Bishop Desmond Tutu: The Modern Successor to the Slave Trade

True enough, and TRUE indeed. Remember, however, that we live in a N.R.A. country where arms are sacrosanct & the citizenry is held hostage by a lobby that has utter disregard for the value of life. Here in Philadelphia, the homocide rate is fueled by daily killings which are running on a record pace this year. City Council is trying again for a bill limiting gun sales to ONE PER MONTH after an earlier attempt was thrown out on some technicality. Think about it: if I were to buy one gun per month, where would I put them even before I reached one year of doing that? Isn't it obvious that these guns are being resold into criminal & asocial hands? The only virtue of all this is registration, and crimes, including murder, are found to have been perpetrated by these firearms but by another than the purchaser. When will this feature and statistic become an international embarrassment to us, sufficient for us to change it? Time passes & passes, but nothing is done....tempus fugit....
Despite our problems cited above, we have an obligation to and for developing countries that this menace is not further transported to their shores and actually rolled back, in the name of sanity & whatever is called 'holy.' Unbridled capitalism is not what capitalism intended.

There is one problem with gun control (which is where this could easily head).

Gun control was the law in America for many years- it was against the law to sell them to my people, because we could then defend ourselves. At the same time, we were stripped of all of our human rights in the southeast and were at the mercy of anyone who hated us (that is why so many of us hid our identities).

Even now, the KKK is practically panting and salivating at the thought of my people being disarmed. If we were disarmed (and we don't own machine guns or anything like that, just the run of the mill hunting rifles and pistols- which many of us use for hunting as well), they would then be free to attack us.

Likewise, according to some of my elders, because of the abusive treatment we've had over the generations AND because of bad politics on behalf of some of the politicians, we were labeled a "potential terrorist threat". We have said time and time again that terrorism is wrong and ineffective- and we are called the "peaceful Creeks" or the "Friendly Creeks" for good reason. Yet, we would probably be one of the first groups disarmed if gun control became the law of the land. That would leave us defenseless against the bigots.

Should there be laws about the international sale of weapons? I would agree with that, and I think that many people (except those who make money off of it) would agree. Putting restrictions or bans on the domestic sales of guns, however, could very easily lead to the wrong people being disarmed and the crooks empowered.

Sad to say, three times owning a pistol may have saved my life, and protected me from the preditory behavior of crooks. Once it may have also saved another woman's life. I do know in that instance that I backed down a man who was being very abusive.

International arms dealing- bad idea. Gun Control- just as bad. I personally hate the idea of people making profit off of the suffering and killing of other people. But I do not want to loose what little freedom we have left because of an attempt to fix this problem- and it is likely to result in exactly that.

In this I must disagree, and for the reasons I mentioned.

Greetings,

Well, I wondered when the whole "gun control" issue would rear its many heads. My advice to my brothers and sisters here at CAP is to "put the gun control down and back slowly away." This is an issue that has been and continues to be extremely unpopular. It is seen by many as an attempt by "Liberal Elites" to make themselves feel more secure by at the expense of the Middle and Lower classes.
Having said that, I agree with Arden when he makes the point about unregulated gun sales. I think that what is needed is a Federal law that that says that you can only buy and sell firearms through a licensed arms dealer. No more garage sale assault rifles. I also agree that there should be a limit on how may weapons may be purchased at point of sale. One per month seems about right. There are a number of laws already on the books which are simply not enforced which should be.
As for the UN proposal, I don't think it's going to work. Mainly because it is basically unenforcable. You really think the Russians and/or the Chinese give a righteous damn what the Security Council wants?
Finally, I think I should come out of the closet. I am a Conservative Republican. I am, among other things, very strong on the Second Amendment and no I am Not a member of the NRA. I believe that along with the right to keep and bear arms comes the responsibility to do so in a sane and rational manner.

Bob, Frank,

Re-read the post. Bishop Tutu speaks of gun sales to AFRICAN countries, and how those sales create poverty and fuel human rights abuses. You seem only concerned with gun control in the United States, a different topic. Arden Hander offers an explanation for why the United States will do little to quell the flow of arms to other countries, and you simply demonstrate his point.

And Frank, I think you are engaging in a fair bit of projection when you accuse the Russians and the Chinese of not caring about the security council wishes. Rendering the UN Security Council ineffective has been a favorite cause célèbre of 'conservative republicans.' A story about beams and splinters come to mind.

r.johnson,

Actually, I'm in favor of a strong United Nations. I think that we need to be much more deeply involved in such things as the International Criminal Court and the UN Human Rights Commission not to mention the Peacekeeping aspects of it. I would criticize American foreign policy but I'm having a difficult time finding any...foreign policy that is. Our concept of international relations seems to be something along the lines of "bomb them into the stone age." It may have worked for Atilla the Hun but it doesn't work anymore. We need to move beyond that...way beyond that. Stopping the flow of arms to Africa would be a good starting point. Tightening up our own gun laws would also be a good point as it would send a signal that we are serious about it. Please note however that I said tightening up the gun laws and Not outlawing private ownership of firearms.