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Jill Stein on Gun ControlGreen Party presidential nominee; Former Challenger for MA Governor |
Stein argues that the US should look to other countries such as Australia, which is just as much of a gun culture as America, when searching for great examples of dealing with the issue of gun control: "In 1995 when they passed limits on automatic weapons [implemented] background checks, and actually did a buyback of dangerous automatic and semiautomatic weapons--they have not had a single mass shooting ever since. And the rates of ordinary gun violence dropped by half. They have saved $500 billion per year. It has not been a slippery slope in Australia."
A: Yes. For public safety, gun ownership should be appropriately regulated.
OBAMA: We're a nation that believes in the Second Amendment. So, my belief is that we have to enforce the laws we've already got. But weapons that were designed for soldiers in war theaters don't belong on our streets.
STEIN: We certainly need an assault weapons ban, but we need more than that. There are some 260 people every day who are injured or killed by gun violence, so it's very important that we ban assault weapons, for starters, but there are other steps that need to be taken quickly. Local communities need to be able to regulate guns, as needed, to deal with their violence. So, we need to keep guns out of the hands of criminals. We need background checks, so that the mentally ill are not possessing and using guns. And we need to end the gun show loopholes, as well, because there's far too much violence from guns, which is not needed.
STEIN: We have to address the other drivers of community violence. That includes ensuring that mental health services are available to everyone. But in addition, we need to end the culture of drug violence, which also is a major driver of gun violence. So that means legalizing marijuana, because it is a substance which is dangerous because it is illegal, but it's actually far less dangerous than other legal substances. And to legalize it will go a long way to put an end to the violence surrounding the drug culture.
A: It is more dangerous to the occupants of a home to have a gun than not. It's more likely that you'll be injured by your own gun than that you'll be defended against some intruder with that gun. It's an enormous public health problem in our cities--there are tragedies every day where young people are being shot, as victims of gun crimes. It's tragic. We're not arguing that nobody should have a gun--but public safety should factor into constraints.