Guns, citizens, ownership?
I do not think that citizens having guns is wrong...in fact, there have been studies that show, in states where concealed firearms are evident, there are lower crime rates and less violent crimes because people protect themselves more. Also, the thought that you do not know who has a gun on them is scaring off criminals, period.
As for all of the guns being sold to the psychos, I think that there does need to be a more thurough, strict background search, as well as a pyschiactric evaluation to ensure that you are normal and can own a firearm.
I have always loved shooting; I love the sport and just find guns, well...cool. If you are trained and know what you are doing, then guns are okay and everyone is safe. Accidents are usually caused by the wielder, not the weapon itself.
What is your standpoint on private-ownership of firearms?
Gun laws only affect law-abiding citizens. I don't have a problem with people owning guns, as long as there is a criminal background check and a psychological background check on those who choose to go about obtaining one the legal way. Not only that, but more severe punishment for those who go about it the illegal way, as in an automatic attempted murder charge (why else would someone go about getting a gun illegally?)
Guns are bad
Peace, man.
Answer:
People killed people before guns, people will kill people after guns.
If not guns, knives.
If not knives, something else.
Will we just continue banning things until we are back in the days of cavemen where you could still get killed by a rock or a log or (God-forbid!) an unarmed person?
I agree with you. But if you have children, or even teenagers in the home you have to be very careful. You should explain to the children, the danger. Keep it locked in you night table.
Teach you teenager how to use the gun. But do not let him have the key to your drawer. Teenagers are curious, and impulsive.
Just like you teach them to use protection when intimate, you should do the same with a teen. A child is taught not to cross the street alone, and not to go with strangers. So the same rule applies here.
Guns aren't dangerous, Canada has more guns per person than America but gun crime is a third. The USA had over 130,000 shooting incidents last year the UK had 29, Switzerland, much more liberal gun laws than even the USA, had below 50.
Having the access to guns is tempting fate that they could be used. There are reported incidents where people have pulled guns out at petrol station and started shooting at each other.
The problem is the type of people that carry guns. Would a psychiatric evaluation catch all the people? What would happen if the person seemed normal then suddenly snapped? What about people in stressful jobs? What about drunks? Would guns be taken of people who get depression? How about the people living with them? Most people don't do stupid things until they get mad and then you get the red mist. Take road rage, most people have at least sworn at someone they didn't know, blasted your horn, given them hand gestures, maybe tail gated them, then you hear about fights, people being hospitalized. The people committing these offences are normal people until they are behind the wheel of a car.
If you want to go into the wilderness with hunting rifle that's fine and I wish you all the fun in the world but why do you need it in the middle of a city? Studies show that urban area with high hand gun ownership also has the highest crime rates, including homicides. Personally if I was going to mug you and thought you didn't have a gun I'll simply pull the gun out and scare you. If I thought you had a gun I'd either shoot you first or use a knife pushed into your neck.
Are you kidding? Look at the rate of crimes involving guns in Canada vs. the U.S. The fact that the right to own guns is causing horrendously larger crime doesn't seem to register with some people. In Vancouver, BC, Canada, a city of 2 million, it is sometimes mid-year before the first murder with a fun occurs. It is unusual there. Guns CAUSE crime!
'A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.'
