Gun control
Right into the fray. Hello USA. Here is my advice to you. Ban guns like we did after Dunblain. Screw the constitution this is 2012 not 1789.
Guns are not a defensive weapon if I have a gun to defend me it only works if I shoot and the only purpose of a handgun is to kill people it is not a defence it cant stop bullets only spew out its own!
So simply ban guns and enforce it! Please
Amen!
ReplyDeleteThis is the most realistic article I have read, I think.
ReplyDeletehttp://theoppenheimerreport.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/the-oppenheimer-report-121712.html
One fears if you have to explain it to them, they'll never get it.....utterly tragic....
ReplyDeleteI agree. It's funny how if challenged people will say life is sacred. But is that what we really think? To take a UK example, if you say let's reduce urban speed limits to 20mph and introduce traffic calming measures, half of those people will demur, even though the measures will save lives (mostly children's). They'll come up with all sorts of waffle to justify their position.
ReplyDeleteInteresting link - another on my bug bears... our road is a bit of a local "rat run" and some people fly along it at ridiculous speed, I'd fully endorse a 20mph rule on roads like ours but like you say many will complain no doubt.
DeleteOr rather, have our politicians grow some backbones, our judges grow backbones and enforce the laws already on the books.
ReplyDeleteThis is a heated debate and at the risk of making it much more heated because I am a gun owner, America is not the only country that sees violence. I will spare the boring talking points because I'm sure by now you've heard them all.
What my country needs is a return to being parents to our children, not their friends. Not being afraid to talk to our kids about, dare I say, sex and religion? Who cares if I offend someone in the back row, they'll learn to get over it because if they don't, they won't survive in the real world. My country is raising a bunch of under achievers who think it's okay to settle and get a prize for merely participating. Do I think that will solve every shooting? No, but I think it will help. Our country needs to get back to saying NO to kids AND adults.
*stepping off my soapbox now*
Interesting. So I don't think really we have any more or less disturbed people in the UK than you have in the USA (per head of populationwise anyway!). But my issue is still about the availability of guns, see when they are readily available people with these issues can cause so much damage. Dunblane showed that - so we had tighter control on handguns introduced. We still had the Cumbrian tragedy a couple of years ago - with guns legally owned by the man who carried out the attacks, shot gun and a rifle.
DeleteI still find this amazing divide culturally though...
I own knives - to cut meat and vegetables etc. with, I could use them as a weapon but they have another legitimate use.
I could own a baseball bat to play baseball - we have a cricket bat somewhere in the shed I'm sure, I have an axe in there to cut wood with etc.
See all potential weapons but I have a use for them. Why would I ever own a handgun or an assault rifle? There only purpose is to kill humans - that is the bit I never get. Why do so many people own something that has only that use?
Given where I grew up and now live I'll never understand that culture, I discussed it at length on my many USA trips and always I was lost as the argument goes to "defence"... but they only work if you pull the trigger first... I just don't get it
I guess because of where i grew up, in NY, don't get me wrong, it wasn't the big city, but outside of it, our crime rate was always a given. It was the criminals who did the stabbings and the beatings with baseball bats. As I grew older, the criminals had guns along with knives and bats because they stood for different attacks. Use a knife, it's personal. Shot them in the eye it's personal, etc. People like us, "normal" everyday people became nervous, especially once I became sober and led a normal life. When I lived in a state that allowed not just the purchase of hand guns but permission to carry in public, I bought one. Especially, after Hurricane Katrina hit and all hell broke lose. I carried my gun for a long time after that. It was a matter of self protection and protection of my kids. For me, I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
Deletesee and in that is the difference, this massive cultural divide where I just can't see how having a handgun can do nothing but raise the levels of violence since ... it is not a defence unless you are prepared to shoot first, but if they know that then they get a bigger, faster gun and shoot first anyway ... etc. It is cultural and why, sadly, I can see no end to these events in your country
DeleteMaybe I'm naive but I really do think this was the last straw and the cowards in Washington are actually going to leap into action. God, I hope so. If you're not in the military or law enforcement, you don't need an assault rifle. It's depressing.
ReplyDeleteagree with UB. this may be the one that forces a response. the eeejits here, clinging to their guns, are starting to sound insane. are dead children the price we pay for our right to bear arms? how often is enough?
ReplyDeletein addition, there must be a national strategy to manage mental health care. we threw it out in the 70's (thank you, Ronald Regan) and it's been done via emergency room and prison ever since. maybe we'll get it right someday. but it's clear that we are an absolute mess as a nation...