It's 1994 all over again.

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http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obam ... 15400.html

Seriously, calling for a reimposing of one of the most inane laws ever conceived. Background checks, necessary evil unfortunately. Also, the term "mentally unbalanced" is open to interpretation. Someone could try to label those of us with AS/HFA "mentally unbalanced". However considering this is an election year, a new law would probably not go through before the change of terms.

I support banning automatic weapons.
I also support full background checks, waiting periods, and safety classes for those who want to buy guns. In fact, I think owning a gun should require a license, just like driving a car.
I have a lot of family members who own guns for protection and hunting, and none of them feel that it's something to be taken lightly.

"Don't buy your kids guns, or else Barack Hitler will take them away".

--Hank Williams Jr.

Limit magazine size to 5 rounds max.

ruveyn

I oppose all of those things except mandatory safety classes.

Seriously, any form of weapons restriction is an infringement on the right to keep and bear arms.

A-MEN!

I don't know what the statistics are but I'd guess that America has much more gun crime / murders / woundings etc than Western Europe where people generally cannot own guns without a licence and typically a signed form from your doctor that you aren't mentally unstable.

I used to own a shotgun back in the UK and in addition to needing a licence my home was inspected by a police firearms expert to ensure the gun was kept in a secure manner (gun safe or gun clamp) so it couldn't easily get into the hands of children or be stolen by burglars.

Such restrictions seem perfectly reasonable to me. America seems culturally very different in this respect with their "right to bear arms". The trouble with that seems to be that ordinary law abiding citizens are arming themselves because the bad guys have guns too. If it was like Europe and hardly anyone had guns except the military and police surely America would be a safer place, and there would be far few occurrences of these crazy gun men going on murder sprees in schools etc. I'm sure there would be a lot less gun crime too.

I want my tank, just because it's good in snow.

If you have a culture with more guns than people, then some things got to give.

What is it with Americans anyway, do they think they are still cowboys or something.

Why don't they move on, you stole the land of the Indians now your shooting each other.

Last edited by Rudywalsh on 26 Jul 2012, 10:21 am, edited 1 time in total.

The firearm is so ingrained in American Culture that to take that right away would cause utter chaos. I'm sure it has been said before that the British lost their gun rights one tragedy at a time. I would have to find it, but I recently saw a news story about the protests after the 2009 Upton Park riots where more than a few British Citizens are saying that they want their gun rights back.

I've never met anyone in the UK who said guns should be more readily available to the public. I can assure you that if anyone has said that they are in a very small minority and maybe quoted by sensationalist US newspapers? In my opinion America has dug itself into a deep hole with its "right to bear arms" culture. Even if you passed laws similar to those in the UK you have such a huge number of guns in circulation that legislation would likely have no impact - other than maybe annoying the law abiding Americans who own guns for protection against ... other people with guns.

In the UK there is very little gun crime in comparison to America. It is much more difficult for criminals to get their hands on them. That seems like a good thing to me. In addition to owning a shotgun in the UK I used to belong to a gun club too when I was a student, mainly small calibre hand guns or rifles. So those who want guns can have access to them for target shooting, hunting etc and there are very strict regulations associated with owning or using firearms, but again nothing that seemed unreasonable.

It seems crazy to me that some nutjob can walk into a gunstore in America and buy automatic rifles and hand guns. The only concession you've made is the waiting period to purchase a handgun in which case the nutjob comes back again a day or two later.

The government of Switzerland hands out service rifles and military gear to almost every man found fit for service, and even some women who serve voluntarily, to keep in their own house for the duration of their conscription, which generally concerns tens of thousands of people at any time. Perhaps it's not the problem that people have guns, but that Americans have guns.

I say that.

I also know other people who think that too, mostly people that belong to shooting clubs.

I do not think guns should be allowed for 'home defence' but I do not see why handguns can't be owned and kept under lock and key at a range.

Given that we had to change the law to allow people to take part in the Olympics and that pistol shooters can't practice in this country, we have gone too far.

OK, I was mistaken on the 2009 Upton Park riots, this clip was filmed in 2008 to cover the proposed ban on fox hunting. This is by the NRA, so it is biased, but these are the statements of British citizens:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGVAQOUi6ec[/youtube]

In essence, the people being interviewed are saying that they no longer feel safe and that Gun Control has failed in the UK. The subject of Tony Martin being sentence to life in prison for defending his home while the intruder that survived only served half of a three year sentence for breaking and entering was somewhat disturbing.

Maybe the UK gun laws have tightened up since I was a member of a gun club. It was a good few years ago. At the time it was quite acceptable for hand guns to be kept locked up at the range. In fact they had quite an arsenal of various hand guns and rifles locked away that we used for target practice. The place was heavily secured though - it had to meet strict legislation to ensure thieves could not break in. Surely there are still gun clubs in existence in the UK and they can't be using pea-shooters or bows and arrows?