Er... personally I am always amazed that conservatives heads don't explode from the massive cognitive dissonance.
A kid raped by her father who gets an abortion is a despicable murderer. But... we should arm more people with guns whose only real purpose is to kill another human being.
Life is sacred 'till you're born. Then you're fair game?
But... we should arm more people with guns whose only real purpose is to kill another human being.
This Pandora's box has been open for a very long time. I'm afraid that even hope will escape it should we try to close it.
The mere existence of these weapons in the population makes them a deterrent for some crimes against the elderly and disabled. Even if it isn't a deterrent for some criminals, I would rather see the scumbag criminal breaking into an old person's home die than the old person getting killed, robbed, or otherwise abused. Dead criminals don't commit additional crimes.
Unfortunately, none of those arguments are valid when put in the light of the overwhelming evidence coming from other countries that don't have guns.
This leaves the only true reason why guns are so prevalent in the US. People who own guns like the feeling of personal power that they give. However, in a sane society regulators will recognize the consequences of this and act accordingly. Unfortunately in the US the vested interests in the gun lobby are so strong th
Unfortunately, none of those arguments are valid when put in the light of the overwhelming evidence coming from other countries that don't have guns.
Wow, when was the US a country that didn't have an overwhelming number of guns in the hands of the citizens? Oh, wait, it was never. Our citizens had guns when we first became a country. We strongly believed in gun ownership then because we just won an armed rebellion against a colonial power.
Please, enlighten me, how does evidence from a country with historically strict gun control relate to a country where guns are rampant? How does evidence that apples are red relate to oranges being, well, orange?
Where are these countries with "historically strict gun control" you talk of - because the places I'm thinking of only introduced gun control in the last 50 years and have seen reduced levels of gun crime as a consequence, for example, the UK.
We strongly believed in gun ownership then because we just won an armed rebellion against a colonial power.
And I wouldn't argue with that, in fact I'd say that's exactly what the second amendment was for. But given that the effective fire power of the United States is many billions of times greater than it was at the end of the 18th century, which particular colonial power
You do know that violent crime has been rising in the UK as they tighten their weapons laws, right? I don't believe that you are correct that UK gun crime has been dropping. The last reference I saw indicated that it has in fact been rising.
Why does this report [homeoffice.gov.uk] then show the following on pages 9 and 10:
Between 1995 and 2004/05 violent crime, as measured by the BCS1, has fallen by 43 per cent and the composition of violent crime has changed.
You're very quick to say this, but I've read the data by the Dutch Centraal Bureau voor Statistiek as well, and there it's even shown that violent crime has been on the decline ever since it started being measured and stored in the 1920's.
That is a very good question when this report ( http://www.csdp.org/research/hosb1203.pdf [csdp.org] ) says that it rose 26% from 1997 to 2001, while violent crime rates in the US FELL 12%.
God, please let this be true. (Score:5, Funny)
I want to see liberals' heads explode when they realize that Socialized medicine is being used to buy people guns.
LK
Re: (Score:5, Insightful)
A kid raped by her father who gets an abortion is a despicable murderer. But... we should arm more people with guns whose only real purpose is to kill another human being.
Life is sacred 'till you're born. Then you're fair game?
Re: (Score:5, Interesting)
But... we should arm more people with guns whose only real purpose is to kill another human being.
This Pandora's box has been open for a very long time. I'm afraid that even hope will escape it should we try to close it.
The mere existence of these weapons in the population makes them a deterrent for some crimes against the elderly and disabled. Even if it isn't a deterrent for some criminals, I would rather see the scumbag criminal breaking into an old person's home die than the old person getting killed, robbed, or otherwise abused. Dead criminals don't commit additional crimes.
If guns were banned t
Absolutely correct (Score:-1, Flamebait)
...if you were arguing strictly from logic.
Unfortunately, none of those arguments are valid when put in the light of the overwhelming evidence coming from other countries that don't have guns.
This leaves the only true reason why guns are so prevalent in the US. People who own guns like the feeling of personal power that they give. However, in a sane society regulators will recognize the consequences of this and act accordingly. Unfortunately in the US the vested interests in the gun lobby are so strong th
Re: (Score:2)
Unfortunately, none of those arguments are valid when put in the light of the overwhelming evidence coming from other countries that don't have guns.
Wow, when was the US a country that didn't have an overwhelming number of guns in the hands of the citizens? Oh, wait, it was never. Our citizens had guns when we first became a country. We strongly believed in gun ownership then because we just won an armed rebellion against a colonial power.
Please, enlighten me, how does evidence from a country with historically strict gun control relate to a country where guns are rampant? How does evidence that apples are red relate to oranges being, well, orange?
Re: (Score:4, Insightful)
Where are these countries with "historically strict gun control" you talk of - because the places I'm thinking of only introduced gun control in the last 50 years and have seen reduced levels of gun crime as a consequence, for example, the UK.
We strongly believed in gun ownership then because we just won an armed rebellion against a colonial power.
And I wouldn't argue with that, in fact I'd say that's exactly what the second amendment was for. But given that the effective fire power of the United States is many billions of times greater than it was at the end of the 18th century, which particular colonial power
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Why does this report [homeoffice.gov.uk] then show the following on pages 9 and 10:
Between 1995 and 2004/05 violent crime, as measured by the BCS1, has fallen by 43 per
cent and the composition of violent crime has changed.
You're very quick to say this, but I've read the data by the Dutch Centraal Bureau voor Statistiek as well, and there it's even shown that violent crime has been on the decline ever since it started being measured and stored in the 1920's.
Re:Absolutely correct (Score:2)