Joe Biden

N1!

Nice one!

All I want is the ability to know that I can live my life the way I want and know that others are doing the same as well. It's not that much to ask.

I couldn’t disagree more.

With the rise in militarization of police departments, I 100% believe that the civilian population should be able to own the same hardware that the cops do.

An armed civilian population keeps the government honest (relatively speaking).

At this point, simply taking people’s guns isn’t an option. It’s not realistic. You will create bigger problems than you will fix.

In theory, it might make sense but it’s not practical.

I don't think it even works in theory...if you take away the legal guns all you've accomplished is remove them from the hands of those who could defend themselves against the criminals with illegal guns and ammunition. Those people aren't giving them up because firearms were outlawed. They've just got easier lives now that no one can fight back.

*sigh* This wasn't supposed to be a gun rights debate, people.

I'm sure the criminals who have stashes of weapons outside of legal jurisdiction would love to learn that all civilians and cops are now defenseless in all situations.

Where they get them is not relevant to this situation. A well serviced firearm could be kept operable for decades after all legal firearms were confiscated. There's a booming black market for guns and ammo as well.

I ask you again how removing firearms from civilians and the defenders of the peace will somehow convince criminals to surrender the firearms and ammo they've already got.

You missed my point: While taking firearms away from civilians would indeed stop the flow of guns to criminals from that source, you've only curtailed the flow of new firearms to violent criminals. They already have plenty, and as I said a well-maintained firearm would last for decades. Assuming they're economical with ammunition and have contacts with black-market weapons dealers to source more, then you've only taken the firearms away from people who want one for sporting, hunting, or legitimate self defense (and stats support that self-defense carry is overwhelmingly a good thing).

My bad, I assumed you'd want to be equitable and take guns away from everyone, since you support taking them away from the civilians who would peacefully own them and have proposed no method of taking them away from those who would actually, you know, do violent stuff with them (violent criminals).

Here are the facts I found on gun violence: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/08/16/what-the-data-says-about-gun-deaths-in-the-u-s/

Even Pew Research notes that what most people consider "dangerous weapons" account for an insignificant fraction of gun violence, which leads me to my next point; you are an idiot if you think merely owning a firearm makes someone violent. Most Americans own guns, and most Americans are decent people. Thousands of Americans have used guns in legitimate self-defense incidents which otherwise would have had them robbed, raped, killed, or otherwise abused.
Owning a vehicle doesn't make someone a mass-murderer, but these have been used in Europe and the U.S to massacre crowds. Every single case of firearm-related violence in this country has a similar story; the perpetrator was either already a criminal, or someone whose life had been shattered by non-firearm related matters (I.E most school shooters come from broken homes). The key to bringing down violence in this country is not to remove the tools; it's to help the people. We need better surveillance to actually flag when people are signalling their intent to commit a violent act. We need thorough background checks before purchasing a firearm, including the ability to deny those with mental issues the ability to purchase a firearm. Most importantly, we need to solve the problem of broken families, which will end more violent crime than taking guns away ever will.

https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2017/06/22/americas-complex-relationship-with-guns/

I'm going to spitball and say you're in the category of people referenced who never have and never will own a firearm. While you're entitled to your own views, so many people disagree with you that I'm quite certain the 2A will never be repealed. :)

also beto is bidens right hand man, so he will come