Originally posted by J_A_B
At one time, cities with bad crime rates used to ban firearms within city limits. I would venture to suggest that some cities could probably benefit from such a measure once again.
J_A_B
Private gun ownership has been banned within the city limits of Washington DC for many decades.... Yet Washington is at or near the top of major US cities in shootings....
It's not guns, it's the violent culture. Banning ownership effects the law abiding, not the criminal, most of whom obtain their weapons illegally anyway.
There are about one million select-fire Assault Rifles in the hands of Swiss citizens, issued by their government. Yet, crimes with these weapons are virtually non-existant. Why is that? They don't have a large, violent sub-culture. Guns are not the problem. People are the problem. Unless America can eradicate this violent sub-culture, violence will continue practically unabated, largely confined to the poor sections of inner cities. However, since the vast majority of this violence is not experienced outside of these inner cities, few Americans are willing to make the effort to change the conditions that bred the violent culture in the first place. It's much easier to blame the weapon rather than one who wields it and easier to blame the wielder rather than the root cause. The left blames guns. The right blames the criminals. Neither is willing to seriously accept that this nation's great affluence has not filtered down to the least advantaged of society. Now we have a deeped ingrained culture of violence that will not go away without a lot of time, treasure and effort. We know that Welfare is not the answer to poverty. Education, good jobs and hope for the future are the answers. The looming question still remains: Are the American people willing to make the effort? So far, the answer is, "only if it is easy to do." And, that means it won't get done anytime soon.
Then we have mainstream religion in America, which has failed miserably at its commission of helping the poor. Yes, we will always have poor people and families. But, do we need 20 million dollar edifices to man's conceit, which we call churches, temples and mosques? Do they need $20,000 pianos? Do ministers need a Lexus to serve their congregations? Meanwhile, they insist that every family hand over 10% of their after tax income to sustain their glorious churches. Meanwhile some church members send their kids to school on empty stomachs or can't afford to pay the power company bills or provide even basic medical care because they can't afford insurance premiums and afford to maintain even a basic level of sustanance for their families at the same time. It seems that America's generosity extends to everyone but their own. Oh brother, don't let me get started on organized religion and its utter failure to serve God's people, world wide.
Ronald Reagan was right when he said that "America is a bright shining light on a hill". But that light grows dimmer as we continue to ignore our poor, our sick and those without a shred of hope for a better life. When this nation finally gets moving, it can do anything it resolves to do. We lack that resolve when it comes to changing the worst in our culture. When we do change the culture, gun violence will be a thing of the past. But as long as senseless violence is seen as a badge of honor and a thing to be admired, it's not going to change. Banning any type of gun is a futile gesture. How many prisons do we need to build? If all we do is treat the symptoms, we'll never cure the disease. Both the left and the right in this country are currently in the business of distributing bandaids. And they even argue about which bandaid works better... Yet the disease goes untreated.
My regards,
Widewing
