Fully Automatic America

This entire video is based on lies, innuendo, insinuation, false assertions, gross technical inaccuracies, ignorance of law (and several other subjects) and is basically a hit piece.

Why do you feel the need to lie to promote your messages?

It is truly saddening to see all this controversy over whether we;as American citizens,have to continually defend our rights to defend ourselves,family and property from anyone wanting to take this from us.Anti-gun people seem oblivious to the fact that not everyone in this world is your friend,and without regard of your beliefs or convictions,will take your daughters virginity,kill your grandfather over a twenty dollar gold piece,rob your home of your hard earned possessions and take you and your wife's life without any regard to (your feelings) about guns and their uses. If you feel that none of this is worth protecting legally ,maybe you should just lie there and beg for you and your families life.To me it is almost treasonous for any law abiding citizen not to take care of their family,friends and property.Guns are not the problem.GREED IS !And as long as there are people,someone will prey upon the weak,ill prepared and unsuspecting individuals to take what they have.Until we start getting rid of these people that are committing these crimes and showing the rest of them that this is what happens when they do, we might convince some of them that this is not acceptable behavior. It will never be eliminated,You can't fix stupid,mental illness,or lazy but with a device to equalize the playing field, we as law abiding people can let them know that they're not going to get it without a fight.Criminals will always have ways to get guns,they are criminals.They do not abide by laws!!You folks that want to make guns illegal to keep them out of the hands of criminals simply do not have a grasp of actual reality.What good is your voice and your right to speak as you do if your dead!A good focus for you is to get a weapon,learn to use it properly,teach your children the ramifications and benefits of the use of it and and defend the rights of this country and move on.As far as (assault weapons).Anything you put in your hand to assault someone is an assault weapon.Idiotic nomenclature.Just remember, Failing to prepare is preparing to fail-Ben Franklin.Often I'm asked,why do you carry a gun everywhere,are you that paranoid? No. I reply, I'm just prepared. Fully automatic? Up to the individual.

What I would have liked to see in this "unbiased" documentary would have been a comparison between the gun laws vs. crime rates in Knob Creek, KY and Camden, NJ. Interesting that this reported chose a machinegun shoot that is not representative of the majority of guns owned by the majority of gun owning americans.
The truth is that even with the number of machine guns in Knob Creek during a shooting event there is very little gun crime. Hmmmm.
In contrast, New Jersey has some of the strictest gun control laws in the country. If the gun control crowd is right, and gun control actually reduces crime, shouldn't Camden, NJ be a safer place than Knob Creek? How come it's not?
If gun control actually worked, then there would be no burglary or robbery in the country, because those are illegal too.
The reality is that gun control laws only affect the law abiding. Criminals, by definition, aren't affected. For people who claim that "common sense" needs to be applied to guns, gun ownership and gun use, there seems to be a severe lack of common sense on the gun control side.
The only people gun control protects are the criminals, as they do not have to face victims who may be armed.
And while we're on the subject, why do I need a permit to exercise my "right"? Last time I checked, nobody was required to get a license to go to church... just a thought.

So... you're saying gun violence is (GASP!!) bad? Wow, what a stance. Keep fighting "the man," brave soul.

Gangs on the street shooting innocent people with illegally purchased guns is somehow the dealer's fault? How? You alluded to that more than twice, but never really explained yourself or backed up your claim with any solid argument. But you clearly lay the blame at their door.

They are no more responsible for those deaths than the car dealer who sold a car that was later bought through a private sale by someone else who then used it to run down his neighbor after a dispute. Same with the retail store that sold a cutlery set to someone, who then later took one of those knives and killed someone with it.

You make a lot of accusations, but you don't back them up with anything credible. You're no better than Michael Moore who edits people's interviews to make them look stupid in place of facing the facts and rational arguments.

And finally, you don't address the issue of freedom to keep and bear arms. Rather, you equate gang violence with firearms with the legal ownership of firearms. Your topic is more about violence and illegal activity rather than our God-given rights, above and beyond the government's ability to take them away, to own and use firearms. This is no better than a student's work. I remember a school project where the topic was "racism." The girl producing it made a really great video, about violence. It had nothing to do with racism, but she was unable to understand the difference.

