Ian MacFarlane Philadelphia PA 1 hour ago I think most of us who own guns do so because we have always held up revolution as the ultimate response to the tyranny which we have been taught lurks behind every bush. I have training in small arms but it is difficult for me to accept guns in the hands of anyone, even the beat cop. Guns have one ultimate function which is to kill.



The NRA would do us all a favor if they were to temper the paranoia and fear which seems to run rampant throughout most of the discussions regarding the need surrounding gun ownership and focus on the responsibilities until we hopefully wean ourselves of fear and guns.



While there is some truth to the old adage about people rather than guns killing people and in an ideal world we would not resort to armed struggle, guns are outdated tools easily abused by those who have little respect for other human beings and represent what I trust is the waning of might making right.



The popularity of guns stems from the fact that shutting someone up with a bullet requires less effort and cleanup than a hatchet. Flag

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artseaman Kittanning, PA 1 hour ago As a 71 year old, I like to think I got to this age by managing risk. I have lead a pretty full life and think that some behaviors are more risky than others. Seat belts a must. Eating oysters is risky but worth it. Visiting war torn countries is to be avoided.

A walk in shower was added two years ago on the advice of my doctor.

So when it comes to things to worry about as I travel the world, terrorism not so much. Bicycling in Paris or Rome another matter. Statistics can inform and put worry into perspective. The neighbor who drinks too much and has a lot of guns is probably my real worry. Flag

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CA Berkeley CA 2 hours ago If anecdotal evidence is to be believed, the fear of gun control and opposition to abortion were significant wedge issues with many Trump voters and were perhaps much more compelling that issues like the loss of blue collar jobs or immigration. So why do liberals insist on bringing this issue up again and again? I expect that most of the accidents, suicides, family murders, etc. that make up the majority of the grim gun death statistics happen to people who hate gun control and voted for Trump. So why do liberals want to save them from themselves? Flag

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TD Indianapolis 2 hours ago If husbands are so deadly, why have we worked so hard to make sure to open marriage all? We should have outlawed becoming husbands, instead. This piece is weak due to the faulty comparisons it makes. Here's an equally useless point-No Americans have been killed on our soil by North Koreans. We should pull the troops and welcome them here. They have no record of being a threat. In the same period, cars have killed tens of thousands more human beings in the USA than guns. Drivers in the US are deadlier than terrorists and husbands combined. We should admit North Koreans and outlaw drivers. It is silly to suggest that since one area of our society needs serious attention, that we should not pay attention to another. The examples Kristof uses are no argument for not doing one thing. They may be an argument for doing many things at once. Fighting terrorism and fixing the gun culture are not mutually exclusive things. Kristof is not shedding any new light on the gun culture by saying there is no reason to improve vetting for terrorists. Flag

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Steve SW Michigan 3 hours ago One of the the big concerns many have in this country regarding Muslims and their culture/values are the men's treatment of women. When we see women in Burkas, walking paces behind their husbands, we see oppression. I think most non Muslims would agree with this.

This article actually brings up a very good point about men in this country killing women in this country. Our "Christian" values are at work here. We need only look to scripture to see a woman's place relative to men. It is a lower value, and it is subservience. We see it in homes where the men make decisions. We see it in the workplaces, where the value of women are reflected in their relative low pay, for same work. And while we have some progressive churches, men dominate the clergy. In both Islam and Christianity, men dominate and exert control. So while we might abhor the behavior of Muslims toward women, we fail to see our more subtle, but equally controlling and insidious behavior toward women. In the end, the majority of killings of wives/partners in this country revolves ultimately from male desire for control. And the source of this control is reinforced primarily through religion, whether it comes from the Torah or the Holy Bible. Flag

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JBR Berkeley 3 hours ago Silencers are not only legal in most of Europe, they are often required when shooting near populated areas. How many deaths-by-silencer do you read about? None, they are a figment of Hollywood's imagination.



