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If this argument has merit why has this not occured in the nations that have stricter gun control laws?
It actually has...
Quote:
United Kingdom: The UK enacted its handgun ban in 1996. From 1990 until the ban was enacted, the homicide rate fluctuated between 10.9 and 13 homicides per million. After the ban was enacted, homicides trended up until they reached a peak of 18.0 in 2003.
...
Ireland: Ireland banned firearms in 1972. Ireland’s homicide rate was fairly static going all the way back to 1945. In that period, it fluctuated between 0.1 and 0.6 per 100,000 people. Immediately after the ban, the murder rate shot up to 1.6 per 100,000 people in 1975. It then dropped back down to 0.4. It has trended up, reaching 1.4 in 2007.
I don't want a ban - never have been behind it, and never will be. To do so would be to say I want my elderly father in his inner city home to have NO gun to protect; to do so would mean I want my aunt who is 90 pounds soaking wet and lives in the middle of nowhere, to have NO way to defend herself.
The people that want a ban (or lie that they just want "sensible control") just want these good people to be defenseless in a country that has violence ingrained in it.
This is not so much about gun control anymore. Just what makes for a good argument and what does not...
I am merely stating that in the context of the gun control debate comparing motor vehicles to guns as initially done with that picture of the Home Depot truck (not mine) is a tired, old and ridiculous comparison.
I disagree that "people don't need cars." That SOME people don't need cars does not mean that ALL people don't need cars. It's that sort of logic that demonstrates how faulty so many of these sorts of arguments truly are.
I could spend more time proving that point, but one really need only talk to the millions of Americans who will even go into debt to fix their car because they NEED their car to get them to and from work. Even people arrested for a DUI can be legally allowed to use their car while on probation to get to and from work because of the importance of fulfilling that need.
You and others can make the additional poor argument that people can just quit their jobs and live a life without a motor vehicle if they "choose," but again that's simply not true for millions/most adult working Americans, reasonably speaking that is. This is just one of more than a few significant differences between motor vehicles and guns. Again, this is why there is a gun control debate/controversy and no such motor vehicle control/controversy. I mean right?!?
"In the context of saving lives," I maintain that every source of death deserves the attention of those in the industry and/or those involved in saving those lives to do what they can to save those lives, be they motor vehicle deaths, crib deaths, cancer or gun violence deaths. Ultimately in that respect, any such dangers deserve our attention and best logic to determine what precautions are prudent, effective and productive. This requires sound reason and logic, not the sort demonstrated by all too many anti-gun control folks who think people can be convinced guns are just like cars in these respects. That's just dumb.
Simple as that far as I'm concerned...
I think the equivalent is that you can ride a bike or a scooter vs using a car. That's what we hear when people say all we should be allowed are single shot rifles.
If this argument has merit why has this not occured in the nations that have stricter gun control laws?
In addition to the first response to this, would also add that when these strict laws you mention were enacted in addition to creating more potential defenseless victims they also created many criminals where none existed before.
I remember when CA first legislated their ban on semi automatic service type rifles. Out of 500,000 such firearms estimated to be in the state only something like 10,000 people actually turned them in. The rest are now criminals when they weren't before, and they still aren't. They have never hurt anyone are a very unlikely to.
They just refused to surrender their property to the state when told they had to. However their firearms are now illegal in CA. They are "criminals." Since that time, CA has enacted even more and more bans on specific accessories for all classes of firearms that created even more of the same problem.
I used to compete in matches held in CA. Not anymore. The last one my son and I went to was a revolver only event in 2013. How some of the others are faring I don't know. The guns used in these events are illegal in CA. So European style bans have been tried , and failed miserably.
For these strict laws to work the population has to go along with them. This is the US of America. Not Europe or the UK where people accept everything their governments tell them to do. Americans are known for flipping government the bird. And that's just what happened.
I don't want a ban - never have been behind it, and never will be.
The people that want a ban (or lie that they just want "sensible control") just want these good people to be defenseless in a country that has violence ingrained in it.
The so-called "gun control" advocates have spent the last several decades proving (inadvertently) that their half measures do not work. "Assault weapons" bans, waiting periods, "gun free" zones, background checks, and all the rest rarely reduce the crime rate, and often result in an increase instead.
When they point to countries whose results they like, they invariably point to places like England, Japan, Australia, etc. - countries that have almost completely banned guns from their subjects.
Take the hint.
In fact, complete bans of all guns are the only things that have ever reduced "gun crimes". And they must be accompanied by ruthless confiscation. Advocates who say they want "just some reasonable reguations", know by now they won't work. The only thing they could now being intending, is an eventual complete ban on all guns. While pretending they will do only just a little, to fool you into going along with "just a little". And then next year, just a little more.
Their total gun bans must be accompanied by SWAT teams going door to door to every house and apartment in America, taking people's guns whether they want to give them up or not. They know that many people will object to giving up their guns voluntarily.
Advocates who say they want "reasonable regulations", are either astonishingly ignorant, or are lying to you.
The so-called "gun control" advocates have spent the last several decades proving (inadvertently) that their half measure do not work. "Assault weapons" bans, waiting periods, "gun free" zones, background checks, and all the rest rarely reduce the crime rate, and often result in an increase instead.
I generally agree. However having gun laws is a way of getting a conviction for a serious crime where the underlying crime is difficult to prosecute. For a gun law conviction all that's needed is the gun and the officer's testimony. For a robbery conviction, for example, the victim or eyewitness testimony is needed. Not so easy to get sometimes. Or murder or manslaughter, even harder.
I generally agree. However having gun laws is a way of getting a conviction for a serious crime where the underlying crime is difficult to prosecute. For a gun law conviction all that's needed is the gun and the officer's testimony. For a robbery conviction, for example, the victim or eyewitness testimony is needed. Not so easy to get sometimes. Or murder or manslaughter, even harder.
Think Al Capone's conviction on tax evasion.
Yeah, I guess it's OK to let criminals knock off hundreds more innocent people, and commit crimes against hundreds of thousands secure in the knowledge that those thousands are forbidden to carry a gun.... as long as the rules that did it, let us nab a few more of the criminals on extraneous charges.
The excuses people come up with to justify destructive and unconstitutional laws boggles the mind sometimes.
I think guns should be shot before they are sold and the shells and the bullets entered into a nationwide web site so they can be checked to see if they are used in a subsequent crime. Baltimore has one of the highest illegal gun ownerships and the lowest legal gun ownerships. I do not think machine guns should be legal.
I think guns should be shot before they are sold and the shells and the bullets entered into a nationwide web site so they can be checked to see if they are used in a subsequent crime. Baltimore has one of the highest illegal gun ownerships and the lowest legal gun ownerships. I do not think machine guns should be legal.
Many manufacturers include such casings in the box with the pistol. I throw them in the trash.
I think guns should be shot before they are sold and the shells and the bullets entered into a nationwide web site so they can be checked to see if they are used in a subsequent crime. Baltimore has one of the highest illegal gun ownerships and the lowest legal gun ownerships. I do not think machine guns should be legal.
That would require a firearm registry.
No thanks.
I like Freedom & Liberty to be scary as hell, as it characteristically is suppose to be.
Guns are not the issue. The Swiss are well-armed, and they don't have anywhere near the amount of violence.
I think the real issue is how people are raised. The USA in general endorses treating their young like prisoners more than most other developed countries. People are raised that might makes right.
Cultivate that mentality, and don't be surprised if people grow up to be more violent here, or if they are unable to act right without having to be forced. It's what they're used to.
Partially because they have to account for all of their ammunition and return the empties to get a new box.
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