interview Friday the two candidates for president needed to take a firmer line in addressing gun violence. Bloomberg's comments came as police and the FBI were investigating a deadly shooting in Colorado that left at least 12 people dead. http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/
Friday, July 20, 2012 11:03 AM
CHRISISALL
Friday, July 20, 2012 12:12 PM
REDREAD
The poster formerly known as yinyang.
Quote:Originally posted by PIRATENEWS: He was not a patron. He did not have a ticket. Or do you think they sell tickets to guys wearing gas masks carrying swords and rifles?
Quote:Officials said the suspect purchased a ticket for the show and once inside the theater propped open an emergency exit door, which he later entered after retrieving four weapons and a tear gas canister. source: http://www.coloradoan.com/viewart/20120720/NEWS01/120720001/-almost-seemed-like-fun-him-12-dead-59-injured-Aurora-Colorado-theater-shooting
Friday, July 20, 2012 12:44 PM
Quote:Originally posted by chrisisall: One thing I WILL say, look at his picture- dyed in the wool nutcase. Probably with self-prescribed pharma escalation. Eyes glassy & unfocused. Oh, and NO ONE at all feels his vibe? Thinks it's funny he's buying guns? Explosive material? Theatre-wise, ONE FUCKING USHER checking doors could have prevented/limited this. Oh, no ushers anymore. Well, the theatre corporation saved themselves a lot of money. Smaller version of 9-11 here. No or shit security for BUDGETARY reasons. Save a buck; lose some lives. Chrisisall, wearing a frilly Mal thing on his head, and ready to shoot unarmed, full-body armoured Operatives
Friday, July 20, 2012 12:55 PM
MAGONSDAUGHTER
Quote:Originally posted by Kwicko: Quote:If only 1 movie patron had carried a gun, 50 shootings would have been prevented. Yeah, and if only one movie patron HADN'T carried all his guns, 50 shootings would never have happened. <
Friday, July 20, 2012 1:03 PM
Quote:Originally posted by ANTHONYT: Hello, I don't think more security is the answer to this question. I'm not sure I want enough security to protect me from madmen who plan killing sprees. I don't even like taking off my shoes at the airport. --Anthony
Friday, July 20, 2012 1:12 PM
Quote:Originally posted by PIRATENEWS: He was not a patron. He did not have a ticket.
Quote: Or do you think they sell tickets to guys wearing gas masks carrying swords and rifles?
Friday, July 20, 2012 1:15 PM
Friday, July 20, 2012 1:25 PM
MAL4PREZ
Friday, July 20, 2012 1:35 PM
Friday, July 20, 2012 1:38 PM
Friday, July 20, 2012 2:10 PM
Friday, July 20, 2012 2:12 PM
Friday, July 20, 2012 2:43 PM
Quote:People have the right to pursue gun ownership, but it should be at least as difficult as getting a license to drive a car.
Friday, July 20, 2012 2:48 PM
Quote:Automatics and such? It should not be so easy to buy these things. It's madness that it is.
Quote:Isn't Colorado one of those free and easy, Wild West states with really lax (or free and loose, if you prefer those terms) gun possession and carry laws, at least compared to New York, Mass., and California?
Friday, July 20, 2012 2:52 PM
Friday, July 20, 2012 3:18 PM
Friday, July 20, 2012 3:32 PM
Quote:(where we lovingly caress every detail of every firearm we own...)
Friday, July 20, 2012 3:54 PM
Friday, July 20, 2012 4:18 PM
HKCAVALIER
Friday, July 20, 2012 4:23 PM
Quote:Originally posted by HKCavalier: Hey, Everyone saying that this tragedy would have been remedied by one or more folks with guns: you do realize that the shooter PLANNED for that contingency? Hence the smoke bombs and the flackjacket. Bam, simple-minded one-step knee-jerk "solution" twarted by the killer. So if any would-be rambos had been there, they'd probably be among the dead. If there ever was a case where "more guns won't solve the problem," this is it. HKCavalier Hey, hey, hey, don't be mean. We don't have to be mean, because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are.