When you're ready to take on the Second Amendment to the Constitution, go back and make an entirely new "documentary." Because that's not what this one's about.

I have watched Current TV regularly due to it's interesting content and fair reporting, both of which, I have applauded. That is, until I watched Mr. Larsen report on Guns, labeling America,"Fully Automatic". What a poor example of unbiased journalism. Larsen should not report on a subject with such lack of Gun law knowledge, or should not be allowed to broadcast such a biased review. Fully Automatic firearms are Federally regulated and Kentucky only allows firearms approved by the BATFE. Also the "Military Grade" AK47's he kept referring to are all Semi-Automatic, not Fully Automatic, if they were manufactured after May 1986. All of the Fully Automatic firearms are registered with the Federal Gov't and on any given day, the BATFE knows where they are and who has them. These weapons have little to do with Gun crime in America. Camden, NJ will always have soaring crime rates, not because of guns, which by the way are always confiscated from criminals, but because of the high incidence of Gangs and Drugs. Current should do this program over again and have a responsible, Honest journalist do the reporting.

The description of this show said, "A fair and balanced look at the gun-control issue in America." What a joke. Mr. Larsen oozed liberal anti-gun rhetoric in parts, and vomited obvious anti-gun activist lies elsewhere.

So you interviewed a gun store owner and tried to get him to admit that he is 'partially responsible' for murders committed with a gun he sold. By your twisted (and carefully spoken) logic, you would be responsible for a vehicular DUI manslaughter committed using a car you sold someone.

And nice job with your oh-so-clever "Guns don't kill people...bullets do" segue into the ER, where you showed an X-Ray of a man shot with a handgun, then deftly transitioned to an evidence room full of semi-automatic weapons. Oooh...scary guns.

Show me the data. Show me where semi-automatic military-style weapons are a leading cause of death and dismemberment in our society. More people die swimming in this country than die from being shot with an AK-47.

It is your hysterical fear-mongering that endangers us. I know that Congress erroneously called them 'assault weapons' in the ridiculously titled 'Firearms Owner Protection Act' of 1986. By the true definition, they are not assault weapons unless they have a select-fire capability (look it up if you don't know what 'select-fire' means...) When are you anti-gunners going to quit using inflammatory phrases in order to further your...oh wait - you NEVER will.)

People like Mr. Larsen are despicable - not because you have an opinion different than mine on the subject of firearms in America, but because you use uncertainty to create fear to further your agenda.

The thought that a society made up partly of educated and law-abiding armed citizens is a good thing escapes you. Too boring. So you make your name proselytising about a subject you are basically ignorant of.

Spouting carefully crafted anti-gun propaganda based on misinformation - at best, and outright lies at worst - is the lowest form of 'journalism there is.

Current-TV should be ashamed.

Why do I need a gun? Because criminals have them? Because pretty much every tyrannical government in history started by outlawing them (or their equivalent). Guns are a necessity to the private law abiding citizen because evil people would enslave them or rob them otherwise. How hard is that to understand? See if you can wrap your head around this, guns became a necessity for people when they were invented and replaced the sword. Of course I have to wonder how insane your rant would sound if we replaced every instance of the word "gun" with "knife" or "club" or "stick".

If you make a mistake on a test, do you blame the pencil? You cannot blame guns for crime. People commit crimes. Controlling guns will accomplish little except raise the number of stabbings. Why not create a deterrent by arming responsible, law-abiding people? Edmund Burke said all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. I for one, a veteran and citizen of the United States, stand by my constitution, "outdated" views on justice, and my responsibility to protect myself, my family and my community.

That and last time I checked "fully automatic" weapons will get a person locked up, and the gun confiscated. Semi automatic perfectly legal, and pretty damn well justified when the (dangerous) criminals do have, and will continue to have fully automatic firepower.

