MSGID: 2:221/360.0 5f4d00b2   
   REPLY: 4068.chatallpolit@1:342/17 23b1ea0a   
   PID: JamNNTPd/OS2 1.3 20200711   
   TID: GE/2 1.2   
   CHRS: CP437 2   
   TZUTC: 0300   
   Hello Kostie,   
      
   >>>>>Now that HAS to be a troll. LL>> I am being serious. The 2nd Amendment   
   >>>>> is poorly written,   
      
   >>>Firearms function as a force equalizer - no more and no less.   
      
   >LL>Which is why the state has a militia. With folks in the militia   
   >LL>having the right to bear arms.   
   >   
   >If you can follow and agree to the premise that firearms only function as a   
   > force equalizer, what the second amendment does or does not say and what   
   > you think it should or should not say is a completely irrelevant   
   > discussion.   
      
   Once upon a time, Japan had no guns. Samurai armed with swords,   
   serving their shogun. Then Japan had guns. Samurai armed with guns,   
   serving their shogun. Not liking the result, Japan returned to no   
   guns, samurai serving their shogun. White came to visit shogun.   
   Samurai having no guns never had a chance. Shogun not happy.   
      
   Guns are manufactured to kill people. Guns do not care who they   
   kill. And neither do the people who use those guns to kill.   
      
   Guns are not a "force equalizer", but a weapon of terror.   
      
   There are more public mass shootings in the USA than in any other   
   country in the world.   
      
   Why is that?   
      
   Americans own nearly half (46%) of the estimated 857 million   
   civilian-owned guns worldwide.   
      
   India is second, at 71 million.   
      
   About 66% of US gun owners own multiple guns.   
      
   About 61% of gun deaths in the USA are suicides.   
      
   Guns are manufactured to kill people. Usually people who want   
   to kill themselves, rather than others.   
      
   Of course, only one gun is all that is really needed to off oneself.   
   Along with one bullet.   
      
   Personally, I like the Japanese way. No gun, or bullet, required.   
      
   >I live in Canada where restrictive changes HAVE been made, and the data   
   > after a couple decades of that experiment show that firearm restrictions   
   > have very little to no effect on overall violent crime, homicide, or   
   > suicide numbers.   
      
   If someone is intent on killing himself, he is going to find a way   
   to do it. Even if it kills him. Same if someone is intent on killing   
   someone else. But most kill themselves before they kill someone else.   
      
   >Sure, if you remove enough guns you'll reduce the number of people *shot*   
   > but that does not equate to reducing the number of people *killed*   
      
   Kind of hard to do a mass shooting with a knife. Columbine would   
   never have happened if those two kids had been armed only with knives.   
   Or at Parkland, where scores of other students were murdered.   
      
   >The latter is a far more important measure in my mind, and requires systemic   
   > cultural changes rather than simple band-aid solutions like gun control.   
      
   Japan banned guns, that ban lasting for about a century, before   
   having to re-introduce it after the White Man made his appearance.   
   Japan later went to war against Russia, attacked Pearl Harbor, and   
   invaded much of the Pacific. Today, not many folks in Japan own a   
   gun. Which is why gun violence in Japan has a death rate of 0.04   
   per 100,000.   
      
   >Anyone who's been shown that reality and instead chooses to focus on the   
   > guns means an individual either cannot think logically, or has a political   
   > agenda to push that benefits from dishonest language.   
      
   I am basing my comments on data and reports that can be easily   
   verified. One of those sources is the 2018 Switzerland-based Small   
   Arms Survey (SAS) report. Another source is humanoshpere.org.   
   But there are other sites that confirm the same thing.   
      
   >Either way, you should view said individual with extreme caution when   
   > approaching the ballot booth.   
      
   St. Paul (the one in the bible) did tell us to "Question everything."   
      
   --Lee   
      
   --    
   Get Her Wet Here   
   --- MesNews/1.08.05.00-gb   
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