Even good ear muffs or plugs do not reduce the noise of a gunshot enough to prevent gradual hearing loss in people who participate in shooting sports for many years (and believe it or not, even liberals can enjoy a round of skeet, benchrest or cowboy action shooting). Allowing silencers at shooting ranges would dramatically reduce a major contributor to deafness in older people. Flag

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Recommend Share this comment on Facebook Share this comment on Twitter AC Minneapolis 3 hours ago As a construction worker who is subjected to high decibel noise every day, I see your point about silencers at gun ranges. Unfortunately the NRA is so toxic and so far removed from any semblance of normalcy and decency that their (not to mention a tool like Don Jr.'s) endorsement of such a loosening of restrictions is met with understandable skepticism. If they would stop acting as a front for the gun industry, perhaps not-bad ideas could be accomplished with more universal approval. Flag

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George NC 3 hours ago I'm not writing this for living persons, but for those in the future who will study our times and wonder what possibly possessed us to accept the argument that silencers should be legalized to prevent hearing loss in those in the proximity of gunfights. Don't really have an explanation for it, but say in our defense that some us believe the earth is round, and that two plus two equals four. Flag

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Recommend Share this comment on Facebook Share this comment on Twitter Naomi New England 59 minutes ago No doubt they will be just as puzzled at Congress insisting that people with severe mental illness should not be deprived of their right to own as big an arsenal as they can afford. Paranoid do delusions, obsessions, depression, mania...What could possibly go wrong? But sure, the right to guns and hearing protection for shooters outweighs any possible concerns about people whose last sight on earth is the dark unwinking eye at the far end of the gun. Flag

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JBR Berkeley 3 hours ago All the claims that factors X,Y and Z have killed more Americans than terrorism miss the point: accidents, sickness, and random violence all kill lots of people, but none have nearly the chilling psychological impact of carefully planned, cold-blooded violence meant expressly to murder innocent people. The pure evil and cruelty of terrorism make it far more frightening than other mortality factors, which is precisely its intention and function. So even if it is a rare and thus numerically minor cause of death, it looms much larger in the mind than all the common and essentially understandable ways people die. The fact that innumeracy causes people to greatly overestimate it as a personal risk factor does not diminish its psychological impact. Flag

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Recommend Share this comment on Facebook Share this comment on Twitter Jeanne is a trusted commenter New York 3 hours ago Your reasoning still does not excuse or rationalize targeting a particular group of people for persecution because some of them have committed crimes of terrorism. The FBI reports that only 6% of all terrorist attacks in the U.S. from 1980 to 2005 have been perpetuated by Islamic extremists. There is hysteria among some Americans and apparently in the new Administration about Muslims being responsible for the majority of terrorism and death in the U.S., and it's just not so. If you want to talk about "the pure evil and cruelty of terrorism," you're going to have to look way, way beyond the 0.9% of Muslims in America. Flag

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LCF Alabama 4 hours ago By now everyone probably has an anecdote about the misuse of a gun. None of the stories are pleasant. Almost exactly a year ago, one of my fourteen-year-old students killed herself in her home with her father's pistol. That sentence is so terrible, it is impossible to know where to start discussing it. Would we talk about the fact she was fourteen years old? Or that she committed suicide in her home? Or that she used her father's pistol? How will that family ever recover? How will her friends ever reconcile themselves to her death? It is wrong, inhumane perhaps, even to broach this idea, but I believe the only way America will come to its senses about our gun culture is for public officials--and many of them, I am afraid--to suffer a tragedy similar to the family of this young girl. In almost every area of American life, we are a country run by corporations, but the gun industry is the vilest of all. Flag

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Ami Portland Oregon 4 hours ago We always forget the well regulated part of the 2nd amendment. I respect the right to bear arms I just ask that we be responsible about it and most gun owners agree.



We regulate cars better than guns. In order to get a license to drive you must pass a written test as well as actually know how to drive. If you have a medical condition that makes you a road hazard you lose your right to drive in the name of public safety. We require drivers to have a valid license and insurance in case of an accident.



There are some common sense policies that would save lives. If you want to buy a gun you must pass a background check period even at a gun show or from a private citizen. Guns should be kept in a gun safe and owners should be liable for failing to do so. People with mental illness should not have guns for their safety and the safety of others. Police officers should be able to confiscate guns in the event of a restraining order pending a final decision by a judge. Gun owners should be required to take a gun safety class to ensure that they understand that a gun is as much a responsibility as it is a right.



I often wonder what it will take to loosen the hold the NRA and gun manufacturers have on our politicians. Who has to die before we deal with this issue. Apparently loosing children wasn't a turning point. Flag

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Andrew G. Bjelland, Sr. Salt Lake City, Utah 4 hours ago President Trump seems to have learned much of his demagoguery from the GOP and its scapegoat and distract technique.



With respect to lax gun laws: Since 1996, Congress, by means of the Dickey Amendment and Congressional power over the federal purse, has effectively stripped the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of any ability to systematically gather statistics concerning gun related deaths and injuries.



