Gun Control

[Wednesday]

Another month, another shooting in the US. It is very tragic, I'm just waiting for US government to pull their finger out and try and do something about it. It really sickens me that this must happen again and again before people will understand it, and how may cases will it take for the government to take measures?

Do you think that US needs gun contol, or do you have other ideas about preventing shootings from happening?

Note: Blaming death metal rockers doesn't count as doing something about it.

 

[stan1980]

I remember after Dunblane shootings in Scotland some 12 years ago, we (the UK) banned handguns, and since then there has been no school massacres. Although it still entirely possible to obtain a gun (if you know the right people, or wrong people, whichever way you want to look at it), at least it is now fairly difficult to get hold of one. America seems to be so rife with gun crime that something needs to change. Admittedly though, they face a much touger task curbing gun crime than the UK ever has, but yes i agree they need to pull their finger out.

 

[an7222]

Guns should be outlawed.

 

[Remny]

I strongly believe in very very strict gun control. Unfortunatly there are those out there, that see this tragidy and think to themselves, if only one of these people had a gun to defend themselves with!

I believe killing someone who does not want to die is a sin, always regardless of reason or circumstances, weather in self defense or not. However I do think ANYTHING is forgivable, and murder is just one of a multidude of ignorant mistakes that humans make.

Anyhow yeah gun control. Definatly, but its kinda too late for the US with so many guns in circulation.

 

[Sitswithamouse]

I don't think gun control would work in the U.S.A.
The right to bear arms has been an ongoing rule for many and America is a much bigger country than the UK. I don't see it working.

It is tragic that shootings keep happening and this isn't a new thing. Brenda Ann Spencer did this back in 1979.

 

[cantata]

I find the obsession with the 'right' to bear arms very disturbing. If you live somewhere where bears are likely to storm your kitchen, I guess you're justified in having a gun in the house. Otherwise, no thank you.

I'd advocate strict gun control, but I don't know enough about the politics around gun ownership in America to make an informed judgement about whether it would do any good. Either way, I'm not sure how many children have to get accidentally shot, or how many depressed teenagers have to go on killing sprees, before someone gets the message that guns and families should not be friends.

 

[NeTrips]

Another month, another shooting in the US. It is very tragic, I'm just waiting for US government to pull their finger out and try and do something about it. It really sickens me that this must happen again and again before people will understand it, and how may cases will it take for the government to take measures?

Do you think that US needs gun contol, or do you have other ideas about preventing shootings from happening?

Note: Blaming death metal rockers doesn't count as doing something about it.

I agree, the government must ban the gun free zones that embolden cowards to massacre unarmed people. These things don't happen at gun shows, do they?

 

[Corey]

I don't think gun control would work in the U.S.A.
The right to bear arms has been an ongoing rule for many and America is a much bigger country than the UK. I don't see it working.

It is tragic that shootings keep happening and this isn't a new thing. Brenda Ann Spencer did this back in 1979.

The Founders tended to believe that there are inherent rights all sapient creatures have (note: I'm allowing for non-human intelligences-they probably didn't). However, those rights do have limits (e.g., you can't yell fire in a crowded theatre or directly incite violence). In the same vein, there is no absolute right to keep and bear arms. Society (through its freely chosen government) is well within its bounds to set reasonable limits (e.g., requiring licenses and registration of weapons; restriction of egregiously violent arms like nuclear weapons or cannon).

 

[MikeMcK]

It really sickens me that this must happen again and again before people will understand it, and how may cases will it take for the government to take measures?

And how many peaceful, law abiding gun owners who would never dream of hurting anyone will it take before the anti-liberty left realizes that guns are not the problem?

Do you think that US needs gun contol, or do you have other ideas about preventing shootings from happening?

1. Enforce the laws already on the books

2. Sentence anyone who commits a crime with an illegally obtained or illegally possessed weapon to a mandatory life sentence and make murder with an illegally obtained or illegally possessed weapon a federal offense punishable by a mandatory death sentence.

Note: Blaming death metal rockers doesn't count as doing something about it.

How about blaming liberals who's only solution is to punish the law abiding gun owners after the criminal has committed the crime, rather than to place the blame and punishment where it lies: with the gunman and with judges who refuse to crack down on them?

 

[Sitswithamouse]

I find the obsession with the 'right' to bear arms very disturbing. If you live somewhere where bears are likely to storm your kitchen, I guess you're justified in having a gun in the house. Otherwise, no thank you.

Ha ha I just realised the error.
*looks out for renegade bears with arms.*

The Founders tended to believe that there are inherent rights all sapient creatures have (note: I'm allowing for non-human intelligences-they probably didn't). However, those rights do have limits (e.g., you can't yell fire in a crowded theatre or directly incite violence). In the same vein, there is no absolute right to keep and bear arms. Society (through its freely chosen government) is well within its bounds to set reasonable limits (e.g., requiring licenses and registration of weapons; restriction of egregiously violent arms like nuclear weapons or cannon).

