OK - So let's say we repeal the second amendment.

[DirkGently]

33. Wow, that's a bit melodramatic, don't you think?

First, what you describe, whether or not it's a good idea, is not a repeal of the Second Amendment. The only reason to repeal the Second Amendment would be to allow for a complete ban of weaponry of all kinds, so that scenario would make sense as a response to a proposal for that, and nowhere else.

Second, anyone who would fight to the death over "just" having handguns and rifles has serious mental issues, and would probably shed blood over a lot of other things, so I don't think we can base our policies on how they would react. In fact, the implication that we can't change gun laws at all because millions of gun owners "won't allow it," is another problem with the entire conversation. If our current firearms policies have created a class of people who intend to kill us if we don't do what they say, we may as well just get that over with, because that's an intolerable state of affairs.

Last, the entire premise that any kind of firearm restriction = door-to-door "gun grabbing" AND civil war is gun lobby apocalyptic propaganda nonsense. There is no reason to foster that vision other than to rationalize the exact attitude which suggests we have a gun problem in America. So far no one's society has collapsed into ashes because they limited firearms.

I don't have the answers on what we need to do regarding America's gun violence problems. And I'm as sick of these in-the-wake-of-Aurora gun threads -- from either side -- as anyone, but it would be an improvement if these issues could be discussed without declaring that the streets will run red with the blood of true patriots if any attempt is made to do *anything* about these issues.