I have a strong intuitive belief that permissive gun laws, like the concealed-carry laws in Utah, the open-carry laws in Texas, and those promoted by Trump, inhibit my constitutionally guaranteed rights to life, and to freedom of assembly and association.



The threats to life and liberty are self-evident. With respect to freedom of assembly and association, who, after the Dallas shootings, would consider it wholly prudent to participate in public protests in which some other participants openly carry assault rifles?



Why not allow collection of the statistical data that would indicate whether or not my intuitive belief has any evidentiary basis?



By the way, former Congressman Dickey no longer supports his own amendment.



And I did not even mention the horrific number of gun deaths that occurred during the Bowling Green Massacre. Flag

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Recommend Share this comment on Facebook Share this comment on Twitter Jeanne is a trusted commenter New York 2 hours ago I agree with much of what you say, but I believe that Donald Trump, the private citizen, learned his demagoguery from his own life, but feels comfortable with the Republican philosophy. I also believe that Donald Trump, the candidate, simply chose the Republican Party because it was convenient and expedient to do so this time around. If he had been able to slip into the Democratic or Independent tent that would have been fine, as well. Mr. Trump is an opportunist and he is happy to milk the Land of Opportunity any way he can. He doesn't much care how. Power, authority and complete control is simply what he is about. Thus the temper tantrums and tweets about Congress, the Courts, the Media, voters, citizens, allies, businesses and anyone or any entity that dares disagree with or oppose him. Flag

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Glennmr Planet Earth 5 hours ago Trump's bloviating and executive orders are really the perfect solution to the blame game when the next terrorist attack occurs. He will be able to blame everyone else while sitting on his gold pedestal with his halo intact. Not as random as many people think, but likely to define his policy making in this and many other areas. Flag

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Jacqueline Colorado 5 hours ago My fear is that laws will go too far and prevent people who are sane and competent from owning guns.



For example. Im a Transgender woman. 41% of transgender people have attempted suicide. Gender dysphoria is a mental condition listed in the DSM5. Should I be barred from owning a gun because I am part of a group that is very likely to commit suicide?



Another example. I used to be a heroin addict before I transitioned. I also got a DUI and was kicked out of college. I quit drugs and alcohol, transitioned, and have been sober for 5 years. Should I be barred from owning a gun because of actions 5 years ago?



I believe there should be background checks and people who are violent or have abused their spouses should not be allowed to own guns. However, we should always have an appeals process so that people who are barred from owning guns can prove that they are competent and have reformed any violent ways.



I love my guns. I am an Eagle Scout, and I got every single shooting based merit badge. I have never killed an animal or a person, but I have shot thousands of rounds at targets and it feels great. I believe owning a gun is a special priviledge that Americans have, and that we should use that right if we can to show the government that the people will always have the power.



There is a balance. I have been so bummed out that my liberal friends think guns are so evil that they make me hide the guns from them when they come over. I never had that happen until last year. Flag

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Christine McM is a trusted commenter Massachusetts 5 hours ago "“It’s about hearing protection,” Donald Jr. explained in a video for SilencerCo, a Utah company that makes silencers. “It’s a health issue, frankly.” He expressed admiration for silencer technology and frustration that “I don’t get to use it in the People’s Republic of New York.”"



If Don Jr. is so upset that silencers are banned in NYC, why doesn't he move to Idaho, or North Dakota? Put your money where your mouth is, Don: I'm sure NYC residents wouldn't miss you, nor you them. Talk about whining.



Back to your main point, Nicholas. It's really pretty rich of the President to whip up his base about hoards of jihadists pouring into the country when he's putting more guns in the hands of the unhinged. Your statistics are unfortunately all to soberingly correct: Americans' chances of getting killed by a Muslim are far less than being killed FOR being Muslim.



With each passing year, and increasingly under GOP authority, the disconnect between public perception of and truth for the real causes of murder grows wider.



Thank you, Nicholas, for pointing all this out to us, with updated facts and figures. Flag

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JeanBee Virginia 5 hours ago The point about how (relatively) deadly husbands are needs to be emphasized over and over again. For some reason, people just don't get it, even with the headlines several times a week about men with guns killing their wives/girlfriends and often their children, parents, or other relatives, too.



