The right to bear arms....
I think even with a change in the law America is so awash with weapons that someone with the will to commit this sort of crime isn't going to have any problems finding a way to do so sad but true
Yes, it's one thing restricting the sale of weapons, but getting hold of the hundreds of millions of them already in the society is a completely different matter. Pandora's Box and all that...
I can't really add to what has been written by you guys, but what I will say is, it's a shame that the majority of Americans can't be as rational and educated about the argument as you have been.
I fear nothing will change.
I can't really add to what has been written by you guys, but what I will say is, it's a shame that the majority of Americans can't be as rational and educated about the argument as you have been.
I fear nothing will change.
Coming from NI, I'm well used to strongly held entrenched opinions.
Yes, it's one thing restricting the sale of weapons, but getting hold of the hundreds of millions of them already in the society is a completely different matter. Pandora's Box and all that...
Well it depends how it's regulated. You need a strong disincentive to own / incentive to get rid of guns, ie a big stick. In this country you get 5 years for having a handgun. In the US you should severely punish unlicensed possession of (maybe the most dangerous) weapons and ammunition, with stringent licence conditions. This doesn't impinge on the right to bear arms, it just stops people walking into a shop and walking out with a gun.
Is it the fire arm that kills,or the person pulling the trigger?
I think that something will change,maybe more control as to how firearms are kept,but i cant see a ban.
The person can't kill with a firearm if they don't have a firearm.
OR we'll try and outlaw people first. If that fails, we'll try and outlaw firearms.
Your right,if they dont have a firearm they cant kill with it.If knives and swords are not available they cant kill with that either.
If explosives aren't available they cant kill with that,if cars were controlled by satalite's they couldn't be used to drive into people waiting at a taxi rank.
Unhinged people will always carry out these attrocoties,no matter what medium they use,as a society we can't control everything that can be used to kill another human being.
To paraphrase something I read on Twitter this week; If you think owning a car equates to owning a gun then you're too stupid to be allowed access to either of them.
By way of illustration, gsb are you suggesting that if this guy didn't have guns he'd have somehow driven his mum's car into the school classrooms to kill those kids?
None of us really know how we would react, if we carried a gun, and were then confronted by an intruder, in our home, during the middle of the night. The instinct to protect one's family at all costs, is very strong.
A vouple more thoughts on this, now that I've stopped slamming my fist into the wall in rage...
Yes and you know what, the vast majority of societies don't make explosives freely available to the general public, even though, it has more non-lethal uses than a gun does.
No but we can control the things that don't have any other use except for killing (sport shooting and hunting don't count, nobody in the western world actually needs to hunt anymore they only do it to glory in the bloodshed and you don't need a 9mm semi-automatic to prove you can shoot straighter than anyone else).
I'm hoping you can see the distinction there. If you can't this conversation is a waste of time but IS a perfect illustration as to why the "man in the street" shouldn't be allowed with 100 yards of a firearm.
I was just pointing out that it,as happened recently in this country people were killed intentionaly by a guy in a car,ploughing into a crowd of people at a taxi rank....premenditated murder.
i'm not suggesting that guy in America would drive his moms car into the school,just contributing to a debate about gun-law.
If you or others think that by banning firearms will stop children of all ages being murdered then great,but it wont work....premeditated murder will happen via another means...imo
The numbers don't agree with you. 60million people in the UK in 2011, 51 gun-related deaths, 312million people in the US, total gun related deaths over 31,000. Do the sums.
Quite. Figures read out to me before: number of killings with handguns in US, in excess of 10,000. Number in UK, 8. Pretty stark.
It would appear that the sale of guns is more important than the lives of young children.