We really need a liberal/progressive politician ban...

I applaud Joe Manchin´s editorial and it basically says a lot of what I´ve been saying for a long time.

Unfortunately, Washington (on both sides of the political divide) lack the basic pragmatic thought that Joe displays here.

FTA: I will weigh the evidence for any proposals put before me, including ways to address high-capacity magazines and military-style assault weapons...

The above statement shows that he really doesn´t understand the 2nd Amendment.

Nor does he understand the nature of fallen mankind. Evil will find a way with or with out high capacity magazines.

We don´t need protection from the wrenches, we need protection from the nuts. A crazy person stole guns and killed many defenseless people. He could have used a machete, a chainsaw, a 5 gallon gas can and a match, an SUV drifting through the playground, a hijacked school bus over a cliff. I have a number of guns, some based on military designs and yet nothing in my inventory would be considered an "assault rifle" by even the Costa Rican national guard (if there is one). One armed citizen could have dropped this little dirtbag into his own footprint, but schools and many other venues are "gun free zones". Nobody would have died if this wingnut had been put away, oh, there´s no such place anymore and the legal jungle too thick, ´scuse me... Don´t blame me because you let crazy people run in the streets. Don´t penalize me when you build schools like glorified garages when the technology exists to make them much safer. The only way to protect against crazy is putting them away or having the tools to deal with them when they blow up. Unfortunately, neither of these avenues were open, and they certainly should have been. Why do you people always want to fix the wrong problem????? A nut will always be a nut no matter what tool he uses to express his insanity.

Everything that is bring bandied about on this issue, the State of Connecticut has already enacted. It didn´t make a hill of beans difference, and it never will.. What more do these nuts want except the repeal of the Second??

Most of the mouthpieces on Newtown have been reaching for the wrong straws. As #6 so clearly spells out, the sole problem is with whackos who decide to kill.

I have been watching violent movies all my life and have never killed anyone. I have a collection of the so-called "assault rifles" and high-capacity magazines and have never killed anyone. I suspect that 99.9% of gun owners have the same mindset as I do. I don´t "need" these weapons - yet. But when and if I do, I´m practiced and ready. I owe it to my friends and family.

it seems the senators phone has been ringing watch these red state dems start walkin back from all this gun control talk contact congress early and often as i tell the intern on the phone if your boss votes for any of this gun ban crap nothing will prevnt me from voting early and often against them

Typical political blather and grandstanding.

You can not believe Manchin. He will say one thing and then vote another way.

Give time, he may rival Schumer as the biggest media whore.

Joe. Joe. Who was the first pol to open his mouth and start calling for a ban on ´assault weapons´ and who was the first to smear the NRA and law-abiding gun owners?
NYC Mayor Bloomberg. That´s who. Before the victims were identified or even buried, Bloomberg and his pals in the US Senate (Feinstein, Durbin, et al) began their attacks on law-abiding citizens and the God-given right to bear arms, which is enshrined in the Second Amendment. The problems aren´t just Hollywood money-grubbers, violent video games, and high-capacity magazines as you write, the main problem is people like Bloomberg, who, like vultures, circle until they can pounce and push their anti-American agenda.

I just finished watching Mr. LaPierre being grilled by David Gregory on NBC.
I have to ask why he is even going on these programs? Why is the NRA even involved right now? Why are we 2nd Amendment backers allowing, once again, the left to decide the narrative?
I am reminded of Stephanopoulos´ question regarding birth control in one of the primary debates. From that point on, the liberals began calling the narrative on the entire campaign.
NRA - you are a 2nd Amendment group. Stay quiet until the time comes to defend it. It would behoove you right now to take the high ground and let the world know that you are observing a respectful time of mourning for the the people of Newtown. Too bad the Press isn´t doing the same.

Manchin is not happy with what he considers to be the msm misrepresentation of his words.

So sad. Too bad.

good posts..
and, thanks #12..
the COMMUNIST MSM is trying to get the NRA involved because they need a TARGET to focus on..
just as they used BUSH to represent AMERICAN VALUES.. and the Roman Catholic Church and the Boy Scouts as FOCUS enemies of their degenerate anti-RELIGION/anti-AMERICAN agenda of homosexuality..
ps.. i finally re-joined the NRA last night - $35 - after having missed my American Rifleman for forty years..
use my $35 wisely.. KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT when being needled by "reporters"..

Regardless of Mr. Manchin´s failings, this one sentence nails it: "If we let irrational fear and antagonism control the debate, then we will continue to be a nation of violence."

