[drkev]

Prohibition does not prevent something from being available to the criminal element. Gun crime it he UK has risen since the introduction of the ban on handguns.

Amnesties are just political knee jerk reactions to appease the general public.

All prohibition has done is remove guns from the hands of safe and responsible gun owners. Are criminals really going to hand in their guns? No they're not.

I like guns, I like shooting. Some people equate this with "I like killing people" but this isn't the case.

I am ex military and used to compete regularly in small arms competitions.

Many prohibited things are still used: drugs, driving without a licence etc makign something illegal does not make it go away. Dunblane was a very sad event and I still cry today when I hear about it on the television. Bowling for Columbine had some very interesting statistics.

Thousands or people are killed each year in the USA by guns. Only a handfull in any other country.

South Africa has horrific gun crime and they are bringing in tighter controls.

If something is legal then the government have some element of control over it.

We are now in a situation in the UK where 12 year old kids can pull a gun on you and "smoke you". There was a documentary called "Britain's toughest towns" and it showcased Manchester.

Gun crime is on the increase despite prohibtion. Law abiding gun owners do not use their guns to kill people. Criminals who have the guns illegally in the first place do.

We can thank Hollywood for the gun crime as the movies glorify violence and guns. Kids see their favourite characters using guns and they see someone getting shot and it's no big deal. But have you ever seen an actual gunshot wound? I have and it's not nice. They do not see the real effect of shooting someone on a film. They do not see the repurcussions.

Guns give someone a feeling of power and with power comes responsibility (thank you Spiderman for that!)

Look at the toubles in Northern Ireland with guns. Horrific violence daily so this seems to suggest that if the guns weren't there then there wouldn't be as many problems? Except for pipe bombs etc

Prohibition doesn't work but strict control and proper education does.

Americans are a very violent country. They have a violent nature. They are bullies. They want something they take it. They don't like something they shoot it. Recent events in Iraq prove this without question.

Bush just wants to blow the $hit out of things and wanted a big war in his lifetime that he could brag about to his Daddy.



Live long and Love life

Kevin Fisher

[sharkeyandgeorge]

thanks drkev you kind of made me think and i retract my former statement give everybody guns pistols shotguns and full auto but then as chris rock says charge a thousand per bullet and see how the percentages fall. As he says "id pop a cap in you ass......if i could afford it"

Giggidy Giggidy Goo
The philosopher Q man

[i_have_no_idea]

Would any of you europeans want to own a gun? Im glad we can own guns here.

[Solvay_1927]

"Would any of you europeans want to own a gun?"

You may as well ask "Would any of you want to keep a nuclear reactor in your shed" or "Would any of you want to keep a toxic waste site in your back garden" or "Would any of you like to learn to juggle razor wire" or ...

The answer is No, thanks.


"The early bird may get the worm, but it's the second mouse who gets the cheese."

[i_have_no_idea]

I wouldnt mind owning a nuclear reactor in my shed.

[neilep]

quote:Originally posted by i_have_no_idea

I wouldnt mind owning a nuclear reactor in my shed.

LOL !!...I think I've got one lying around somewhere, if I find it I'll send it to you with love from the UK []

Men are the same as women.... just inside out !!

[drkev]

The difference between us Europeans as you put it (which I find quite offensive as I am British not European. It's like saying Americans are Canadians or vice versa) is that we do not believe that we are ENTITLED to carry a gun.

Nobody can escape the fact that it is not appropriate for anybody to have an M16 or AK74 in their house. Yes that is correct, the gun is called and AK74, the AK47 was a cheap American copy of the 74.

However, the Americans feel that it is their constitutional right to have an automatic weapon. They feel that god gave them the right to carry a handgun.

They argue that the government tries to interfere with their lives and that nobody should be able to tell them what to do.

Now that I am a lawyer (well nearly I qualify in June) it is obvious to me that we need some element of control from the government otherwise there would be bedlam. We need to strike a balance though.

This is the difference, just because you have a right to have something it doesn't mean you should. Most people only have a gun because everyone else has one.

The police are currently processing my application for a gun. I have applied for a hunting rifle to go deer stalking. However this has a specific purpose.

I do not see the need for a semi automatic weapon or a fully automatic weapon.

The fact is that you do not NEED a gun. You WANT a gun. I don't NEED a car but I have got one because I can have one. I feel it is the same with guns. In the USA people can have a gun so they do. They feel they are entitled to it and nobody can take it away.

Well you ask the parent of anyone who has been murdered with a handgun wether they think you should have it.

Why do you need it anyway? Self defence? Well why is it that Brits do not feel the need to have a gun to defend ourselves? We are not even allowed tazers, pepper spray, batons or anything else to defend ourselves.

You only need a gun to defend yourself because every other person in the country has one and criminals can pick them up at the bloody Kwik 'E' Mart.

America is a disgraceful country of violence and crime. That is not to say I do not like the American people because I do and I do not stereotype but look at the numbers of people killed with guns each year compared to every other country. Millions are killed each year in the USA compared to less than 200 in Canada and 400 in Australia.

