Guns - The Big Debate

[McPhee]

I figured this would be better as a seperate topic, the American University Shooting topic should be kept about that incident

 

What are peoples thoughts, should they be legal or illegal? Dont just post without thinking it through, there are good reasons for and against.

 

I'll start off by saying i think they should be Legal, i'll elaborate why further into the topic though because im being lazy

[Tellyn]

No, they shouldn't be legalised. The Virginia massacre is a good example of why not, as is just about every other gun crime. Guns are legal in America, and America have the biggest crime rate in the world. Interesting.

 

If guns are legalised and everyday citizens were allowed to carry one, the amount of shootings will rise, and to be honest everyone will be in danger. I know that the chavvy druggy smoking scum in my school would kill loads of people if they managed to get one. So no.

[Sanchez]

My opinion is this:

Banning guns would not prevent gun crime in a already established gun culture such as america.

I would vote no to legalizing guns here, as they are completely unnecessary and would worsen the chav problem.

However, I think in all cases you should need a license for a gun and larger guns (anything more than a pistol) should be limited the army or need special permission for sporting events.

[harribo]

No, they shouldn't be legalised. The Virginia massacre is a good example of why not, as is just about every other gun crime. Guns are legal in America, and America have the biggest crime rate in the world. Interesting.

 

If guns are legalised and everyday citizens were allowed to carry one, the amount of shootings will rise, and to be honest everyone will be in danger. I know that the chavvy druggy smoking scum in my school would kill loads of people if they managed to get one. So no.

 

Pretty much sums up my thoughts exactly.

 

How long would I actually live if chavs could get guns? My guess is not very long.

[Problematique]

I think the laws here are just about right. Not perfect, but they work pretty well. Of course, Japan is the ultimate anti-gun crime place. How they do it, I don't know.

 

Here you have to have adequate security for any firearms plus a licence (which includes a lengthy check etc.) And automatic weapons are banned entirely. Good. The whole "defending your property" business seems a bit wrong really. I mean...to be honest I'd much rather shoot someone with a taser than kill them if they're trying to nick my hifi.

 

Oh:

 

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/nationalnews/11534890/detail.html

 

That's just wrong.

[Jack]

I was having a debate/argument/pissing contest with someone on another forum about this. He couldn't get his head around the whole "having a gun and shooting someone with it" and "not having a gun and not shooting someone with it" dynamic.

[Rummy]

I don't approve of them being legal in a way that they can be as common amongst society as in america.

Whilst I don't think guns are the cause of the problem, but having them around surely doesn't help things. Not having them around and easily/readily/commonly available reduces the risk.

[MoogleViper]

I don't think guns should be leagl to just anybody. If somebody seruously wanted a gun for a serious reason then they could get a license. If anybody could get one then the scum of the earth would have even more power and our country would be shit. I know there are countries where guns are legal and there aren't many gun related crimes. But not every baby will eat bleach if given the chance. But some will. So let's keep it out of reach of children.

[EchoDesiato]

People in America that don't have guns yet are scared by people who do have them. So what do they do? They get guns themselves for protection, it's a vicious circle.

 

If guns would be banned alltogether in the US terrible events like what happened in Virginia Tech wouldn't happen. But of course it's easier to blame the video games...

[Rummy]

People in America that don't have guns yet are scared by people who do have them. So what do they do? They get guns themselves for protection, it's a vicious circle.

 

If guns would be banned alltogether in the US terrible events like what happened in Virginia Tech wouldn't happen. But of course it's easier to blame the video games...

 

That's actually a very good point, I won't deny that more than once I've considered getting a knife(also because knives can be quite useful, but that was a factor in it). What purpose do guns serve however, which you can't already own a guy for at the moment legally? They aren't entirely illegal over here are they?

[Zechs Merquise]

No, they shouldn't be legalised. The Virginia massacre is a good example of why not, as is just about every other gun crime. Guns are legal in America, and America have the biggest crime rate in the world. Interesting.

 

If guns are legalised and everyday citizens were allowed to carry one, the amount of shootings will rise, and to be honest everyone will be in danger. I know that the chavvy druggy smoking scum in my school would kill loads of people if they managed to get one. So no.

 

Very ignorant post. America's crime rate is certainly not the highest in the world. The highest rate of Murder and Rape is in South Africa. It's total chaos there.

[Zell]

I don't think gun crime is really any problem here, however knife crime is. Many people are scared of chavs, because they fear that they have knives on them. A ban on knives would not solve the problem, similarly a ban on guns would not solve the gun problem in the US. As has been said many times, it wasn't the gun that killed those 33 people, it was the person. So the only way to go is really to just to be stricter on who can get their hands on a weapon.

[Mundi]

Taking away the weapon is just one part of solving the problem.

Finding out what makes them want to shoot down other people and making precaution to prevent it is a bigger part of solving this problem.

 

You can take away the weapon but that won´t take away the motivation to kill

[Kurtle Squad]

Of course, Japan is the ultimate anti-gun crime place. How they do it, I don't know.

