Archive for May, 2014

Common sense calls for repeal of second amendment

Originally published April 30, 2014 at 7:13 PM | Page modified May 1, 2014 at 10:07 AM

I dont believe the Second Amendment was ever intended to support the kind of gun craziness we contend with today, but since its always used to ward off any common-sense gun reforms, maybe we ought to just fix the Constitution and be done with it.

Yes, I know the odds against that are immense, but maybe we could start by nibbling away at the idea that the Constitution is infallible or that the founders had the answers to everything. They were smart men but neither perfect nor prescient.

One of the ways they showed how smart they were, was that they made a document that could be updated when it needed to be, and today it needs to be on this issue.

Weve had another of those disturbing clusters of shootings in Seattle the past week, and gun violence continues to injure and kill across the country in public, and frequently private, ways. Most gun deaths are suicides.

But some Americans embrace their guns even more tightly even as the headlines call out for sanity. You know what Im talking about.

Last week. Georgias governor signed into law a guns everywhere bill allowing residents of the state to carry guns anywhere in public, schools, churches, bars. You just never know when youll need to shoot someone.

We are already plagued by stand-your-ground laws and now this.

The law was deemed necessary partly because some cities and towns ban guns in most public places, which might seem reasonable if you want to cut down on gun violence, but Georgias leaders believed the answer was more people with more guns. I dont even think its politics anymore. Its a religion all its own.

Did you see the story earlier this week about a gun seller being threatened by gun lovers for trying to market a safer handgun? Belinda Padilla is CEO of the U.S. division of German firearms maker Armatix. Her company is marketing a biometric handgun that wont fire unless it is held by its owner, who has to be wearing a wristwatch that communicates with the gun.

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Common sense calls for repeal of second amendment

Reaching for the skies: The youth travel business that wowed the Dragons

Rob Tominey, co-founder ofMainstage Travel,talks to Lucie Mitchell about growing a multi-million pound turnover business in just two years and how he received offers from four of the stars of Dragons' Den.

When Aden Levin and Rob Tominey, both in their mid-20s, decided to start a business that they hoped would revolutionise package holidays for the youth market, they had little idea how successful it would turn out to be.

Levin and Tominey say that their business "reinvents the concept of the package holiday" because they offer experience holidays at cheaper rates than other tour operators or if booking each element of the holiday individually online.

By negotiating deals with major hotel chains and nightclubs in destinations such as Ibiza, Majorca, Greece and Cyprus, the company can offer holidaymakers week-long packages that include flights, accommodation and entry into nightclubs or festivals for as little as 120.

"We started off with Ibiza, because, as a holiday destination for young people, Ibiza is the Holy Grail, but financially it was out of reach for this demographic," remarks Tominey.

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Reaching for the skies: The youth travel business that wowed the Dragons