How many crimes actually get committed with legal guns?

Is that number reflected by gun ownership alone, or would the crime probably have happened regardless?

How many gun crimes are linked to prohibition and the drug trade?

Since the majority of gun crimes are committed with illegal guns often connected to the drug trade, gang activity, etc.; why don't we see about going after the causes of the guns being used illegally and not legal guns?

Why not end prohibition, build a few thousand "youth centers" that teach about the dangerous of drug use, help kids with homework, providing a safe nurturing environment for those who would be most inclined to a illegal firearm carrying dangerous lifestyle....

And let Bubba go deer hunting with his semi automatic AR-15, if it makes him happy. At least that way their are a few less deer potentially jumping out @ you on the highway, saving your; car, your life, and insurance premiums...

Awesome! Looks like Kentucky is the place to be!

thank god for our guns. not only are they awesome but they keep us from getting invaded (legal ownership by adults, of course).

Due process must be entertainment to people....... Just get on with mowing each other down and get it over with. The only reason you need guns is because your perception has a very small capacity and you are ruled by fear and insecurity.....
Just murder each other and make the world a better place!!!!

F**KING IDIOTS!!!!!!!!!!!

S.

Kaj, as a Journalist you are protected by the First Amendment, as a citizen the Second Amendment protects us all. But here is the irony, if we didn't have the right to bare arms you wouldn't have the right to free speech. Research the countries that have/had strict gun controls and you'll find higher incidents of human rights abuses. HItler's Germany, Stalin's Russia, Mussolini's Italy, Pol Pot's Cambodia, Sadam's Iraq, Kim Jong Il's North Korea, and the list goes on.

Cars kill more people every year then guns in this country, and most of those are from drunk drivers, so why not out law cars, or alcohol. And let's not get started on tobacco.

Wow delgado. You are absolutely ignorant. Blame McDonalds for making you fat? Blame Evian for you filling up land fills? That is the most asinine argument I have ever read. YOU helped create the demand. EVIAN merely created a supply to complement your demand. Stop blaming manufacturers for people's ignorance. Learn to take responsibility for your actions. You should be thankful every day for a capitalist economy where manufacturers can make money by providing you with the things you want. Get real!

It always angers me when journalists or complainers always try to come down hard on the consumers (Poor people) or users of manufactured products lethal or non lethal!!!!! At the end of this fully automatic america skit the journalist lists several causes of what might be the problem with guns going out of control but why don't you, along with the rest of america, and the whole world wake up?????!!?? Do you really want to control the issue??? Then Follow the damn money trail!!!! Who is making the most money from the weapons deals??? The damn manufactures!!! Just as when people get mad at me for buying bottled water and filling up our landfills, (I'm not the one manufacturing the damn bottles and filling them with water.) Go to the source instead of trying to make me feel guilty about buying guns or bottled water!!!!!!

But do you understand that the Second Amendment transcends a "fascination with guns"? It protects the rights of Americans to overthrow a corrupt government when the system stops working. I'm not saying that we're there or anywhere near there, and I think that the reality of people owning a grenade launcher, etc. is a little odd, but the right is there for a reason past people collecting. A lot of folks like to disconnect those 2 things because it makes it easier to paint gun owners as disconnected from reality that way.

I understand the fascination with guns. I know that people, like the ones shown in the beginning of the documentary, are law abiding citizens and will never actually use their guns while committing crimes. I understand the tradition and your rights and all that. But an automatic grenade launcher? a flame thrower? a tank? That just seems like it goes against what people say about the gun culture, because war is not a sport.

Great documentary!

