Musicmystery
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Kirata
quote:
ORIGINAL: Musicmystery
Tell you what, jif -- you show me the liberal plan "to get rid of all guns, legally owned and otherwise."
It's a fantasy in your head, and like typical delusional people, when called on the facts, you change the subject...again and again.
I would have more confidence in that if Obama would stop mentioning Britain and Australia.
We know that other countries, in response to one mass shooting, have been able to craft laws that almost eliminate mass shootings... Great Britain, Australia, countries like ours. So we know there are ways to prevent it. ~Barack Obama
K.
So?
There are around 2 million legal guns in the UK and about 1.2 million people regularly shoot.
As of 2015 about 815,000 people had a gun licence in Australia and there were around 3.5 to 5.5 million Registered Firearms in Australia. Most people own and use firearms for purposes such as hunting, controlling feral animals, collecting, security work, and target shooting.
Given that the premise is "to get rid of all guns, legally owned and otherwise," these arguments continue to promote a mental fantasy rather than reality. Paranoia tends to disregard data.
And before y'all jump in, I get that the UK and Australia have much tougher laws. But once again--for any real discussion to happen, the posts will need to reflect what's actually true, rather than the "Obama is coming for your guns" fundraiser the NRA has been on since 2008...and has never manifested, except in the NRA's Treasury.
While we're on that topic--the responsible NRA of the past shifted with the Cincinnati Revolution coup. It's an industry shill:
Today less than half of the NRA's revenues come from program fees and membership dues.
The bulk of the group's money now comes in the form of contributions, grants, royalty income, and advertising, much of it originating from gun industry sources. Since 2005, the gun industry and its corporate allies have given between $20 million and $52.6 million to it through the NRA Ring of Freedom sponsor program. Donors include firearm companies like Midway USA, Springfield Armory Inc, Pierce Bullet Seal Target Systems, and Beretta USA Corporation. Other supporters from the gun industry include Cabala's, Sturm Rugar & Co, and Smith & Wesson.
The NRA also made $20.9 million — about 10 percent of its revenue — from selling advertising to industry companies marketing products in its many publications in 2010, according to the IRS Form 990.
Additionally, some companies donate portions of sales directly to the NRA. Crimson Trace, which makes laser sights, donates 10 percent of each sale to the NRA. Taurus buys an NRA membership for everyone who buys one of their guns. Sturm Rugar gives $1 to the NRA for each gun sold, which amounts to millions. The NRA's revenues are intrinsically linked to the success of the gun business. The NRA Foundation also collects hundreds of thousands of dollars from the industry, which it then gives to local-level organizations for training and equipment purchases.
This shift is key to understanding why a coalition of hunters, collectors and firearm enthusiasts takes the heat for incidents of gun violence, like the shooting massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, rather than the companies that manufacture and market assault weapons. The chief trade association for gun manufacturers is the National Shooting Sports Federation, which is, incidentally, located in Newtown, Conn. But the NRA takes front and center after each and every shooting. "Today's NRA is a virtual subsidiary of the gun industry," said Josh Sugarmann, executive director of the Violence Policy Center. "While the NRA portrays itself as protecting the 'freedom' of individual gun owners, it's actually working to protect the freedom of the gun industry to manufacture and sell virtually any weapon or accessory."
There are two reasons for the industry support for the NRA. The first is that the organization develops and maintains a market for their products. The second, less direct function, is to absorb criticism in the event of PR crises for the gun industry.
It's possible that without the NRA, people would be protesting outside of Glock, SIG Sauer and Freedom Group — the makers of the guns used in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre — and dragging the CEOs in front of cameras and Congress. That is certainly what happened to tobacco executives when their products continued killing people. Notoriously, tobacco executives even attempted to form their own version of the NRA in 1993, seeing the inherent benefit to the industry that such an effort would have. Philip Morris bankrolled the National Smokers Alliance, a group that never quite had the groundswell of support the industry wanted. Notably, the tide has shifted slightly in the wake of Sandy Hook, with Cerberus Capital Management's decision to sell Freedom Group, the company that makes the Bushmaster rifle.
But if history is any indication, the NRA will be front and center of the new gun control debate, while gun manufacturers remain safely out of the spotlight.
< Message edited by Musicmystery -- 10/6/2015 5:54:38 AM >
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RE: Simple Question - 
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