Thanks for the clarity
I'm not too sure of how the gun laws work in the USA and I don"t have time sometimes to look things up.

I would love to see guns outlawed in all countries. It could work. But I think it would take a long time to implement.

 

[MikeMcK]

I would love to see guns outlawed in all countries.

So would criminals and tyrants.

If you'd like to read about one person who shared your opinions that private ownership of firearms should be abolished, go here:

http://www.mega.nu:8080/ampp/article-nazilaw.html

 

[Sitswithamouse]

So would criminals and tyrants.

This is a sensitive issue for those on either side and I understand your sentiments.
I think because of the culture divide, I find living in a country where guns are allowed very frightening, but that is because unlike where in America it is the norm and has been for a couple of centuries, it has not been much of an issue here.

I don't know what the solution is, but if debate and dialogue can go towards understanding different cultures, then I think some kind of acheivment can be reached.

 

[quatona]

I wonder about the reasons why strict gun control works very well in my and other countries, but would not work in America.

 

[WatersMoon110]

I wonder about the reasons why strict gun control works very well in my and other countries, but would not work in America.

*laughs* It's because America has so many darn guns in it already! It would be hard to get everyone to give them up, and so there would be plenty of guns to be sold on the black market if they were made illegal (not that some guns aren't already).

I think that some forms of Gun Control, like background checks and maybe waiting periods on handguns are good. And the fingerprint scanners, when they actually work, which would allow only people programmed in to fire it.

But I feel that trying to make guns illegal in the US isn't going to work, because they have been so legal and available here for so long. It's totally different in countries where they have been illegal for a very long time.

 

[WatersMoon110]

I would love to see guns outlawed in all countries. It could work. But I think it would take a long time to implement.

I'd rather see people learn to settle their problems without resorting to violence in the first place. I don't think getting rid of the tools that people use to hurt others will solve the problem - I think that teaching better coping skills and trying to find ways to help angry/depressed young people to get the serious help they need before they try to kill people would be a better way to go about stopping this.

 

[gengwall]

I wonder about the reasons why strict gun control works very well in my and other countries, but would not work in America.

Lol - it's this pesky little thing we have here in America called "liberty".

 

[gengwall]

I'd rather see people learn to settle their problems without resorting to violence in the first place. I don't think getting rid of the tools that people use to hurt others will solve the problem - I think that teaching better coping skills and trying to find ways to help angry/depressed young people to get the serious help they need before they try to kill people would be a better way to go about stopping this.

Exactly. Everyone remember this was a nut job who was off his medication. Guns are just a tool. They didn't place the idea to kill in this guy's head. Although guns are the weapon of choice for spree killers, they are rarely used by serial killers - who kill far more people world wide.

 

[quatona]

*laughs* It's because America has so many darn guns in it already! It would be hard to get everyone to give them up, and so there would be plenty of guns to be sold on the black market if they were made illegal (not that some guns aren't already).

I think that some forms of Gun Control, like background checks and maybe waiting periods on handguns are good. And the fingerprint scanners, when they actually work, which would allow only people programmed in to fire it.

But I feel that trying to make guns illegal in the US isn't going to work, because they have been so legal and available here for so long. It's totally different in countries where they have been illegal for a very long time.

I am not sure I buy the argument that things cannot change because they have been that way for so long. I mean, that´s the nature of change, after all: that things change.

For example, since last year we have strict laws prohibiting smoking in public places in this country. If anyone had come up with this idea 20 years ago, he would have heard the same argument: It won´t work because smoking has a centuries long tradition.

Anyways, I am wondering what it is with this obsession with owning guns. And, frankly, I don´t find it really surprising that America suffers from particularly high rates of violence, if the paradigms communicate that violence is an acceptable (maybe even favourable) solution for conflicts.

 

[quatona]

Lol - it's this pesky little thing we have here in America called "liberty".

Great. If owning guns is an essential part of your idea of liberty just don´t complain if the outcome of your brand of liberty bites you in the back.

 

[lawtonfogle]

I have no problem with gun control after it has been put in place. Before it has, I do have a problem. When all law abiding citizens are required to give up their guns, then the ones with guns will be police and criminals. Criminals... Well we have a basic understanding about how that works. As for police, I have not faith in them. Reason being, I have been informed by one of them not to. Part of it is that they can be very slow to respond. The other part is not their fault at all, but the over all legal system. At least where I am, it has some major flaws.

Now, as for stricter gun control that does not remove it from the citizens' hands, I am for.