Beet1e, you got some 'splaining to do (lucy)

[Replicant]

Originally posted by medicboy
Sad point, your goverment doesn't trust people to keep guns at home???  OMFG  why is this?   Does your Govt trust people to wipe there own arses as well???   This sounds like you are living in a communist country and the Gevt is afraid of what an armed public might do.....

Some people are permitted to keep shotguns and small calibre weapons at home after a Police inspection.  Before the majority of guns were banned most larger calibre weapons were forbidden from being kept at home and must be kept at a gun club.

Why would you want to keep guns at home though?  Unless you're a farmer or clay pigeon shooter etc., there's no where to use them unless at a gun club.  You definitely wouldn't be able to use them for self-defence since European/British law would most likely prosecute you (yep, unbelievable but true!).  Some cases have seen people imprisoned for shooting intruders, some other cases they've been let off - guess it depends on the judge!  I can understand it in some circumstances, imagine a farmer who's been burgled a few times.  Next time he's going to shoot them, fair play, but the next intruder isn't a criminal but someone who is lost..... bang!  Okay not good example but one that is feasible.

I don't mind shotguns being kept at home but I'd go against hand guns because you'd always get some loony trying to take a concealed weapon out on the street and then using it.

[Holden McGroin]

Originally posted by vorticon
so its not the laws...its the enforcers...remember those guys DID get busted...how often does that happen in america?

I suppose this should be obvious, but...

If we did not enforce gun laws, the broken gun law statistics would be rather slim wouldn't they?

[medicboy]

I guess thats the difference.  I would much rather live someplace where you were aloud to cary a concealed weapon than live somewhere you wern't.  I feel it would be much safer.  You will never stop the psycho nuts from doing something stupid but you could end their rampage early with a few honest people and a few well placed shots.

[Replicant]

I was thinking of 'heat of the moment' temptation syndrome.  If people were carrying concealed guns and there was a fight or whatever, would someone be so angry as to use it?

[CyranoAH]

I prefer living in a country with strict gun laws.

No gun laws = easier for a nut to get a deadly weapon
Gun Laws = only resourceful criminals get one. Ratio of resourceful criminals / Police Forces is quite balanced.

That's enough for me.

Daniel

[medicboy]

Replicant,    In states that have right to cary laws there are less shootings than states that don't allow it.  Its about using your head, I'm not advocating that any one can get a gun and just walk around with it.  There should be training and responsibility.

[ra]

Almost every shooting in Britain is domestic, or one drug dealer shooting another.

This sounds familiar.

Gun crimes in UK are up 50% since the gun laws were tightened, that in itself is yet another demonstration that gun laws don't deter criminals, they just disarm the law-abiding public.

ra

[Pei]

And having vastly less gun crime and gun deaths per capita, even with a higher base crime rate doesn't argue the contrary?

[ra]

Originally posted by Pei
And having vastly less gun crime and gun deaths per capita, even with a higher base crime rate doesn't argue the contrary?

If gun crime had gone down after the new gun restrictions, then gun laws could be credited with the UK's low gun crime rate.  But gun crime is going up, so apparently gun laws were not the reason for the low gun crime rate.  This same thing can be observed all over the world, but anti-gun types never want to hear about it.

ra

[Sikboy]

Originally posted by Nashwan
Almost every shooting in Britain is domestic, or one drug dealer shooting another.

You guys have drugs too?

-Sik

[Yeager]

I would much rather have a gun and live in fear than NOT have a gun and live in fear

[-tronski-]

Originally posted by CyranoAH
I prefer living in a country with strict gun laws.

Daniel

So do I

 Tronsky

[john9001]

you can live in england and think your safe, i will live in the land of the free, carry a gun and know i'm safe.

[beet1e]

On motoring: Driving too fast is dangerous... many abide by the speed limits, but some do not. Therefore, "speed limits don't work". Ripsnort's solution - abolish speed limits so that no law is being broken.

Gun control laws in Britain DO work. They just don't work perfectly. The fact that our gun laws work is why we have fewer than 100 gun deaths each year, whereas America always has many thousands - more than 13,000 in some years.

Our criminals are no better than yours. If we were to enact the "Ripsnort Remedy" by doing away with gun control laws because they "don't work", we would have a bloodbath, and we too would have thousands of gun deaths each year instead of fewer than 100.

Rip - glad to see you're reading a British broadsheet newspaper - does wonders to improve one's grammar and spelling. The bad news (and you're not going to like this) is that the Guardian is possibly the most left wing (ie LIBERAL) broadsheet in Britain.

Try http://www.telegraph.co.uk

[straffo]

Originally posted by CyranoAH
I prefer living in a country with strict gun laws.

No gun laws = easier for a nut to get a deadly weapon
Gun Laws = only resourceful criminals get one. Ratio of resourceful criminals / Police Forces is quite balanced.

That's enough for me.

Daniel

ditto