Originally Posted by ijusluvit

Good idea. Let's make a case for looking at the CAUSES of violence. We have unprecedented poverty and the largest gap ever between the advantaged and the disadvantaged. More and more of those on the disadvantaged end are turning to crime for a variety of reasons, including desperation. We know we lead the world in the number of prison inmates per capita. The problem always grows in tough economic times but it is growing faster and more deeply now because of the seriousness of the recession. And we are not able to turn things around for three reasons: 1) because of conservative tax policies benefiting those who are already wealthy; 2) because businesses and private individuals are sitting on trillions instead of pumping those funds back into the economy; and 3) because of the Republican stranglehold on funding jobs and other economic stimuli.

Once people are desperate enough to turn to crime, guns just make them more efficient criminals. Banning guns is not the answer. The answer is to return to our roots and our values, making America the land of OPPORTUNITY for all, NOT just for the privileged minority who are lucky enough to inherit or in other ways fall into vast wealth.

Almost all of us retired, mostly comfortable TV folks have NO IDEA of what it's like to go hungry, not be able to pay back a student loan, not have any job prospect, not have any help getting started from ANYWHERE. We grew up in the Land of Opportunity and assume it's still there. It's not. The conservative free capitalists are holding all the resources and have shut down avenues after avenue of opportunity. And, by the way, real opportunity is NOT food stamps and unemployment insurance. Those are mere stop gaps for survival.

We are repeating the history of have and have not societies in sharp decline. Violence always increases as the number of have nots increase. Next comes revolution, and that's when even the privileged with the biggest weapons collections and highest castle walls aren't safe.