The continuous bombardment of hateful rhetoric and demonization of those you don´t like, have more than you, don´t agree with everything you think, and won´t give you everything you want, has created a wide and vast culture of punishing and hurting others.

Virtually all of the authors of this sick mentality are leftist. And make no mistake, the twisted creatures resulting from this culture WILL find a weapon to act out their anger and hatred.

Go straight to hell, Joe, and take your Communist boss with you.

Read what No. 8 wrote. Repeat it. Again. Every day. Then get started - now. Let the Senate (not just your critter - all of ´em) hear from you EVERY DAY. Phone - Email - FAX - twice a day is even better. Keep them so busy- make the issue in their face every minute of every day. You needed a new hobby anyway. Make it clear that they will never hear the end of this. Make them wish they could. Make them wish they had never started this fight.

Now we must listen to those in the media and gaming industry, who have insisted for years - like the tobacco lobbyists of yore - that their products do no lasting harm? You mean, Joe, we should listen to those liars? Just remember the cost of a Super Bowl spot that has "no lasting impact" on behavior.

Be gone, Joe.

What will happen now with the Biden task force and in the Congress will be all political, no matter that it will not stop crazy people from killing a lot of people in the future, as those crazy people carry out violent crimes culminating with their own suicides.

Obviously the liberal Democrats intend to seriously overreach and define a so called "assault weapon" as any semi-automatic handgun or rifle that can "possibly" hold a clip or magazine containing over 10 rounds of ammunition, and ban the sale of all of them in the future. That would encompass just about all modern firearms being produced and sold in the USA today.

Besides taking away the right of law abiding Americans to defend themselves with modern firearms, the liberal Democrats are also out to affectively destroy most of the US small arms industry, along with the ammunition and parts industries connected to the direct small arms industry that could not survive by relying on military contracts alone.

Once that happens many thousands of well paying American jobs in those industries will also go down the tubes. To the liberal Democrats, that would be a great political victory, as those arms related industries are generally owned and run by conservatives who mostly support the Republicans.

The liberal Democrats will never address the issues relating to crazy people, violent video games, or other violent cultural issues in any meaningful way, as a lot of crazy people vote for the liberal Democrats, the entertainment industries who produce those violent movies and video games are big time liberal Democrat financial supporters, and the cultural issues are far too complex for politicians to work out.

Larry Correia: "So now that there is a new tragedy the president wants to have a “national conversation on guns”. Here’s the thing. Until this national conversation is willing to entertain allowing teachers to carry concealed weapons, then it isn’t a conversation at all, it is a lecture".
http://larrycorreia.wordpress.com/2012/12/20/an-opinion-on-gun-control/

Guns, violent culture, insufficient school security, mental illness: all contribute to mass violence. Congratulations for stating the obvious. But when you dig deep enough to hit the substantiative information you also find that any workable answers are elusive.

I could save 30,000 lives a year, many of them children. Get rid of cars. No auto accidents. But that´s not a workable answer. It´s also an example of the dreadful bargains that society make to function. You need mass transportation of all kinds for society to function so the associated deaths are accepted.

Should we lock up all mentally ill people? No? How do we identify the dangerous ones? NO ONE CAN!

A violent culture is often blamed but direct evidence of linkage and what kinds of culture cause problems is unproven. Our gut says their may be a link but Japanese kids play the same crazy games that our kids do and yet Japan is held up as a peaceful culture. Hmmmmm?

A semiautomatic gun, that ejects the shell and reloads the chamber seems a very useful hunting and skill shooting function. Yet those are the guns progressives are upset about. Millions are owned safely and peacefully. Why should they be banned? If a mentally ill person kills a bunch of people with a knife are we going to punish all the other good people in the Country by taking away all their knives?

A person dedicated to doing great damage will find a way to accomplish it with the means at hand. Blaming the means is pointless.

It could actually be the trial lawyers that determine the course of action taken. I haven´t heard of a lawsuits coming out of Conn. yet but if there was,the suit would say the district didn´t do enough to make the kids safe, including an armed security guard. So the fear of lawsuits may actually drive school districts to put cops in schools.

Manchin needs to understand that if gun people don´t hang together, they will be taken out and hanged separately. Most of his Fudd friends have come to understand that once the liberals get semi-autos they are going to be coming for their "sniper rifles" (hunting rifles) and "area affect weapons" (shotguns) next....he either needs to get that he is offering aid and comfort to the enemy and stop it, or he is the enemy.