Here's some reasons to fear it: http://www.govtrack.us/special/hr45mixedink.xpd * In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun control. From 1929 to 1953, about 20 million dissidents, unable to defend themselves were rounded up and exterminated. This doesn't include the 30 million "Uncle Joe" starved to death in the Ukraine. * In 1911, Turkey established gun control. From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated. * Germany established gun control in 1928. In 1938, the Nazis extended that control to ban the possession of military style weapons and to outlaw the sale of any weapons without government approval. (This sounds a lot like some of the current gun control efforts being pushed for in our country today.) From 1939 to 1945, the Gestapo & SS killed millions of people unable to defend themselves. * China established gun control in 1935. From 1948 to 1952, 20 million political dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up & exterminated. * Guatamala established gun control in 1964. From 1964 to 1981, 100,000 Mayan Indians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up & exterminated. * Uganda established gun control in 1970. From 1971 to 1979, 300,000 Christians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up & exterminated. The total dead are said to be 2-3 million. * Cambodia established gun control in 1956. From 1975 to 1977, 1-2 million "educated" people unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated. * Defenseless people rounded up & exterminated in the 20th Century because of gun control: 56 million at a bare minimum. * During W.W. II the Japanese decided not to invade America because they knew most Americans were ARMED. Note: Admiral Yamamoto, who crafted the attack on Pearl Harbor, had attended Harvard University from 1919 to 1921 and was a Naval Attache to the U.S. from 1925-28. Most of our Navy was destroyed at Pearl Harbor, and our Army had been deprived of funding and was ill prepared to defend the country. It was reported that when asked why Japan did not follow up the Pearl Harbor attack with an invasion of the U.S. Mainland, his reply was that he had lived in the U.S. and knew that almost all households had guns. * Gun owners in Australia were forced by new law to surrender 640,381 personal firearms to be destroyed by their own government, a program costing Australia taxpayers more than $500 million dollars. The first year results: Australia-wide, homicides went up 3.2 percent; Australia-wide, assaults went up 8.6 percent; Australia-wide, armed robberies went up 44 percent (yes, 44 percent). While figures over the previous 25 years showed a steady DECREASE in armed robbery with firearms, that changed drastically upward in the first year after gun confiscation... since criminals now are guaranteed that their prey is unarmed; There has also been a dramatic increase in break-ins and assaults on the Elderly. Australian politicians are at a loss to explain how public safety has decreased, after such monumental effort & expense was expended in successfully ridding Australian society of guns. I am a gun owner, 100% against gun control. I am an avid hunter, but that's not the reason I own guns. I am also anti-war, and have never shot anyone, accidentally or otherwise. Quite seriously, I've NEVER heard an intelligently presented arguement in support of gun control. Got one? If so, take your best shot.
Nope, unless you consider intelligent people presenting emotionally based arguments as such. By the way, I skimmed the post and don't know the truth behind those claims so don't make fun of me if they are bullshit. I wouldn't know.
I don't own a gun, but I've toyed with the idea of my wife having a shotgun around that she can point and shoot while I'm not around. I think regulation is a big step. We need licenses to drive cars, vote, etc...but you can go down to Cabela's and pick up something that's express purpose for being built is to kill something, and you don't even take a written test--much less a safety course. I'm for Gun Owner's Safety (iirc, the NRA has classes like this, right?) and inability for violent convicts to purchase, carry or own.
My grandfather taught me how to hunt, but before I ever looked down the sights of a shotgun, he taught me gun safety. Learning how to safely operate a gun is an important skill IMO. Too many people get ahold of these things and have no idea how to handle them.
BTW, if you own a pistol and live in an apartment, use hollow point bullets. Otherwise, you run the risk of injuring someone in the next apartment if you have to fire it. My buddy in Houston learned that lesson the hard way. Luckily, he missed his neighbor.