Because they're Japanese.

[McPhee]

No, they shouldn't be legalised. The Virginia massacre is a good example of why not, as is just about every other gun crime. Guns are legal in America, and America have the biggest crime rate in the world. Interesting.

 

If guns would be banned alltogether in the US terrible events like what happened in Virginia Tech wouldn't happen. But of course it's easier to blame the video games...

 

THis is why i asked people to think.

The Virginia Massacre was planned and therefore would have gone ahed wether or not guns were legal. The guy had a moral compass that allowed him to kill 32 people, do you think a gun ban would really have made him go "oh no! what im doing is wrong!"?

A gun ban would just mean him buying his weapon from the black market, funding more crime in the process.

 

People in America that don't have guns yet are scared by people who do have them. So what do they do? They get guns themselves for protection, it's a vicious circle.

 

Ok, break that circle. Person who has gun goes to rob person who doesnt have gun. Person who doesnt have gun catches him. Person who doesnt have gun dies.

The thing about this country is we live in close proximity of each other so we are reasonably safe. In America civilization is a bit more spread out + therefore society cant be depended on to protect its citizens to the same extent. If you live 10 miles from you're neighbor and 50 from the nearest town and someone breaks in what do you do?

[Kurtle Squad]

Very ignorant post. America's crime rate is certainly not the highest in the world. The highest rate of Murder and Rape is in South Africa. It's total chaos there.

 

Africa doesn't count

[Monopolyman]

The thing is though, most Americans own guns for hunting, protection and collections, amongst other reasons. Granted, shootings do happen, but the majority shouldn't be punished for the actions of the minority, especially considering guns, or any weapon for that matter, are not the reason why people are violent.

[Sanchez]

THis is why i asked people to think.

The Virginia Massacre was planned and therefore would have gone ahed wether or not guns were legal. The guy had a moral compass that allowed him to kill 32 people, do you think a gun ban would really have made him go "oh no! what im doing is wrong!"?

A gun ban would just mean him buying his weapon from the black market, funding more crime in the process.

 

Exactly, america is a lost cause. Banning guns would never happen, and if it did the money would simply be going straight to the smugglers instead of the goverment in taxes.

[Flaight]

The Virginia Massacre was planned and therefore would have gone ahed wether or not guns were legal. The guy had a moral compass that allowed him to kill 32 people, do you think a gun ban would really have made him go "oh no! what im doing is wrong!"?

A gun ban would just mean him buying his weapon from the black market, funding more crime in the process.

Guns must have made it easier to kill that many people with relative ease. But, I think you are right, this incident in itself isn't really about gun but about mindset.

 

In general terms, there are many ways to kill people. But most require something of an effort, which means emotions and mind will play a bigger part, making it considerably harder to actually kill people. On the other hand, guns are comparatively effortless. I think guns is the easiest way to kill people in that sense. Making guns spread in society will statistically become a problem when you consider human nature, which is often temperamental.

 

I'm against guns being legalized anywhere because of that. The Virginia Massacre reignited the debate about guns in general, but I don't think banning guns would have been the ultimate solution. The ultimate solution is the mind.

[Jon]

They should be legal, all these people who seem to think these school shootings would be avoided if guns were outlawed. Truth of the matter is, they'd simply find another way to carry out their crimes.

[Rummy]

I don't think gun crime is really any problem here, however knife crime is. Many people are scared of chavs, because they fear that they have knives on them. A ban on knives would not solve the problem, similarly a ban on guns would not solve the gun problem in the US. As has been said many times, it wasn't the gun that killed those 33 people, it was the person. So the only way to go is really to just to be stricter on who can get their hands on a weapon.

 

It probably wouldn't solve it, but I think I am 90% sure it'd help reduce the problem. Also, I think a ban on guns is much more realistic than a ban on knives, as knives have many more legitimate every day uses. Making guns illegal anyway? That'd be doing the last part of your post.

[Flaight]

They should be legal, all these people who seem to think these school shootings would be avoided if guns were outlawed. Truth of the matter is, they'd simply find another way to carry out their crimes.

But what about if I said I think school shootings would NOT be avoided, BUT guns should still be illegal for other reasons

[Mundi]

They should be legal, all these people who seem to think these school shootings would be avoided if guns were outlawed. Truth of the matter is, they'd simply find another way to carry out their crimes.

 

It´s true that if guns were illegal he´d probably turn to other weapons but guns make it easier to kill people more effectively and more people overall.

Making guns illegal won´t stop the killings but making guns hard to get will maybe lower it

[Noodleman]

Guns should not be legal without at least some kind of background check and a license for it, and the gun has to be registered at the local police station. And it should be illegal to carry it in public unless your in the police, army etc. And on duty.

[Rummy]

They should be legal, all these people who seem to think these school shootings would be avoided if guns were outlawed. Truth of the matter is, they'd simply find another way to carry out their crimes.

 

Let's get rid of law and punishment, clearly it isn't working as these people are still commiting their crimes.