Quote:"Now if the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms comes to disarm you and they are bearing arms, resist them with arms. Go for a head shot; they're going to be wearing bulletproof vests. They've got a big target on there, ATF. Don't shoot at that, because they've got a vest on underneath that. Head shots, head shots. Kill the sons of bitches. If the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms insists upon a firefight, give them a firefight. Just remember, they're wearing flak jackets and you're better off shooting for the head. I was talking about a situation in which law enforced agents comes smashing into a house, doesn't say who they are, and their guns are out, they're shooting, and they're in the wrong place. This has happened time and time again. The ATF has gone in and gotten the wrong guy in the wrong place. The law is that if somebody is shooting at you, using deadly force, the mere fact that they are a law enforcement officer, if they are in the wrong, does not mean you are obliged to allow yourself to be killed so your kinfolk can have a wrongful death action. You are legally entitled to defend yourself and I was speaking of exactly those kind of situations. If you're going to do that, you should know that they're wearing body armor so you should use a head shot. Now all I'm doing is stating the law, but all the nuances in there got left out when the story got repeated." -G Gordon Battle Liddy, attorney at law, FBI agent, US Army commander, Viacom radio host, Fox News anal ist, Hollywood actor, convicted felon Watergate burgler for CREEP in Tricky Dick Nixon White House, sentenced to 20 years in prison then commuted by President Zbignew Brezenski (a/k/a Barack Obama), er, Jimmy Carter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._Gordon_Liddy "And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?" -Dr Alexander Solzhenitsyn PhD, Nobel Prize winner
Friday, July 20, 2012 4:34 PM
Quote:"To all my conspiracy oriented friends on the right who think I'm planning to unleash some secret agenda, you're absolutely right. What’s the difference between a hockey mom and pit bull? A pit bull is delicious. My step-father always told me it's a boy-eat-dog world out there. My father was born in Kenya and I of course was born in Hawaii (wink)." -Communist Dictator Hussein Obama Soetoro, 2012 White House Presstitues Dinner
Friday, July 20, 2012 4:48 PM
Friday, July 20, 2012 5:31 PM
Friday, July 20, 2012 5:51 PM
SIGNYM
I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.
Monday, July 23, 2012 10:10 AM
Quote:"We need to brainwash people to think about guns in a different way." -US attorney general Eric Holder, CSPAN2, 1985, mastermind of Operation Fast and Furious that gave 20,000 guns to the Mexican mafia and murdered over 40,000 cops, prosecutors, judges, politcians and journalists "Respondent filed this suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging that petitioner violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause when its police officers, acting pursuant to official policy or custom, failed to respond to her repeated reports over several hours that her estranged husband had taken their three children in violation of her restraining order against him. Ultimately, the husband murdered the children. Respondent did not, for Due Process Clause purposes, have a property interest in police enforcement of the restraining order against her husband. Even if the statute could be said to make enforcement 'mandatory,' that would not necessarily mean that respondent has an entitlement to enforcement. " -United States Supreme Court, Castle Rock v. Gonzales, No. 04-278, 2005 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Rock_v._Gonzales http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/28/politics/28scotus.html?_r=1 http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/04-278.ZS.html “The tragedy that played out in an Aurora movie theater Friday was ironically paralleled as a classroom learning experience in a medical school in Parker the same day. Rocky Vista University College of Osteopathic Medicine is in the middle of holding specialized classes in disaster life support for 150 second-year medical students. Along with response to natural disasters like hurricanes and floods and terrorist attacks, one of the scenarios being used to train the students is how to respond if a shooter fires at people in a movie theater and also uses a bomb in the attack. 'The irony is amazing, just amazing,' said Rocky Vista Dean Dr. Bruce Dubin. The shootings in Aurora were incorporated into the teaching Friday, Dubin said." -Nancy Lofholm, Denver Post, Real life shooting imitates training exercise at Parker medical school, 07/21/2012 http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_21126462/real-life-shooting-imitates-training-exercise-at-parker
Monday, July 23, 2012 10:23 AM
Quote:do not wish to live in a world where you have armed guards everywhere, or you have to arm yourself to walk down the street. There is something very wrong with that world.
