Another day, another shooting

[spin]

123. Obviously if your personal preference is "No guns" you will support firearm accountability ...

which would mean gun registration.

If on the other hand if you support gun rights, you will strongly oppose gun registration as you will feel that eventually it will be used for gun confiscation.

I doubt that the two sides of the gun registration debate can ever find an acceptable middle ground.

On the issue of gun registration I will simply post the views of my state of Florida expressed in
the 2013 Florida Statutes as I largely agree:

790.335 Prohibition of registration of firearms; electronic records.—
The Legislature finds and declares that:
1. The right of individuals to keep and bear arms is guaranteed under both the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution and s. 8, Art. I of the State Constitution.
2. A list, record, or registry of legally owned firearms or law-abiding firearm owners is not a law enforcement tool and can become an instrument for profiling, harassing, or abusing law-abiding citizens based on their choice to own a firearm and exercise their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms as guaranteed under the United States Constitution. Further, such a list, record, or registry has the potential to fall into the wrong hands and become a shopping list for thieves.
3. A list, record, or registry of legally owned firearms or law-abiding firearm owners is not a tool for fighting terrorism, but rather is an instrument that can be used as a means to profile innocent citizens and to harass and abuse American citizens based solely on their choice to own firearms and exercise their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms as guaranteed under the United States Constitution.
4. Law-abiding firearm owners whose names have been illegally recorded in a list, record, or registry are entitled to redress.
(b) The Legislature intends through the provisions of this section to:
1. Protect the right of individuals to keep and bear arms as guaranteed under both the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution and s. 8, Art. I of the State Constitution.
2. Protect the privacy rights of law-abiding firearm owners.
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0790/0790.html

However I feel we could make some significant progress in reducing gun violence if we were able to pass a national requirement that the sale of any firearm would require an NICS background check as commonly run by a licensed dealer for the sale of a new firearm.

I rarely sell any of of my firearm collection and when I do, I have my own rules:

1) The buyer has to be a resident of Florida.

2) The buyer has to have a currently valid Florida concealed weapons permit.

3) I have to have personally known the buyer for at least six months.

The last time I sold any firearms was 8 years ago when I sold several handguns to a co-worker who I had known for several years and also enjoyed target shooting at the same pistol range I visited. Both he and his wife had Florida concealed weapons permits.

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Many people who live in highly populated urban areas have little understanding of hunters. You at least do not believe that hunters are "inherently evil." I have never participated in the sport of hunting but I do live in one of the poorest counties in Florida. Many people here hunt deer and feral hog to stock their freezers with high quality meat used to feed their families.

Feral hogs are considered a pest in Florida as they are not native to the United States and do considerable damage to the environment. They reproduce like rabbits. Prepared properly the meat is very tasty.

Deer are so plentiful that they pose a traffic hazard. A neighbor two houses down from mine totaled her car several years ago when she ran into one. My daughter hit one and dented her fender. My son in law who drives an 18 wheeler views deer as large rodents and damaged his truck when he hit one in Georgia. Two years ago, I almost ran over a herd of deer as I entered a small town late at night near me. Fortunately I had reduced my speed to 35 mph to comply with the town's speed laws.

Hunters help keep the population of deer and hog under control.

Affordable mental health care is very important for many reasons. I agree with you that all too often those with mental health issues are victimized.

Obviously we have some differences on the issue of gun control but I believe we both basically wish to see a reduction in gun violence and tragic mass murders.