Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I moved here recently from the UK which by American standards is incredibly safe as there is no gun culture. You are allowed to buy guns for recreational purposes (sport/bird shooting etc) and like the US need a permit, but it would be very unusual to come across someone who owned one. It is just not in the national mindset.
On Monday, in Oakland, just a couple of miles from where I live now, a one year old child was shot in the head, and 7 others were also shot.
The 3 people shooting were attacking, not acting in self defense and they all got away free.
If a child was shot like this in the UK it would make National news for a year and beyond. Here, people seem almost de-sensitised to it, like its just another news story.
I understand that guns are very much part of the mindset and culture in the US and that will not change, and possibly cannot ever change, it is too ingrown. As has been pointed out to me before, its in the constitution.
My question is this. In an ideal world, if you could walk down the street, or sit in your house and feel that you were safe and your kids were safe because nobody else around you had a gun, would you still own one? (I'm talking urban not rural life here). Or would you have some other type of weapon instead?
Based on my experience, I have never know anyone who lived in the
city who owned a gun other than polic, but I would imagine in low income areas there are some. A rather large majority feel safe in theiir own home. The mindset for some in the more rural areas and the west is quite different.
Gun control in the U.S. is an oxymoron. The idealists are ignoring the reality of the proliferation of handguns that have been available for over a century.
To effectively craft legislation to control handguns and other firearms you'd need a sea change of belief in the freedom aspect of gun ownership and a willingness of the entire population to start turning in their firearms; AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN!
It is too late in your population and history make-up to start instituting any effective legislation.
I believe the federal government should go the other way entirely and encourage responsible gun ownership that includes mandated courses comprised of a certain number of hours of instruction on the proper usage of firearms.
Those who've simply bought the thing and fire it off into the sky on a night when fireworks are being used to celebrate a holiday as happened here in Florida just recently need a size 12 boot up the poop chute. When a 12 year old boy fell off a porch railing while watching a fireworks show with his family, emergency room techs found a bullet lodged in the top of his skull from some retarded A-Hole doing the A-Rab thing of firing a weapon into the air for the bullet to come back to earth they know not where! Might fly in the desert of Arizona but in an urban city environment what was that nutbar thinking, and why was he allowed to buy a gun when it's obvious he's borderline retarded.
In short; stifle the gun control and highlight and encourage the mandated education of ownership instead.
Depends on whether you think that innocent people being killed by guns every day in the USA is acceptable. Every Country has violent crime but few surpass the USA in Gun related Deaths. People can still be knifed to death etc but at the moment any idiot can get a gun and many idiots here kill with them. Every day i see gun deaths on the news here.... America will never give up the gun regardless of how many families are destroyed by them.
gun-related death rate is 3.6/100,000p. but for rest of the developed world,it's around 0,1-0,5/100k?
1.United States - 11,127 (3.601 per 100,000)
2.Germany – 381 (0.466/100,000)
3.France – 255 (0.389/100,000)
4.Canada – 165 (0.484/100,000)
5.United Kingdom – 68 (0.109/100,000)
6.Australia – 65 (0.292/100,000)
7.Japan – 39 (0.030/100,000)
"Every day I see gun deaths on the news here..", Which proves the media is biased.
I moved here recently from the UK which by American standards is incredibly safe as there is no gun culture. You are allowed to buy guns for recreational purposes (sport/bird shooting etc) and like the US need a permit, but it would be very unusual to come across someone who owned one. It is just not in the national mindset.
On Monday, in Oakland, just a couple of miles from where I live now, a one year old child was shot in the head, and 7 others were also shot.
The 3 people shooting were attacking, not acting in self defense and they all got away free.
If a child was shot like this in the UK it would make National news for a year and beyond. Here, people seem almost de-sensitised to it, like its just another news story.
I understand that guns are very much part of the mindset and culture in the US and that will not change, and possibly cannot ever change, it is too ingrown. As has been pointed out to me before, its in the constitution.
My question is this. In an ideal world, if you could walk down the street, or sit in your house and feel that you were safe and your kids were safe because nobody else around you had a gun, would you still own one? (I'm talking urban not rural life here). Or would you have some other type of weapon instead?
Please explain:
"Gun crime doubles in a decade
Offences involving firearms have increased in all but four police areas in England and Wales since 1998, figures obtained by the Tories reveal.
One part of the country has seen the problem increase almost seven fold as the availability of guns, and criminals' williness to use them rises.
The number of people injured or killed by a gun has also doubled under Labour.
It emerged last week that armed police are to carry out regular street patrols for the first time to help combat gun crime in London.
Chris Grayling, the shadow home secretary, said: "These figures are all the more alarming given that it is only a week since the Metropolitan Police said it was increasing regular armed patrols in some areas of the capital." Gun crime doubles in a decade - Telegraph
Based on my experience, I have never know anyone who lived in the
city who owned a gun other than polic, but I would imagine in low income areas there are some. A rather large majority feel safe in theiir own home. The mindset for some in the more rural areas and the west is quite different.
You should read up on the Wash, DC journalist, Carl Rowan, who was an avid anti gun zealot but, had a gun his FBI agent son gave him and shot at intruders at his swimming pool.
So, because you don't know anyone means that no one has a gun? Right?
I don't think the people that go out on shooting sprees are all that bright. Shoot a gun, and the sound gets everybody's attention. by the second shot, every possible target is looking for a place to hide. But, you know... There are other weapons that are nearly completely silent, and just as lethal. So far, they are not covered by gun control either. For example, Alaska State Troopers have investigated a moose, shot and killed with a pellet gun. Other weapons are even more lethal, silent, and less than $100 to buy. It means that I can shoot an intruder dead, without waking up anyone else in the house... Until the intruder hits the floor, that is.
So, I'm not all that concerned about the idiots with all the hoopla about controlling guns. What I have is exempt. I don't have to register it, I don't need a permit, but I might be a bit concerned about dropping a bear.
I also believe we already have enough gun laws. It's more a matter of enforcement. In some areas, gun laws have already gone far overboard.
If the Federal Government were really interested in gun control, they will have it whether you like it or not. DHS will then enforce it as all you gun owners out there will then be considered domestic terrorists.
If you don't like it, too bad! You don't make the rules so just get in line and stop sticking out like a sore thumb.
I think that laws are often psychological in their effect. If you tell people that what they are doing is wrong in a society or system then many will be thwarted from doing what is considered illegal. So, that is one explanation: that maybe less people will have guns when told that they are not supposed to have them.
Of course, this sounds like bull**** to me, but there ARE those who will not do something because they know it is illegal. That means less guns in the hands of the wrong people. But, in many situations, if someone wants to hurt someone, they are going to get a weapon by any means necessary. Although, I do think that gun laws that pertain to the dealers of guns do cut down on guns being sold to the wrong people.
I was actually watching a documentary last night on CNBC about these two kids who were basically messed-up in the head and they wanted to murder people out of a need to feel in control or to pay people back for being to perfect. I believe the special was called 'In Cold Blood." Well, anyway, while they are documenting their plans on video tape, they mentioned that it would be really difficult to get a gun to kill people. Well, the fact that they knew it would be difficult to get guns shows something is working. They realized how difficult it would be and gave up the idea of trying to get a gun and instead ended up using a knife.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