I am horrified at the push to make silencers more widely available. Think of the deadly effect that will have in mass shootings, when potential victims won't even have the minimal advantage of hearing what's happening before they see and comprehend it, in order to try to escape. The same is true of family members in household shootings, people on the street, or anyone anywhere caught up in gun violence situations.



If gun owners are worried about their hearing, for goodness sake, they can wear earplugs. I'm sure the NRA can get them a special deal for the best earplugs ever. But don't make people with guns even more of a threat than they already are to the people around them by allowing them to silence their deadly little toys. Flag

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John Australia 5 hours ago Governments, even the POTUS, only have a finite amount of resources and time to focus on in order to make changes. It would make most sense to focus on issues that have the most effect.

Alas, that has never really been the case. Focus goes on areas that have the largest emotional responses with, I think, fear at the top. But in the US the gap between what Trump and his team is focusing on and what could make a difference in the greatness of the US seems enormous.

As the writer says, 1.35 million lives have been lost in the past 40 years in the US through guns. Wow! But all signs are that this will increase in the future with guns even more readily available and encouraged.

The only way I can understand this is that there is not much fear in the US associated with guns. Or the fear is low compared to the overall love of guns.

I am not a US citizen but I did live there for 10 years. I gained many new friends. When we talked, I thought that we thought more or less the same: family, environment, education, etc. I just assumed that they would be against extensive gun ownership. Of course, I soon found out I was completely wrong. I also found out not to bring up this topic in a social gathering.

I cannot imagine what it must be like to be a law enforcement officer in the US. Even just a simple drug raid or pulling over a driver could be a life or death situation. In Australia, occasionally the dealer might have a knife. Even that will garner huge headlines. Flag

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KL CT 5 hours ago Yes, absolutely agree with what Mr. Kristof has written but the fact remains that in America guns are easy to access for terrorists. So easy in fact that terrorism is bound to reoccur here more often than it is in Europe, where it is very difficult to obtain weaponry. That fact has not prevented the massacres there. Future terrorists are surely excited about the abundance and resources available to them here in the US. Guns are available on street corners from coast to coast. The future is not what it used to be. So let's keep importing people who hate us and want to damage or kill as many of us as possible. Flag

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Lynn is a trusted commenter New York 5 hours ago “I don’t get to use it in the People’s Republic of New York.”"

If Donald Jr. is so unhappy with the State of NY, where gun protections have been put in place by people elected by the majority of voters, well, no one is begging him to live here. Perhaps he would be happier in Alabama? Flag

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Outside the Box is a trusted commenter America 6 hours ago Trump and the NYT are trying to distract us from the real issue. Most Americans like their culture and history and they want to preserve it. They don't want people coming into the country illegally. They don't want religious extremists coming into the country. They don't want people telling Americans that their culture and history are bad. Flag

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Recommend Share this comment on Facebook Share this comment on Twitter Linda is a trusted commenter Oklahoma 5 hours ago What is American culture and history? I've lived all over America and it's different everywhere I've lived. I lived across the San Juan River from the Navajo reservation. The culture there was heavily influenced by the Navajo. The Navajo, by the way, looked at the descendants of European immigrants as people intruding on their culture. I've lived in the Mississippi Delta. It's a predominantly Black and Southern culture. I was born in upstate New York. It's different in scenery and culture than the places I've lived since. I now live in Oklahoma. It isn't anything like living in the South or in the Desert Southwest or New York.

So what is the American culture? It was, and still is, a melting pot. Flag

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Recommend Share this comment on Facebook Share this comment on Twitter Mass independent New England 4 hours ago The religious extremists are in the WH, Cabinet and Congress. Betsy DeVos is a religious extremist, who uses family money from a company built on dubious methods to attain a position where she can personally influence the children of the US to proselytize her religion of primitive beliefs about reality. That is a greater evil that some refugees trying to save their lives. Flag

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Cheekos South Florida 6 hours ago



Wirth Donald Trump's command of logic and statistics, everyone who lives in North Dakota should move to South Dakota, or was it the other way around. A CDC (I believe) listing of the brain cancer rate, per capita, among the highest in South Dakota, and North Dakota ranked second to the lowest.



All of the top five (maybe ten) highest and lowest ranking states, on he list, were sparsely populated. All the statistics indicated was that the relevance of any one statistic, especially when the pool is small, is screwy. But hey, those are Tumpian-type numbers, if ever there were any.



If Donald would she the microphone, or the bully pulpit, he makes statements that, more and more, less people are believing. When he makes any such assertions, he is just digging himself deeper and deeper into the hole.



