1861

The Swiss are very polite, and very armed.
And so are Canadians.

Guns are legal cause the Bill of Rights says so.

For those of you who wonder sometimes if those of us who don't always comment are reading the thread, I thought I'd pop in to say yes, I'm reading the thread.
Carry on...

I have never owned a gun in my life. I have always been against guns, for myself. I am in favor of others owning a gun.... let me share a story about the only time in my 50 yrs that I shot a gun... I worked in an aluminum extrusion factory in the early 70’s. Some of the products we made were light poles and sail boat mass. When the product comes out of the die I had to shoot it with a 22 (that was mounted on the machine) to allow air in quickly so the tubes would not collapse. I almost protested to my foreman that I don’t like guns and want nothing to do with them. As I thought about it, I realized I was being an idiot. The gun was a necessary TOOL in order to get the job done. Yes a gun can be a tool. Thank you.

Hay Norwegians are rude as hell, but then again we seldom claim to be very polite. But I guess the rudeness has to be connected to our lack of guns.

Interesting thread so far...

My take on why it's okay for a reason why guns are legal is because it's okay for citizens to be responsible for themselves. I

n other words... even though the Citizenry often makes wrong decisions with guns; perhaps it's the one area that people are allowed to make mistakes.

Since the majority of gun deaths are by suicide. (Facts from here). -Perhaps people should be allowed to choose their demise -if they choose to do so. Hey I'm not for it but people should have power over their own destiny... and even other peoples too -(to a certain extent). Just let people decide their own destiny for once. Sorry if it's bad but it's their choice.

Well, legalizing suicide isn't really going to have any effect at all. It's not like you can punish people who do it. :)

Long term darwinism. Has to be a contributing factor.

(not quite jesting)

2Wolves

For me its hard to understand why people would want everyone to own a gun. Those statistics about children in the home 50times more likely to be killed by a gun owned by a family member than an intruder, or that more US citizens have been killed by thier own guns than any of the wars this century- to me is pretty telling. Socially the whole thing seems pretty crazy from where i stand.

No one wants "everyone" to own a gun, just the right for law-abiding citizens to own them. As it stands, any criminal can easily obtain just about any weapon of choice. They violate a dozen or more federal laws to do so, but hey, they are criminals. Enacting one or two more laws doesn't make it any more challenging.

I'm a good citizen. I vote and pay taxes. I exercise due prudence in storing and operating my firearms. Why should my guns be illegal?

I intend to purchase a handgun next weekend. My only motivation is that the anti-gun lobby in DC feels I should not have the right to do so. That's all the incentive I need.

Don't know if you've seen the crime statistics for DC, we are the nation's crime capital, and it seems that every night you hear on the news that some kid shot other kids outside of a high school.

I've never owned guns and living in DC I feel no need to, but I got an interesting perspective on the issue from a girl from Montana. She said that her family needed to have guns because a bear might come to their backyard and reak havoc. I believe gun control should be localized, and DC should have even more restrictions on owning guns.

The irony is of course, that the large urban areas with the most gun control (Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Chicago) have the most gun related homicides.

This fact alone indicates to me that the answer is not in yet more regulation but somewhere else.

Gun related violence is simply violence and we need to look at the root cause and quit treating simptoms.

We can't cure the common cold, yet we still treat the symptoms.

That said, I don't think gun control will do any good because of the vast amount of firearms already existing in the states.

Yes, we do treat the simptoms and as most people know, the treatments are nothing more than things we do to make ourselves feel better while the cold works itself out.

http://www.therighter.com/articles/

I don't know if ths really fits, but it is an interesting article on the psyche of the anti-gun crowd.

As for why I believe firearms are legal, because it is a god given right, and the Bill of Rights prevents the government from taking it away. There are many legitimate uses for firearms not the least of which is self-defense. My firearms are used for hunting and, god forbid anyone take it into their head to invade my home, self-defense.

Currently I own a shotgun and a mini-14. Gasp, yes one of the dangerous so called assault weapons. Yes, the mini-14 is a military style rifle, but I have yet to find a more reliable and easy to use rifle. In fact it is probably less dangerous than ninety percent of the other rifles available for purchase, but the reliabilty is what I was looking for at the time. Within another six months I plan on adding a handgun to my collection. Why, because it fits a niche i my collection. Would you golf with only a driver and a putter? No, a golfer has a selection of clubs to pick the best one for the shot. Hunters similarly have a need for different weapons for different uses.

That statistic has been debunked years ago. It is nothing but unsubstantiated nonsence.

Why are gun legal? A better question is why should they be illegal? If you suggest that they might hurt people, I would say a lot of other things. Most gun owners are responsible with their guns, just like most people are responsible with whatever else they have that makes them happy but that could hurt someone. If I like guns and I don't bother you, then whats the problem?

And yet DC already has the most restrictive gun laws in the US. It hasn't worked out so well, has it.

Yeah, that'll work.

What really pisses me off about anti-gun people is they never grasp this simple truth:

Criminals will always have guns, no matter how many laws you throw at them there will always be a black market.

I'd like to throw in my own two cents here. We see that in Iraq, an average of one or two soldiers per day are killed. If we assume that the resistance there is as small as our officials say it is, I think it's safe to say that a much larger resistance force in a much larger country oculd inflict some serious damage against our own military if they turn against us.

I'd also like to think that if the Government issued an order to turn against the people of our country, a good number of soldiers would turn around and give their lives in defense of the people instead of corrupt officials.

