What Is Your Position On Gun Control ?

[Jguy101 0]

@Axis: actually, anybody purhcasing a gun has their fingerprint run through the FBI's National Instant Check System.

 

@qwijibow: Dude, I don't take it you've ehard of the woman who had a hot clothes iron pressed into her skin...if she had a gun, that woudn't have happened.

 

Anyway, take Switzerland: every household is required to own a military rifle, and a sealed tin of ammo. The ammo tin has to always be there, but the rifle can be used as much as the resident wants. Shooting is practically a national pasttime. ever hear of mass-murders over there very often?

[MajesticTreeFrog 0]

Not to agree or disagree with the switzerland thing, but it really avoids confounding variables.For instance, Switzerland, like the other scandinavian countries, has a very high (and consistent) standard of living, and a peaceful populace without a lot of ethnic/religous/etc differences to fight over.Compare that to the US, where there is tremendous poverty, lots of different, sometimes hostile, ethnic groups, religions, racist groups, whatever else you want to name, creating lots of internal conflict. I think gun ownership just magnifies the current status quo. If it is violent, guns make it more violent. If it is peaceful, then yet another reason to not be an *bottom*.

[Jguy101 0]

Uh, no, because they'll just use something else.

 

And wait a second here, I jsut thought of this: why the heck would the cirminals buy rubber bullets like anyone else (which is how this debate about druggies started)? They'd just get real bullets illegally, just like their guns.

[Houdini 0]

And I believe that the right to bear arms in the second amendment was taken out of context. From my point of view it refers to the maintainence of the state militia

What is there to take out of context?

Bill Of Rights

 

Amendment I

 

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Amendment II

 

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.

The amendment states in the third clause PEOPLE not militia, but anyway back then the militia was also defined to be any able bodied male between the ages of 17 and 55 years old and they were required to have a firearm to take up arms and assist the army in cases of war, you need to read the history of the US revolution and what all happened before the US constitution was written, you will come up to the conclusion that had the pioneers and colonists of Great Britan had gun control laws imposed and had actually followed them the US would wtill be a colony of Great Britan because only the British would have had weapons and no revolution would have happened. The revolt was caused by an overtaxation of Tea of all things, not to mention dissatisfaction with the oppresive rule coming from across the Atlantic Ocean and therefore the reason for the First amendment which stated that CONGRESS not the state should not establish a religion, many came to this country simply because they were protestants and the official religion of Great Britan was Catholic so those that came to this country put this amendment into effect to keep the central government from doing the same, however states were free to establish a state religion if there was a demand for such by the populace, this would be reason for different states with their own set of laws and constitution, otherwise the United States would be just the United State because everyone in it would have the same set of laws and constitution.

 

Of course this is not taught in school because the educators now indoctrinate to a liberal view of how they want the country to think. This could be the reason more and more either attend private schools or home school to actually learn real history and learn how to think for themselves, and not mimic the thoughts of liberals. A good study of history would be quite revealing to many who have attended the public schools and univeristies because they have been led astray for over 30 years into a leberal mindset that only alllows one point of view with no tolerance for anything else even though they accuse those that dissagree with them to be closed mined and intolerant, I say it takes one to know one.

[Sarah81 0]

Its sad really.  Gun control or not is not what we should be talking about.  It should be about what are ALL the different things we can try and affect to lower crime. 

 

For instance, a waiting period keeps people who are angry and want to go buy a gun in a fit of anger to kill someone from doing so, while not being a huge inconvenience to gun owners.

 

 

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You're right - there's more to it than just pro- or anti-gun.

 

Personally, I think the waiting period should apply to all types of firearms, no matter where they're sold. I shouldn't be able to walk into a pawn shop here in Texas, give the guy 200 bucks, and walk out just a few minutes later with a shotgun. That's stupid. Make everyone wait for any type of firearm, instead of just saying, "Okay well, if you want a handgun you have to wait a few days, but there's a nice rack of shotguns you can check out in the meantime."

 

 

But getting rid of guns won't actually make them go away. There will be plenty of illegal firearms all over the country, and more imported illegally (just like during Prohibition with liquor). It seems like we're focusing on trying to get rid of one symptom of the overall problem, instead of looking for the actual problem and doing something to change things.

[Jguy101 0]

You're right - there's more to it than just pro- or anti-gun.

 

Personally, I think the waiting period should apply to all types of firearms, no matter where they're sold. I shouldn't be able to walk into a pawn shop here in Texas, give the guy 200 bucks, and walk out just a few minutes later with a shotgun. That's stupid. Make everyone wait for any type of firearm, instead of just saying, "Okay well, if you want a handgun you have to wait a few days, but there's a nice rack of shotguns you can check out in the meantime."

But getting rid of guns won't actually make them go away. There will be plenty of illegal firearms all over the country, and more imported illegally (just like during Prohibition with liquor). It seems like we're focusing on trying to get rid of one symptom of the overall problem, instead of looking for the actual problem and doing something to change things.

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Actually, waiting periods are just hassles for the law-abiding. Think about it: if someone REALLY needs a gun, that day, to defend themself, they can't get it that day, if there's a waiting period. (That does happen.) A criminal, on the other hand, wouldn't care about waiting periods, and would just get it illegally.

[iGuest 3]

Gun ControlWhat Is Your Position On Gun Control ?

Replying to Xaine Actually you have to have your facts straight. There was no state militia or national guard when the second amendment was written. The founding fathers were very aware of what they were writing and they knew it was individuals they were referring to. Just a point I would also like to make, non of the particular men that wrote the second amendment were sportsman. They were afraid that the United States government would become like England and they didn't want that so they gave the private citizens the ability to have arms in case they would have to over throw the government.

- Rick

[iGuest 3]

Gun ControlWhat Is Your Position On Gun Control ?

Replying to Xaine I know you are afraid of guns because you don't have any knowledge of them but think about this, every country without exception that has banned guns or highly restricted guns has experienced a drastic increase in violent crime.

You talk about the criminal not having a gun well two things about that,

One, if guns were banned, none of the criminals would turn their's in! Two, even if the criminal didn't have a gun, what would stop them from coming and beating you to death with a baseball bat, slashing you with a knife, or tying you up asaulting, raping or strangling you? How are you going to defend yourself? To put it another way, I carry a gun every day because I cannot carry a police officer in my pocket.

The police will tell you they are not there to keep a crime from happening or stopping a violent crime they will do everything they can to solve that crime and then arrest them. It doesn't do you alot of good though if you are dead.

- Rick

[tansqrx 0]

Where do I stand on gun control? Break into my house about 3 in the morning and you will not be leaving alive.I’m not going to try and convince someone to change their mind because this is much like religion in that once you have made up your mind you will not change it. I grew up in a household where guns were the norm and I learned how to shoot at an early age. Three points that I would like to make. •You can’t outlaw everything that can be used to kill someone, if so baseball bats would be illegal.•I also agree that some misinterpret the second amendment (in the US) but I am on the other side of the argument. The second amendment is not there for personal protection or hunting but to keep the government in line. If the government becomes corrupt then the people have the means to overthrow it and once again establish a government by the people. This means that each citizen should not only own a gun but have a grenade launcher in their basement and a tank parked in their front yard.•Freakonomics (http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/) by Steven Levitt showed that statistically swimming pools are 100 times more deadly to children than a loaded gun in the house. This is a great book and I highly recommend it.