2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Maybe Bernie has been right about gun manufacturers [View all]DemocraticWing
(1,290 posts)It's completely legal to own a firearm in the United States. Now we all know what firearms can do, but it's completely legal to have one. As such, there is demand for that firearm and people will manufacture and sell them to meet that demand. This is a legal transaction, and so if somebody uses a gun they legally own to commit a crime, our laws only punish the person for the crime but not just for owning the weapon they used to commit it.
As long as guns are legal to own in the US, then legally manufacturing them and selling them should not make you liable anymore than car companies are liable for stupid drivers having accidents or alcohol companies are liable for drunk people beating people up.
We need gun control, to keep guns out of people who commit crimes. Shifting the blame to companies who make guns erases the real responsibility for our gun violence epidemic: bad people who hurt people and the government which enables them.