Nick Kristof On Gun Control

Just One Minute . . . My reaction:

"Broadly, if the goal is to reduce gun suicides the talk about a ban on

Kristoff

semiautomatic rifles and large capacity magazines is irrelevant - we don't have a national epidemic of people shooting themselves fifteen times and bleeding out. I should note that Mr. Kristof himself threw in the towel on an assault weapons ban a while back, but (unlike in boxing) a towel can always be picked up again, and semiautomatic rifle bans (broader than a mere assault weapons ban) are certainly being discussed in progressive circles.

"Or if we swing the focus back to gun homicides, when the firearm is known (about 3/4 of the time), handguns are used about 90% of the time. Semiautomatic rifles aren't what the gangbangers on the mean streets of Chicago and St Louis are shooting at each other. Folks seriously concerned about homicides and suicides should be arguing about a handgun ban, and good luck with the pesky Heller decision, the politics and eventual enforcement there.

"IMHO, what remains true is that many people have examined their lives and concluded that they are:

(a) not involved with criminal activity, especially drug-related;
(b) not in an abusive domestic relationship,
(c) not suicidal, and
(d) not living in a crime-ridden neighborhood

"For those fortunate many, the most visible remaining risk of gun violence is a random shooting at a mall, theater, or (for kids and young adults) school." . . .

Tom Maguire, Blogger at Just One Minute. "I'm a former Wall Streeter with many kids, most of them younger than my blogging counterparts."

 Nicholas Donabet Kristof: A winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, he is a regular CNN contributor and has written an op-ed column for The New York Times since November 2001. Kristoff is a self-described progressive. . . .