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Originally posted by BlueMan
If you make it impossible to legally own one, all you do is suddenly make a large number of law abiding citizens into criminals. Guns exist, the technology is here, the genie will not go back in the bottle. If they are made illegal, they will be obtained the same way that drugs are now, and alcohol was under prohibition, they will be traded on a black market. Keeping it legal and somewhat regulated is far preferable to creating more black markets.
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The genie does go back into the bottle. If you don't think that strict gun control will be effective, then look at Europe. I am not making an hypothetical argument here.
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And I'm sure a lot of studies show that some of those that are issued operators liscences are the ones running from police and driving under the influence, but we don't make cars illegal. A 3500 pound car is every bit as deadly as a gun in the wrong hands.
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In the right hands though, a car has many other functional purposes. A gun in the right hands, however, is still only used for the purpose of injuring or killing.
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Gun crimes (not illegal gun ownership, but crimes committed -with a gun-) have been shown to increase in jurisdictions where strict gun control is implemented, it has been shown again and again that in jurisdictions with "shall issue" CCW laws that violent crimes are reduced. Not knowing if your next victim is going to be the one that caps you WILL give a criminal pause. Yes, they move on to softer targets, like property crimes, but I'd prefer they steal your car rather than kill you. Again, making gun ownership illegal does not solve the problem. What should be enforced is strict laws severely punishing those who use a weapon to commit a crime. Punish the criminals, not the law abiding, responsible gun owners. We as a society have developed a frightening tendency to punish everyone -except- the person who caused the problem.
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I go back to my point about stats. From what I have seen, there is one study that backs up what you're saying, while there are numerous other ones that aggressively contradict it. Thinking that his victim may be armed will give a criminal pause, but only long enough to go and get a bigger gun.
The more guns you have in circulation, the more guns there are available for criminals to use.
Strict laws are also not a deterrant and never have been. Personally, I'd rather stop the problem at source than punish after the act.