I found the opening section interesting, but still a little disingenuous. The main problem I have with this film is that it only showed the two polar opposites of the gun control "debate". It didn't depict any of the folks who just have a rifle or two and maybe a handgun for self-defense. And I realize that there isn't any glamour in that. No big night-shoots, and no flashing lights and sirens. But it's us in the middle that the 2nd amendment is for. We've become a society of easy-answers and shortcuts and gun legislation is the shortcut for trying to curb crime. It's too hard for our society to teach young people in these cess-pools that we call cities to behave responsibly and not shoot each other. It's too much work to have parents police the actions of their children and not let them get caught up in the violence and drugs that are out there waiting to ensnare them. And it's too hard to justify going out and rounding up these thugs who are murdering our children. So let's just go after the thing that is the loudest and flashiest. Guns. Let's not consider the fact that if we effectively taught our kids that murder is wrong, or that hurting others for money is evil we might be able to prevent crime. Let's not talk about the fact that if you took away guns there would just be a vacuum that would be filled by some other weapon and that the brutality of these murders would only multiply. I mean look at the dark ages? Did they have guns?

i believe it has to do with the environment that these people are surrounded with because obviously well earned americans whose life is well and dandy dont have to or are not put in the situation were they feel like they have to cast revenge on someone else with harm of course not the people in the slums the hood the ghetto will kill wether it is with a gun or not the guns is just an artifact that facilitates the crime but the people that want to kill that are in gangs that sell drugs steal etc.. the ones with no opportunities will do what they have to do wether with a 9mm or a swiss army pocket knife

Guns do not cause crime, not even in Camden, NJ. Guns are tools and are not good or bad per se. All the guns in the Camden PD evidence locker are ILLEGAL GUNS - they were seized because someone used them to break the law. (I bet that at least 95% of the guns in there are NOT fully automatic, btw!) Don't call the gun 'bad' - we already have more than enough laws on the books - just enforce them and stop trying to ram more laws down the throats of the legal gunowners.

The Founding Fathers clearly intended for every able man to own a firearms, as they comprised the 'militia'. This has been upheld by the Supreme Court - 2nd amendment has been declared an individual right, not a collective right. Furthermore, a strict interpretation of the 2nd amendment means that civilians must have access to the exactly same weapons as would an infantryman - man-portable weapon systems - select-fire rifles, sub-guns, and pistols, and everything up to explosive/destructive devices. The original intent of the Founding Fathers was for this 'militia' to always outnumber the standing armed forces, and they have succeeded tremendously. While the US has a few hundred thousand (about half-a-million?) active military troops and LE agency members in arms, there are about 90 million armed citizens. Do not be fooled by the new 'sporting use' test - this is a ridiculous test that has no bearing when it comes to the natural rights of law-abiding citizens to own any man-portable firearm that is available to government troops.

Finally, if you want less crime on the street, you need to enable your law-abiding citizens to arm themselves and to be able to carry their weapons - make all 50 states shall-issue when it comes to concealed firearm permit issuance. Statistics prove that this is the path to a safer nation, not the ban of guns in the hands of law abiding members of society. The failed experiments of England and Australia are a warning of what will happen to a disarmed population, not even getting into the subject of a potentially tyrannical government having to face an armed and angry nation.

Taj is obviously biased and completely ignorant.

His response to the legitimate, law abiding gun store owner "Well actually, it's bullets that kill people" is absurd.

Since a bullet is an inanimate object, it can not decide to commit a double homicide. A gun is a tool, and the person wielding the tool is the killer. We don't blame vehicles for murder, we blame the driver. We don't blame guns for murder, we blame the gunner.

We all have brains, lets use them.

Just today, it was announced that Colosimo's gun shop will be closing, after the Feds finally brought charges to revoke his license to sell firearms. As a Philadelphian, I am very happy to hear this!

I own lots of guns... Never thought about shooting anybody with them... Not since Nam anyway...

Glad you got a giggle, but you guys post too much--I'm goiNG to turn it off. Youre filling up my email box! This currenttv thing wax MONTHS ago, and this is still all you do, besides shoot guns, I guess.

I have other email to answer.

Some of you need to get hit by the logic bus...

The Constitution does not protect private gun ownership? The Supreme Court and the majority of Americans disagree. What part of "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed" do you not understand. Why do you believe that the Framers used the word "people" five or six times in the bill of rights, yet people, meaning citizens, does not apply in the second?

