• Looking from the outside of the US, it’s really hard to even begin to understand why Americans want their guns. The majority won’t support a politician proposing general gun ban. And that is sad. US is not Switzerland - it is obvious that the society is not responsible enough to allow regular citizens to have guns (except maybe hunting rifles, with strict control). Hope this will change at some point and there will be a generation of Americans pushing for banning guns.

    • A lot of it stems from a distrust of the government. Even as a left-leaner, I support the second amendment because I don’t want cops to be the only ones with guns. Personally, I would want vast police and justice reform before I would be comfortable with strong restrictions on gun ownership.

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    New Mexico’s governor on Friday issued an emergency order suspending the right to carry firearms in public across Albuquerque and the surrounding county for at least 30 days amid a spate of gun violence.

    The Democratic governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, said she is expecting legal challenges but felt compelled to act in response to gun deaths, including the fatal shooting of an 11-year-old boy outside a minor league baseball stadium this week.

    “I welcome the debate and fight about how to make New Mexicans safer,” she said at a news conference, flanked by leading law enforcement officials, including the district attorney for the Albuquerque area.

    The Bernalillo county sheriff, John Allen, said in a statement late on Friday that he has reservations about the order but is ready to cooperate to tackle gun violence.

    “I am wary of placing my deputies in positions that could lead to civil liability conflicts, as well as the potential risks posed by prohibiting law-abiding citizens from their constitutional right to self-defense.”

    Among them was a suspected road rage shooting Wednesday outside a minor league baseball stadium that killed 11-year-old Froyland Villegas and critically wounded a woman as their vehicle was peppered with bullets while people left the game.


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    • I don’t see how this is going to make everyone safer. It’ll make everyone feel safer if they can’t see people carrying guns around, but that is about it. IHMO, flaunting weapons in public is basically domestic terrorism in some ways, but that is entirely dependent on local culture.

      In full disclosure, I am a liberal gun owner. Republicans push gun rights too far and Democrats push some of the dumbest gun control measures possible.

      While it is an American right to own a firearm, I believe in mandatory training and licenses for prospective gun owners. Weapons training should be free or extremely cheap. Licenses should be issued for free or cheap depending on the a person’s competency during training. (Cost is a thing: If you make licensing expensive or impose high taxes, you start to create situations where only the rich can afford firearms.) If a person is an incompetent weapons handler, they pose a danger to others. This is not so much a restriction of a right on a person as it is protecting someone else’s right to live.

      People that make threats to harm others should have some kinds of restrictions around ownership. (Don’t give me that “shall not be infringed” crap. Our rights end where other peoples rights begin.)

      Guns shouldn’t be scary, evil things. They can be survival tools and can be a great hobby! I personally love the engineering precision that is involved, but I digress.

      • Sorry, you can’t be both. I’m going to have to confiscate your liberal card. (/s).

        While I don’t agree with your viewpoint, I find I respect it. It’s considerate and well thought out. You’re not the kind of gun owner I worry about.

        • Aww, thanks! I am very much a “meet you in the middle” type of person. I believe that in most cases, extremely one-sided opinions are formed because many people are incapable of respectfully disagreeing. If I said your opinion was stupid, you would likely plant your heels and double down.

          We can agree to disagree and that is OK. :)

      • It’s really another instance of legal gun owners getting shafted because it sounds better to just ban concealed carry than to address the causes of gun violence in the city. That would require more effort and ultimately the political benefit looks better because democrats will die with goal of disarming the citizenry, and the republicans and conservatives don’t care about the suffering and root causes that lead to cultures of violence (gang crime, road rage, shooting people turning around in your driveway or who knock on your door), heck in some cases they benefit from it.

        While I’m not sold on the idea on mandatory training (I don’t trust governments enough make it accessible and useful), i’d be ignorant to think that training shouldn’t be made an expectation of ownership if not legally, than socially. There’s lot’s of people I just dread the fact they carry a gun. Reddit’s CCW subreddit has way too many posts that are essentially “Can I kill this guy?” Luckily there’s people there who do their best to educate and share resources and try to encourage a defensive mindset, away from the aggressive, “if you mess with me i’ll kill you” mindset.