07-12-2015, 02:52 PM
In a related development:
Americans stock up on weapons after California shooting
RICH McKAY & DAINA BETH SOLOMONDec 6th 2015 9:09PM
http://www.aol.com/article/2015/12/06/am...-508887837
Reuters) -- At a gun range in Atlanta on Sunday, four days after the deadliest Islamic State-inspired attack on American soil, Brandon Langley practiced firing his AR-15 semiautomatic assault rifle. "If people were armed, it would have changed the outcome totally," Langley said of Wednesday's assault by a heavily armed husband and wife that killed 14 people and wounded 21 in San Bernardino, California. "Instead of 14 victims, there would have been zero, except for those two (attackers)."
Many Americans agree and are stocking up on weapons after the country's worst mass shooting in three years. Gun retailers are reporting surging sales, with customers saying they want to keep handguns and rifles at hand for self-defense in the event of another attack. "Everyone is reporting up, every store, every salesman, every distributor," said Ray Peters, manager of Range, Guns & Safes, a company that sells firearms and safes in Atlanta with an indoor firing range. "People are more aware of the need to protect themselves."
Peters usually carries a pistol with him. But since last week's shooting, he says he's added a Ruger semiautomatic rifle. In a country where more people own more guns than anywhere else in the world, the shooting has reignited a long-running national debate over Americans' constitutional right to bear arms and whether gun ownership should be curbed or expanded as a way to stop even more bloodshed.
A recent spate of mass shootings, capped by Wednesday's massacre in San Bernardino, has pushed those issues to the fore in the presidential campaign. Wednesday's shooting follows an attack that killed three on Nov. 27 at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic and an Oct. 1 rampage by a gunman who killed 10 at an Oregon college, prompted Hillary Clinton, the leading candidate for the Democratic nomination, to renew her call to "stop gun violence now" with new firearm purchase restrictions. Conversely, those who top the polls for the Republican nomination, Donald Trump and Ben Carson, insist the answer to gun violence is to empower citizens to thwart such attacks by making it easier, not harder, to buy and carry weapon.
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Personally, I think that having more citizens carrying firearms about is more likely to increase gun casualties in (common) non-mass shooting events, rather than save lives during (rare) mass shooting events. I think of the kids who die each year in firearm related accidents. If some gun owners can't keep their guns safely away from their own kids and prevent accidents, how can more gun owners be expected to safely deploy them on purpose?
Conversely, I believe in and support the Second Amendment.
Americans stock up on weapons after California shooting
RICH McKAY & DAINA BETH SOLOMONDec 6th 2015 9:09PM
http://www.aol.com/article/2015/12/06/am...-508887837
Reuters) -- At a gun range in Atlanta on Sunday, four days after the deadliest Islamic State-inspired attack on American soil, Brandon Langley practiced firing his AR-15 semiautomatic assault rifle. "If people were armed, it would have changed the outcome totally," Langley said of Wednesday's assault by a heavily armed husband and wife that killed 14 people and wounded 21 in San Bernardino, California. "Instead of 14 victims, there would have been zero, except for those two (attackers)."
Many Americans agree and are stocking up on weapons after the country's worst mass shooting in three years. Gun retailers are reporting surging sales, with customers saying they want to keep handguns and rifles at hand for self-defense in the event of another attack. "Everyone is reporting up, every store, every salesman, every distributor," said Ray Peters, manager of Range, Guns & Safes, a company that sells firearms and safes in Atlanta with an indoor firing range. "People are more aware of the need to protect themselves."
Peters usually carries a pistol with him. But since last week's shooting, he says he's added a Ruger semiautomatic rifle. In a country where more people own more guns than anywhere else in the world, the shooting has reignited a long-running national debate over Americans' constitutional right to bear arms and whether gun ownership should be curbed or expanded as a way to stop even more bloodshed.
A recent spate of mass shootings, capped by Wednesday's massacre in San Bernardino, has pushed those issues to the fore in the presidential campaign. Wednesday's shooting follows an attack that killed three on Nov. 27 at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic and an Oct. 1 rampage by a gunman who killed 10 at an Oregon college, prompted Hillary Clinton, the leading candidate for the Democratic nomination, to renew her call to "stop gun violence now" with new firearm purchase restrictions. Conversely, those who top the polls for the Republican nomination, Donald Trump and Ben Carson, insist the answer to gun violence is to empower citizens to thwart such attacks by making it easier, not harder, to buy and carry weapon.
******
Personally, I think that having more citizens carrying firearms about is more likely to increase gun casualties in (common) non-mass shooting events, rather than save lives during (rare) mass shooting events. I think of the kids who die each year in firearm related accidents. If some gun owners can't keep their guns safely away from their own kids and prevent accidents, how can more gun owners be expected to safely deploy them on purpose?
Conversely, I believe in and support the Second Amendment.
"All that is necessary for tyranny to succeed is for good men to do nothing." (unknown)
James Tracy: "There is sometimes an undue amount of paranoia among some conspiracy researchers that can contribute to flawed observations and analysis."
Gary Cornwell (Dept. Chief Counsel HSCA): "A fact merely marks the point at which we have agreed to let investigation cease."
Alan Ford: "Just because you believe it, that doesn't make it so."
James Tracy: "There is sometimes an undue amount of paranoia among some conspiracy researchers that can contribute to flawed observations and analysis."
Gary Cornwell (Dept. Chief Counsel HSCA): "A fact merely marks the point at which we have agreed to let investigation cease."
Alan Ford: "Just because you believe it, that doesn't make it so."