So much so that that very gallows was rebuilt as a replica of the original not once, but twice!

And I couldn't stop myself from googling it.

Are you hatin' on the spork?

I graduated in '92 so, we may or may not have crossed paths. Alas...

You graduated with my sister. You have mail

Anthony, are you the one that knocked up Nezbo's sister back in high school?

Not true. It was the NRA that pushed for MANDATORY instant checks. Prior to that, checks in NJ were at the discretion of the po po


People with DOCUMENTED mental conditions have been unable to legally purchase guns for decades. Ask why we don't have better records in this day and age? The Va Tech shooter had a mental condition but it was not documented. It is not politically correct to call someone out with a mental condition.


You can only LEGALLY purchase firearms in your home state or any AJACENT state. A NYer CANNOT legally travel to VA and buy any firearms.


HE did. Many have said automatic weapons. Big difference. I have been an avid shooter for decades and do not know a single person that legally owns a full auto firearm.


The NRA volunteered to help Congress pass legislation on gun ownership restrictions after Va Tech. After a few weeks they reconsidered and nothing got done. Blame both sides of the aisle.

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[Link: thechive.com]

First let me say that this coward needs to be tortured over and over again. The victims of this insane act need our support for a long time to come. We can't get blinded by the side stories; gun control, stupid parents, horrible media coverage, etc. Honestly we react in the wrong ways. Banning masks in theaters was a knee jerk reaction that wouldn't have done anything to stop this tragedy. Hopefully other useless knee jerk stuff doesn't happen.

Second unfortunately all the weapons that he bought were legal. The "assualt weapon" is a fancy looking .223 cal rifle. It was not a full automatic spraying armor piercing explosive rounds. A .223 is barely sufficient to hunt deer with but is decent for small game, to me it is inhumane to hunt anything bigger then small game with a .223. Honestly I could've killed more people with a sharp knife in that theater then he did with 4 guns.

People talk about the number of people killed by guns. Guns kill less people per year then 2nd hand smoke does. Let's not even talk about the smokers themselves. The cost of cigarettes in lives and dollars, which have ZERO value, is ridiculous. Here's another one that's almost a no-brainer drunk driving. Put a breathalyzer in every car, truck, and motorcycle and you'll not only save more lives per year then gun violence you could even cut down on gun violence.

So there goes the guns killing people argument. What we need to focus on more is the punishment of criminals. Too often we are too lenient. If we were tougher on crime then possibly we might be able to scare kids straight before they go so far off track. The death penalty might not be a deterrent but if we use it more it might be.

The jist is your argument is that other things are more deadly than guns? Not the most logical of arguments. I was only drivng 80mph, officer. Why did you not stop those passing me doing 90mph. While I agree that there are many other behaviors that are dangerous I doubt they will become less controlversial to fix. Statistics proved that seat belts saved lives and yet it took 25 years to get those laws passed. Drunk driving seems to be a right some will fight for even harder than to keep their guns. Last week a child shot himself with his parent's hand gun. You cannot legislate intelligence. If you drive while drunk and there is no public transportation it's deemed better to let a person continue to drive since the family will suffer. Where's the punishment here? Someone who is mentally ill is by definition not going to respond rationally. It will only prove a deterent to those who rationally chose to wear a bomb for political gain. The odds are that person will have other factors to justify mass murder so not even he would respond rationally to punishment used as deterence. Thus the point of punishment is not to deter behavior but to make us feel better.

I really am not arguing with you as much as pointing out that a. the flaw in an argument predicated on other things being equally or more harmful and b. that punishment might deter. I also feel fairly certain you do not go deer hunting with a hand gun. I doubt you'd shoot small game with a hand gun. I'd also bet you do not live in an urban area with 5-8 million inhabitants.

To make on point perfectly clear. I do not shoot but would fire the gun into this person. It is your argument not the sentiment to which I'm responding.

No my stance isn't that other things kill more then guns. I'm just pointing out that when some use people dying from guns and they ignore all the other ways that people die then they are putting holes in their own side. I believe in gun control. I truly do. I have no problem with waiting limits and not allowing felons and the mentally ill to own weapons. I'm a lifetime NRA member and get the magazine and emails. The NRA doesn't want unlimited access to guns. Only the people that are against the NRA push that myth.

I hate hearing about kids getting hurt because a parent/neighbor/other jackass didn't have a gun properly secured. But it takes more then just locking up your guns. My 8yo knows better then to play with guns. He has BB guns that I shoot with him. He's also taken a youth gun class. It's been proven that kids that take youth gun classes are less likely to play with guns as toys. It takes away the curiosity. When I was my sons age I was already hunting. My son isn't ready for real guns yet and I won't allow him to shoot a real gun until I am 100% sure he's ready.

We can't legislate for the minority. People with a mental illness are probably a very small percentage of murderers and an even smaller . We can't strip the rights of the masses because of a very very small minority. Mentally ill people aren't going to care about the laws and punishment more then likely. I guarantee you that if someone, not mentally ill, knows that kicking in my front door to rob me will get them killed they won't come through my front door. Punishment in that way would work.

