First off, I didn't write this, it was sent to me in a an e-mail and I thought it was interesting so here I am passing it on (I didn't verify each fact it states, so feel free to point out if its incorrect (I don't expect it to be):
I have no problem with guns or people who use them for recreational purposes such as skeetshooting or hunting. I even have no problem with people who use them for security. But you do have to agree that the amount of guns that are sold in the United States, legally and illegally annually each year is ridiculous. Just the fact that there's lots of murders in many urban cities and even the recent slaughter in Binghamton shows how trigger happy people are. Virginia Tech, anyone? It's disturbing. Just imagine another psycho can go on a killing spree AGAIN just because of the easy availability of guns. There are people who constantly get fucked up on a daily basis by automatic assault rifles, uzis, in general high powered rifles. Just the fact that we can arm every man, woman and child three times over is a sad testament to how many guns are being produced. Our American obsession with lack of gun control are killing thousands. Too many people have guns for unnecessary purposes. Due to me being a 18 year old white male, I could easily go out and purchase a gun. What I do with it is up to me. I could kill myself. I could go on a killing spree. I could use it for collection. It's just so scary that there is little gun control to prevent these type of tragedies.
I agree with you very much but the NRA uses tragic incedents like those to say if everybody else there had guns, it would have been stopped (just thought that was an interesting point of view)
Having a good size dog and a nice firearm is all the protection one needs. The dog wakes you up if someone is breaking into the home. If they still have enough cajones to come into the house with a dog then they can get their prize of .45 round double tap to the chest
If it was up to me, nobody would need guns because there would be no one to be protected from. (Don't worry, it's in obama's agenda, right next to world peace and no more mortgage payments!)
How does it go both ways? If guns are illegal or controlled, responsible citizens won´t have them because it´d be breaking the law and it´d be a lot easier for a criminal to rob a place with a gun. If Responsible citizens are allowed guns, the probabilities of someone being armed in a bank or liquor store and being able to stop the assailant are much higher.
well the problem is, is that we do not know who are the good intentions people (we people with a brain call this one 'duh') And as to the idea that arming people will lower crime because it will make people think again before pulling their guns, well tell that to the three dead police officers in pittburgh
And I meant it goes both ways because if there was good gun control, the suspect wouldn't have had the gun in the first place.
Right. He didn't mind breaking the law when it comes to murder, but there is no way he would have broken the law to obtain a firearm illegally.
haha what i am saying is unnatainnable- A totally gun free country and 100% security keeping them out..Its a theory with holes in it, so is the one where we can apparently know who has good intentions. I was walking down the street the other day and there was a little kid in the front yard playing pretending to shoot me with his play shotgun. I laughed at the time, but the fact that a kid fantasises about shooting someone is scary. It's a society thing, not a gun thing.
There's nothing scary about that at all to me. Kids have been playing with pretend guns and games like cops and robbers for how long now? A kid pretending to shoot you with a toy gun doesn't mean he has some "fantasy" about killing people in real life. What you want is unattainable. Trying to keep all guns out of a country is like trying to keep all drugs out of a country. It's never going to happen.
If it isn't a society thing then how come in canada (where guns are just as legal) the murder rate 1.8 and in america it is 5.6???
I never said society didn't play a role in it. I said that playing with toy guns has nothing to do with a kid having fantasies about actually murdering people. You're going to tell me it's not common for kids in Canada to play with toy guns? And a fun fact, between 1991 and 2004 the murder rate in Canada decreased 36%, in America it decreased 44%. When you add in property crimes and violent crimes, America has a lower crime rate than Canada, even though we have nearly 10 times the population. Not to mention having 10 times the population of Canada means we're going to have a higher percentage of nuts going out and killing people.
Well, first off, population doesn't play a role in crime rates You're somewhat dwelling on the kid thing- what I mean is that Americans as whole love guns and weapons, it seems like americans take such great pride in being the strongest military when countries like Great Britain and France couldn't care less because they're money is invested in education. I'm just saying America's intentions are in the wrong place--- but back to guns, I want to make sure everyone knows i am not for extensive gun control, but just more...
Yes, a majority of adult Americans like guns. I love guns. I own several. Now you're bringing the military into this? What does civilians owning guns have to do with a strong military? The two have nothing to do with each other. On the topic of education America actually wastes a lot of money. I don't believe we actually spend that much more per student though. We just have a very shitty system compared to most European countries. Watch 20/20's "Stupid in America" it's up on youtube. I think you would be interested in it. And if you look at related videos 20/20 also does a nice one that's anti-gun control. You might like to watch that one too. Stupid in America: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bx4pN-aiofw"]YouTube - Stupid in America[/ame] Gun Control: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyoLuTjguJA"]YouTube - John Stossel Links Gun Control to Higher Crime Rates[/ame]
Even if everyone had a gun, that doesn't necessarily mean they'll use it. If someone is scared shitless, they may or may not pull the trigger. This also means that there might be some people without restraint. If they see a person just walk in and go "Get down on the ground motherfuckers!", they might just put a bullet between his eyes just out of reflex. What if the guy was actually kidding, as an April Fools joke? Sure, the chances are higher, but the fact that everyone in a bank will have a loaded gun if someone tries to rob the place is scary. This isn't Halo where everyone is armed and will kill at will.
Quantitatively population plays no role in crime rates, but demographically it does. We have the most diverse country in the world, and one of the most racist. The War on Drugs, for example, ensures that minorities are profiled into an early existence of crime and poverty. Do you think gun violence led to gang violence, or the other way around? When you have a homogenous group of people there is no tension. Being a gun owner has nothing to do with nationalism or militaristic pride. I detest our imperialist foreign policy and myself possess a mini arsenal. I do not believe in violence, but I believe in self defense. I am a pacifist by every sense of the word. Funny you say Great Britain and France spend any more on education than we do, because they don't. Great Britain wishes they were still the world super power, but they provoked wars and killed themselves for greed in WW1 & WW2. You realize that if New York or California didn't have to pay to support the exploits of the United State federal government and the welfare of the other states they could have socialized medicine and education as good as any European nation? You cannot compare the United States to the individual states of Europe, we will never be able to achieve such a massive socialized system here. What level of gun control would satisfy you? Just enough so that the government is more powerful than the people?