Monday, July 23, 2012 10:38 AM
Quote:"Operation NORTHWOODS may be the most corrupt plan ever created by the U.S. government. Operation Northwoods had called for nothing less than the launch of a secret campaign of terrorism within the United States in order to blame Castro and provoke a war with Cuba." —James Bamford, ABC News, "Friendly Fire - U.S. Military Drafted Plans to Terrorize U.S. Cities to Provoke War With Cuba," May 1, 2001 http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4242016437813472857&hl=en http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=92662&page=1 http://bodyofsecrets.com "In the early 1960s, America's top military leaders reportedly drafted plans to kill innocent people and commit acts of terrorism in U.S. cities to create public support for a war against Cuba. Code named Operation NORTHWOODS, the plans reportedly included the possible assassination of Cuban émigrés, sinking boats of Cuban refugees on the high seas, hijacking planes, blowing up a U.S. ship, and even orchestrating violent terrorism in U.S. cities. The plans were developed as ways to trick the American public and the international community into supporting a war to oust Cuba's then new leader, communist Fidel Castro. America's top military brass even contemplated causing U.S. military casualties, writing: "We could blow up a U.S. ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba," and, "casualty lists in U.S. newspapers would cause a helpful wave of national indignation." The plans had the written approval of all of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and were presented to President Kennedy's defense secretary, Robert McNamara, in March 1962. But they apparently were rejected by the civilian leadership and have gone undisclosed for nearly 40 years. The Joint Chiefs at the time were headed by Eisenhower appointee Army Gen. Lyman L. Lemnitzer, who, with the signed plans in hand made a pitch to McNamara on March 13, 1962, recommending Operation Northwoods be run by the military. Whether the Joint Chiefs' plans were rejected by McNamara in the meeting is not clear. But three days later, President Kennedy told Lemnitzer directly there was virtually no possibility of ever using overt force to take Cuba, Bamford reports. Within months, Lemnitzer would be denied another term as chairman and transferred to another job. Ironically, the documents came to light, says Bamford, in part because of the 1992 Oliver Stone film JFK, which examined the possibility of a conspiracy behind the assassination of President Kennedy. "The scary thing is none of this stuff comes out until 40 years after," says Bamford." —David Ruppe, ABC News, "Friendly Fire - U.S. Military Drafted Plans to Terrorize U.S. Cities to Provoke War With Cuba," May 1, 2001 http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=92662&page=1 "We could blow up a drone (unmannded) vessel anywhere in the Cuban waters. The presense of Cuban planes or ships merely investigating the intent of the vessel could be fairly compelling evidence that the ship was taken under attack. The US could follow with an air/sea rescue operation covered by US fighters to "evacuate" remaining members of the non-existant crew. Casualty lists in US newspapers would cause a helpful wave of national indignation. We could develop a Communist Cuba terror campaign in the Miami area, in other Flordia cities and even in Washington. The terror campaign could be pointed at Cuban refugees seeking haven in the United States. Use of MIG-type aircraft by US pilots could provide additional provocation. Harassment of civil air, attacks on surface shipping, and destruction of US military drone aircraft by MIG type palnes would be useful. An F-86 properly painted would convince air passengers that they saw a Cuban MIG, especially if the pilot of the transport were to announce that fact. Hijacking attampts against US civil air and surface craft should be encouraged. It is possible to create an incident which would demonstrate convincingly that a Cuban aircraft has attacked and shot down a chartered civilian airliner from the United States. An aircraft at Eglin AFB would be painted and numbered as an exact duplicate for a civil registered aircraft belonging to a CIA proprietary organization in the Miami area. At a designated time the duplicate would be subsituted for the actual civil aircraft and the passengers, all boarded under carefully prepared aliases. The actual registered aircraft would be converted to a drone. Take off times of the drone aircraft and the actual aircraft will be scheduled to allow a rondevous. From the rondevous point the passenger-carrying aircraft will descend to minimum altitude and go directly to an auxiliary airfield at Eglin AFB where arrangements will have been made to evacuate the passengers and return the aircraft to its original status. Meanwhile the drone aircraft will continue to fly the filed flight plan. The drone will be transmitting on the international distress frequency "MAY DAY" message stating it is under attack by Cuban MIG aircraft. The transmission will be interrupted by the destruction of aircraft which will be triggered by radio signal. This will allow IACO radio stations to tell the US what has happened to the aircraft instead of the US trying to "sell" the incident. It is possible to create an incident that will make it appear that Communist Cuban MIGs have destroyed a USAF aircraft over international waters in an unprovoked attack. On one such flight, a pre-briefed pilot would fly Tail-end Charlie. While near the Cuban island this pilot