US mothers to march against guns

[T_i_B]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3697521.stm

Protesters are to march in Washington to highlight what they say is George W Bush's failure to keep a promise to extend a ban on assault weapons. The 10-year-old ban is due to expire in September, seven weeks before the presidential election in November in which Mr Bush is standing.

It was introduced in 1994 by the then President, Bill Clinton, after several high-profile shootings across the US.

The protest, billed as the Million Mom March, is being held in Washington on the US Mother's Day to remind Americans that the ban will end this year if President Bush does not intervene.

A similar protest four years ago, before the last presidential election, was attended by 750,000 people.

[Stockholm]

1. The world should be governed by moms... n/t

[lostnfound]

3. Thanks for that.

At least the perspective they bring ought to be well-considered.

Lately, when I've seen the torture victims in Iraq, particularly the man whose feet have burn marks, I can't help but see them as somebody else's little boy, grown up. Some woman probably cherished those feet once, when they were small enough to hold in the palm of her hand. The broken ribs were once much smaller, too, when she washed her little boy.

A baby treasured and loved, then years later, treated as if trash by those who did not grow him, did not nurture him, knew nothing about him or his life. Broken.

My thoughts for mothers' day.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

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[billbuckhead]

4. Yeah like in dangerous Sweden, Japan, Australia and New Zealand

If guns made people safe, Afghanistan or Venezuela or Louisiana or South Africa would be the safest places in the world and Japan and Scandinavia and Hawaii would be hellholes.
If guns made people free, then Iraq and Afghanistan and Somalia would be free and New Zealand would be a gulag.
As far as gun "safety", even NRA board member Bob Barr shot a gun off by accident at a gunnner oriented fundraiser. Might have cost the dimbulbed Congressman his seat.

[billbuckhead]

6. Furthermore no one is talking about confiscating weapons

What politician has introduced a bill to confiscate guns? What's the bill number? This is the big lie the untlimited regulation of weapons crowd loves to tell to scare people. In fact a disrupter was tombstoned last night for pushing this meme, it's unfortunate many "Democrats" on this board push this as well , I don't know if this because this board is infiltrated with NRA astroturf or many people are just misinformed.

[Cicero]

12. Sen. Feinstein did...

It was in the context of the AWB. I forget the exact comments, but they went something like...

"If I could have gotten 51 votes... Mr. and Mrs. America, turn them all in."

Later,

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

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[Lalena]

14. We need to keep guns out of the hands of children.

Well, we obviously aren't doing a good job of protecting our children. It is often the gun that was purchased to protect the family that is used to kill a child. Please check out these statistics from 1995. Maybe you can answer the question posed on the site: Why were 15 more children killed in Texas in 1995 than in the countries of Japan, Great Britain, Germany, and France combined?

http://www.texansforgunsafety.org/articles/archives/childrn.htm

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

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[Crachet2004]

5. Forget it. There was a time when I could have supported all that,

But 911 and the Patriot act changed everything. And now we know from what is being revealed about the Iraq prison system, what happens to people who are anonomously whisked away to unknown detention locations. The scales have fallen from my eyes.

The Second Amendment is not about hunting, or crime...it is about tyranny. An armed civilian population is necessary to offset the Police Power of government. Look at Fallujah. The armed population of that town faced down the greatest military in the world and forced a retreat. Simple as that.

No. Mothers need to teach their children, not just respect for firearms, but respect for liberty, and the essential balancing act that is enshrined in our Constitution.

I am about as Liberal as you can get on almost every issue, and I am actively campaigning for all Democrat candidates, but I think our Party needs to seriously rethink it's position on gun control in light of current events.

Guns don't humiliate, torture and kill the innocents-Dictators do!

Given an armed populace, there are lines government cannot cross. There is always a price for Freedom. Parents need to step up and take responsibility for their own children, and stop trying to confuse the issue.

[billbuckhead]

7. Remember many of these people put in prison in Iraq had guns and it didn't

help. Actually Iraq is proof that a populace armed with just guns can't stop a modern army. War is politics by other means and it was a political soultion not to level Falluja not some great fear of AK47s. The Soviets smashed a heavily armed Afghnanistani population in record time and were only defeated by billions of dollars of antiaircraft missles and foreign fighters smuggled into the country from outside. In fact the Ameerican revolution would have been lost without the French. The second Boer war is proof positive of this.

[Crachet2004]

20. The retreat from Fallujha occurred due to concerns about high

Casualty rates that would occur among Marine riflemen going house to house in search of insurgents. They would have been slaughtered. The Iraqi's, if you will pardon me, do not seem 'shocked' or 'awed' in the slightest, by our state-of-the-art, modern military. Those AK's you dismiss so lightly are renowned as 'the Queen of the battlefield', and you should know, the most dangerous thing on this planet is a man with a rifle and the will to use it. Ask the US Marine Corps...this is their central tenet, and why EVERY Marine is first and foremost, a rifleman.

