longweekend58 wrote on Aug 2
nd, 2010 at 12:42pm:
BobH wrote on Aug 2
nd, 2010 at 12:33pm:
I think too often people take the right to own a gun as the right to use it. You can own a gun and it can just sit in your cupboard forever and never be used. What's dangerous about a gun, really? It only becomes dangerous when put into the hands of an unstable person. And that can happen with or without gun control. Criminals don't care for the law. That's why they're, you know, criminals. Gun control only restricts guns for law-abiding citizen. And it's had no correlation with declining crime rates or violent crime rates. So what's the point? If you look at the figures and they show the Howard's gun laws had no significant effect on crime rates, then shouldn't you conclude there's no need for them and they should be repealed?
In the United States they have the right to bear arms, but gun restrictions still differ from state to state. Washington DC, New York and California have much tougher laws than say Alaska, Vermont, Oklahoma and Kentucky. Yet obviously that hasn't resulted in Vermont becoming a bloodbath of gun violence while LA is peaceful and safe. No, it's the opposite. Now you can argue, what came first?. LA has always had high crime, so that's why they have tough gun laws. You can't argue LA has high crime because they have gun laws. But you can argue that LA still has high crime despite tough gun laws therefore gun control in ineffective.
Btw, the US does not have the most liberal gun laws in the world, so we shouldn't necessarily look at them as an example of what an armed nation looks like. What about Switzerland?
Do not make an idiot of yourself by trying to talk about US gun laws as though they had any releveance whatsoever - even to them. a 3day wait to buy a automatic pistol is hardly 'control'. USA has a massive massive violent crime rate and a culture that fuels the violence. given the risks you need to articulate an actual reason and a need for such relaxed gun laws. can you do that? other than 'i want a gun' can you give me an actual argument for guns? what groups in our society are in such mortal risk that they would need them? NONE. and part of the reason for that is that so few other people have them either. and one thing worth mentioning is that very few criminals have them either. SOME do, but most dont. do we really want to arm our criminals? the ones that rob shops with a knife or baseball bat?
Perhaps even more pertinent, is that the over-riding policy agenda of the elitist LDP is to polarise income, wealth opportunity and power - which would cause our socio-economic systems to trend exponentially towards 'individualist' exploitation, deprivation, anarchy and violence!
In which case, those 'individualists', 'egotists' and/or 'nutjobs' with the most land/assets/resources would be entitled (under their proposed recklessly-relaxed laws), to utilise an ever-bigger and ever-better armoury - and to pay mercenaries to fight for them.
Meantime, what limitations (other than grossly-inequitable access to resources) would there be on private 'individualists' in relation to seeking to self-servingly restore 'order' by utilising mass control/eradication methods such as tanks, missiles, bombs, aircraft and/or biological agents!?