Response to # 26:

Cowardice is not going to work. The dupes of the right are to blame for the loss of our democracy and declining quality of life in the U.S. and around the world. If you think a species can survive by cannablizing it's own for greeds sake and power-lust you're truely ignorant.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/james-kimberly-snead-nikolas-cruz-155848359.html

"Hard work", the mantra sold as the norm for what is expected of a labor force that still works 40-plus hours a week and where unemployment remains in the millions, counted and uncounted. Unless a secure and untamperable vote along with protections for registered voters from being "kicked-out" of the voter rolls happens, it will take a militant action to get our democracy back.

We are long over due for a Constitutional Congress to be called. Even then, getting the laws we need to bring a peaceful and prosperous society back will be difficult. The "deep state" which works for the aristocracy and the money the rich will spend to preserve the status quo, is going to make these needed changes bloody. Hopefully, we can remove some of these bad elements in the aristocracy/plutocracy from our world.

"Live long and prosper"

Kend, and you are the one that rips Obama for deficits.

I was raised in a family that enjoys the sport of hunting. And we all own guns. Mostly long guns. And almost all of them for hunting game. NONE of my guns have 20+ round magazines. You absolutely dont need it for hunting.
And yes... I'd have a real problem giving up my guns.

That being said..
I do believe we as Americans should be able to own firearms. But, the ownership should come as a privilege. NOT A RIGHT!
There should be firearm safety schooling, testing and licensing before ownership is allowed. And then there should be strict, uniform,
Nationwide background checks, with a 10-14 day waiting period, before you can take possession of ANY firearm.
My god... Its harder to get a drivers license than it is to purchase and own a gun!
And the" gun show loophole" drastically needs to be eliminated!! Anybody...and l mean ANYBODY, can virtually buy anything they want at gun shows, with almost no oversight.. For over 40 years, I've been to countless gun shows, in numerous states. And they're all basically the same.. It doesn't matter who you are. Or what state of mind your in. If you got enough "green" in your pocket.. You can walk out with anything!

And I've NEVER joined the NRA! And l never will. They do NOT represent me as a gun owner at all! In fact, they're not here to represent any gun owner!! But, they've sure done a beautiful job of suckering-" Joe and Jane sixpack" into believing they do... When in reality... They're an extremely powerful, extremely dangerous, and absolutely huge lobbying group! And its sole purpose, is to represent the gun, and ammunition manufacturers!!
Buying up politicians with their corrupt, corporate, dark money..
Repealing, removing, and deregulating our gun laws nationwide..
And insuring the insane proliferation of firearms for no other reason than greed and corporate profits!!

Coffee: Video games and movies produced in this country are distributed worldwide. As I already commented, the countries that have banned assualt weapons have met with success in limiting/ending massacres. The kids in those countries play the same video games and watch the same movies as kids here. The Hollywood crap is just another fascist talking point and you know it....must be those Hollywood liberals are to blame..LMAO, just like Hillary or Obama must have done it.

BTW: Hey, we agree on something, your childish comment about stopgap elicted a knee jerk sarcastic response from me.

Hot coffee you are so right about bears. You can usually smell them before you see them. We have a great bear dog, he chases them away keeps us safe without having to kill the bear. Again I think you need to limit the size of the clips. 4 or 5 is all you need.

@#15 Your "when did you stop beating your wife question is pathetic. I could retort with, "if one of your loved ones was being attacked and I as a passerby had a firearm and was clearly capable of stopping the attack, would you,

a. Want me to use any force necessary to save the life of your child?

b. Call the police and wait until they arrive with their guns?

See, I can also ask stupid questions.

I will encourage all of you to read a link addressing that "assault weapon topic with, yes Rick Steve, documented facts from a wide variety of government sources.

http://www.gunfacts.info/gun-control-myths/assault-weapons/

If you want further well documented sources to back up the claims of gun supporters here are a few.

http://www.gunfacts.info/

https://crimeresearch.org/

https://www.atf.gov/questions-and-answers/firearms-qas

http://www.guncite.com/journals/vandhist.html

http://www.gunsandammo.com/politics/cdc-gun-research-backfires-on-obama/

http://www.handgunlaw.us/

http://time.com/4106381/nra-1871-history/

Now, banter between a very few mis-informed people here on the gun topic is futile. I could spend another four paragraphs debunking Thom Hartmann's bullshit and complete lack of knowledge on the topic or firearms. All that could be put to bed if Thom would put on a "Mid-day with a knowledgeable pro gunner" hour. Again, I challenge Tom to have himself buried in facts. I know it won't change his mind but it will poke holes in the vast majority of his memes. Thom, if you pretend not to be able to get an individual that really knows his/her stuff, you have my e-mail I will help you find one that will travel to your studio for the live discussion.

HotCoffee, your comments on violent electronic games (check the #1 and #2 sellers) , Hollywood movies, and the free wheeling dispensing of psychotropic drugs rather than discipline is right on.

I see two really glaring points with respect to school shooters.

1. All of them have occurred in "gun free zones" None that I am aware of have happened in a campus that allows carry permits and there are over 18 states that do allow this.

2. Most of the time the shooter has given off many signs that something was wrong and intervention was needed. Cruz being a prime example. The local police and FBI could have gone a long way to preventing this individual and been within the law in doing so as they publicly admitted.

I don't expect much agreement from knee jerk leftie/socialists but I feel better.

Here's a question for our Second Amendment defenders: If you could bring back the kids at Parkland in exchange for a ban on asault weapons, would you do it? Anything less than a quick and emphatic "Yes" is sad and unfortunately, our Republican Congress would not answer "Yes."

Well I wonder what's in Muller's report Casey doesn't wanrt people to see.

Sen. Bob Casey Jr. (D-Pa.) on Sunday warned special counsel Robert Mueller against issuing a report on his findings in the ongoing investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election near the upcoming 2018 midterm elections.

Speaking to radio host John Catsimatidis on New York radio station AM 970, Casey said he couldn’t make any assumptions about where the Mueller investigation is going in light of indictments issued on Friday. But he added that he would recommend Mueller not release a report on his findings near the midterms when it would distract from elections or cause people to question the election’s integrity.

“I don’t think we’ll know anywhere near the full story until [Mueller] issues his report,” Casey said. “But once you get into the summer, and you get close to the election, I think it’s a mistake for him to release it late. I think you should wait until after [the election]” Casey said.

Kend,

I totally agree.