Do any of you really believe that violence will go away when guns do? How's that gun ban doing for the UK. They might have lower gun crime, but they damn sure have higher violent crime.

Guns level the playing field. When you remove the right to own guns, you remove my 120 pound wife''s ability to defend herself from a 200 pound man.

Why did crime go down in every state that allowed concealed carry? The fact is, the majority of gun owners do not shoot other people. The problem is not the gun. The problem is the criminals. We've outlawed murder, yet they still do it. When they ignore one of our most fundamental laws, what makes you think they will obey any other restriction you impose on them?

The second amendment has nothing to do with hunting either, so please refrain from your ignorant tantrums about guns supposedly more deadly that a deer rifle or shotgun. The amendment says "being necessary for the security of a free state." Where is hunting or food procurement mentioned in that amendment? Oh, it isn't. The constitution was written by men that had just used their own personal firearms to repel the most powerful nation at the time. Do you think they forgot the importance of private gun ownership so soon? The second amendment is the 4th in a system of checks and balances. When all three branches of the government fail us, at least we have a fighting chance for freedom. Without those guns you are completely at the mercy of your government. Ask the Jews how well that worked for them in the 30s and 40s. The framers realized that. Why can't you?

The second amendment also says the right to keep and bear arms. If you look up the definition of arms in the dictionary, you will find small arms, as in firearms, not nuclear weapons which no private citizen could afford to purchase, store, and maintain anyway. No need to go to extremes to try to prove a point. No one is asking for the private ownership of nuclear weapons.

Next...

I disagree but not so respectfully--j/k

I am tired of this pissing contest. You just keep saying the same old tired NRA cliches

But i am not going to be convincing you nor you me.
I dont think there is a constituional right for everyone to have a gun and you do. You may be well trained with your weapons but that does nothing for a person who just got shot by someone who wasnt or who made a mistake.

Ive been around guns all of my life and I have never seen anyone shot that deaserved it. Just tragic mistakes.

Good luck to you

What the hell do you think that means? "The truth comes out"?

I have a graduate degree and have read the book you describe (I had to). I did not impress me.

There is a reason why the uS has more gun violence than any other western country and everyone with a brain knows what the reason is. I find you unconvincing (if thats what youre trying to do) and gun obsessed. Maybe you should get laid.

KDelphi, you sure do seem unhappy. Maybe when you move to your utopia you can finally be happy. Good luck. Keep in touch... we enjoy the humor of your posts.

Ban cars..I've ridden horses all of my life. At least we could breathe.

I long for the day we will have true liberty from gun-toting idiots.

I think getting shot is the ultimate loss of liberty

"Thank you for your service" is a bullshit response by those who tolerate our soldiers making 1/3 of what Mercenaries and Congresspeople do.

Wait until soldiers become Vets and realize how much the US Imperialist govt is going to take a crap on them with budget cuts

If youre good with a gun, I have just the job for you--esp if youre poor or a minority--you can play with all the weapons you want

If you believe that the govt doesnt have a right to control weapons ownership, then everyone who is rich enough should own a private nuclear weapon.

If not where do do you draw the line and who gets to decide?

If it impinges on the First Amendment right because you scare me, what about my rights? My right to NOT own a gun and still be safe.

The US is gun and war crazy, but the richer countries wil soon fix that--with a weapons embargo, maybe.Join the Marines and do something with your gun that doesnt involve sex. Or the lack thereof.

The reporter was fair until he dumped on the gun dealer at 49:37. He is talking about who is to blame and he says "... or the gun dealer who claims the law protects him from his actions...". Obviously the reporter feels the gun dealer is to blame from this comment. Yet, as the gun dealer said, he sells guns to those who can buy them legally, so he has complied with the law. If the gun dealer was breaking the law the cops would have arrested him.

I own guns, I have a permit to carry, I am law abiding, I support the police and I believe in my right to protect myself. It is the criminals that are giving guns a bad name, not the law abiding.

I need more coffee... and a road trip to Knob Creek!!