Cherry-picking numbers--about Muslims, left-handed politicians, cross-eyed optimists--is all just a bunch of demagoguery. That';s why the H]Germans fear him: they saw such a dangerous example of it, back in the 1930s and 40s.



https://thetruthoncommonsense.com Trump doesn't understand numbers; but, he cherry-picks them all the time. After a young woman was murdered by an illegal immigrant, on Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, he claimed it to prove his anti-Mexican story-line. He never went on to cite how many people were killed in San Francisco that wen, month or years.Wirth Donald Trump's command of logic and statistics, everyone who lives in North Dakota should move to South Dakota, or was it the other way around. A CDC (I believe) listing of the brain cancer rate, per capita, among the highest in South Dakota, and North Dakota ranked second to the lowest.All of the top five (maybe ten) highest and lowest ranking states, on he list, were sparsely populated. All the statistics indicated was that the relevance of any one statistic, especially when the pool is small, is screwy. But hey, those are Tumpian-type numbers, if ever there were any.If Donald would she the microphone, or the bully pulpit, he makes statements that, more and more, less people are believing. When he makes any such assertions, he is just digging himself deeper and deeper into the hole.Cherry-picking numbers--about Muslims, left-handed politicians, cross-eyed optimists--is all just a bunch of demagoguery. That';s why the H]Germans fear him: they saw such a dangerous example of it, back in the 1930s and 40s. Flag

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HighPlainsScribe Cheyenne WY 6 hours ago I agree with all you say and thank you for pointing out the insane multiple standards we hold as a society. Now let me say something that has the potential to be quite unpopular; No institution has popularized guns, war, killing and violence like Hollywood; not the NRA, nor any politician. Now let me make a confession; I have certainly patronized my share of the violence that Hollywood produces. I don't play video games, not out of any sense of moral responsibility, but more to age and being busy doing other things. The video game industry has joined -maybe surpassed- Hollywood in the gluttonous use of violence as entertainment and the all purpose solution to all problems. Many liberal entertainers who I would agree with on most positions have made millions of fans and dollars on the peddling of violence. This really hit home for me a few years ago when I walked through a video store and saw two videos with Dame Helen Mirren on the cover holding a gun. The power of violence is addictive, and bipartisan. Flag

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OSS Architect California 6 hours ago I was working in my office at 101 California St in San Francisco when an employee of of one company opened fire; killing 8 people, and wounding 6.



That was July 1, 1993 and the event lead to banning assault weapons in California (and temporarily, nationally). Now we stand by: Columbine, Aurora, Sandy Hook, Orlando, and no death toll seems to be high enough to justify any action. Stupidity, cowardice, and greed; American values for the 21st century. Flag

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Linda is a trusted commenter Oklahoma 7 hours ago If a person was really concerned about protecting his hearing while using a gun, wouldn't he use earplugs or a headset?

Also, statistically, an American is twice as likely to be killed by a toddler with a gun than by a terrorist. I don't see Trump placing restrictions on toddlers. Flag

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Mark Caponigro NYC 7 hours ago Ours can never be a truly civilized society, so long as it is so commonly accepted that the resort to deadly violence is an OK way to solve personal problems. Opposition to the gun culture is one of the *true* pro-life causes. Flag

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Michael

7 hours ago Before Clinton, Arkansas and West Virginia divorce guidelines said, if the wife said her husband was sexually unattractive so she'd been forced to take a VIP lover, the husband would be ordered to pay 105% of his take home pay to his ex as 'support'. His lawyer always told him, 'Leave the state. This order is not enforceable across state lines,' so the divorced men all left their state. If their ex let them see the children, most sent back 1/4 of their take-home pay (a violation, since they were ordered to pay 105%). If their ex did not let them see the children, they sent nothing.



Clinton made it a Federal felony for a man to not have the money to pay 100% of the amount awarded to his ex-wife by a divorce judge (if he has the money, the IRS must seize it and give it to his ex). So now, no need to let her ex see the kids. If the husband has 100% of what the judge gave his ex-wife, it's garnished. If he doesn't, he's jailed and his ex gets 100% of the income he gets from whatever job the warden finds for him, and he must stay in jail until he's paid the last penny.



(I've frequently been called a liar, since this is not the guideline in New York. But it is the guideline in West Virginia. So I'm now on the lam, and have been since 2000.) Flag

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