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Britain never had a frontier culture, and hasn't been as de-centralized as the US for a very long time. That said, I definitely believe we need to restrict access to firearms. I'm not confidant about taking it to British levels though, who don't even let police have them.
we do restrict access to firearms. Try to buy a gun in places like NJ. NJ has an unbroken string of murders in several of its cities. Laws are ignored. Pass some more. 99% of violence is clustered, not evenly distributed. Gun laws are intended for an evenly distributed application and therefore have little to no effcet on the centers of violence.
Years ago in America guns were more common and crime was scarce. More firearm restrictions today with exponentially more crime. What changed, it wasn't firearms. Firearm restrictions reach a point of diminishing return. Unfortunately the politcal response has been traditional and ineffective.
Britian was once a frontier. England known for the long bow. Men were mandated by law to shoot everyday. then again before Forest law, if you shot the king's game birds or animals you got your eyes poked out or your hand cut off.
It's not needed even then, not unless the government also became a dictatorship while no one was looking.
And what's to stop that from happening? Let's say within the next 100-150 years, the structure of power in our government progresses either far left or far right. Perhaps even a new party may emerge within that time frame, who knows. Whichever, pick your poison. Then, of course the structure of the courts will also move in that direction. All three branches of government move in the same direction. Then, something happens. Maybe a world-wide event or something like that, that triggers the POTUS to encourage Congress to pass some kind of law changing our government forever, that gives the POTUS and Congress unlimited and unchecked authority, making himself essentially a king or dictator if you will, and the normal democratic channels that would otherwise give We The People the ability to correct the wrong have been so far corrupted that the people have no recourse?
Who or what is going to stop it if all three branches of government are so far aligned? The courts? What if they choose not to?
Fact is, a law is only a law and a Right only a Right if it has teeth..... If It has some way of being enforced. If there is no one willing to enforce said law, it ceases to BE a law and instead just ink on worthless paper. The only reason our Constitution and rule of law have worked for so long is because there has always been a healthy difference in political philosophy and ideology to keep everyone on the straight and narrow, but absolute power corrupts absolutely..... I'm not a Conspiricy theorist, I'm not saying this will happen, but that is not to say that it couldn't happen.
You were doing fine right up until you accused his country of "lying" to him to bolster the concept of gun control in the U.K. Point of fact is they are actually practicing democracy by motions being discussed in the house and voted upon, with the majority of Brits remaining in favour of restrictions.
Right..... and the British government no doubt lies to them to keep them supporting such motions, much in the way US media lies to us to try and get us to support said motions in our own government.
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Next up: "FEAR". Which country is it would be displaying the fear you speak of; the one whose citizens are all desiring to walk around strapped due to fear of their neighbour and fellow citizens ALSO strapped, or, the country that considers easy access to handguns and the feature of carrying one around on your person as not desired or required?
Fine, you can call it fear if you wish, but it's not an unsubstantiated fear, and that's the difference. You can pretend that it is, pretend that there's no good reason at all to carry a gun, but to do so would be to pretend that crime does not exist, that it doesn't happen, and that there will never be a time when you will ever need to defend yourself. Until such time as our crime rate is "0" your argument falls flat on it's FACE!
The British have their own issues to deal with. That country is getting lost and losing it's identity, they are soooo PC it's to the point of being embarrassing.
That being said, it's none of their business what we do here. I'm not a gun guy, I don't think about them, I find them boring and I believe that guns should be regulated... to a point.
The thing is is that criminals will always find a way to get guns.....
It would be impossible to remove every gun from every citizen, it has gone too far for that. The only way to combat it, is for law abiding citizens to become armed (if they choose) and defend themselves. The British, Australians and French are beginning to question their gun bans because of the upsurge in radical Muslims taking advantage of the fact that the average citizen has no means of defense. They have been acting up in all of these countries mentioned and the people are sick of it. Knowing someone is armed or possibly armed, is a huge deterrent to the one who is about to do harm to someone else. Remember, an armed society, is a polite society.
That's true, you don't see any radicals running around here beheading people. They got one woman down in Okla. and guess what? He got shot!
You could have at least added an intelligent comment to this thread rather than the ridiculous, and in poor taste pic of a re-enactor redcoat.
BTW - you will have to look hard to find a Brit that cares to defend Britain, or can even relate to the references people make about America fighting for its independence from Britain. And how it kicked "us" out. Modern day Brits who pay attention to this history (most don't) have long respected the courage those "new" Americans had. No doubt, many would have been there with them had they lived in that period. Remember, those new Americans were mostly from the UK, or a generation or so removed from G. Britain & Ireland.
Today, Brits honestly don't think about the war for American independence. It doesn't come up in conversation over there like it does here. They don't feel it impacted the lives of them or their ancestors - it didn't change anything for the everyday working folks unlike it did for Americans who rightly are aware of this. Brits are far more aware of the impact and consequences of WWI & WWII. And, as far as America goes, Brits have more compassion for the plight of Native Americans considering the suffering they went thru because of the "new" Americans. And, they have long rooted for African Americans to have equality and be truly respected as full American citizens. These are things the folks from the UK have cared about. Not about losing some war that they didn't care about that was part of King's plan for his empire.
So, send your comments/pics to the Queen, see if you can elicit a response
I've always wondered about how Schools in Britian taught lessons on the American revolt. Thanls for the insight...
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And, they have long rooted for African Americans to have equality and be truly respected as full American citizens
"How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty from the drivers od slaves?"......
Someone over there said this when the Revolution was startiing up. I read that somewhere and it's stuck with me ever since. lol.
The British have their own issues to deal with. That country is getting lost and losing it's identity, they are soooo PC it's to the point of being embarrassing.
I agree! Again that's thanks to Blair's Labour government! Although I think people are waking up. Even black people and Muslims complain about how most of the "indigenous" Brits (like me) don't stand up for ourselves. But, around 5 years ago, before UKIP was massive, it was getting worrying because far right fascist movements such as the BNP (who got a couple of seats at Westminster) and the English Defense League (EDL) where getting a voice and were starting to become popular. Luckily UKIP (more in the middle and fair, but cares about British citizens) steeped in and shadowed those racist asses, BNP has had a bad year this year because of UKIP. Also, the main parties (Con, Lab and Lib) are all scared up their own ass that UKIP will be in power within the next 10 or so years. Cameron is even trying to sound like Nigel Farage by say "we will give you a referendum on the EU", but I don't trust that tw*t!
Anyway UKIP will get rid of any red tape and Political Correctness crap... By the way, I'm the least PC guy you could meet, I actually say what I think wherever I am! Because I have the right!
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Originally Posted by Chowhound
That being said, it's none of their business what we do here. I'm not a gun guy, I don't think about them, I find them boring and I believe that guns should be regulated... to a point.
It isn't are business. But we can still talk about it, and occasionally ague and or banter about it. But, in all honesty I don't really care what you guys do. I just wanted to see what you guy thought.
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(Only Jokes!)... I do suspect that was a way of trying to annoy us though? 
Heck I'm Brit and I do it anyway, 