Odd that there was a story today up here about something like this. 19y/o kid comes outside one night to see a bunch of guys breaking in his car. Instead of calling 911, he goes inside to get his bolt-action rifle, and as the thieves see him come out, they start running. He takes one of them down with a head shot (either an impressive display of skill--hitting a guy running away from you in his bobbing head--or a miss that hit the perp instead of some old lady), and then waits for the police to arrive. Plead to a 2nd-degree manslaughter, b/c the DA thought there was a chance the kid would be found not-guilty by a jury when he said "I feared for my life".
You fill out paperwork when purchasing a firearm asking if you have ever been convicted of a felony and there is a background check done. Also, with handguns (here in WA) there is a three day waiting period for receipt after purchase. Granted, that does nothing for safe gun handling, but it's not like you can just go buy a gun like you can groceries.
You listed all those countries and same thing happened in Balkans during 60s and 70s, the Yugoslav govt made it illeagal to own arms, (even if you were a former military person), and what you got was thousands being killed during 90s not having anything to defend themselves. Not a gun owner yet, hopefully soon lol, but 110% against gun control.
The only gun control I am in favor of us stuff like no guns in schools, entertainment venues, etc. People kill people. If they don't use guns, they will figure out something else to use. As for the guy up above who pulled out his hunting rifle and shot the guy i the back, you have to know the laws. You can't shoot folks running away from you in the back, that is a crime. They aren't a "threat" at that point, so lethal force is not warranted.
I think the biggest misconception of gun control is that it will keep guns out of the hands of bad people. In reality, gun control only keeps guns out of the hands of law abiding citizens.
While I do not advocate gun control, one thing I would point out about Maris post. Most of those bad things would have still happened had gun control been present or not. The Soviets fought a civil war with both sides amptly armed. Most of those situations would have required an organized force to deal with the "bad guys" who were doing bad stuff. Not all of them. But a lot of them.
Guns are as american as apple pie and baseball... and I doubt that will ever change. Personally, I know two people (father and friend) who were shot by accident... but know no one who has ever used one for self defense. Small sampling... but with three kids I wouldn't keep a gun in the house. I think risk of accident outweighs any defense value.
Do you think 7 year olds should be able to handle fire arms? Do you think it should be legal to buy and sell surface to air missiles? Fully automatic machine guns? Cannons? Obviously, nearly every rational person believes in gun control, including most of the people here. The question is to what extent. It's a matter of balancing personal freedom versus public safety. I'm an avid hunter and I own 10 guns (all rifles or shotguns). I'm not a big fan of handguns. It's too easy to waive one about in the wrong direction, and next thing you know you've shot Marvin in the face. I don't have any issue with required registration of firearms. It'd make it a lot easier to track bad guys and enforce criminal law, much like care license plates do. Would criminals often just use unregistered weapons? Definitely. Certainly the smart ones. Just like smart criminals use stolen license plates/cars as transportation for committing crime. But let's face it--there are also a lot of dumb criminals. We might as well catch them at least. I think it's delusional to think that if our government sunk into despotism that me and my 12 gauge would stand a snowball's chance in hell against an Abrams tank. Or a chemical weapon. (If you really worry Obama is going to come for you, buy gas masks. You can level entire cities with Anthrax. Much tidier and efficient.) The trick is to prevent government from sinking into despotism in the first place by being a politically active citizen.
You are clearly wrong. At least if you mean to say "in every case." How come you don't hear much about insane people shooting down airplanes with surface-to-air missiles in the US? The manufacture and distribution of those weapons are regulated by the government. Clearly an instance where bad people don't get them and good people don't get them. Government can pretty effectively regulate guns, both legal and illegal. Many countries don't have nearly the plethora of illegal firearms we have in the US. Note: I'm not saying I'd like to see our government outlaw guns. I don't. I'm just saying that if we wanted it to, it probably could do a pretty decent job of it.
Yeah... most criminals are pretty dumb... and it seems most are bad drivers too since they seem to only get caught during traffic stops. Mental note... if I become a criminal... I shalt not drive.