Do you know why guns are your constitutional right? So that the white man can "defend" himself against the "evil" black man. Look really closely at the law. It is about the whites persecuting the blacks and then when they killed them all they turned on each other. Watch bowling for columbine it really does open your eyes.

My dissertation is going to be on another great American institution - Capital Punishment. Boy have I done some extensive research and uncovered some nasty things about that country.

Live long and Love life

Kevin Fisher

[i_have_no_idea]

My friends got a magazine with gatling guns for only $400.

[another_someone]

quote:Originally posted by drkev

The difference between us Europeans as you put it (which I find quite offensive as I am British not European. It's like saying Americans are Canadians or vice versa) is that we do not believe that we are ENTITLED to carry a gun.

I am English (the Scots decided they don't want to be British any more, so I am English, as distinct from Scottish), but I am also European.  I have no problem with that.

The difference with the Americans is that the USA has hijacked the word American; no single nation has hijacked the word European, and there is no reason why the term should be used to describe a Frenchman, or a Scandinavian, or a Greek, but not an Englishman.

quote:
Nobody can escape the fact that it is not appropriate for anybody to have an M16 or AK74 in their house. Yes that is correct, the gun is called and AK74, the AK47 was a cheap American copy of the 74.

Although I am no expert on gins, I think it well established that the AK47 is just that, and it is so because it nominally went into production in 1947.  The AK74 is a weapon that was brought in to replace the AK47 around 1974.

quote:
However, the Americans feel that it is their constitutional right to have an automatic weapon. They feel that god gave them the right to carry a handgun.

They argue that the government tries to interfere with their lives and that nobody should be able to tell them what to do.

Now that I am a lawyer (well nearly I qualify in June) it is obvious to me that we need some element of control from the government otherwise there would be bedlam. We need to strike a balance though.

While what you say about striking a balance is indeed correct, but where and how that balance is struck is a very different matter.

The USA is by no means the only country with high gun ownership, but as has often been pointed out, the high rate of gun ownership in Switzerland does not lead to high levels of gun crime.  Conversely, in this country, gun crime has rocketed since hand guns were outlawed.

In many cases, the better way to deal with such matters it to motivate people to be properly trained in safety than to outlaw these things outright.  Outlawing something often does little more than force it underground, and thus remove whatever hope you might have had for controlling the legal use of such things.

quote:
This is the difference, just because you have a right to have something it doesn't mean you should. Most people only have a gun because everyone else has one.

The police are currently processing my application for a gun. I have applied for a hunting rifle to go deer stalking. However this has a specific purpose.

I do not see the need for a semi automatic weapon or a fully automatic weapon.

And can you tell us why you should have a right to hunt deer?  You can go to the supermarket and buy venison.

I understand that you may enjoy hunting deer, but you have no more a God given right to hunt deer than Americans have to own guns.

If an American may wish to go down to his local gun club to use an AK47, and enjoys doing so, why is this different than your taking your hunting rifle out to stalk deer?

quote:
The fact is that you do not NEED a gun. You WANT a gun. I don't NEED a car but I have got one because I can have one. I feel it is the same with guns. In the USA people can have a gun so they do. They feel they are entitled to it and nobody can take it away.

Well you ask the parent of anyone who has been murdered with a handgun wether they think you should have it.

The fact is that more children are killed, and in recent decades (both during the years hand guns were legally owned, and in the years since) far more children in this country (and I imagine in the USA) have been killed by cars than by any form of firearm.

quote:
America is a disgraceful country of violence and crime. That is not to say I do not like the American people because I do and I do not stereotype but look at the numbers of people killed with guns each year compared to every other country. Millions are killed each year in the USA compared to less than 200 in Canada and 400 in Australia.

Millions?

But as you say, the reality is that in the USA, the problem is far broader than merely the issue of gun ownership, it is about crime and violence in general.  The USA has the highest percentage of persons in its jails of any developed nation, only exceeded by the likes of China; and it similarly is different to Europe in still retaining the death penalty.  Violence permeates the society as much at the institutional level as it does at the individual level.

Interestingly, while the rate of homicide from firearms in Switzerland is comparable to that in Canada (which is about one eighth that of the USA), the rate of suicide by the use of guns is scarcely different in the two countries (and even in the USA, there are more suicides from gun use than homicides).  It seems that there is probably a higher correlation between gun ownership and suicides by the use of guns than there is between gun ownership and homicides by the use of guns.  Would those people who use a gun to commit suicide have committed suicide by another means if the guns had not been available - that is an interesting question.

The problem we have is not that the Americans may own guns, but that they have a love affair with the gun, and as with all such all consuming passions, it is the passion that is destructive, not the object of desire itself.

quote:
Do you know why guns are your constitutional right? So that the white man can "defend" himself against the "evil" black man. Look really closely at the law. It is about the whites persecuting the blacks and then when they killed them all they turned on each other. Watch bowling for columbine it really does open your eyes.

