Originally posted by Stringer
1.) What was the fundemental reason for the riot, and want would cause such a well-behaved society to riot, and then after all of that fact finding...
2.) Riots should be banned.
Well, there are certain parallels with the 1992 Rodney King riots in Los Angeles - The riots took place in the country's second largest city, and were racially motivated, and some people died. In this latest riot in Birmingham, 2-3 people died as compared with ~40 deaths and ~200 injuries in the LA 1992 riots.
MiniD - if the perpetrator had had a more powerful gun, why bother to fart around with a ball bearing gun? The penalty for gun possession is 5 years - whether it's a .357 magnum or whether it's an imitation gun. As we say in Britain - might as well be hung for a sheep as for a lamb.
Moot asked
So south-africa sucks worse than britain and you mostly see rightwingers in those people. They also workd hard, which doesn't have anything to do with the right to own guns, nor that guns imply criminal use either; what are you saying?
I'm saying that given the choice between having gun rights and enjoying the freedom that Britain offers, most people choose the latter. South Africans are
pouring into Britain, and not too many Brits are going to SA any more.
Nuke asked
Has banning guns had any measurable effect on the murder, crime, or accidental death rates in the UK?
Yes it has, but I suspect by gun "ban" you're talking about the 1997 change in the law. But that was merely the latest in a long chain of firearms controls which began in 1903 with the Pistols Act, prior to which there was no control at all. I think I can see where you're going with your argument though, and it's flawed. You want to demonstrate that these laws made no difference. And that's a bit like saying that there's no need for me to lock my house when I go away because I've never been burgled, and therefore "locking the doors doesn't make a difference". And NUKE, you never have to say "sorry" to me - you're my friend!
