So, Sandy, a graph of FBI statistical date of the U.S. homocide rate overlaid with data on the increase of firearms in the U.S. is "crapola propaganda"? If you don't trust FBI statistics to measure crime rates, then please reference the article I posted above about why folks who own gun don't trust you when it comes to regulating firearms. I suggest you also check out the FBI stat that back in (sorry, haven't bothered to update the bookmark to more recent data), only 325 or so homicides were committed with a rifle, less than with blunt objects (496)
OR bare hands/feet/fists (796). Maybe you need to be regulating hammers, clubs and bare fists before you worry about semi-automatic rifles.
What does an open carry policy have to do with the Dallas shooting? The guy was shooting from an elevated position, not walking in the crowd and then drew his "open carry firearm" and started shooting. Again you bring up an issue that played no role in the Dallas incident.
Another fact of the Dallas and Orlando shootings: Both criminals took time planning their crimes. What makes you think that any of the regulations you can come up with are going to prevent someone from doing harm if he displays enough patience to acquire what he needs to inflict death? The Dallas police found explosives in the Dallas shooter's home, but he didn't use them because he moved up his timetable. The guys in Boston didn't need an AR and used a pressure cooker. What's your plan for dealing with pressure cookers and explosives? Anybody can buy a pressure cooker. Do you have regulatory schemes for those purchases?
Besides, with Keith on the board, what's a good debate without at least one chart?
The chart disproves two rhetorical points of the left:
1) More guns does not lead to an increase of violent crime (NOTE: I don't necessarily agree that more firearms leads to less crime. The crime issue is more complex than that.)
2) America does not have an "epidemic of gun violence". That is, unless you consider the early '60s to be a time when America had an epidemic of violence. That's how far back you have to go to get about the same homicide rate as what we do now.
We do have an "epidemic of hysterical media willing to repeat hysterical claims".
I'm Ed Thompson, and I approve this message.