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Originally Posted by Ustwo
Yes because you get the gist of it threw thew interweb and the press.
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I'm not contesting that. As I said, these are simply my observations. I don't think every American is a gun-toting cowboy, but I have noticed there seems to be a large (or at least highly vocal) segment of the American public who advocate guns as personal defence tools. This segment is largely absent in many other populations, including Canada's. That's more what I was trying to highlight.
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Originally Posted by Ustwo
Me either, but thats just stupid on both our parts. Nothing wrong with being prepared.
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I don't consider it stupid. There are all kinds of unlikely events that I'm completely unprepared for. Should I be more concerned about this one because teevee tells me to be?
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Originally Posted by Ustwo
Nor I. It used to be will the wife put out, now its will the kid sleep through the night. Home invasion rates would also most likely go up with a lack of firemarms, if for example we followed the pattern seen in england where the gun ban had lead to a rise in violent crimes and thefts.
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This is not necessarily a case of black and white. There's all kinds of middle ground between 'everybody can have a gun' and 'nobody can have a gun.'
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Originally Posted by Ustwo
I'd rather have a bolt action gun than a knife in a fight.
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Also not contested. My point was more that the only people I know here who even have firearms buy firearms whose intended purpose is as far away from home defence as it's possible to be.
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Originally Posted by Ustwo
People look at their lives when its 'good' and think that it will always be good. Its funny you mention English history, which has had more then its share of assassinations and political murders, just not recently. Governments can change, democracies can become dictatorships in the span of a few years, and I'm willing to live with the extra 'danger' (which I'm not sure is so extra, my chance of being murdered as a middle class white male are about the same as my European counterparts) to maintain an armed populous.
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I did mention that my knowledge of English history is somewhat lacking. I could well be wrong. I also disregarded any assassinations carried out before the advent and widespread acceptance of firearms, as they're not really relevant to the discussion.
I think one could argue that while you may not feel the need to possess a firearm yourself, you seem more than happy to use the fear generated by them to your advantage. My argument isn't really rooted in violent crime statistics. Actually, to be totally honest I don't really have an argument. These posts are the forum equivalent of thinking out loud, just some musings on the subject. Regardless, I do still wonder if a society that was created by a rifle doesn't implicitly encourage it's use. Would these shooters have been shooters if they'd been a different nationality? That question, of course, is impossible to answer.