Gun Control

[CloudCat]

I'm doing a debate in school about gun control laws. This debate sparked an intrest in my mind-- should the possestion of guns be legal? Why or why not?

I want your guy's personal opinion.

 

[Cerberus87]

I'm all for gun control. I don't want to be killed by a stupid guy with a revolver just because we got the wrong side of each other. Untrained people (and even trained ones) do horrible things with guns.

 

[CloudCat]

Yes, but if a ban is placed against guns, then won't the criminals still find the guns? If he/she is willing to commit a crime, won't they obtain a gun illegally (black market)?

 

[Teh Ebil Snorlax]

While, in terms of just my beliefs, I'm very much in favour of strict gun control, I'm very skeptical of the efficacy of any attempts to impose gun control on a country like America. I think the gun is too embedded in American culture, something which I blame on the Second Amendment essentially enshrining paralyzing fear of the government into the Constitution. Which is to say, I'd be very much in favour of efforts to prevent further proliferation of arms within the US, but I'd be skeptical if it would have much effect on the guns already there.

 

[Zero Moment]

My belief? An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.

 

[Cerberus87]

There are researches saying most guns in the hands of criminals were actually obtained legally. No, they didn't go to the store and bought them! Most commonly the guns were stolen from someone who obtained them legally.

The 2nd Amendment is a rule that needs to be interpreted according to today's times. In the very distant past, it was acceptable to let people use arms to defend the society, but, nowadays, there's the police and the army for that.

If a criminal threatens you with a gun, it's very difficult to counter it with a gun of your own. You need to outwit someone who already has the upper hand on you. Few people are prepared to do anything in such a situation, so the best thing to do if you want to stay alive is not to react. Possessions aren't nearly as important as your life.

 

[Teh Ebil Snorlax]

My belief? An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.

Right, because people are always so much more polite in America (88.8 guns per capita) than Japan (0.6 guns per capita) and Americans obviously commit far fewer murders, and crimes in general, than Irish people (8.6 per capita) or, y'know, literally any other country in the world. No, an armed society is a fearful, discordant, paranoid, unstable and distrusting society. It breeds a culture that devalues life and sees it as something to be taken away because your manners aren't good, thereby pissing on just about any standard of common human decency.

 

[Tailsy]

I thought Limerick, Ireland was the murder capital of Europe? You stole it from Glasgow, you dirty swines. :P

But I'm very much for strict gun control laws. People kill people, yes, but it is a lot easier when you have a gun. Guns have literally no purpose other than to threaten, injure, and kill people. Armed forces have guns because it is strictly necessary for them to do so (often because their opponents will... also have guns).

It is actually surprisingly difficult to obtain a gun illegally in a country with strict gun laws. Certainly you can do it! But most of the time it's unlikely to be worth the effort. You might as well just stab somebody if you're going to murder someone, it'll take less time.

But of course I live in Scotland where you can be jailed for up to five years for just carrying a knife in public, so perhaps it's a cultural thing.

 

[Teh Ebil Snorlax]

I thought Limerick, Ireland was the murder capital of Europe? You stole it from Glasgow, you dirty swines. :P

Yeah, there's this weird disconnect between Limerick (murder capital of Europe) and the rest of Ireland (sixth safest country in whole of Europe). Limerick is an odd little place and I dislike it very much.

 

[Tarvos]

There once was a place called Lim'rick,
Where people fought with guns and stick,
Odd it was said to be,
But plain for all to see,
That if you shoot at people you are sick.

 

[Tailsy]

Yeah, there's this weird disconnect between Limerick (murder capital of Europe) and the rest of Ireland (sixth safest country in whole of Europe). Limerick is an odd little place and I dislike it very much.

Hahaha, that's pretty much the consensus on Glasgow, too. Glasgow Has Problems and we don't talk about them.

 

[ultraviolet]

we had a thread about this a while ago that you might be interested to read (don't post in it though, it's super-old). Coming from somewhere where guns have always been pretty tightly controlled, I'm always really surprised every time I remember how easy it is to get firearms in the US. I think I've only ever seen a live gun a few times in my life, so. I'd prefer to keep it that way.

My belief? An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.

you know i've been looking at this for a good part of an hour while doing other things and I have absolutely no idea what you're trying to get across. are you trying to insinuate that only armed societies are polite (like the US)? because you ... may want to travel more. ?_?
is someone really being polite when they're only doing so because they could be threatened with a weapon??

 

[Dannichu]

There once was a place called Lim'rick,
Where people fought with guns and stick,
Odd it was said to be,
But plain for all to see,
That if you shoot at people you are sick.

Aaaaaah, as soon as I saw Tailsy's comment I wanted to do this, but you did it so much better than I ever could've :D

My guy's personal opinion* is that guns are awful and nobody should have them. It's easy for me to say that, though; I live in the country with (I think) the tightest gun control laws in the world, where it is extremely rare for either the police or criminals carry guns. I think it's brilliant that individuals training to represent Britain in Olympic shooting events aren't allowed to train in this country because their sport is considered illegal.

Guns (and the laws surrounding them) are an extremely cultural thing, and it's very easy for Europeans to say "guns are ridiculous", because it's not possible to just remove them from a society overnight, especially when views about gun control are so politicized, and guns form a large part of a country's history and identity.
On the other hand, they are ridiculous and you should definitely get rid of them.

*To clarify, I do not have a guy. I just thought the phrasing of the question was funny.

 

[Tarvos]

I may be wrong, but I think in Scandinavia (and also Iceland and Finland) police are rarely armed? Although I have a memory of Finland having idiotically dumb gun laws.

 

[Spoon]

I mean, guns in the US are pretty ingrained into the culture here. For example, I've never touched a gun, but my dad owns some for hunting purposes and they're in the house (locked up, but still.) Everyone in my family use them for hunting purposes, but it's not unheard of for someone to buy a gun for security and such. And from what I understand, they're fairly easy to obtain. That being said, my state (Illinois) is the only state not to have a concealed carry law. Gun culture in Missouri (right across the river and under an hour away from me) seems to be much more pro-gun. And like anything, there's people who collect them for whatever reason.

It's pretty easy to say "no guns for anyone," but a lot more difficult to put in place when you have people who believe (and do) have the right to bear arms. If one were to override the second amendment, how would you even go about removing guns from society, much less changing the attitudes towards gun-ownership?

 

[surskitty]

My belief? An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.

yeah see i think it would be better if it was harder for things like this to happen (cn racism, gun violence)

 

[Vipera Magnifica]

I'm all for strict gun control, but where I live, there would be no feasible way to remove guns from society. Unfortunately, firearms are still very embedded into the culture. In my experience, certain people tend to react rather violently when the subject of gun control is even brought up.

 

[Lorem Ipsum]

After what happened today, I would say the case for gun control is pretty irrefutable. Libertarians will say that people kill, not guns, but they certainly wouldn't find it as easy if the guns weren't there.

 

[sovram]

My belief? An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.

no

 

[CloudCat]

I think that if you ban guns in fear of people killing each other, than you need to eliminate all other sources of injury (knives, ropes, cars, matches, bottles, rocks, scissors, glass, clubs, sharp sticks, HANDS, ect.), which would be ridiculous. Guns are a part of American history, so why elimiate them?