I'm okay with violent felons owning guns after they serve their sentence...

[EdwardBernays]

40. ok

Lobbying isn't really petitioning in a reasonable way. Lobbying is a "sell to the highest bidder" system of campaign financing. Politicians shouldn't have to be lobbied to represent their constituencies properly...and if we're honest... go spend some time on the open secrets website and see just what percentage of groups lobbying politicians represent the people and what percent represent corporations, foreign nations, and military contractors... for example.

I am for complete gun prohibition, in the same way a dad takes away a car from his son who keeps wrecking it; prove you can drive and we'll talk about giving you the keys back. I understand that some places can have guns and not have massive gun violence, but that's not America. I'm personally unwilling to just accept 30K dead Americans a year for no good reason.. or even 30K - 10% or 30K - 20%. No American SHOULD be, and if it was say, terrorism killing 30K a year Americans wouldn't be. Why we all just shrug when guns kill as many in 5-6 weeks as died on 9/11 is really unfathomable... well, it would be if you never met any American gun "enthusiasts".

As for Latin America, is that the goal for America? Rampant poverty, horrible infrastructure? Endemic crime?

I find these sorts of comparisons frankly nonsensical. We're not Costa Rica or Columbia, but if you wanna compare us, did you know that Louisiana has a similar gun violence rate to Costa Rico?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_violence_in_the_United_States_by_state
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-related_death_rate

It's also worse than the gun violence rate in Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Argentina.

And it has a 44% gun ownership rate.

That's a US state, part of one of the richest countries in the world...

And yet Costa Rica's "healthcare system is ranked higher than that of the United States, despite having a fraction of its GDP" and until recently is had fewer uninsured people per capita than America.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Rica

Anyway, we shouldn't be comparing one of the richest countries in the world to Latin American countries. It's silly.

Now about the most dangerous cities list... are you sure again that comparing places like Caracas to say Denver Colorado makes any sense at all? Let's just say that very very few of the laws matter much in some parts of the world, so gun control is more of a notion than an enforced law. Is NYC not able to enforce laws any better than San Pedro Sula? The truth is that gun owners support background checks BECAUSE they think they'll work. Americans generally believe laws are enforceable, because relatively speaking they are IN AMERICA. Not so much in third world and developing countries.

I understand food deserts! many parts of Flint Michigan are more than a 10 mins drive from a 7/11 and more than a 20 mins drive from a micro-grocery store/bodega. And sure don't even start me on lead paint. America is a wreck in many many ways.