Wow, this is really amazing the response people have once something bad happens. The fact that there is a poll on The Patch for tighter gun control laws just proves how politicized this thing has gotten. Not to mention just how brainwashed people have become. This is a huge problem in our society and people just flock to the nearest "safety net". I don't see people making polls or talking about stopping the Drone bombings that occur everyday while we remain in a war killing 20-30 people a day. I don't see the cry out for TIGHTER DRONE CONTROL LAWS. Quite the contradiction in fact.

A few things to consider, if people in that city were allowed to conceal carry and it wasn't a punishable crime in their city to conceal carry its probable that at least one of those movie goers could have had a firearm and possibly stopped the majority of the damage that happened.

Second, lets make an example in a world where there are just complete gun control laws and nobody can get them except the "authorities". And this clown wasn't able to get any guns. What was to stop him from using those things he rigged his apartment up with on unknowing people at a theater or at a mall. What was to stop him to run around the movie theater with a sword or axe. I mean people, wake up. Tighter gun control laws aren't going to save or change anything. Criminals will be criminals and criminally insane will remain insane. Part of the problem was the nutter was on anti depressants. Read the WARNING LABEL

Heck, the media can't even get the story straight:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzcE0V5jVJY&feature=player_embedded

Gun sales have INCREASED in the wake of this tragedy. If a law-abiding citizen had been carrying in the theatre, he might have been able to shoot the assailant and save many more lives. Guns are not the problem; it's the people who use them to harm others who are the problem.

NObama 2012

It's been proven time and again that the cities and states with the strictest gun laws have the highest rate of violent gun crime. If you ban guns there will still be criminals with guns. We have baned drugs in this country for almost a hundred years but you can still buy any drug you want on any street corner what makes you think guns would be any different.

First, stop the denial: "The homicide rate among young men in the United States is 4 to 73 times the rate in other industrialized nations, Federal researchers have reported. They said firearms were used in three-fourths of the killings in this country and in only one-fourth of those overseas. The researchers at the National Center for Health Statistics said 4,223 American men from 15 to 24 years old were killed in 1987, a rate of 21.9 per 100,000. They said the rate for black men in that age group was 85.6 per 100,000, an increase of 40 percent since 1984. In contrast, the rates in 21 other countries for men in the same age group ranged from a high of 5 per 100,000 in Scotland, to a low of 0.3 per 100,000 in Austria. 'I knew intuitively that our rates were high, but I never dreamed that they would be so staggering compared to other countries or that such a large percentage would be firearm-related,' said Lois A. Fingerhut, a co-author of the study, which is being published today in The Journal of the American Medical Association." NY TImes.

In 2004 there were 5 gun deaths in New Zealand, 37 in Sweden, 56 in Australia, 73 in England, 184 in Canada and 11,344 murders in the United States. It's more than any other industrialized country.

Having said that, I'm not sure if stricter gun control laws would change any of this. Canada has very permissive gun control laws, and their murder rate is far lower than the US. We are a gun-crazed and violence obsessed nation. Stricter gun control won't change that. What is undeniable is that guns make it a hell of a lot easier to murder someone, kill someone accidentally, or kill yourself. Guns are symptoms of bigger problems in this society, but guns are also part of the problem.

If you want to talk about brainwashing, the NRA has waged a twenty year campaign to convince everyone that the Second Amendment guarantees the right for anyone to own any type of firearm. It just doesn't say that, unless you ignore the historical context in which the Second Amendment was written, and you remove words.

Having said that, I have resigned myself to the reality that guns as tools, playthings, and penis extensions will always be a part of our culture. Only the first use is truly appropriate, but convincing people who use guns for the other two purposes of this is tilting at windmills.

The place where I think most of us could and should agree is that laws should be designed to encourage responsible gun ownership rather than universal gun ownership.

I like what comedian Chris Rock has to say about gun control. "Everybody is talking about gun control. Got to control the guns. F@$#, that, I like guns. If you've got a gun, you don't need to work out! Cause, I ain't working out. I ain't jogging. No, I think we need some bullet control. I think every bullet should cost five thousand dollars. Five thousand dollars for a bullet. Know why? Cos if a bullet cost five thousand dollars, there'd be no more innocent by-standers. That'd be it. Some guy'd be shot you'd be all 'Damn, he must've done something, he's got fifty thousand dollars worth of bullets in his ass!' And people'd think before they shot someone 'Man I will blow your f@#$ing head off, if I could afford it. I'm gonna get me a second job, start saving up, and you a dead man. You'd better hope I don't get no bullets on lay-away!' And even if you get shot you wouldn't need to go to the emergency room. Whoever shot you'd take their bullet back. 'I believe you got my property?

Dad ,No where in your statement do you give the statistics on how many of the guns used in these crimes were legal. When all of the illegal guns are off the street . All of the criminals including the ones who come here illegally are in jail . Then I will consider it. I'm a proud member of the NRA.
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"NRA" preserving freedom and training responsible ownership.

According to the FBI, in 2009 there were 9,146 murders with a gun, an average of 25 per day with most all committed by someone who had a gun illegally. Further, tragedies like the one in Colorado are rare. Meanwhile US Dept of Transportation data shows that there are over 40,000 deaths by motor vehicle each year…over 110 per day, with most all by someone having a license to drive a motor vehicle! Where’s the outcry to control motor vehicles?

Crime is on the rise. Guns are protection from criminals. It makes sense that sales are increasing. Personal protection is the best way to deter crime. The scum bags who walk the streets have no problem inflicting harm on honest citizens. We should have no problem deterring their actions. The right to carry should not be treated as a bad thing.