The Afghan War has'nt ended, any more than the one in Iraq has...and won't until all westerners leave.

The only answer to assymetrical warfare is annhilation, or to simply leave. Our military could flatten every sqare inch of Iraq...but we have a word for that now, don't we? Atrocity. Roll that around in your mouth and see if you like the taste of it. With an armed population willing to resist, victory requires the commission of atrocities. Or again, we can just leave...which sooner or later, we will.

Your analyis of the American Revolution and the Boer War are amusing, but come the day, in this country, I believe that I would rather be armed with a little more than a funny look on my face-which is all we will have, if you have your way. If I have MY way, the day will never come, and you will remain free to continue your sqeaking critique of what the Giants, the Founding Fathers, wrought.

[solinvictus]

9. Agreed

I can't see taking a bunch of gated community soccer moms seriously on violence issues. Yes, I know that was a loaded statement, but it seems that these women are simply exploiting the fear and sorrow of others for their own agenda. I imagine their only trip to an area prone to violence is a drive through in their Mercedes M-class.

Bill, right now in Iraq, an insurgent organization that possesses fewer per capita arms than an average state in the South is keeping the American military at bay. Can't fight a modern army with small arms? Apparently the Iraqi's didn't get that memo because they seem to be doing a good job of making the region ungovernable.

[Mel]

8. C-Span will not be showing the Million Mom March

as announced earlier today they will record it and show it at 2 a.m. eastern. :eyes:

Even if you do or don't agree with gun control I think it's pretty telling that C-Span isn't going to show the Million Mom March until 2 in the morning.

[solinvictus]

10. MMM

I can't see why they'd do that, but honestly, few care about gun control as an issue. With the economy in the toilet, the Patriot Act, the Iraq body count, etc. etc. etc., guns aren't a factor.

[donsu]

11. I care

a gun is not needed in every home or pocket.

[Cicero]

13. Who's saying that?

Is there anyone out there advocating FORCING people to own guns?

Let those who want them, those who are peacable and law-abiding, let them have them. And if you commit a crime with them, put them under the jail for the next 20 years.

Later,

[reprobate]

16. "Peacable and law abiding"? Are you refering to americans?

Almost every gun death call I was ever dispatched to involved "peacable and law abiding" citizens. Most were spouces who were angry or drunk and the gun was handy so they used it. An angry moment ended years of marraige and ruined the entire family.

Of course the ones hurt the most were the children. They were now orphans, cause one parent was dead and the other usually went to prison. Not to mention the psychic shock of witnessing one of their parents murder the other. They seldom fully recover.

But think of all the crimes stopped because the victim was armed, is that what I hear? Well, I recall an unofficial study that we did here at one time that compared only domestic gun deaths and accidents with crimes stopped with a handgun. The results were something like 15 or 16 to one. In other words, 15 or 16 innocents died for every crime stopped. Now that's a great return on investment, huh?

What I'm trying to tell you is that guns kill people, and to expect americans to be rational and reasonable when mentally impaired at a time of stress is living in a dream world.

[solinvictus]

17. Self control

That's an issue of individual responsibility. True, they used a gun, but how many others used knives, ball bats, crow bars, etc to kill? If someone decides to kill, whether on the spur of a moment or through calculated reasoning, they're going to use whatever tools are at their disposal. An individual's lack of control shouldn't be blamed on a tool.

[Cicero]

23. An unofficial study?

But think of all the crimes stopped because the victim was armed, is that what I hear? Well, I recall an unofficial study that we did here at one time that compared only domestic gun deaths and accidents with crimes stopped with a handgun. The results were something like 15 or 16 to one. In other words, 15 or 16 innocents died for every crime stopped. Now that's a great return on investment, huh?

Anecdotal evidence aside, the vast, vast majority of guns in this country are never used in a crime. And what studies that have been done by credible researchers show just the opposite of what you claim. (And, no, I'm not talking about Lott.)

Later,

[saigon68]

15. Don't let your chains rattle too loudly

When they cart you off to the gulag for posting here. I for one will not go quietly like a SHEEP.

[FeebMaster]

21. So, did anyone show up? (nt)

[solinvictus]

22. About 2,000

Per the local news:http://www.local6.com/news/3285613/detail.html

[T_i_B]

24. BBC report

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3697521.stm

About 2,000 people have marched in Washington to urge President George W Bush to renew a ban on assault weapons. The ban - approved 10 years ago after a series of high-profile shootings - is due to expire in September.

Sunday's protest was much smaller than a similar event that attracted 750,000 people four years ago.

"We are working very hard in Iraq to get AK-47s off the street, to get Uzis off the streets," said Representative Chris van Hollen of Maryland.

"The president says we're fighting the war on terror by doing that. What about the terror right here on our streets at home?"