Pete McCluskey.
Lifetime Supporter
There is no longer a civil war, the Indians are no longer attacking the settlers.
Is the right to bear arms outdated?
Is the right to bear arms outdated?
I would like to offer an observation re: gun control however. I do not believe that you can get the genie back in the bottle and I also believe that you would never be able to ban guns in the USA period. But i would ask how and why the family in question in the CT incident owned 7 high powered guns between them. There also doesn't seem to be a requirement (as in the UK) for gun owners to keep them under lock and key either.
To have that number of potentially lethal weapons lying around the average house does seem to be a tad careless of the likely consequences, so some degree of gun owning discipline could be instigated legally, and it would improve people's mindset if a gun wasn't seen as an everyday object such as a can opener.
There is no longer a civil war, the Indians are no longer attacking the settlers.
Is the right to bear arms outdated?
Pete, the Second Amendment is there to insure our freedom from an oppressive government.
Jeff Young
I can never believe the endless stream of crap you spew on this forum. Maybe you would think twice if you we're being marched to some ditch at gun point. They can have my weapons when they pry them from my cold dead hands. Keep up the good work. I have had enough liberal crap here and surely not going to pay for some idiot to have a platform.
I also believe that more extreme Gun Control is not the answer. I believe it is a moral and political issue. Since we are discussing a tragedy in the United States, I will use some relevant data. I would like to point out that this is not an anti US post. This last comment is directed towards the paranoids amongst us - please do not derail a proper discussion.
Some recent data would suggest that for a 307 million US population there are 300 million guns in circulation and that's just the ones they know about. It translates to roughly 90 guns per 100 population.
By coincidence? The US is No. 4 highest overall death rate from guns in the world, (10,000) however, if you apply the deaths per 100,000 it slips down the list a little with South Africa remaining top of everything. Even so, the USA appears around No. 8 in the world of gun deaths per 100,000 per capita.
Lots of guns and lots of deaths. The two must be related. Someone on here said that if you took the guns away they would find another way, but I truthfully doubt that a man with a machete, for example, could exact that kind of death toll.
I realise that statistics like these can be used in different ways, and they may not be up to date but they are close to the truth. To fiddle with the statistics is to attempt to bury the problem. I suppose it's a bit like being an alcoholic - first you have to accept there is a problem. I happen to believe there is, and it probably starts (but doesn't end) with the 1st and 2nd Amendments.
I will say again, this is not an anti US post. To suggest it is denies me the right to debate serious world issues that affect us all, for what happens in the USA inevitably is exported and therefore concerns everyone.