All That Remains’ Phil Labonte Writes Op-Ed On The Second Amendment & Recent Shootings
All That Remains frontman Phil Labonte has done an op-ed for Altpress.com. The piece focuses on the Second Amendment and the recent wave of shootings. An excerpt from it can be read below with the full article available at the above-mentioned link.
“In light of the tragic events in Aurora, Colorado, and at the request of Alternative Press, I’ve written a piece on the Second Amendment. Before I go into the discussion, I want to extend my deepest sympathy to the families of those affected by the violent and inhuman acts perpetrated on that fateful night.
While popular opinion is that these horrible acts are a uniquely American problem due to the liberal gun laws we have, I submit that it is a problem worldwide. July 22 was the one-year anniversary of the massacre in Norway—a country with very strict gun control laws—perpetrated by Anders Breivik where 77 people (mostly children) lost their lives.
In June, there was a shooting in a Toronto mall where one man was killed and seven others injured. Again, a country with strict gun regulation. There was also the March 11, 2009, shooting at the Winnenden School in Winnenden, Germany, leaving 16 dead and 11 injured. Germany also has strict gun regulation. There are violent and mentally damaged people all over the world. If they are looking to harm innocents, they are going to do it, regardless of law.
A lot of people have a misconception about what the Second Amendment means. Adopted Dec. 15, 1791, the Second Amendment’s purpose was to ensure tyranny would not take hold in the United States and that a truly free people had the means to defend themselves from those that would use force against them, whether that force be from an invading army, a criminal trying to steal private property or a government who would subjugate its people…”
COMMENTS
Must be awesome being Phil LaBonte/In a shit band that enough people like. People just sling equal parts shit and kind words at him all day, and those kind words give him the strength to write about it. Thanks guys.
Gee, since people are going to continue to commit crimes “regardless of the law” why have any laws at all? Pure genius!
You know exactly what Phil is saying by violent people not caring about laws against harming others. It doesn’t concern them.
I know it’s cool to hate on Phil on this site for the sometimes silly things he says. This article however comes at a time where weapons once again are under scrutiny where a mass murderer has just taken 12 peoples lives.
I don’t agree completely with what Phil said (everyone being legally allowed to own any type of gun etc) but the guy clearly did his research on the subject and is happy to stand his ground.
“Must be awesome being Phil LaBonte/In a shit band that enough people like”
Jakeunknown….although I don’t currently envy being in a band with their lifestyle I can guaran-damn-tee I don’t want whatever life you have. Curmudgeonous nerd.
The christian heavy metal singer is pro guns… who would’ve thunk it…
Orly? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIS2LRfufic
He makes a good argument until the part where he thinks that private citizens should be able to own anything the military owns. So any random dude should be able to buy guns that could shoot down aircraft if need be?
Know why I’d rather live in America than Iraq or Somalia? One of the reasons is because I see pictures/videos of random dudes walking down the street holding machine guns and rocket launchers. We don’t need that happening in America.
Technology was also far different in the 1770′s than it is now. This is why we can amend documents such as the Constitution, because things change over the years.
I’m not anti-gun, but I’m pro-some-degree-of-gun-control. Make sense?
By “random dudes” in Iraq or Somalia, I am not talking about soldiers, by the way.
Norway and Germany have high rates of gun ownership and are often cited by the NRA and conservatives as evidence that increased gun ownership can lead to decreased crime rates. Phil is right though, these nations also have very tight regulations–tighter regulations than the US and guess what else? Dramatically less gun crime. The balance between regulation and the freedom to arm yourself is what makes these places more successful than us IMO.
Germany, Norway and Canada average between 100-200 gun related homicides a year. It’s closer to 10,000 in the US. We have the most homicide and general gun crime in the developed world.
Just because people will inevitably commit murder is not an excuse for taking the topic of gun regulation off the table. If we can swallow our pride and take the lead of other nations to limit the number of gun related crimes with regulation while preserving our right to protect ourselves, give me one reason why we shouldn’t that doesn’t involve a liberal or UN conspiracy theory.
As far as the second amendment, I don’t think the founders envisioned the AR-15 when they wrote it. Good luck taking out a movie theater with a fucking musket.
Fuck it seems like I’ve posted about this a lot lately. Sorry. Sensitive subject. Where I come from, people shoot each other. City, burbs, doesn’t matter. I bet there’s been a dozen shootings within a square mile from me in the past couple years and I don’t currently live in the city. Pure suburbia. Fuck, I’m in spitting distance from houses worth between 250 and 500k. The Wild West mentality isn’t working.
Our gun laws have become more lax in Canada.
Am I the only one that gets Alternative Press and Associated Press mixed up all the time? That first line he wrote was really confusing at first. Though anyone requesting Phil Labonte to write about something is still a bit confusing.
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