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Gun Control
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Post by
Asylu
The problem with strict gun control is that it won't work in the US. If I, a white female with no criminal record, wanted to buy an unregistered handgun I could. Probably quicker than trying to do so legally, let alone if I wanted a fully automatic weapon. And if I can do it...What is there to stop criminals from doing so? The police?
They haven't managed it yet.
Taking away the right to own these weapons does nothing to stop American criminals, I say American only because it seems to me that criminals elsewhere are a lot more, I don't know, polite I guess.
I say that there would be a lot less gun accidents if all children had mandatory firearms safety classes at school. (I also think that full on sex education should also be mandatory, not just abstinence but that's off topic...) If kids saw what guns could do they would have a greater respect for the destructive capabilities of firearms.
But I think harsher punishments for repeat offenders of certain natures would put a stop to gun related crimes. Thus removing the need for gun control.
I need to work at staying on topic better.../sigh
Post by
134377
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Azazel
Relevant.
Post by
865056
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Magician22773
I say that there would be a lot less
gun accidents
if all children had mandatory firearms safety classes at school.
Its not that I completely disagree with you here, but:
Gun
accidents
are rare...very, very rare. A true accident is something like a hunter misses his target, and somehow the bullet travels out of the hunters line of sight, beyond his known backstop, misses any of the hundreds of possible twigs, trees, or blades of grass that could have deflected the bullet and it ends up striking a person.
Or another accident would be, again, the extremely rare instance where a firearm has a mechanical malfunction, and discharges without any operator input.
All the other thousands of "accidents" are actually ignorance. They are caused by hunters not knowing what lies behind their target, or firing at something without being 100% sure of what they are aiming at....not 99.9%....100%.
They are caused by irresponsible gun owners leaving a firearm loaded and unlocked. They are caused by poorly trained gun owners who do not fully undertand their weapons safety(s). The are caused by not having control over the business end of a gun at ALL times.
So again, while I don't think gun safety classes would be a bad thing at all for schoolkids, I really think that gun owners...adults, are the ones that need to have more training. Sadly, you can't train the stupid out of some people. Somewhere, "Billy-Bob" is still gonna try and clean his gun without checking the chamber for a round and shoot himself, or someone else. Not an accident...its ignorance.
I'd like to see your evidence supporting the idea that a gun owner lives longer than a non-gun owner.
Kick down my front door at 4am without a gun and I will prove it beyond ANY doubt.
Post by
MyTie
I'd like to see your evidence supporting the idea that a gun owner lives longer than a non-gun owner.
Kick down my front door at 4am without a gun and I will prove it beyond ANY doubt.
Amen
Post by
Pwntiff
One of the first things I'm going to do out of basic is purchase a handgun. I'm also going to try and spend time each week (or as often as possible) earning my marksmanship ribbon in both pistol and rifle. Is owning a gun necessary for one's well-being in America? Not by any stretch, but I like being prepared for as many scenarios as I can.
In the US, there is only so much tightening of gun laws that can be done without violating the Second Amendment as it has been interpreted by the Supreme Court. I doubt that any law that makes an attempt to make guns harder to come by without infringing on the Constitutional right for citizens to keep and bear arms will do much good for gun violence.
Post by
91278
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Post by
MyTie
I'd like to see your evidence supporting the idea that a gun owner lives longer than a non-gun owner.
Kick down my front door at 4am
without a gun
and I will prove it beyond ANY doubt.
Amen
You were going to live anyway. And, actually, this is one of those situations in which my "Unarmed is just as safe" rule doesn't apply ...
because
you live in a society where guns aren't (as) restricted. If at all points your attacker assumes you are unarmed, you won't be hurt -- unless they're a psychopath, in which case the only way you'd feel safe with a weapon of your own is, indeed, shooting first and asking questions later. Assuming everyone is
that
mentally unhinged, though ... that's a pretty sad society you'd have be engendering.
Your logic that I won't get shot if my aggressor assumes I have no weapon is flawed. My logic that I won't get shot if my aggressor is dead assumes nothing.
Post by
woohaa
I live in the U.S in a state where owning any gun that's not an automatic is legal. The sad thing is we have a very low gun fatality rate. I think when you can safely assume that most people have guns to protect themselves you won't stupidly think that, "well i have a gun so now i can do whatever i want." Instead of living in a state where the only people who have guns...are the people who shouldn't have guns.