Again, this is incorrect.  The reason the American has the constitutional right to carry arms is to shoot "evil" Brits.  It was a byproduct of raising a popular militia army for the anti-colonial revolution, and is similar in nature to the Swiss or Israeli Army, except that the USA no longer has a popular militia army, and there is no longer the original purpose for that constitutional right to be there.  In a similar fashion, in medieval times, the English yeoman was required to have regular archery practice, and thus one may assume he also had an obligation to own bows and arrows.  The problem with the Americans is that while they retained the right to bear arms, they never had the obligation to regularly train in the appropriate use of arms.  The Swiss and Israeli's, when the give their population guns, they also give them training in how to use (and not to use) them.  True, for other reasons, Israeli law and order has started to break down of recent years, but that just goes to show that crime is not a consequence of gun ownership, but a product of public faith in the institution of the law.

[simeonie]

Hmmm in America are you allowed to just carry guns around the street or must they stay in your home?

I have quite a few air guns which are very powerfull. My rifle goes right through a pretty solid wooden door and leaves a nice big hole in the back, this 'weapon' would deffinetly leave a mess of your face. I think that if proper guns are illegal as much as I enjoy them so should air guns. Also I have a bow, which is outragously powerful, when I mean power I mean power. It would like go right through, they are deadly weapons even more so that a 9mm gun I think.

----------------------
http://www.simeonie.co.uk
Check it out. Click on the forums

[i_have_no_idea]

In america you cant just go around with your AK-47 you have to first be able to own a gun then keep it locked up in a gun case or if its in your car you arnt alowd to be able to get at it (has to be in the trunk or something).  Although if you get a permit to cary a consealed weapon then yes you are but that would be like a hand gun.

[christiansturt]

What I will never understand is why a country that is so lax on Gun ownership has so strict alcohol laws  Not being able to drink until you are 21 is just stupid (not to mention having to hide it in public) and must lead to more drug problems.   The average 18 year old in the UK goes out and drinks too much, and has a good time. At least they get the hangover in the morning to remind them to moderate their usage next time! Where as the average American might as well do drugs rather than beer as they have less after effects, and are easier to conceal.


And I’m English, not British or European.  Europe is a place over the English Channel full of Cheese eating, garlic smelling surrender monkeys. (-:

quote:Originally posted by i_have_no_idea

In america you cant just go around with your AK-47 you have to first be able to own a gun then keep it locked up in a gun case or if its in your car you arnt alowd to be able to get at it (has to be in the trunk or something).  Although if you get a permit to cary a consealed weapon then yes you are but that would be like a hand gun.

[Mirage]

I take it you don't like the French then

I've always wanted to own a gun, I'm into the outdoor shooting hobby. I've been to archery with my cousin a few times and have had a great time. I would never turn a weapon with such a destructive force on a living soul, but the chance to be able to go out into a field and shoot targets, sounds like fun to me.

I understand the issues people have when it comes to guns. I have been in many debates on other forums about guns in the uk, should the police carry guns, would it help, would it makes things worse!!?? Well to be honest I would prefer the police to be carrying guns, I know I would feel safer.

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Flying Monkey Slayer says:

Remember boys, flies spread disease, so keep your closed

[moonfire]

Shoot!(no gun, I mean pun intended)If they outlawed guns...what would the criminals do here...I mean butter knives can hardly do damage to a flower...hehe

There is darts...hmmm, maybe we can take up sleeping potions or just plain poison it might be much more fun for the criminals to really hit a moving target..hehe  There would be alot of police without jobs if the criminals weren't using guns...?

"Lo" Loretta

[Mirage]

That would be pretty cool if you accidentally got shot in the arse by a sleepy dart.......work would say why didn't you show up to work, well you see I was sleeping because the police shot me

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Flying Monkey Slayer says:

Remember boys, flies spread disease, so keep your closed

[Karen W.]

LOL LOL!!

Karen

[Andy28]

Look at the columbine high school massacre and several other similar incidents. They were commited by kids who had been given detention and other stupid reasons. America is totally foolish to allow people to have guns. The only people who should be legally armed are the police in all countries.

[another_someone]

quote:Originally posted by Andy28

Look at the columbine high school massacre and several other similar incidents. They were commited by kids who had been given detention and other stupid reasons. America is totally foolish to allow people to have guns. The only people who should be legally armed are the police in all countries.

And what about pest controllers, farmers, sportsmen, etc.

There is a large gap between allowing everyone to have a gun, and allowing no-one to have a gun.  Why should either extreme be the right position to take?

George

[moonfire]

I like that George!  So true!  It is not the guns, but the person who has one...maybe they should regulate who would have them and I thought of an idea, but can't post it...hmmm, I am going to research patents on this idea...sorry

"Lo" Loretta

[Andy28]

Pest controllers and farmers? Ain't they the ones that shoot innocent little animals. Sorry i don't agree with it. Animals have just as much right as we do on this planet.