The only urban area that has 5-8 million people is NYC. LA is 2nd largest with like 3 million if I remember right. What does that have to do with anything though? I'm lost on that one. Actually I have hunted deer with a pistol, I even shot a doe with a .45cal blackpowder pistol. I've also hunted rabbit, squirrel, fox, and groundhogs with a pistol. But the next time I use a pistol it'll be target practice.

Is there a need for cars that go over 80mph being available to average citizens? The Bill of Rights doesn't give us the right to fast cars. It does give us the right to bear arms.

You are right on with the records thing. Also, look at 911 and the Fort Hood shootings and the warnings were there but nobody connected the dots.

The point of geography is that in large, urban areas there are different conditions than in smaller, less crowded parts of this nation. Most people do not hunt and there are other, reasons to restrict weapons in crowded, urban areas that might not fit into most other areas. With crowding comes stress. With stress there are increased factors of rage. NYC is large but NY-Metro area has 15 million people.

If you live in less crowded states I'd agree that a separate set of rules apply than in crowded, densely populated areas. I promise you that while I support gun control I have no desire to restrict your right to own a gun to hunt.

I pointed out earlier that one issue NY faces is that individuals either go to guns hows in Virginia or North Carolina, purchase 30,40,50 weapons and drive back to NY and sell them. Till this issue is dealt with the right of citizens in those states impact the state I live in. Is there a reason to purchase 6000 rounds of ammunition in a single purchase? Hell,I understand why someone would sell that many but is it rational to permit this?

What does this have to do with this tragedy? Perhaps nothing. I'm not sure you can stop crazy without changing the nature of this nation. But rational, reasonable laws, some of whom you've already suggested, would be a start. Limiting the number of weapons you can purchase or the number of rounds purchased at one time seems reasonable. How many rounds are you going to shoot? 100? 200? 500? I don't shoot so I cannot answer but I'm sure it's less than 1000? If you are a hunter I suspect it takes but one shot to bring down a deer. So what of the other 5999? The uproar about seat belts and smoking have finally died down. Most people accept that it's a minor restriction on personal liberty for a great social benefit. If you die or are disabled in an accident because you were not wearing a seat belt then Social Security will pay you and your family to live. Same with smoking. It increases medical costs passed on to everyone in higher insurance rates.

Do you really hunt with a AR-15? Could you not hunt with a weapon a bit less powerful? Is there a real difference with semi-automatic and automatic when the modification to make the semi-automatic fire automatically so easily accomplished? We do legislate for minorities. Most of us do not commit major crimes but there are still laws preventing incest, murder, assault and fraud. I am exaggerating to make my point. Perhaps laws would not prevent these tragedies but they might save the life of some child killed playing with his father's gun because it was improperly stored.

Alan, this section alone exposes your ignorance on this entire subject. You have swallowed the anti-gun propaganda whole heartedly on "assault rifles". You think an AR-15 is some super bad weapon, but you don't have any understanding that the look of the gun makes no difference. It's the caliber of the ammunition. Also, firearms manufactured for private ownership cannot be easily converted to full auto. That is another myth that Mr Soros and his followers have sold you.

I know on most subjects you are well informed, even if you are wrong on you opinion ;). But on tis subject, you don't have the correct information to form a proper conclusion.

You are right. Guns are not my particular expertise. However, this from a site that agrees that turning a semi-automatic weapon to automatic is BS.

"It takes a machine shop to turn a firearm auto, not just a set of tools from Craftsman and a kit you got from the web. UPDATE – Ry illustrates that you can indeed get a Craftsman drill press and a kit off the Interweb Tubes and go full auto. From what I've been able to read and discern, while there are lowers that accept the kits easily, many of them still require milling to get things to work properly. So, while it's a bit easier to do than I wrote, it does not detract from the information that follows – full auto is pretty much useless as a hand held firing mode.

Yes, certain firearms can be made to fire repeatedly by filing down X, Y, and Z, but not with any regularity or safety. And a gun that shoots repeatedly when you only intend it to shoot once isn't something that's going to be accurate enough to hit the target before the muzzle decides to try to hit a cloud or the ceiling."
[Link: blog.robballen.com]

Accuracy of the home brew and inability to stop firing when the trigger is released may be legitimate criteria for judging a weapon automatic but not when you are firing into a crowd of civilians. I do not shoot. I doubt I'd hit a target at 20 yards. I'd wager I'd kill a lot of folks with a modified semi-automatic since it would not matter who I was shooting at since you do not need to be a marksman with a precision weapon to shoot into a crowd of unarmed civilians. But it's not as difficult as you would have it, particularly if you do not care if the weapon stops firing when the trigger is depressed and accuracy is not your primary aim. Fire enough bullets fast enough and you may just hit your mark. I am not as far off the mark as you would have it.