Posted on 01/12/2013 6:45:21 AM PST by Tailgunner Joe
WASHINGTON - Opposing sides are finding common ground as lawmakers tackle the issue of gun control, mental health and school safety.
Sen. Tim Kaine, a former Virginia governor and democrat, says there is enough agreement to take the first steps toward solutions that would make the U.S. a little safer in the wake of the school shooting in Newtown, Conn.
"We need to make improvements to our mental health system," Kaine says.
"We do need to talk about school security and figure out better security protocols, but we also can find common-sense rules about gun use that can help us reduce gun violence. That should be the goal."
Kaine says a multi-pronged strategy is necessary to address all of the problems at work. There will always be groups like the NRA who will complain about restrictions, Kaine says it is time for those who recognize the gun violence problem that the nation faces to step up.
"It's up to us to be leaders, put practical solutions on the table, debate them and then implement them," Kaine says. "We owe it to the victims of these mass shootings to take seriously our obligation to find solutions."
The NRA will take the stance they're going to take as a group, Kaine says. It's a stance that he says is favorable for the interest of gun manufacturers more than gun owners.
"Gun owners that I know -- and I own a firearm -- they understand that you can be strongly pro-Second Amendment but also put reasonable rules in place that will reduce gun violence," he says.
As he talks with Virginians, Kaine says he sees strong support for a vigorous system of background record checks, along with a desire for better school security and limitations on "killer magazines or combat-style weapons."
"It is also important that you don't just look at guns," Kaine says.
"You have to take seriously the mental health issues, and campus and school security issues. Those are some lessons we learned painfully in the aftermath of the shooting at Virginia Tech. But if you have a multi-pronged approach, you can gain the overwhelming support of the public and do it in a way that will actually reduce crime."
Kaine's experience as mayor and a member of the city council in lowering Richmond's homicide rate is now relevant on the national level. While he hopes the nation will eventually be able to deal with the demand for guns, he says addressing that desire is not necessarily the best approach.
In the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007, Virginia lawmakers realized that there was a glitch in Virginia law, he says. Because of poor record-keeping, people who were being adjudicated as mentally ill and dangerous and who therefore should have been barred from purchasing guns under existing law were able to buy them.
"We were able to fix that," Kaine says. "We eventually brought [the homicide rate] down dramatically and we did it by targeting, with some targeted prosecution strategies, gun crimes."
Kaine: We need a multi-prong approach to gun violence - December 19, 2013 - Kaine, formerly the governor of the commonwealth, says even though the National Rifle Association is located in his state, Virginians "overwhelmingly" support common sense gun regulations that he believes would help prevent future tragedies like the Virginia Tech and Sandy Hook school massacres."There is a Second Amendment, but the Second Amendment also needs to be paired with reasonable and common sense restrictions and regulations, just like other constitutional rights," he says.
Kaine: “I own a firearm.”
Bless his heart...
No matter what we do today it will never be enough for them, they will be back for more tomorrow.
I used to date a Serbian woman who had an interesting story of UN peacekeepers who provided security in Serbian schools.
Those same peacekeepers were the ones who loaded students on to buses and shipped them off to where they wanted the parents to go.
It was kidnapping as a means of forced migration.
My common ground is the 2nd Amendment.
Yup, just look at the way they keep pushing smokers, religious symbols and anything else that does not fit into their world-view of total control over the masses.
The bottom line is that liberals do not think we are smart enough to make choices (unless its an abortion because it reduces the number of peasants), smart enough to posess a firearm nor qualified enough to have a say in the direction of this country.
Kaine is a moron.
“The Gun Is Civilization”
By Maj. L. Caudill USMC (Ret)
Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force . If you want me to do something for you, you have a choice of either convincing me via argument, or force me to do your bidding under threat of force. Every human interaction falls into one of those two categories, without exception. Reason or force, that’s it .
In a truly moral and civilized society , people exclusively interact through persuasion . Force has no place as a valid method of social interaction, and the only thing that removes force from the menu is the personal firearm, as paradoxical as it may
sound to some.
When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force. You have to use reason and try to persuade me, because I have a way to negate your threat or employment of force .
The gun is the only personal weapon that puts a 100-pound woman on equal footing with a 220-pound mugger, a 75-year old retiree on equal footing with a 19-year old gang banger, and a single guy on equal footing with a carload of drunk guys with baseball bats. The gun removes the disparity in physical strength, size, or numbers between a potential attacker and a defender.
