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Daniel_ · 05-13-2005, 01:42 AM

As a brit, I find guns quite alarming.

I'd say ban all guns execpt in the hands of highly trained members of accountable organisations. Currently they are the Police, the Military and certain branches of the Secret Service in the UK, and I think that's about right.

I know that the founding fathers idea in the States was to ensure that the citizens could raise a militia, and if you still want that option, I'd suggest that you can only have a gun on those terms if you have been trained, and tested, and have secure facilities to look after it. You should have to go through psych evaluations, and competence testing. The range of weapons allowed should be restricted to ones that wound rather than blow holes in houses - if you look at current battlefield trends they are to have small caliabre weapons - a wounded soldier needs looking after, a dead one can be walked away from.

The problem is that you can't put the genie back in the bottle.

The only way to neutralise all the guns in the hands of nutters already is to make them useless, and the only way to do that (seeing as they are not going to had the guns over) is to make ammo hard to get.

So - make ammunition ridiculously expensive, and make it scarce. BUT make sure that the legitimate militia that you want to have, have their own access to ammo at the militia's own armoury.

It's interesting to me that in a country where a citizens militia helped establish a form of democracy (like the US) people like it. In a country where a private army allowed a dedicated band of fanatics to usurp the state (i.e. the SD/SA in 1930s Germany) the idea seems less atractive.

The simple fact is that whatever the arguments in favour of private gun ownership, in the US more people die from gunshots than they do in the UK.

Less guns = less gun deaths and crimes. It's a simple equation.

05-13-2005, 01:42 AM	#12 (permalink)
Daniel_ Evil Priest: The Devil Made Me Do It! Location: Southern England	As a brit, I find guns quite alarming. I'd say ban all guns execpt in the hands of highly trained members of accountable organisations. Currently they are the Police, the Military and certain branches of the Secret Service in the UK, and I think that's about right. I know that the founding fathers idea in the States was to ensure that the citizens could raise a militia, and if you still want that option, I'd suggest that you can only have a gun on those terms if you have been trained, and tested, and have secure facilities to look after it. You should have to go through psych evaluations, and competence testing. The range of weapons allowed should be restricted to ones that wound rather than blow holes in houses - if you look at current battlefield trends they are to have small caliabre weapons - a wounded soldier needs looking after, a dead one can be walked away from. The problem is that you can't put the genie back in the bottle. The only way to neutralise all the guns in the hands of nutters already is to make them useless, and the only way to do that (seeing as they are not going to had the guns over) is to make ammo hard to get. So - make ammunition ridiculously expensive, and make it scarce. BUT make sure that the legitimate militia that you want to have, have their own access to ammo at the militia's own armoury. It's interesting to me that in a country where a citizens militia helped establish a form of democracy (like the US) people like it. In a country where a private army allowed a dedicated band of fanatics to usurp the state (i.e. the SD/SA in 1930s Germany) the idea seems less atractive. The simple fact is that whatever the arguments in favour of private gun ownership, in the US more people die from gunshots than they do in the UK. Less guns = less gun deaths and crimes. It's a simple equation.