As I finished watching this I had one thought cross my mind. I wondered what people from each of these distinct cultures would think if placed in the opposing area. Would the gun shooting enthusiats realize that maybe there should be stricter gun laws; after walking the streets of Cambden? Or would the Cambden natives agree that its not the guns that are hurting their neighborhood but instead whom posess them? Personally I think it should be harder to acquire guns and those that aren't strictly for hunting should be banned from being sold completely in urban areas. I don't beleive the average citizen has any need for a full or semi-automatic weapon.

You never mention, the war is fueled by drug money. Just as alcohol prohibition created Al Capone, drug prohibition created these gangs. End the prohibition of drugs, end the war.
Leave guns out of it.

you unknowingly prove my point...

I just watched the Fully Automatic episode and I just think that its crazy. I really do.

If you want to use those kinds of weapons, go into the military. These fully automatics are only used to kill people.

Killing should not be a hobby...sadly, it is. Some of these people would drop a person over a DVD player..shame on the uS.

My goal in the future will be to save enough money to leave the US. No health care,. now quality, low income housing, but wars and weapons galore.

Death 'R Us...

Thank you for the anti gun Vanguard show.

It would have been despicable for you to have shown the relationship of the manufacturers of small arms to the lobbyists in DC who are responsible for over $200 BILLION of US Senate appropriations going to BLACK BUDGET un-auditable line items that Harry Reid & Co. have signed off on annually for years.

Great Show!!!

BTW:
All those UN NGO's funded by nonaligned countries and Switzerland, et. al., it's quite a blessing that you failed to mention their statistics related to small arms sales and the perpetuation of the WAR ON TERROR. You missed the 80's CRACK epidemic coordinated by the post COINTELPRO element too. BRILLIANT!!!!

It's a pity that George Clooney didn't have the chance to see your program before shooting Three Kings (1999).

Keep up the great anti communist propaganda.
http://amazon.imdb.com/title/tt0120188/quotes

I'm glad to see a relatively unbiased piece.

As prohibition showed us, you cannot prohibit people from getting things they want. Where there is a demand, there will be a black market to fill it. The problem lies in drugs. If drugs were legal, as they should be, gangs would not have nearly as much capital to purchase guns and ammo. Take their business away and they will have to resort to less discrete crimes, or actually get a job. Zero tolerance should take care of the rest. Legalizing drugs may create other problems, but it would definitely handicap the gangs.

The war on alcohol, drugs, poverty, guns, terrorism...none of them really work, and they are all an excuse for more money and power.

Did anybody catch the top 5 best and most dangerous states or where I can find those lists?

After World War 2 reporters ask the Japanese General
why they did not invade the US after they bombed Pearl Harbor he said that he had went to college in America and knew that almost every American house hold had one firearm and they could not defeat the people of the United States. I all should be arming our selves to the teeth. Take guns away from good Americans only criminals and government will have them, not good and can not happen.

I didn't like this pod, I couldn't really get whether He was advocating Guns or against them. I didn't like it.....

I must admit I like to target shoot myself, I kinda got into it after 4 years of being in the Army, but I would never want to kill a person. However America was founded on a constitution and we shouldnt have our rights infringed on or amended. The way to teach control with guns is not to take them away or make laws so rediculous that hardly anyone can have one, the way to teach control is to teach people to respect weapons at a younger age so that they dont do stupid things with them when they're older.

I could think of far better ways to spend my money.

taking away guns wont do anything then people will just run around stabbing people like assassins creed and elder scrolls then who will be a 3rd world country

what u need to do is get rid of the criminals.maybe try sending them 2 Iraq? they like to kill right and we don't like eny of them let them work it out.

Very good doc but makes America look like a very scary and totally alien place. Why have a machine gun? they are for killing people. On the other hand if gun ownership was that rife in England then about 10% of the population would wiped out every Saturday night

True, guns are dangerous, but what's more frightening are the people who wield the guns.

Watched this on Current a couple nights ago, one of the best Vanguard's yet. "Just when you think you've seen it all, someone rolls up in their own tank!"