There are plenty of people who consider the gun as the source of bad force equations. These are the people who think that we’d be more civilized if all guns were removed from society, because a firearm makes it easier for a [armed] mugger to do his job. That, of course, is only true if the mugger’s potential victims are mostly disarmed either by choice or by
legislative fiat - it has no validity when most of a mugger’s potential marks are armed.
People who argue for the banning of arms ask for automatic rule by the young, the strong, and the many, and that’s the exact opposite of a civilized society. A mugger, even an armed one, can only make a successful living in a society where the state has granted him a force monopoly .
Then there’s the argument that the gun makes confrontations lethal that otherwise would only result in injury. This argument is fallacious in several ways. Without guns involved, confrontations are won by the physically superior party inflicting overwhelming injury on the loser.
People who think that fists, bats, sticks, or stones don’t constitute lethal force, watch too much TV , where people take beatings and come out of it with a bloody lip at worst. The fact that the gun makes lethal force easier, works solely in favor of the weaker defender,
not the stronger attacker. If both are armed, the field is level.
The gun is the only weapon that’s as lethal in the hands of an octogenarian as it is in the hands of a weight lifter. It simply would not work as well as a force equalizer if it wasn’t both lethal and easily employable.
When I carry a gun, I don’t do so because I am looking for a fight, but because I’m looking to be left alone. The gun at my side means that I cannot be forced, only persuaded . I don’t carry it because I’m afraid, but because it enables me to be unafraid. It doesn’t limit the actions of those who would interact with me through reason, only the actions of those who would do so by force. It removes force from the equation... And that’s why carrying a gun is a civilized act !!
By Maj. L. Caudill USMC (Ret.)
So the greatest civilization is one where all citizens are equally armed and can only be persuaded, never
forced !!
Common ground? As long as it involves allowing teachers and staff to be armed to protect our kids and absolutely no infringement upon our right to keep and bear arms. In other words no new gun control laws. No compromise with would be tyrants.
The only thing which protects against a bad man with a gun is a good man with a gun.
Maybe all able-bodied sane, non-criminal citizens should be REQUIRED to own and become proficient in the use of, a suitable handgun and rifle. Its our responsibility as members of a free republic.
And I don't give a rat's @$$ how many Democrat liberals and RINOs Obama pulls out of the woodwork to back his anti-Constitutional gun control initiative - NO MORE NEW GUN LAWS!!!
Assuming he votes the wrong way he can never come back
Sorry, Timmy, that is not what "shall not be infringed" means.
It’s always other people’s guns that bother the politicians.
Kaine, you jerk, it’s not been 10 days since you pledged to “defend the constitution”. Can you not understand you do not get to pick and choose the parts of that document with which you agree? What part of “shall not be infringed” do you not understand?
Mental health issues can take your gun away, yes, you, even though you are mentally healthy.
Consider these questions to determine if you are a threat to society and shouldn't have a gun:
1. Do you consider yourself a born again Christian?
2. Do you have a store of food beyond three days of food?
3. Do you homeschool your children?
4. Do you think this country is going to economically collapse?
5. Do you already have an AR 15 in your house?
You just failed to qualify to buy a gun if you answered “yes” to any one of these questions? Why? Because Homeland Security has already said these people are suspected to be domestic terrorists.
You see, who will make the decision if you are mentally stable? That is the rub. It will be Hussein's henchmen, Homeland Security or Health and Human Services, to decide if you are mentally healthy and if you fit the above description of a possible domestic terrorist, you “ain't” “gettin” “no” gun because you are a definite threat to Hussein's government.
As a psychological examiner who has tested thousands of people, I am against a mental test or tests to determine if you are sane to buy a gun because I could say I psychologically tested you but it's up to me to decide what instruments (tests) to use to evaluate you and if I have an agenda I could make your test(s) show you were “nuts”. I feel sure Hussein would develop his own test instrument to decide if you could buy a gun. If you are a conservative, you will likely fail his test.
The solution to this problem is, leave our damn guns alone!
The current laws ARE common ground, Kaine.... so how about you spend the rest of your day polishing your Obama altar?
Ping to #16
Senator Grassley of Iowa announced yesterday he’s “willing to consider” prohibiting magazines that hold more than ten rounds of ammunition. Representatives of the Democratic [sic] party haven’t even drawn up their list of demands, but the Republicans are running up the white flag!
I disagree. How’s that for common ground?
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