a bit dishonest

I'm sorry, but the only dishonesty here is admitting that current gun laws would stop many mass shootings if they were just fucking enforced while trying not to say it out loud and then using that to try and justify more legislation that does nothing.

Sounds like a budgetary and enforcement issue. Not something that needs more legislation.

Quite a few actually. State background checks are actually more effective than the NICS system.

So the solution is just to actually enforce existing gun laws?

But this theory of gun laws must have existed for 200 years is ridiculous too.

Not entirely sure what you're saying here, but I think you're saying that laws have to change with technology. And I agree. Nobody should privately own a nuclear weapon, ballistic missile, etc. That's just insane.

But, there is a balance. For now at least, it's still a fact that a dedicated group of rebels with just semi-automatic weapons can wreak havoc on an organized military. Scale that up to a much larger part of the population and you're actually looking at a population that can overthrow a tyrannical government if necessary. So we have to ask what "societal sacrifices" are we willing to make in order to make sure we can prevent a dictator from taking over?

And if you're going to hem and haw about "there is no compromise" or some bullshit like that… then answer this question. If it is abhorrent to even suggest that the right to own firearms is more important than 100% safety from mass shootings, then surely you support a complete surveillance state right? You probably have no idea just how easy it is to make explosives in America. It's frighteningly easy. Growing up, my friends and I made fuel air bombs and made liquid barium nitrate to create homebrew thermate out in the country. We were doing that just for fun as dumb teenagers with a knack for engineering and chemistry. Someone who's dedicated could do far, far worse.

So, if you think that preventing any violence due to guns is more important than having the tools to overthrow a dictator… How far are you willing to go to stop all other forms of violence? 24/7 monitoring of all purchases made by Americans? Monitoring all of their conversations? Eager to hear your ideals and solutions.

We absolutely can stop this. Democrat leadership just doesn't fucking want to, for the same reason Republican leadership doesn't want to actually ban all abortion. It's a wedge issue. Solving this issue means it's harder for them to drum up voter support.

I want to stop this, but anyone who thinks the solutions is laws like this doesn't actually care. You WILL NOT stop gun violence with these kinds of laws. We need to tackle the reasons behind the violence and put in place some actual fucking security at places that are common targets. If someone can shoot up a school, they can also bomb it, gas it, whatever. But you don't want to hear that, do you? You don't actually give a fuck about innocent children dying. You just want to virtue signal on the internet so you can show your friends how you "totally OWNED this debate".

Grow up. Put some actual thought into how these issues can be solved instead of barfing out a thing you heard before.

Maybe I'm missing something, but what exactly in this bill would prevent people with a history of domestic violence from obtaining firearms? Isn't it already illegal for someone convicted of that crime from owning a firearm in Maryland?

If the background checks are somehow not preventing people from owning firearms who are already legally barred from doing so, then the problem is the background check process. Why the fuck do so many leftists keep on refusing to acknowledge that the problem is how consistently background checks are done? It's fucking insane.

I just have one question for anyone who's here and thought this was a good law. What mass shooting would this have prevented? Thank you.

Sure thing bro. Living my best life with multiple disabilities and a disabled wife. Loving all the support and welfare programs from Democrats. Go Dark Brandon! Go unregulated capitalism! Her turn! Cause Democracy is now a hereditary system!

Go fuck yourself neoliberal. I'd say you're as much of a waste as a tankie or conservative, but at least you just do literally nothing instead of fucking shit up. Would be better if you actually did shit than talk about marginal gross improvements with net losses as if they're a huge victory.

Oh man, you lost me at "I'd personally love if the Dems were all neolibs". Neoliberals are as much the answer to America's problems as "classical conservatives" are.

The whole point is that the Democrats have had a public mandate and majority control of the executive and legislative branches multiple times under multiple Democratic presidents in the past century. But what have they actually accomplished besides marginal improvements at best? They can't even just stop or reverse Republican damage. The bar is higher than just that. They're absolutely pathetic and can't do jack fucking shit.

You're absolutely right about not just MAGA Republicans, but just about all Republicans. But at the end of the day, what do the Democrats actually do besides "stop Republicans"? Forgive student loan? Bring peace to the Middle East? Fix healthcare?

"Stop Republicans" is pretty important, but they can't even do that. So yes, Democrats/neoliberals don't build shit.

Yep. Grew up in multiple fundamentalist Baptist churches. Every guy I knew who did this either had "slipped up" once, had developed an addiction, or had an intense fear of it.