Great stuff Kaj!
Like always.

I like America... from afar.

It was almost a fair documentary. Suggestion for your next gun episode. Interview people who used a gun in their home or business to save themselves from an violent offender. They number in the thousands. And provide an answer to these questions: If you passed strict gun laws in all 50 States would you still be able to buy a gun on the streets? Do you think they might come in illegally over the border? Could a gun be made with simple equipment in a basement? And why do States that allow Conceal & Carry for law abiding citizens have a lower violent crime rates? We need the full story with fair analysis from both sides of the issue.

An extremely good piece. Well covered, very informative, fairly impartial. I hooked it to my Facebook and hope that many more watch it.

I reserve the right to arm bears!

while i do think having a safely stored weapon is a right in America, these people scare me. toothless bob having any lethal weapon is bad. but then again, none of the police i've encountered are any better. my faith in humanity thermometer just went down a bit.

I can't view this video there is a blank space on the page where its supposed to be. Why is it broken?

Without guns were not America. Ever hear of the minutemen? The good thing is that everybody that is against guns doesn't have them. Good luck taking them from us. Obamas policies have done nothing but fuel the sales of guns. About a year back a lunatic went postal at a mall close to my house. If there would have been one person carrying a gun they could've saved alot of lives. But nobody was and nobody stopped him. After that there was a line at the gunstore to get concealed carry permits. Criminals will always carry guns. But will we?

In CA, AB1471 was signed by our liberal republican governator. The whole microstamping idea is nothing more than a devisive way of making guns unobtainable. The technology doesnt exist, and they don't care if it ever does. They know it will never "help solve a crime". It will only make it so it is no longer financially feasable to manufacture guns to sell to a state that requires it, and there you have it....no more guns for sale in CA. Their mission accomplished....

We, as a nation, demand that manufactures in EVERY other industry use technology to make their product as safe as is possible and economically reasonable.

However, for some reason the gun manufacturers are not required to function like other products manufacturers. hmmm....so now the pro-gun group (btw, I legally own a few) argues that their industry can't function w/o special consideration. lol...so the gun lobby group is anti-capitalism?

So how would they be "improving" the guns. Are these new features going to prevent jams and malfunctions? If not then I wouldn't want them on the gun. Plus many of you have no idea how easy it is to actually build a gun. I've built an ak from a receiver and a parts kit. But have seen from online demonstrations how building an old style tommy gun could be accomplished using primitive tools found around a DIY's home. Little than $45.00 later you have a fully automatic Thompson sub-machine gun. Now it is completely illegal to do this but for murderers I doubt they care if they get a extra 10 years on that life sentence.

Evoleon,

the same arguments were made in other industries too. However, products liability did work to improve the products and ensure various safeguards (that could not easily be tampered with) were developed and put into practice.

Why should they be prosecuted over someone others actions. Yeah maybe if the gun blows up in someone's hands but to be responsible for someone else's actions would destroy the industry. What now? Miller brewing company made me drive my vehicle into oncoming traffic and kill a family of five. I don't think so, hold those responsible for their actions. Stop blaming everyone else for what you do. I'm a product of society, I wasn't given the opportunity, I wasn't hugged enough. Give me a break, these people will use any excuse to get off for the things they do. The federal government already tracks gun sales through their FFL system. Smart guns would put the prices of firearms through the roof. Guns like you are describing wouldn't be under 2k guaranteed. Plus how easy would it be to modify these guns to be used by anyone. 30 Million dollar micro-stamping technology can be taken out by using a .99 file.

Permit the gun manufacturers to incur liability. We permit other companies to incur liability for harm done to a 3rd person through product liability. Why isn't this true for hand guns?

Seriously, allow the gun manufacturers to incur liability and over night you will see superior accounting and tracking of fire arms. I'm also willing to bet you would see smart guns (guns only able to be fired by certain individuals) that would also transmit their discharge and by whom.

Great doc, just pointing something on this discussion.

Around 40% of the illegal Guns in Brazil came from a illegal mammer from the USA.