Many outstanding physical abilities are displayed even as children, usually limited in scope. We're talking different issues here. Part of the story is, "Why are many teenagers such a handful?" Explanation is partly that "it's not their fault", as their brains are undergoing physical changes and growth... and they are not fully in control of themselves. The process of "brain growth and development" isn't complete until about age 25.... says some research. I've seen pictures of CAT scans of developing brains along this topic which indicates that there are actual physical changes going on from the onset of puberty.... "changing" apparently isn't complete until about age 25. Haven't researched it myself... just recall reading about it and thinking it explains a lot about growing up, divorce rates, etc. I recall when as a young man thinking, "If I'm old enough to serve in the military and perhaps die for my country, I'm old enough to vote and to drink beer". On the one hand, I see that point. But still, knowing what I know/believe now, that argument is fallacious. (Just the part about voting... not the part about drinking beer. )
The Gun Lobby Has Been Winning With the Same Playbook Since 1968 "When a couple armed with assault rifles slaughtered 14 people at a holiday gathering in San Bernardino, California, this month, U.S. gun control advocates saw an opportunity. President Barack Obama lamented that "in America it’s way too easy for dangerous people to get their hands on a gun" and said making it harder was the only right response. Within a day, the Republican-controlled Senate rejected an expansion of background checks for gun buyers and defeated a law barring individuals on the terror watch list from purchasing firearms. Before the Christmas break, an effort to lift a 17-year-old ban on nearly all government research into gun violence was also defeated. QUICKTAKE Guns in America The origins of this familiar impasse lie in a congressional battle nearly five decades ago following some of the most traumatic political assassinations in the country’s history: a president, his brother and two civil rights leaders. The White House pushed -- and failed -- to require that guns be licensed and gun owners registered right after the killings of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy in 1968. "The template was established in the 1960s," said Joseph Califano, chief domestic affairs adviser to President Lyndon Johnson. "With all the clout we had, we couldn’t do it."..." http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...owed-seeds-for-failure-of-gun-control-efforts
What's Next on Gun Control: Obama and the Loophole The White House will likely go around Congress and require background checks for all "in the business" of selling firearms. "The next shoe to drop on gun control may come by mid-January, when President Barack Obama is expected to issue an executive order requiring everyone "in the business" of selling firearms to perform background checks. Wait a second, you might be saying. Doesn't federal law already oblige gun retailers to do computerized criminal checks via the Federal Bureau of Investigation's data base? Yes and no. Yes, when it comes to federally licensed dealers. But no, when you're talking about people who lack federal licenses and sell guns from their personal collections. The problem is that an awful lot of firearms are sold in the latter fashion by individuals who aren't technically gun retailers but who sell weapons at weekend gun shows or from their homes. Forthcoming research by the Harvard School of Public Health estimates that 40 percent of all gun transfers occur without background checks (that's the so-called gun show loophole). Presumably the background-check gap permits some criminals and mentally disabled people to buy guns who otherwise might be stopped. Following another a year of shooting massacres of Americans, Obama has let it be known from his holiday retreat in Hawaii, through unidentified advisers, that soon after New Years Day he plans to follow through on plans to expand the definition of who's "in the business" of selling firearms—and who's thus required to perform background checks. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, among others, has strongly backed this idea, and now Obama appears ready to make its implementation one of the first major acts of his final year in office. Another fan of expanded background checks: Michael Bloomberg, owner of Bloomberg LP and founder of Everytown for Gun Safety, the nation's leading nonprofit advocating tougher regulation of firearms. Bloomberg visited Obama at the White House last week to discuss gun-safety strategies. The timing of the expected Obama move on background checks guarantees it will receive a hostile reaction from gun-rights advocates, thousands of whom will gather next month in Las Vegas for the firearm industry's annual Shooting, Hunting & Outdoor Trade Show, known as SHOT..." http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-28/what-s-next-on-gun-control-obama-and-the-loophole
That 40% number is complete and total horseshit. Please substantiate it. Apart from that, I support background checks on all firearms transfers/sales. Most of it already is anyway, regardless of what made up bullshit comes from the Harvard School of Public Health and other Liberal think-tanks.
Obama to announce new executive action on guns "(CNN)President Barack Obama is expected to announce in the coming days a new executive action with the goal of expanding background checks on gun sales, people familiar with White House planning said. Described as "imminent," the set of executive actions would fulfill a promise by the President to take further unilateral steps the White House says could help curb gun deaths. Plans for the action are not yet complete, and those familiar with the process warn that unforeseen circumstances could delay an announcement. But gun control advocates are expecting the new actions to be revealed next week, ahead of Obama's annual State of the Union address, set for January 12. The White House wouldn't comment directly on the exact timing or content of Obama's executive orders. White House spokesman Eric Schultz said that the President expected a set of recommendations on unilateral action to arrive at the beginning of the year...." http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/31/politics/obama-to-announce-new-executive-action-on-guns/index.html
Contrary notion alert! How did that iPhone/iPad/Droid you possess come into being? From Apple and its various supplier-chain companies, who were initially created through venture capital and allowed to thrive via the stock and bond markets. Who supplies nearly all of the funds that directly/indirectly find their way into venture capital and stock markets? Pension funds. Specifically union and/or public employee pension funds. Who does the money in union/public employee pension funds come from? Employees of government and quasi-government agencies and institutions. Who are employees of these government institutions? Judges and their support staff. Prosecutors and their support staff. Public defenders and their support staff. Law enforcement, jail, and prison employees and their support staff. What do the employees of these government institutions do? Deal with crime in its aftermath. Almost never as a preventative measure. Ergo, the American way of life as we currently enjoy it, with all its pluses and minuses, would not exist without a small tolerance for crime in all its forms - violent, non-violent, terrorist, white-collar, etc. The US and World economies would be much smaller, and we'd still be living lives closer to 1950s America instead of 21st Century America if our government was "tough on crime."
Obama to tackle 'unfinished business' of gun violence in 2016 "President Barack Obama, in a New Year's address, made fighting gun violence a resolution for 2016, calling it a major piece of "unfinished business" in his time at the White House. As he marks the start of his final year in the White House, Obama expressed regret at the little progress made in the past seven years towards remedying America's gun "epidemic." "My New Year's resolution is to move forward on our unfinished business as much as I can," he said. "That's especially true for one piece of unfinished business, that's our epidemic of gun violence." The US leader announced he would meet with Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Monday, his first day back at work after the New Year's break, "to discuss our options" in reducing the deaths and injuries caused by firearms..." http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...ss-of-gun-violence-in-2016/ar-BBo75ou#image=2
But hey, let's focus on the events the media wants us to in order to drive a narrative. "Suddenly", we have a gun problem.