I'm running for office this year

In Arizona I'm sure its Latino men...
In North Dakota its white guys....

Just trying to rationalized the potentialy racist remark.

 

Wanting black men to kill fewer black men can't ever be racist.

 

Smokin, bats and hands and toothpicks all have other purposes. A Hand Gun is meant to be concealed so that it can kill - period. It has no other purpose. If you really need to protect yourself with a gun then own a rifle or a stun gun or mace. Also, this kid did try to hurt her by means other than a gun and he didnt succeed. Only a gun could have killed her in this location. The police were right there, he ran all of one block before they captured him. There will always be trouble people in this world and they will always be capable of taking more lives as long as they have hand guns.

Your stats are NRA statistics. I can come up with others like studies that show murder rates decrease when gun buy-back programs occur and when law enforcement cracks down on illegal gun possesion. Or the statistic that a gun owner is four times more likely to use his gun on a family member than an intruder.

If the US government decides to oppress it's people, hand guns arent going to cut-it. Maybe now we should let people own flame throwers and cruise missles so they can protect themselves from the US govt. This goes back to the second amendment and why it is so totally obsolete. Again when the Bill of Rights was written, we did not have a standing army. The US chose to rely on it's citizens to bear arms when needed for the defense of the nation.

smokin also wrote

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I can brew beer in my house, the average person cant cast and machine a hand gun so they're not comparable. Again, alcohol has another purpose. It is part of meals, toasts, dedications, Fulham games, human traditions that are meaningful and bring joy. What tradition is associated with pulling out your concealed weapon and murdering someone in cold blood? - only the tradition of thugs.

 

Great posts everyone. I'll never shout anyone down when it comes to something you truly believe in. Smokin' basically said everything I was going to say when it comes to gun control.

On a different subject, the Democrats in Michigan want to introduce a law that would ban smoking in all businesses, including bars and restaurants. We a recently had a county smoking ban that effected business, but restaurants and bars were exempt. The new ban would change that if voted into law at the state level.

The government has no right to tell any business owner how to conduct his/her business. If the business owner feels the need to allow their employees to smoke in a designated area (or right out in the open), that should be their right. If a bar owner feels that allowing smoking will increase his sales...that should be HIS/HER CALL.

The potential state wide smoking ban is something I will fight tooth and nail to avoid. The people in favor of the ban will use public health as an excuse. Well guess what? If you don't like working in a smoke filled environment...find a new job. If you hate to smell smoke while you drink, find another bar. Simple as that.

I'm going to open a consulting business in the next couple of years. If I have employees, I'm going to allow them to smoke in a designated area and if I get fined, I get fined, but I'm not going to allow big government to dictate how I choose to run my business.

 

I'm also involved with the Michigan Fair Tax. We are hoping to become the first state to implement the Fair Tax system. Being a Libertarian, I'm not in favor of taxation in any form. However, you have to crawl before you can walk and I feel the Fair Tax is a step in the right direction.

Paying a national sales tax rather than having the government steal from my pay check each week sounds like a better option to me. With a national sales tax, I can dictate how much I'm taxed by the purchases I make. You would get rebates each month to reimburse you for essential buys (groceries) and at the end of the year, you won't have to fill out tax forms and worry if Uncle Sam is going to pinch you for even more money. I can't remember the last time I received a tax rebate from the Government. I pay into the system and unless my wife decides to push out a few more kids, I won't see anything in return. So I pay into the system and at the end of the year, I'm asked to give more. F*ck that.

Again, in a pefect world, there would be no taxation. Kinda the reason we kicked the redcoats out of the country back in the day. But right now, that is unrealistic. The Fair Tax would be a vast improvement, in my opinion.

I could have got into more details but as I mentioned in another thread, I'm a bit high on pain pills (my damn back). But when my mind is a little more clear, I would be happy to debate the Fair Tax a bit. I love a good civilized debate.

 

A few interesting topics:

Gun Control.

In Texas, pretty much anyone can carry a handgun in the open (i.e., in a viewable holster); they trend toward a much lower violent crime rate. (you think twice about robbing a business when half the customers may be carrying handguns).

In England, hanguns are practically illegal. However, the police still moved toward armed "beat officers" because the criminals were armed.

In Switzerland, every male has an assault rifle in his home. They have one of the lowest rates of violent crime in Europe.

FYI, New Orleans only has about 300,000 people these days.

Fair Tax.

Of all the tax proposals I have heard, the Fair Tax is without a doubt the one that I am the MOST against. Why?

Lets say Joe makes $1,000,000 this year. He spends $100,000 and gets taxed his 30% on it. He then realizes "hey, if I spend the rest of my money in this country, it will cost me $270,000!" So, instead, he purchases things overseas. Any tax code which encourages Americans to invest and spend overseas is terribly, terribly bad for our economy.

Not to mention what it will do to the Middle Class. I'm married with 3 kids and pay a net ~ 2% income tax (I claim 16 deductions). A national sales tax would mean I would lose my house and would need a second job just to keep the Mac-n-cheese on the table.

 

It's believed to have gone back above 400,000 now. According to the Times Picayune. It's hard to estimate I think.