“Opportunistic” means exactly that their minds most likely won’t stay the same - that they are spontaneous and influenced by the opportunity of the moment, including the opportunity that having a gun easily to hand presents. If that gun isn’t there, then that’s less of an opportunity. And chances are they won’t be so set on killing or violence that they will look for other weapons or even commit the crime.LilyM:
Making guns harder to get just means that criminals will use something else if their mind stays the same.Irishmom2:
Yeah, except that making it harder would also mean there’s less of it. Most crimes, violent and otherwise, are opportunistic, meaning you throw just a little difficulty in the criminal’s way and they will most likely give up.
This runs counter to the current judicial system.
How well did that work for drugs and prostitution?
Is that the method that you mentioned that would ‘eliminate’ ( your word) gun violence?
Really, what ‘tree’ does heroin grow on? Sure, plants provide some of the material, but then again, trees provide the wood for a gun stock. Heroin requires processing from opium via controlled substance. Most of the raw material for a gun comes from either a hardware store or a junk yard. Not quite true for most drugs. Steel and wood are not legally regulated in any major country. Thus the ‘raw’ materials for a gun are trival to obtain. As are the tools used in manufacture. The skills themselves are taught in many, many high schools as part of shop classes.
I think what we are debating is what is a workable solution. Clearly, banning guns will not, as they are too easily made. Much like how banning drugs never resulted in them not being readily available.
No need.
You do realise that heroin is an opioid? Which like all opioids is derived from the opium poppy flower? Which, as flowers tend to do,very much grows - admittedly in fields rather than on trees, but hardly the point?
Derived is the key word here. There is significant processing required, first to extract the opium from the poppy. Convert that ( chemically) into Morphine, and then convert that ( chemically) into Heroin
Hi-Points come from recycled plastic straws and pot metal. Glocks come from Tupperware. But I have some nice walnut stocks on my Henry .357.
Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)All the “processing” that is needed with an opium poppy really is just to ingest a sufficient quantity of the poppy seeds. Your average morning poppy seed bagel or slice of poppy seed cake (or two) won’t be enough, but people have failed drug tests for eating large quantities of seeds.LilyM:
Derived is the key word here. There is significant processing required, first to extract the opium from the poppy. Convert that ( chemically) into Morphine, and then convert that ( chemically) into Heroin
Thus the processing of heroin is substantially more complex than the manufacture of a firearm. And more specifically, the processing of heroin requires access to several heavily controlled substances. The manufacturing of firearms requires access to basic steel. Which you can obtain at any junk yard.
Which was my point.
If law enforcement cannot stop a complex product such as heroin from regularly getting into the hands of criminals, how are they going to stop them from getting firearms.
And none of this is even entering into the concept of 3D printed firearms…
Yep. Or one in each hand.
