Has America matured enough to differentiate good vs bad gun owners? Latest shooting.

[NoJoke]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SIKH_TEMPLE_SHOOTING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-08-05-15-14-22

It pains me to read bad guys with guns grabbing headlines.

There are rarely good guys with guns stories.

Has America matured enough to differentiate the two?

...that the gun is actually the EQUALIZER in life? It is a tool. Any tool can be used properly or improperly. Removing the tool does not change the nature of the beast, namely - good vs evil.

At least the shooter in the latest was stopped. With a gun.

[Banaholic California]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...08-05-15-14-22

It pains me to read bad guys with guns grabbing headlines.

There are rarely good guys with guns stories.

Has America matured enough to differentiate the two?

...that the gun is actually the EQUALIZER in life? It is a tool. Any tool can be used properly or improperly. Removing the tool does not change the nature of the beast, namely - good vs evil.

At least the shooter in the latest was stopped. With a gun.

ITs scary everyone is being labled a terrorist. What this man did is bad but not terrorism. They wan't everyone labled terrorist so they can seize everyone's rights. Its sickening.,

[a1c]

ITs scary everyone is being labled a terrorist. What this man did is bad but not terrorism. They wan't everyone labled terrorist so they can seize everyone's rights. Its sickening.,

The FBI labeled him as such because he acted like a terrorist, targeting civilians in the name of some heinous ideology. That's what terrorists do.

While I do agree that the label has been abused - especially in the past decade - in this case the shoe fits.

[rritterson]

No. For some reason, certain tools/symbols/objects get assigned an intensely disproportionate amount of the blame instead of the small section of the people who use them incorrectly.

As both a shooter and a motorcycle rider, I see a lot of similarity in the way people approach so called 'assault rifles' and 'crotch rockets', namely that they think the tool is the problem and not the asshat using it. We don't try to ban sport bikes, though, because people think that a motorcycle rider will only harm himself, whereas the AR owner will go hurt other people, no matter what the evidence to the contrary.

I think this comes from the idea that if you make it illegal to possess the object, somehow that will change the desire of the person who wants it or the behavior of the person who uses it. This works on some percent of us, who would rather be law abiding, but it fails to consider that (1) those already pondering crimes are probably not worried about adding another one (2) very determined individuals will always find a way around the laws, especially where the law is not equally applied in all states or countries and (3) asshats are asshats, no matter what tool they are currently using.

[wash]

If there is terrorism, that was it.

Terrorism is indiscriminate violence designed to create fear.

That idiot was so indiscriminate that he couldn't tell the difference between Sikh and Muslim. That level of stupidity is scary.

While it is impossible to find anything positive from a shooting, the Sikhs truly appreciate our RKBA and this might encourage California sheriffs to grant firearm licenses to Sikhs.

[Bruceisontarget]

Has America matured enough to differentiate good vs bad gun owners?

Not yet. But it does seem to be heading in the right direction. More and more people are rejecting the media spin.

[Bad Voodoo]

Has America matured enough to differentiate the two?

'America' knows the difference, but as the current admin is fond of saying, especially when there's political hay to be made and a population of liberal fish willing to get hooked, "never let a good crisis go to waste."

[littlejake]

Why does gun ownership even figure into the equation. There are good and bad people. Those who harm others without cause are in the category of bad.

We have prisons for bad people.

Since the Nation was founded we have had penalties for behavior that harms people either physically or by depriving them of their property. Sometimes justice was meted out summarily. Sometimes via judge and jury; with the penalty being the scaffold.

Let's focus on behavior that harms -- an less on the method.

[njineermike]

If there is terrorism, that was it.

Terrorism is indiscriminate violence designed to create fear.

That idiot was so indiscriminate that he couldn't tell the difference between Sikh and Muslim. That level of stupidity is scary.

While it is impossible to find anything positive from a shooting, the Sikhs truly appreciate our RKBA and this might encourage California sheriffs to grant firearm licenses to Sikhs.

Most people have no idea the Sikhs were started to STOP the spread of Islam in India. There were several incidents of violence against Sikhs right after 9/11 by equally uninformed idiots.

[Wiz-of-Awd]

Why does gun ownership even figure into the equation. There are good and bad people. Those who harm others without cause are in the category of bad.

We have prisons for bad people.

Since the Nation was founded we have had penalties for behavior that harms people either physically or by depriving them of their property. Sometimes justice was meted out summarily. Sometimes via judge and jury; with the penalty being the scaffold.

Let's focus on behavior that harms -- an less on the method.

Because, since legislators and lawmakers haven't yet figured out how to control the "bad" in people, they are left with trying to control those things which bad people use to do harm.

A.W.D.

[javalos]

Interesting question..."has America matured enough to differentiate good vs. bad gun owners?"

Most Americans yes, politicians...NO

[NoJoke]

Why does gun ownership even figure into the equation. There are good and bad people. Those who harm others without cause are in the category of bad.

We have prisons for bad people.

Since the Nation was founded we have had penalties for behavior that harms people either physically or by depriving them of their property. Sometimes justice was meted out summarily. Sometimes via judge and jury; with the penalty being the scaffold.

Let's focus on behavior that harms -- an less on the method.

I guess I'm trying to draw out the realization that tools are not BAD.

There's no arguments that there are bad people.
There's TONS of arguments that "good people" and "guns" can exist in the same sentence.
This GUN = EVIL thing needs to mature into more discriminate reasoning because the preschool rationale gets tired and old.

[hornswaggled]

My intuition tells me that the apparent racial motivation of the Sikh attack makes it less of a "gun issue" to most people. Chaos breeds fear, which is why the Batman shooter's random, unpredictable act left people scrambling for a method of prevention and gun control chatter hit the airwaves. Even though it sucks, when a mass murderer has a hateful philosophy, people are somehow more willing to accept it.

[Lifeon2whls]

Per what some other people have said, I don't think the American people see guns and people as one. The see people in one bundle and guns in the other. They don't realize that these psychos would have gone out and killed regardless of whether they had guns, it was just their chosen method. They simply see the tool being the problem.

My biggest argument for this is find someone who is completely ignorant of guns and would consider them an Anti, then present them with an unloaded firearm and explain it as such. When I have done so when I have "Friends" at my place, you can see them cringe and freeze up. A gun, just sitting on the table, unloaded...scares them. It can't do anything on its own without being used by someone but they have been taught that GUNS ARE EVIL and they see this object as the epitome of what they've been told.

[Dreaded Claymore]

The FBI labeled him as such because he acted like a terrorist, targeting civilians in the name of some heinous ideology. That's what terrorists do.

While I do agree that the label has been abused - especially in the past decade - in this case the shoe fits.

If there is terrorism, that was it.

Terrorism is indiscriminate violence designed to create fear.

That idiot was so indiscriminate that he couldn't tell the difference between Sikh and Muslim. That level of stupidity is scary.

While it is impossible to find anything positive from a shooting, the Sikhs truly appreciate our RKBA and this might encourage California sheriffs to grant firearm licenses to Sikhs.

This.

The mass murder in Aurora made me really sad. But it didn't make me very angry. The guy in Aurora who killed all those people has a malfunctioning mind. In a sense, it was a terrible natural disaster. I grieved but I didn't get mad.

This man,* on the other hand, appear to have made a conscious decision to murder people that he perceived to be different from him. Subconsciously, I must have thought that this kind of thing only happened in Palestine. This proves me wrong, and I feel both fear and rage.

Horus, Avenger, defend us in battle, as we hunt these terrorists and make them answer for their murders. We will find whoever would do this, and end them.

*Or men. Eyewitness accounts differ right now.