Comments on: Ruby-Sachs: Iowa’s Constitutional Protections

By: Josh

Josh — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 19:00:05 +0000

Ya, where the hell did gun control come from? Binding marriage to any other issues only makes it harder to gain support, so lets keep the marriage issue seperate from everything else.

By: Jim Kohn

Jim Kohn — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 15:58:47 +0000

Wisconsin requires an amendment to pass two
consecutive legislative sessions and then a statewide vote. This did not stop the amendment in Wisconsin.

We should focus our efforts on New York and pass Gay Marriage in the legislature and avoid the “activist” Judge argument.

By: Kari

Kari — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 15:03:16 +0000

I’m not opposed to having some gun regulation. I don’t believe that just *anyone* should be allowed to own firearms. People who have criminal records or are not mentaly healthy probably should not be allowed to own guns.

Saying that “restrictive gun laws” are good only serves to indicate ignorance of the academic literature about the subject.

Research done by the FBI has shown that areas in the US that have less restrictive gun laws tend to have less violent crime but also tend to have more property crime. It really is a trade off (like so many other things in this world).

Comparing Canada to the United States is kind of ridiculous, mainly because the US has nearly ten times as many people. The population of Los Angeles County is equal to a third of the entire country of Canada.

Cross-sectional research (comparing details from one country to details in another) is generally viewed as a Bad Idea among statisticians and econometricians because, quite simply, there are so many differences between countries that any conclusions made are not meaningful.

By: Rikk Utas

Rikk Utas — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:36:34 +0000

Absurd notion? Do your research, please. Canada, for one, has as many or more guns per capita as the US and some of the most restrictive gun laws extant. Annually, crimes involving guns in the entire country total less than what happens in Los Angeles on a bad day. The US has the highest rates of gun violence in the world. Maybe if one couldn’t buy guns at Wal-Mart, teachers in LA could go to work unarmed.

By: Kirk

Kirk — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:17:13 +0000

You forgot to mention that the majorities in both the State House and Senate have to vote for an amendment not only once, but then again in a new congress. So therefore they would have to vote for it once, then wait two years for a new congress to be elected and then the new congress would also have to vote in favor of it. Only then would the amendment be put on the next general election ballot for the voters of Iowa to decide.

By: Kari

Kari — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:14:15 +0000

Where do you get this absurd notion that strict gun laws are good?

Objectively, there is no evidence that really restrictive gun control is good for society. There is also a considerable amount of evidence that it is, in fact, harmful to society to completely prevent people from owning firearms.