would broadcast that he had been jumped by MIGs and was going down. This pilot would then fly at extremely low altitude and land at a secure base, an Eglin auxiliary. The aircraft would be met by the proper people, quickly stored and given a new tail number. The pilot who performed the mission under an alias would resume his proper identity. The pilot and aircraft would then have disappeared. A submarine or small craft would distribute F-101 parts, parachute, etc. The pilots retuning to Homestead would have a true story as far as they knew. Search ships and aircraft could be dispatched and parts of aircraft found." —Jewish Zionist General Lyman Lemnitzer, chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff at Pentagon, Memo to Secretary of War Robert McNamara - Subject: Justification for U.S. Military Intervention in Cuba - Operation NORTHWOODS, March 13, 1962 (declassifed 2000, now a public record at US National Security Archives at George Washington University in Washington DC) http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20010430/doc1.pdf http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20010430/
Quote:"We need to brainwash people to think about guns in a different way." -US attorney general Eric Holder, CSPAN2, 1985, director of Operation Fast & Furious that gave 20,000 guns to the Mexican mafia that murdered 10,000 of cops, prosecutors, judges, politicians and journalists
Monday, July 23, 2012 10:52 AM
Quote:Hello, One of the guns I'd most like to own in the wide world is a Thompson Submachinegun. (Semiautomatic issue. I don't have money to rock and roll.) Quote: (where we lovingly caress every detail of every firearm we own...) If you'll forgive me... One of the guns I used to own was an SKS 1950's era Russian 'assault rifle' with an internal 10-round stripper-clip fed magazine. The particular model of which had features which might also cause it to be outlawed by the prior assault weapons ban.
Monday, July 23, 2012 11:47 AM
Quote:Originally posted by mal4prez: I am not interested in your gun porn, Anthony. The fact that you think that is an appropriate thing to get into at this point saddens me. Recent headline: James Holmes Bought 6,000 Rounds Of Ammo, Big Assault Rifle Magazine, From Internet Might this kind of purchase raise warning flags for someone who sees guns as something besides a metallic phallus to make up for what the flesh lacks? Pardon the confrontational air, Anthony. I like you. I do not like your gun porn.
Monday, July 23, 2012 11:50 AM
Monday, July 23, 2012 11:53 AM
Quote:We should not brush aside discussions of gun policy as too politically difficult to expect meaningful change, or "the price for our freedoms." Instead, we should reflect on why the U.S. has a murder rate that is nearly seven times higher than the average murder rate in other high-income countries and a nearly 20 times higher murder rate with guns. And we should consider how flaws in current gun policies contribute to this disparity. Standards for legal ownership and permits to carry a concealed gun are relatively lax in the U.S. In most states, a person with a long history of arrests and convictions for misdemeanors (often pleaded down from felony charges), prior restraining orders for domestic violence and history of drug and alcohol abuse can own as many military-style weapons as he can afford to purchase, and can legally carry concealed guns almost anywhere. Under federal law, anyone wanting to purchase a firearm from a licensed gun dealer must pass a background check. But in most states, the gun dealer who stands to profit from a gun sale, rather than a law enforcement agency, determines the authenticity of purchasers' identification cards. Gun dealers face little consequence if they fail to account for dozens of guns upon inspection. Data indicating which gun dealers sell the most guns linked to crimes are kept from public view and cannot be used in decisions about the dealer's license. Illogically, federal law and most state gun laws allow firearm purchases from private sellers with no background check or questions asked. As a result of these policies, it is far too easy for dangerous people to own, carry and ultimately use guns. Following mass shootings, gun control opponents have not been bashful about pushing for laws to remove restrictions on carrying guns in schools, bars and churches. Indeed, calls for removing restrictions on carrying concealed firearms will not stop mass shootings. Research indicates that so-called right-to-carry laws don't reduce violence, and may increase aggravated assaults. But studies I have conducted indicate that stricter regulations of gun sales, whether by retail dealers or by private sellers, are associated with fewer guns diverted to criminals. Moreover, national surveys show that a large majority of citizens favor these reforms to our gun laws, including most gun owners. In addition, there is substantial research showing that law enforcement strategies that focus on deterring illegal gun possession reduce violent crime. Public health initiatives in Chicago and Baltimore, which use reformed ex-gang-members to reach out to youth, mediate disputes and promote alternatives to violence, have also been shown to significantly reduce homicides and shootings. The economic costs are staggering -- an estimated $100 billion annually. America's high rate of gun violence is shameful. When will we change? http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/23/opinion/webster-aurora-shooter/index.html?hpt=hp_bn7
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