Round 2: We can't legislate it, we'll mandate it

[obxned]

Well the first step in reducing violent crime is easy - enforce all the existing laws and give maximum sentences and no parole.

Oh, sorry, what was I thinking. It is not politically correct to blame the guy who does the crime, but it's okay to blame the tools he uses in his crime.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[goawayfarm]

Next thing congress will mandate we all come up with new inventions by 2010 to solve world hunger.

Hey if that works...Why don't we get them to mandate that all cars immediately get 100mpg.......it's like waving a magic wand!

To quote Bugs Bunny:
"What a maroon!"

[sgtD]

There went 5 minutes I'll never get back.

[ccw9mm]

Hm. I think we should mandate that Florida apricot growers be directed to dramatically reduce the number of people who choke on full-sized apricot pits. I mean, those buggers can really tear you up. It's not right that they send out apricots with such pits.

That's about as possible as mandating that shoe sellers cut in half the number of people who end up using those shoes to attend soccer matches.

Which is just as likely as gun manufacturers being able to reduce the incidence of criminals misusing the tools for nefarious reasons.

Or as likely as playing card makers being able to reduce the number of kids who put cards in the spokes of bicycles during the summer months. The noise of those is horrible. Someone should be forced to do something about it ... even if they can't possibly be expected to do something about it.

Dumb x 2.

[QKShooter]

My plan for a Performance Based Outcome is to REQUIRE Jeffrey Fagan and Stephen D. Sugarman to reduce the number of totally nonsensical dingbat morons living in the U.S. (that are exactly like them) by HALF in five years.

[P7fanatic]

What idiots.

+1

You've got to be very ignorant to be so ignorant and not know it.

[gwhall57]

So, why isn't the author quoted in the original post demanding that the automobile industry "do something" about the tens-of-thousands of people killed in car wrecks each year?

[Hopyard]

The idea of using business regulation to accomplish things the government can not, is one of the most distasteful around. Whether it is demanding that employers check the citizenship of employees (which sounds so nice and useful) or requiring gun makers to somehow come up with a plan to reduce gun homicides, the principle is wrong. We have yet another example (one the libertarians tout) in the encouragement (if not mandate through things like workers comp laws) that employers do drug screening.

In all of these instances, government is attempting to use (and is using) private organizations to accomplish what it can not do, or is prohibited from doing.

So, the proposal reported by the o.p. is quite a pernicious one; aside from it being entirely wrongheaded.

[Cthulhu]

here's another novel idea:

lets try bringing moral teachings back into our schools; Prayer to GOD back as well. While we are at it, bring back corporal punishment too.

At home, lets start teaching our kids right from wrong. Tell our deadbeat dads to own up to their responsibilities and be fathers, not delinquent drunkards.

And lets put a stop to raising "girly men". lets raise our boys to grow up espousing the traditional values of honor, truth and civic duty. No more body piercings, "tats" or other bodily decorations celebrating their "individuality".

And back to the home front, we can really sit down and monitor what is on TV; ban stations like MTV and VH1 from our homes and our lifestyle. They have no place whatsoever in a society with a moral compass.

And when we see morally reprehensible people on the street, run them out of town and back into the closet.

Then, perhaps we can turn the tide in about 20 years or so on all of this violence. In the time of my grandfathers, they did not kill each other over pairs of shoes, or television sets.

Prayer in PUBLIC schools is NOT required to "bring back moral teachings". I don't enforce religion, religious ideals, or any theological ideology on my child and I DEFY anyone here to prove that I'm not teaching my daughter morals. And anyone who would try to enforce and mandate any religion upon my daughter best be prepared to reap the whirlwind.

On the other side of the coin, I also don't suppress the practice or belief of any religion for her. This is a FREE country. She has the FREEDOM to CHOOSE if she wants to follow any particular religion or not. Right now, she IS interested in attending church from time to time, and if it's doable, her mommy or other relatives can take her. If she changes her feelings about it later on, I'll be just as supportive of her.

Religion does not have the monopoly on morality and basic decency.

I don't give a squat what anybody BELIEVES in...it's what they actually DO that determines the kind of person they are.

Swaggart?

Bakker?

-JT

[Tye_Defender]

I'm all for performance based standards for this. But it's got to be whole-hog and based on sensible statistics. You can't count "victims" shot while they were committing a crime (shot by police or shot by their true intended victim), etc..

Repeal all the existing laws that put the burden on non-criminals, for example make every state shall-issue, and the firearm death rate will drop in 10 years. Now the number of scumbags killed would go up for the first few years but that number should come down as well as they either die off or figure out that they have to be more careful.

[digitalexplr]

And these guys are law professors. No wonder we have such screwed up judges!

[bluelineman]

Why don't we have these two idiots explain why innocent people would be dead if guns were outlawed.

[Tubby45]

As a licensed firearm manufacturer, Fagan and Sugarman can pound sand. Lift up your skirt, grab your manhood, and act like a freedom loving American male.

[TyC]

Surely they will think up new strategies once they have a legal obligation

Wow. I'm speechless.

[Colin]

Hey... Let's apply the same criteria to our Automotive Industry! At roughly 50,000 deaths (and a far larger number of serious injuries), we could reduce human suffering even more!

As long as we're applying this type of system, we should consider abortion, as well. Heck, that number is somewhere around a million and a half deaths per year!

Suppose we use that 'cap and trade' idea, and let gun manufacturers credit their accounts each time a law abiding citizen or law enforcement officer successfully defends their life with a firearm? What do you know... all of a sudden we have a surplus!

That 12,000/year number includes legal self defense, suicide, police officer shootings, warfare among gang members and drug dealers... If we limit those to just accidental deaths by firearm, then the number is somewhere less than 800 per year... Far more people are killed by falling down, drowning, medical malpractice, and many other causes than by firearms. Why are we discussing this again?

What an idiot.

Exactly, the auto industry is incrediable quiet on the fact that governing the top speed of vehicle is quite easy in computer controlled engine managment systems. You could even program a set of keys for your kid so the vehicle could not go over 50, while you could go faster. with built in GPS you could even limit the distance they could drive. meanwhile the silence from the automakers is deafening as they know that once the politicans latch on to this, the era of fast cars is doomed.