A small suggestion: Take a large firearm and go downtown and about your regular business. I bet everyone you bump into will be exceedingly polite. For a while anyway.



The thoughts of the military turning on the populace. It is unconstitutional (Posse Comitatus), so the military would be breaking the law, which, under the UMCJ, they are all singularly liable for court martial for.

I understand the arguments, but I still think that the idea that the average citizen has a right to own deadly weapons is slightly barbarous. The idea that its a god-given right to own firearms is a bit silly.

But I really can't condemn societies who want to live like that, I just wouldn't feel safe there. Increasing the gun supply doesn't change anything about society, it just makes killing easier. If the citizenry can have guns to protect against the depredations of a tyrannical government, then why can't they possess tanks or planes or nuclear weapons either? Surely Big Government (TM) would be less inclined to repeal the Constitution if the Podunk 43rd Militia were training with F-22s and Bradley tanks. I don't see the distinction.

Each to his own, I suppose. Lets just say that the proliferation of guns is one of the many reasons why I would not want to live in the USA, ever. Thank God for countries with draconian gun laws.

Bottom line, bad guy will always be able to get guns, they don't care for guns laws.

A different bottom line is that you don't have to be a bad guy to do violence against the innocent with firearms. The United States is the most heavily policed, on a per capita basis, society ever known and still the love of violence for its own sake increases.

2Wolves

So, if restricting guns only leads to an increase in violence, how do many of the gun supporters here account for the rediculously high murder rate in the US? If everyone having a gun makes us safer, why isn't the US the safest place in the world?

If guns were harder to come by, how much longer would a criminal be able to pick up a cheap gun on the black maket? Wouldn't fewer guns mean a drastic increase in the price of an illegal firearm? Would your average criminal really be able to obtain one as easily?

As a Canadian who's never seen anyone but a cop with a gun in this country, I'm curious as to what Americans believe is the cause for the seriously high gun homicide rate in the US.

SLM3

becuase, we have laws, and those laws protect our freedom, safety, etc....

Now using the power of law (by the way this is gonna make sense)

VCRs were gonna be made illegal but a federal judge ruled that if a device has one single use which is not illegal the fact that it can be used illegally can not disqualify that device from use

anyway violent crimes have risen in all countries where people could not carry a pistol

*edited by someone calmer*

"VCRs were gonna be made illegal but a federal judge ruled that if a device has one single use which is not illegal the fact that it can be used illegally can not disqualify that device from use "

So Tommy Chong's bong conviction, since a bong can be used for tobacco, should be thrown out. Correct?

2Wolves

yeppers

PS I apoligize for the personal attack, that is the way i talk with my life long friends and i did not realize that it would offend people

http://www.libertybelles.org/articles/moms_attack.htm

Sorry, I had to throw this into the mix. Granted it is a very biased piece, it has some majorly scary statistics. Perhaps we should license people to have children before we start licensing people for firearms.

You want to make guns Illegal. Ok..

Look up the crime rates for England after they outlawed guns, its increased greatly (dont have sites atm but they're out there).

You want to live in a place where only criminals have guns?

Yes kids playing around with gun get killed. But my 3 year old cousin was paralized when a box fell from a high shelf. Are you going to outlaw high shelves? Its a horrible tragedy but life is full of dangers.

And what you underestimate about the US Military is they vow allegience to the Consitution. Not a person, if any government head shit on the Constitution the military would NOT follow him. But just in case we as the populace reserve the right to bear arms.

Yeah, I'm pro-gun, I'm from Texas where its legal to walk in to a courthouse with a gun. Its not the gun thats the problem its the person behind it. Cars kill many many more poeple than guns do, outlaw them?

So why isn't the US the safest place in the world?


SLM3

Ever think gun crime in the uk rose after guns were made illegal because of the simple fact that owning a gun is classed as a gun crime?

The other countries probably has even more guns, they just hide them better. I'll have to admit it: we here in Norway are setting you up. We are all armed to the teeth, that's the secret.

Epie,
Who would want to invade Norway?
Granted the women seem to all have big hooters, but it gets too cold there.

its legal because a third of americans are die hard republicans, and they vote in repblican senators and house members... to change an amendment u need about two thirds vote... so they dont have enough

i think this is right...

if some one broke into your home what would you shoot them with?

I'd never own a gun myself, but I understand that someone can have a valid, civil desire to own one. So I believe that they do not have to be illegal.

Strictly regulated, though? Absolutely. I think more research and regulation needs to be done, so that every gun and every bullet can be traced to a store and buyer. I remember hearing that it's possible to get an idea about whether a particular bullet was fired by a particular gun, but that is was not an exact science, and could be easily altered with some nailfiling. I think this needs to be changed. Technology needs to be implemented to make things as traceable as possible.

http://www.nrablacklist.com/
This is an interesting link - check out just for kicks. The countries to which I have traveled where the populace does not carry weapons have been infinitely safer. If guns were not so readily available here, perhaps fewer people would have them. I'm no expert, I just choose to distance myself from them whenever possible - difficult to do when you live in a conceal/carry locale. I would like to think that fewer people bearing arms would make our society safer, but it may be too late to find that out. I don't like that whole "guns don't kill people, people kill people" thing - it's a helluva lot easier to pull a trigger than to strangle someone. Again, I don't pretend to have an answer here. I think if our founding fathers were to rewrite the Constitution in this day and age, they may take out that "right to bear arms" stuff. I make a personal choice to not obtain firearms. Don't know if I'm safer or more vulnerable as a result. It's just a choice.