Just because I think someone buying a gun should be properly screened before they buy a gun does not make me anti gun, though I would argue who besides a criminal would need an assault rifle? Also criminals aren't allowed to have guns yet they still get them, usually as stolen goods from legal gun owners. And just like illegal drugs people get illegal guns. I do agree the war on drugs is a canard and I support legalization. Just like the lift on prohibition in the 1930's it would take away any need for criminal street gangs to be shooting up our towns and cities. It would render the drug cartels out of business overnight.

I have nothing against guns. I have often fired them, including a 45, a 12 gage pump and a 30 aught 6. My brother is a marksman and I'm a fair shot myself. I have no intention of taking his toys away from him or your toys from you.

As for socialism or communism or tyranny goes, where were you when George Bush was president? For 8 years not a peep out of anyone as the former president turned us into a Stalinesque police state. I won't argue that all of our civil liberties, not merely the second amendment are still at risk. But if you think a republican controlled military police state will continue to allow you to keep your guns you are mistaken. And giving money and tax breaks to power wealth is corporate socialism or as Mussolini used to put it, corporatism. Another term is fascism. Makes me wonder if anyone on the right even knows what socialism or communism is, or what the difference is between the two.

This is to excuse the pun, a loaded question because first off Obama should ban the sales of assault rifles. Even Barry Goldwater supported that idea! We have witnessed first hand and in real time the results of people owning assault weapons. But the truth is Obama will never reinstate that ban because to do so is political suicide. That is why today there are more than 65 pro gun house democrats who are siding with their republican counterparts. The democrats saw the assault ban in political losses in the congress back when Clinton was president and they have made the adjustment. All this fear mongering about Obama or the democrats permanently banning all guns is complete bullshit manifested by idiots like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Mike Savage.

I would further add that this drug war is in reality America's drug war not Mexico's. We are the ones who declared an international war on drugs back when Nixon was president. Since then the need for illegal drugs have consistently grown( We are the number one consumer of illegal drugs in the world) along with the wealth and power of the cartels who get 95% of their weapons from the United States which of course is great for US munitions manufacturers. Of course munitions are America's number one export so really none of this should come as much of a surprise.

The war on drugs is a complete failure, except for the three strikes folks, the gun manufacturers and the corporations who profit from our justice system and dole out tons in campaign finance to the very people whose interest lies in a continued drug problem. They and apparently the cartels have been the only real winners.

Obama certainly does have other options. What he ought to do is the exact same thing FDR did back in the 1930's. Appeal prohibition. Then make sure these drugs are manufactured under the guidelines of the FDA, tax their sales and use the proceeds for health care, rehabilitation and education. This would put a complete end to drug smuggling and an end to the war on drugs. In fact it would make our city street much safer then they are today.

Since Obama won't dare move in that direction, his only option is to further commit to the failed war on drugs in the hope if will prevent further escalation into the US. Well the truth is it already has escalated in the form of the gang wars that are exploding in every city in the nation. All of them vying for domination and control of the drugs smuggled in. This trend will only continue to get worse if we stay the course and that appears to be exactly what Obama and all of his predecessors since Nixon has in mind. All those military operations that have been going on for decades in Latin America and costing the taxpayers tens of billions of dollars have not stopped the drug cartels. In fact here they are banging on our doors. You would think by now we would have learned our lesson but the truth is the war on drugs is very profitable for the few and devastating for everyone else who foots the bill.