Originally posted by lazs2
replicant... well.. since you are frieghtened of guns then I guess that is good enough reason to ban them for everyone else. Face it... you disarmed yourselves and put the weak and law abiding at the mercy of the strong and lawless... What will you do when you get a little older and can't defend yourself against a couple of 6 footers with knives and clubs?
oh... and if you get shot by a .22 caliber rifle at 1,000 fps (air rifle) you will indeed have been shot... maybe dead.
lazs
Thought you'd like that
I don't make the laws but I'm quite content with them. BTW this is Britain's laws not America's, it's none of your business whether you like it or not because it simply has nothing to do with you. Britain has never had a gun culture, the regular Police force are still not armed, and the only general people that own weapons are the military and farmers.
Besides to say I am "frightened of guns then I guess that is good enough reason to ban them for everyone else" is purely weak since you don't know me at all. I had hoped to join a gun club myself having fired .303 Lee Enfields and pistols when I was younger but the laws were changed a couple of times, notably in 1987 when I was just 13 years old. I would have loved to have owned some guns and enjoy, what was, a strong sport. Times change though and you simply just get on with your life.
If people do choose to own a firearm then they simply join a gun club. Not all weapons were outlawed. Unlike the US there isn't anywhere that you can really use them apart from on the firing range and there was never anywhere to hunt with them. What's the point of a large calibre weapon when the only thing you can do is shoot a paper/metal target? Few people could keep their firearms at home unless it was certified safe and that all ammunition was kept locked elsewhere in the household. The majority were held in gun clubs or the local police station. Using the weapon for defence would most likely end up with you being found guilty and being prosecuted. As mentioned before, shotguns are still used throughout the UK (shotguns being included as one of the firearms offenses although you don't require a firearms certifcate but a shotgun certificate). People still enjoy game hunting too, unless you expected us to take a M60 out to shoot a few pheasants?
Face it... you disarmed yourselves and put the weak and law abiding at the mercy of the strong and lawless... Well to start with all automatic weapons have always been banned. In subsequent years higher calibre guns were banned after loss of life to nutters thinking they were Rambo and deciding to have a killing spree.
So, disarmed ourselves, well, Joe Public were never really armed in the first place.
Putting the weak and law abiding at the mercy of the strong and lawless, well, as mentioned above, anyone attempting to defend themselves with a firearm would most likely be prosecuted more than the actual offender. That's Britain's laws for you whether you like it or not. We don't particularly like it too because defending with any other form of weapon you're made to look guilty too. We're all living in a country full of 'criminals are innocent if they're attacked whilst performing a crime'.
You have to remember, America's population have the right to bear arms, we don't and never have done in recent times. Arguing about such things is irrelevent because our laws won't change (to allow) and I very much doubt your laws will change to remove them. It's part of your culture, it's never been part of our culture.
