Umpteenth shootout in the US, this time near New York's Empire State building

[Uncle Sparky]

So, the NYC shooting was a personal vendetta between a fashion accessories contractor and a company VP. Most of the wounded, it seems, were "collateral damage" from the police.

[BlackCat]

No it won't. Let's assume by some amazing piece of magic you manage to get enough states to actually ratify an amendment to the Constitution repealing the 2nd amendment. That's an impossible proposition, but for the sake of argument I'll roll with it. There are tons of guns in this country. I personally own two and will likely be buying a third in the next few weeks. I wouldn't hand them over, there's no way for the government to know that I have them, and this is true for almost all gun owners. Most states would have zero interest in enforcing this rule since their populations are pro-gun. That means the feds would be largely on their own in eliminating gun ownership, and there aren't enough federal police to do that.

That leaves millions of guns in the country and jack **** the cops can do about it.

Oh, so stopping producing guns and selling them won't have an effect ?

Lots of illegal guns get collected by the police year by year, so in few years there won't be that many out there.

[regexcellent]

Illegal guns get collected by state and local police, who would suddenly be made not to care because half the residents are packing anyway.

Besides, the federal government can't actually ban gun ownership; it can only ban sales. And even that is dubious. Hence California and Colorado have medical marijuana laws.

[regexcellent]

Wow, that's remarkably tasteless.

[BlackCat]

Besides, the federal government can't actually ban gun ownership;

Sure it can - GET RID OF THAT STUPID OUT OF DATE SECEOND AMENDMENT. It made sense back in the 18'enth century but have no meaning today.

[regexcellent]

No, it can't. Even without the second amendment it can't.

[BlackCat]

Please explain why not ? If they can ban drugs, I bet that they can ban guns.

[Uncle Sparky]

How often does Canada do border stops? Maybe slightly more often than the NY state police. But not enough to make it terribly difficult to run some guns...

I think you're talking about interprovincial not international border stops. If so, it really matters where you're travelling. Much of the Alberta/BC border involves travel through National Parks, so every car without a pass is stopped. The main route from Manitoba to Ontario passes through a Manitoba provincial park and seasonal spot ckecks take place. Other than that, unless you are speeding, driving in an unsafe manner, or a cop has nothing better to do, you can move from one province to another without being stopped.

As for international crossings - yes, you get stopped and questioned every time. Once, in the mid-80s, when I was in my 20s, I was stopped at a border crossing and held for 20 minutes. The reason, it turns out, was that my name was the same as a 50-something black man wanted in the states. If only they had racially profiled me...

[snoopy369]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

You could enact an amendment to explicitly _allow_ the federal government to ban guns, but short of that you couldn't do it. Repealing the 2nd amendment would allow states and municipalities to ban guns at the local level.

[snoopy369]

Please explain why not ? If they can ban drugs, I bet that they can ban guns.

Federal drug crimes arise from their control of interstate commerce. So you could ban the transport of guns across state lines, but not the possession of them, generally.

[BlackCat]

Federal drug crimes arise from their control of interstate commerce. So you could ban the transport of guns across state lines, but not the possession of them, generally.

I might be wrong, but isn't drug posseion a crime in itself in US ?

[regexcellent]

It's a state crime. And in some states, possession of small amounts is not criminal.

[snoopy369]

You're right (BC). Drug possession is a federal crime (see the issues in California right now re: medical marijuana) The federal possession laws fall under the general laws controlling all drugs (both 'legal' prescription drugs and 'illegal'). I honestly don't know why it's constitutional, I suppose it's considered such under some theory or another. But I don't think gun possession would be.

[BlackCat]

Well, if the state can ban one kind of deadly "substance", it can surely ban another such as guns - just get rid of that outdated second amendment. We are after all living in the 21 century, not the mediveal ages.

[Al B. Sure!]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19372533

This is like those terrorist attacks in Israel/Iraq/Afghanistan. After a while everyone thinks it's normal.
So what are US policy makers going to do about this random violence do you think?

So no one died?

This doesn't count. Fatal shootings happen every day in most major cities, including NYC.