Papantonio: Gun Industry Will Fall Same Way As Tobacco Industry

[GoLeft TV]

Mike Papantonio appears on The Thom Hartmann Program (FreeSpeech.org) to discuss the growing problems for the gun industry, as well as the ongoing debate over gun control in America.

[iiibbb]

1. Because the tobacco industry is really hurting with 35 Billion with a B revenues?

http://seekingalpha.com/article/1259221-identifying-the-gem-of-the-tobacco-industry?source=google_news

[donnasgirl]

2. Wake up to reality

There are 100 million gun owners in this country who have now been awoken to the fact they can no longer sit on their asses and let others dictate to them.

[patrice]

3. Is that an armed threat to government? Don't you think you ought to ask the other 200 million of us

first?

[iiibbb]

6. Where's the threat of violence?

Could be a "threat" to vote.

Why are you so fearful?

[donnasgirl]

12. Patrice no it is not

What it is is reality,have you or anybody else done the numbers on this issue,i am a realist,you talk about the other 200 million tell me how many of those that vote? I will say your question is foolish,because when somebody has an opinion right away you take it as a threat,not every comment is a threat patrice,tell me how many people who do not own guns still believe in the second amendment.

[patrice]

4. Do you think it possible that some people eagerly anticipate the day when they get to shoot someone?

[iiibbb]

8. Where do you get "eager to shoot someone"

All I know is that I won't vote for Cuomo if he got the Democratic ticket unless he was running against a Palin... and even then I just might vote third party or abstain.

[patrice]

5. So, you all intend to sit in starbucks and take this country hostage politically. "Do as WE say, or

we'll start shooting" and then it'll be OUR fault that your ConstituTEAtional "right"s get violated by drones.

[iiibbb]

9. Again...? I am not sure how you got here from that post.

[cpwm17]

7. There are more non gun owners

Last edited Sat Mar 9, 2013, 03:54 AM - Edit history (1)

and they have been awoken by the fact that a selfish special interest has for a long time made their lives less safe and secure.

[iiibbb]

10. Just because people realize the NRA are a bunch of douchebags

doesn't mean we're going to reverse on our basic position that it's our right to own certain weapons.

[cpwm17]

11. I don't own a gun and guns don't benefit me.

I do have to put up with constant gunfire when I go on hikes. And like most Americans, guns make my life less safe.

The fewer guns there are the safer most of us are. That should be a goal.

[iiibbb]

13. Well to quote those that tell me that maybe I should move when I express concern about the

neighborhood I live in.... maybe you should move.

[cpwm17]

15. My neighborhood is fine

When I hike, near home in Florida, or elsewhere in the US, I often hear nearby gunfire. It happens all of the time. It ruins the hike.

It's like the gun nuts own the place.

[iiibbb]

17. Maybe they do.

[donnasgirl]

14. The same

Can be said about hammers,cars,trucks,drunks,and that list goes on and on.

[cpwm17]

16. Guns are designed to kill

Cars get us to work and take us on vacation. There's a huge up-side to cars (and trucks and hammers). We spend a lot of quality time in cars.

You can't say the same thing for guns. Guns cause a lot of misery in this world.

[iiibbb]

18. Cars cause more misery. So does the internet. So does the American lifestyle.

[donnasgirl]

19. cpwm17

Everything can be construed as a weapon,a rock,a car,a stick,baseball bat,anything the cops and courts say is a deadly weapon is a deadly weapon.
What has killed more in history,drugs or guns? remember with drugs it is not only the user who get's destroyed it's his or hers whole family.

[cpwm17]

23. Guns are a very efficient killing machine

Last edited Fri Mar 8, 2013, 07:17 PM - Edit history (1)

That is what they are designed for. There's no comparison to a rock or baseball bat.

Many drugs are illegal since they are a danger to the user. Guns are a danger to anybody who stands on the business end of the gun, whether they own the thing or not.

Numerous innocents are murdered every year by guns. Guns make the US a worse place to live.

[donnasgirl]

24. I view drugs

As a slow way to committ suicide,i know i watched my brother committ mental suicide for over 30 years,i watched my parents die a slow death due to a broken heart.I will tell you as the oldest son it was a god awful thing to watch cpwm17,it is something i will take to my grave,watching somebody you love with all your heart die that way.

[FBaggins]

22. Guns are also designed to keep others from killing.

Police don't carry sidearms so that they can kill people.

Guns cause a lot of misery in this world.

Guns have avoided a lot of misery in this world.

[aquart]

33. Guns never avoid misery.

They may alter who experiences it, but that's all.

[FBaggins]

35. The 95 pound woman protecting herself from the 250lb rapist

would disagree.

Guns don't just have an effect when they are fired.

They reinforce civility in a world that would otherwise be far more brutal. "Sam Colt made them equal" isn't just an old quote.

[aquart]

37. You must point out that particular case to me.

I can't think of anything stupider to have in a close contact situation than a gun. Where would she be keeping that gun btw? Purse? Bra? Thong? How would she reach it? How would she keep him from getting it while she reached for it?

What moronic mythology gun nuts have.