If you decide to rob a liquor store...you can safely assume that there is a 12 gauge behind the counter or atleast a small .35. Would you really try to rob it? i can count atleast 10 of my co-workers who sleep with atleast a .45 under their pillow not because they're paranoid but because they want to be ready for the chance someone is that stupid. I didn't move here till about 3 years ago and lived in a non-gun state and honestly i feel safer here then where i used to live.
Post by
91278
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
MyTie
They have no intention of actually using the weapon at all
This is an assumption, and often, a deadly incorrect assumption.
Post by
865056
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Magician22773
I'd like to see your evidence supporting the idea that a gun owner lives longer than a non-gun owner.
Kick down my front door at 4am
without a gun
and I will prove it beyond ANY doubt.
Amen
You were going to live anyway. And, actually, this is one of those situations in which my "Unarmed is just as safe" rule doesn't apply ...
because
you live in a society where guns aren't (as) restricted. If at all points your attacker assumes you are unarmed, you won't be hurt -- unless they're a psychopath, in which case the only way you'd feel safe with a weapon of your own is, indeed, shooting first and asking questions later. Assuming everyone is
that
mentally unhinged, though ... that's a pretty sad society you'd have be engendering.
Your logic that I won't get shot if my aggressor assumes I have no weapon is flawed. My logic that I won't get shot if my aggressor is dead assumes nothing.
Amen!
Post by
Firallon
Heres an anecdote, something I'm sure has happened to other members of the forum should they chose to disclose it.
In the early hours of the morning some months ago, the alarm on my truck went off. I live in a remote area, so it's generally safe to assume deer, raccoon, or some other animal. I actually had a doe give birth in the bed of my truck, so its really not uncommon to have things brushing up against it. However, there is a small portion of the population out here that lives so detached from society for the drugs. These meth heads have a nasty habit of getting into things, much like rats, and stealing whatever they can sell quickly. Looking out my window, I saw a flashlight on the far side of the bed, where my gas tank is. I threw on my robe, grabbed my 12ga, went outside, and yelled for the idiot to kindly get out of my truck, then chambered a round. He scream some expletive and took off running., the next day one of the neighbors came over with his kid in tow, said the crapped pants gave them away and made them apologize. To my knowledge the kid hasn't tried anything that stupid again, especially out here.
A friend in the Coast Guard once told me that the sounds of a cocking shotgun was the most effective deterrent available.
"Not everyone speaks English, but there ain't no one that don't speak shotgun"
"To preserve liberty it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them." -- Senator Richard Henry Lee, 1788
Post by
Alkony
Proper education on how to treat a gun from a young age would be (and is) the most effective method of reducing accidental discharges.
Rules:
1) Hands off unless you have permission! (primarily for the <10 year old crowd, but valid for everyone)
2) Never point a gun at anything you aren't willing to shoot. (Including your face, Billy-Bob.)
3) A gun is ALWAYS loaded.
4) Keep your finger off the trigger unless you are ready to shoot.
That's really all it takes. I was taught these rules at a very young age and my brother and I never had gun accidents while growing up with unlocked handguns (stored on a high shelf while loaded) in the house.
As for the "no reason to own a handgun", A) So what? and B) What about sport shooting and pistol hunting? There's no reason you Need to have a computer in your house, and we know computers are used in crimes every day, so why don't you just surrender that to the local constabulary. It's the same logic. (Also, please refer to my post Page 2 of this thread for a discussion of the philosophy of Freedom as default in the USA.)
Post by
91278
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
MyTie
They have no intention of actually using the weapon at all
This is an assumption, and
often
, a deadly incorrect assumption.
I'm fairly sure more armed robberies result in, y'know, a robbery, rather than the loss of the victim's life.
This can be said another way: Armed robbery doesn't always result in murder. While that is true, it still isn't an effective argument against gun possession for personal defense. I mean, honestly. Think through what you are saying here.
Post by
Magician22773
A friend in the Coast Guard once told me that the sounds of a cocking shotgun was the most effective deterrent available.
One of the more popular shotguns for law enforcement is the Remington 870. It is "rumored" that remington actually designed the 870 to have a louder "racking" sound than other pump guns, because the racking sound is so effective at getting a bad guys attention.
Post by
91278
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
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