In my experience, most of them did it because of fear. They were super paranoid that letting their guard down for the briefest moment would cause them to destroy their lives and their families. I was even taught that I would basically be tempted to violate women at all times if they showed their skin; and that it would be their fault of course.

It seems like there's broadly two types of fundamentalist churches. One where it's a hypocritical good old boys club, and the other is a place where everyone lives in constant fear of pissing off God and having their lives destroyed. "Did you hear X has cancer? I wonder they did to deserve that?" levels of fear. Grew up mostly in the latter. Though I think each church is at least a little bit of both.

Either you live under a rock, or you know exactly which party I'm talking about and you're being disingenuous right now. It's definitely the latter if you're here commenting on Lemmy.

Being upset at someone for calling out a lesser evil for still being evil is exactly how nations get into situations like this. At best, the Democratic party is a brief relief from fascism. If we want to root it out, then we need to get actually strong leadership that is willing to crack down hard on fascism. It's good to have at least something being done now. But there's no debate that Trump is still getting it easier than he should be.

Ah yes, the party that keeps people with dementia in office until they die so they can tell them how to vote. That's a "good" party. I get it when it's someone who uses whataboutism to try and justify voting for fascists. But that's not what's going on here. The supposed "opposition" party is doing jack fucking shit about our country going off the rails.

Oh, we're doing that now? Rejected by my family. Married to a bisexual. Trans. Have multiple genetic illnesses/disabilities. Long COVID. Pulled myself up by my own bootstraps.

Anyways, I have worked in Muslim majority countries for projects and saw first-hand just what they're like.

I absolutely despise and hate fundamentalist Baptists who follow their holy book to the letter. And you know what else? I also absolutely despise and hate Muslims who follow their holy book to the letter.

Islam isn't a fucking ethnicity dipshit. It's a religion. Just like that Gospel Mission that didn't "take your kind".

You know nothing about Islam. Nothing about Muslim countries. And then you go around and call people you don't even know homophobic for saying people with beliefs you don't even know are homophobic. I could link to videos that would get me banned of gay people being executed and tortured by Muslims.

You're pathetic. The only positive thing you're doing today is you're someone for me to vent at and troll.

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I'm sorry, what? My fucking "homophobia" for pointing out that people would be murdered for identifying as LGBTQ in a Muslim country?

You know nothing of suffering and struggle, and I wouldn't want you to anyways. You have far more privilege and opportunity than others who came before you, despite the economic and social oppression we're facing today. You take your privilege and access to modern technology, and you use it to be a completely uninformed, uneducated bigot.

People are thrown from rooftops in Muslim countries for being gay. And you have the fucking audacity to call me homophobic for pointing out that Muslims would kill LGBTQ people. You are every vile "snowflake" parody the rightwing says you are. You're a fucking disgrace. Grow up.

When was the nation of the Jews created? Who conquered it, colonized it, and turned it into an apartheid state?

Educate yourself and learn some fucking history. If you're going to make statements like that, then by your logic the Native Americans have no rights to the lands they lost. Why should they if the Israelies/Jews have no rights to the lands that were taken from them?

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I'm not saying there isn't. Nobody on here is saying there isn't. But tankies are the group that are primarily using whataboutism to justify genocide against the Jews.

That's why this shit keeps on coming up. We're calling you out on your hypocrisy. You're the ones who started this shit.

How far back does your knowledge of history go? Ten days? Ten years? Is that it? This has been going on since before you were born, and we've got a historical record of who started it. Newsflash, it wasn't Israel.

You've got to make a choice. Do you educate yourself to understand the long-term history of the land and which side has pursued peace when possible? Or are you just going to be a racist cunt for the rest of your life? I can't make that choice for you. And just how it's not Israel's responsibility to sacrifice their lives for the lives of people who supported a genocidal regime, it's not my job to shove your face into a book and get you to; know the truth.

Do you only get you talking points from tankie TikTok?

Person A: "I live in this land, and I will continue living in this land" Person B: "Only I will live in this land, not you"

Does that help your tankie peabrain better understand why it's genocidal in the way Palestinians use it? Also, depending on how far back you want to go with "before", the Jews were actually there before the Palestinians. Up until the Romans sold some of them into slavery and then the Muslims came in to finish the job.

Regardless, Likud are extremists and should not be in power. Just like Hamas and the PLO.