[aquart]

28. Which weapons, dear?

[iiibbb]

31. That is the rub, but in the context of the OP I'm keeping it general.

[rocktivity]

20. Interesting -- Rachel Maddow did a similar report just last night

suggesting that the gun industry's ultimate goal was to -- well, sell more guns:
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26315908/#51093805


rocktivity

[donnasgirl]

21. All

The industries ultimate goal is to sell more of their products.

[slackmaster]

25. Life is SO much better now that the tobacco industry has been put out of business for good

http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/adult_data/cig_smoking/

[aquart]

27. No, but nobody has to work in a smoke-filled office anymore.

People who never went out can go to restaurants. And beauty salons.

And every time a smoker laments the horrible discrimination against him, I refrain from killing him.

[donnasgirl]

29. I don't see

Smokers crying about discrimination,i see the them slowly but surely filtering over to the Republicans due to higher taxes.

[aquart]

34. Well, the Republicans need someone on their side.

Of course, when the emphysema and lung cancer kick in, Obamacare, Medicare, and Medicaid will have a much stronger grip on their voting impulses.

No Smoking laws have been in effect for decades now so you probably missed the screeching and bleating. But it was quite loud and the expressed suffering hostile and intense. God, I loved it!

[donnasgirl]

36. Actually

And thank the good lord i do not smoke,but every time a politician raises taxes it pulls away votes from the people in power.

[aquart]

38. More moronic mythology? Don'tcha love rightwing talking points?

70% of this country want to see the rich taxed back into the real world. Having the Waltons fork over 80% of their ill-gotten, cheap-labor gains wouldn't cost any politician his job (except the ones paid to prevent that). And the one who got it done would be adored.

We'd be especially happy if it was called a Temporary War Tax just until we paid off Bush's unfunded wars. (Nothing as permanent as a temporary tax.)

See, the very wrong right likes to pretend we're talking about EVERYBODY's taxes. But we're not. We're talking about Mitt Romney, the Kochs, the Waltons, Bill Gates and that ilk.

And if they got soaked we could have high-speed rails and safe bridges and wifi everywhere. And jobs in America because the profit would be gone from cheap foreign labor.

But keep defending the billionaires. Maybe they'll throw you a dime. Rockefeller did it all the time.

[donnasgirl]

40. aquart

You assume i am a republican and you could not be more wrong,what i am is an old time democrat which i do not see much anymore.I am now a registered independent and have 2 views which differ from some people on this site,one is guns and the other is taxes,but with taxes my opinion does not differ to much.I say stick it up the ass of corporations who do not pay any taxes,i say stick it up the ass of the Mitt Romney's of the country.I also am sick and tired of the likes of the Koch Brothers and their ilk,but here is where i will be a little bit different than some.
The Koch brothers,they buy politicians and everyone in the country knows it but here is where i will differ (Unions) they also should not buy political favor,i say remove all corporate money out of politics (no more pacs).We piss and moan about Karl (the rapper) Rove but yet we can not seem to piss and moan when a Bill Mayer throws in a million.(All money out of politics) the elections belong to us the voters,not some rich pig like Bloomberg who thinks he should tell everybody what to do after changing the rules to suit his fancy.Opinions like you exibit at times will only hurt democrats,you and others here can not see the hurt you cause with your assumptions about certain individuals who post here,i know some dam good democrats who used to post here and no longer do because they may have an opinion that differs a little bit and then you mean spirited slimeballs chase them off.

[slackmaster]

30. Behavior changes, all accomplished without banning anything

No background checks, waiting periods, etc.

[aquart]

32. Untrue. Behavior changed when smoking in work and public spaces was BANNED.

And the initial reaction was just as belligerent and querulous and defiant as gun nut behavior now. People would smoke standing under No Smoking signs, champions of freedom that they were, the selfish, drug-addicted bastards.

[slackmaster]

42. Banning an action is not the same as banning an object or a substance

[aquart]

26. Yep.

Know how I single-handedly changed the Village Independent Democrats from a smoke-filled room to one in which, one year later, a candidate for a judgeship commented on how wonderful it was to be making his case in a room that wasn't filled with smoke?

I asked every candidate for club office one question: Do you smoke?

That's all I did. What they did...oy. Turns out Ghandhi was absolutely correct. Especially about the last part: "Then you win."

[MADem]

39. I think he's confusing "industry" with "community attitudes."

Last I knew, the "tobacco industry" was still booming, even with all the laws limiting smoking. Their customer base in USA may be smaller, but they charge more and there are still plenty of people who indulge in the habit. Their profits, consequently, are at a record high.

People may not, as a group, like/approve of smoking like they once did, but that's not causing the industry to go out of business.

I think the thesis is poorly articulated. I get where he's trying to go, but it is a sketchy analogy. I also question his comments about the attitudes of the "younger generation." I've met a few younger people with a wingnutty attitude on this subject, and it is a bit disturbing to hear. They may or may not be present in large numbers, but they're out there.

[markpkessinger]

41. Not exactly . . .

One thing that helped in taking on Big Tobacco was product liability lawsuits. As Rachel Maddow pointed out in a segment last night, the 2005 law that grants gun manufacturers virtually total immunity not only for negligence in the marketing of its product, but even for the kind of basic product liability that attaches to virtually every other manufacturer of any other consumer product, makes them untouchable. The Supreme Court in 2009 allowed that law to stand.