http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-am....

snip

Venezuela has brought a new gun law into effect which bans the commercial sale of firearms and ammunition.

Until now, anyone with a gun permit could buy arms from a private company.

Under the new law, only the army, police and certain groups like security companies will be able to buy arms from the state-owned weapons manufacturer and importer.

The ban is the latest attempt by the government to improve security and cut crime ahead of elections in October

Nice. Remove the ability for responsible people to aid in security, and make the criminals more bold in carrying out their dirty deeds.

pay attention folks

Ulsterirish - You do realize that even if the folks do pay attention, the thought will be, "It can never happen here". So it will be quickly forgotten. What is the memory span of the average American?

That's why the Boiled Frog works so well in this country. That's why we keep voting in one criminal after another.

Everything happening in Europe can never happen here, why? Because, "we are the greatest nation on earth". Which of course is completely dependent on how much we deficit spend. Every single last American has been brainwashed into believing that we are the greatest because we spend more on military than the rest of the world combined.

spot on Guy

The 'Prague Spring' comes to mind for some reason.

Sharpin' those pitchforks and broom handles boys .........we goin' to war some day.

One bad SCOTUS appointment and it will happen here. Bet on it.

1. Right to own
2. Permit, licensing and registration to own
3. Ownership banned

In every country which has #3, wasn't it always preceded by #2?

Bring it. I'm ready.

How they maintain power asymmetry...

...while the "patriots" applaud.

It works soooo well in Mexico..

Solution to Mexico problem :

Official government statement , " Any Mexican citizen willing to solve the drug cartel problem will be issued a government firearm to hunt down and kill any suspected drug criminal participant. ( financier , money launderer , producer ' deliverer , soldier , leader etc ) There will be no legal repercussions for any Mexican citizens actions therefore your government requests that citizens use utmost discretion in their actions. It is now time for Mexican citizens to take back their country and join the community of civilized world nations."

Problem solved in a week. ( Yes there will be some innocent people killed. **** happens. )

Zzt - I can't tell if your solution is tongue-in-cheek or something else. The appropriate solution has been presented numerous times on the TF so I can't tell if you subscribe to it or not.

the solution is to de-criminalize drugs ... period ... automatically takes the profit out of it and kills the business model instantly.

Kind of tongue and cheek , kind of not. I am afraid I missed the real solution and if you could point me to it I would love to read it.

Explaining my statement I would add that I believe that Mexico was lost one Mexican at a time and they need to decide just what it is that the citizenry represents and to what extremes it should go to regaining that self respect.

Sitting in a bar BS'ing with your brother in law who is a cop he tells you he shakes down people to get extra money. Your immediate thought is :

1. What a prick. Someone , maybe me , ought to report him. I plan to avoid him as much as I can in the future.

2. I want to be a cop too so I can shake down people too.

Too many people in Mexico selected #2.

America went through the same responsibility to some extent during the Revolutionary War and the Civil War to determine who we were and who we would become so the idea of killing people in large numbers is not as absurd as my idea first sounded.

Mexico needs to decide who and what they are and work toward that goal quickly or continue to suffer the carnage and worsening situation.

An aside here to give another example of expediency to solve a pressing problem. My example had resounding disapproval.

I believe that one aspect to solving health care is to make it advantageous for everyone to realize the problem and voluntarily accept the fact that health insurance should come before that new $600 dollar I-pod. Increase the size of the risk pool to lower costs in general. ( there are more problems but this is one aspect )

Solution : Simply deny care to those who cannot pay with no regard to the nature of the illness. Yes.... immediate life threatening situations included. Wont take long before everyone will want insurance when the alternative is death. Considering that organisms will always do what is in their self interest , this one act would change attitudes in a heartbeat. At the very least the American people would DEMAND real , honest workable solutions to be developed by politicians.

These two examples if enacted would promote the quickest change in the shortest amount of time. These two examples are probably to complex to solve so easily nor is the future brutality acceptable.

Tongue and cheek ????? Kinda yes and kinda no. Doesnt matter because me spouting off insane ideas isnt going change anything. One thing I am sure of though , is that there are solutions to all problems but one first has to realize the problem and then one must have the WILL to act before deterioration presents only brutal solutions. Every innocent Mexican citizen of the cartel wars has already suffered the brutal option. Ask the dead innocents if they would pick my option if they were allowed to come back to life only carry out my plan.

Bottom line : yeah , it was tongue and cheek but ............?

Ulsterirish IMMEDIATELY gave the correct answer. This isn't just a Mexican problem. Its our problem as well because of the industry it establishes in our country which is the prison and law enforcement industry with unions that can't be touched.

You've been a TF member almost from the beginning Zzt. I don't know what to say that won't hurt your feelings, therefore make you a permanent enemy that has to hound me for the rest of my life on the TF.

The war on drugs in OUR country has caused titanic and massive damage on both sides of the border. IF it weren't for the fact that all these drugs were illegal, then the drug cartels wouldn't be so rich and powerful. This is the message that has been provided on the TF for YEARS. Why don't you agree with it? Most drug use is a victimless crime. If it was legalized, then nobody would be running around stealing the DVD player out of your car to support their habit. It would probably be as affordable as cigarettes (well that was affordable to many, not long ago.)

This has been discussed endlessly here on the TF. What is it about victimless crimes that you disagree with?

Nothing will change unless a preponderance of the people are on the same page because of our majority rule system. That by itself is an invalid system but its not going to change anytime soon.

LOL Guy , dont worry about hurting my feelings. I agree that America is part of the problem.

My suggestion is one that can be implemented without any co operation from any other nation especially from the nutball Gringos across the river.

Soon coming to America.

Quote:

Hugo Chavez's government says the ultimate aim is to disarm all civilians, but his opponents say the police and government may not have the capacity or the will to enforce the new law.

Just like American politicians. In America, they'll just say that gun owners are terrorists and disappear a few ones under NDAA...

Hell gun ownership in California/NY/Chicago is almost banned even if SCOTUS ruled against it.

Not to mention that Obama (and Romney too) will get to choose at least 1 or 2 new SCOTUS judges... anti-guns of course... which will mean a majority of SCOTUS against the second amendment...


In other news...

Quote:

Venezuela saw more than 18,000 murders last year and the capital, Caracas, is thought to be one of the most dangerous cities in Latin America.

18 000 murders/year in a country of 28 million... about 13 times more than in the USA... why is that?? Obviously not because of guns... even if they say that in the news...

Instead of banning guns, they could put drugs in the water to calm people down... :)


Reasons of high homicide rate...
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/world/....

Quote:

Police salaries remain low, sapping motivation. And in a country with the highest inflation rate in the hemisphere, more than 30 percent a year, some officers have turned to supplementing their incomes with crimes like kidnappings.

But some crime specialists say another factor has to be considered: Mr. Chávez’s government itself. The judicial system has grown increasingly politicized, losing independent judges and aligning itself more closely with Mr. Chávez’s political movement. Many experienced state employees have had to leave public service, or even the country.

More than 90 percent of murders go unsolved, without a single arrest, Mr. Briceńo-León said. But cases against Mr. Chavez’s critics — including judges, dissident generals and media executives — are increasingly common.

Henrique Capriles, the governor of Miranda, a state encompassing parts of Caracas, told reporters last week that Mr. Chávez had worsened the homicide problem by cutting money for state and city governments led by political opponents and then removing thousands of guns from their police forces after losing regional elections.

Cops not being paid high enough (bankrupt cities and states, not to mention pensions), high inflation (dollar crash), align with the government or else (pro-republican/democrat), cutting money to state and cities (no money at the federal level)... me thinks this is what's COULD be like in the US post crash...