If guns were outlawed, only outlaws would have guns....

[Papa Deuce]

poll coming...

 

[Quackmore]

poll coming...

thanks for the warning.

 

[clarabelle]

Trust me- people who have guns (non hunting types) in this country are not using them to protect their homes and families. They are using them to shoot their BIL when they get drunk.

 

[hucifer]

If the government creates a law that bans all gun ownership, then by definition yes they are criminals.

 

[Chicago526]

I put "other".

First off, I don't think there should be a total ban on guns in this country, for many reasons I won't go into here. They most certainly should be regulated with only certain types of guns banned (much like what we have now, actually).

I do think that if a ban were in place, that properly done, that while outlaws would have guns for a while, that EVENTUALY very few criminals would have access to them. Of course the key to this is that the ban is properly enforced. If we did the half-assed job with guns like we do with drugs, then I think it would just make matters worse.

 

[Tiggeroo]

i also think the gov't would never be able to completely keep guns out of criminals hands.
I think there should be background checks for legal purchases and a waiting period. I can see no reason for assault rifles, etc. To own something like that should require a special license with a high fee and monitoring. But I do believe an average citizen with a clean criminal record should be able to purchase a handgun or hunting rifles.

 

[C.Ann]

Anyone who wants a gun badly enough can get it and will always be able to do so..

 

[Planogirl]

You'd never be able to ban rifles and shotguns with all of the hunters in this country.

 

[mtblujeans]

I don't feel there should be a ban rifles and shotguns but there should be a ban on assault weapons! Who needs an assault weapon to shoot a deer, antelope, or any other game, for that matter!!?

 

[Christine]

Having lived in Japan for several years (way back in the 1980s), I know it can be done. I'm not sure of their statistics but I remember that gun-related deaths/injuries in Japan were all but non-existant. You know, it was a nice feeling being in a gun-free society. No one had them.

As another poster pointed out, enforcement is the key. If you possessed a gun in Japan and you were caught, I don't think anyone ever saw you again. There was a real deterrant to getting caught with a gun. The U.S. would never be that stringent.

 

[Puffy2]

Trust me- people who have guns (non hunting types) in this country are not using them to protect their homes and families. They are using them to shoot their BIL when they get drunk.

Ah, come on...it's been years since I shot my brother-in-law.


that's a joke - in case anyone needed it spelled out for them.


Personally, I think reponsible gun law is a good thing , but outlawing gun ownership by citizens is just one step closer to a dictatorship. The only thing that keeps government honest is the thought that their citizens just might rise up against them with force.

 

[Puffy2]

As another poster pointed out, enforcement is the key. If you possessed a gun in Japan and you were caught, I don't think anyone ever saw you again. There was a real deterrant to getting caught with a gun.

I sincerely hope that you aren't suggesting that is a good thing.

 

[Lil_Tink]

I put other cause HUH?

 

[Hercules10]

In contrast.

Visitors to Switzerland are astonished to see guns and rifles being carried openly in public -- particularly when there is a "shooting festival" occurring nearby. In fact, Switzerland has more firepower per person than any other country in the world -- yet it is one of the safest places on Earth.

In 1997, there were 87 intentional homicides and 102 attempted homicides in the entire country -- with firearms involved in 91 of the 189 total cases.

Switzerland had a homicide rate of 1.2 per 100,000 population and a robbery rate of 36 per 100,000.

Almost half of those crimes were committed by non-resident foreigners -- whom locals call "criminal tourists."

By comparison, Britain -- which has strict gun control laws -- had a homicide rate in 1994 of 1.4 per 100,000 and a robbery rate of 116 per 100,000.
Although Switzerland has local shooting contests for boys and girls ages 12 to 16, there have been no school massacres in the country.

All males between the ages of 20 and 42 are required to keep rifles and pistols at home for purposes of national defense. Military historians do not doubt that this was a big reason Hitler chose to avoid Switzerland in favor of conquering countries which had strict gun control laws -- as well as registration lists which facilitated confiscation of firearms.

 

[mark&sue]

In UK guns are outlawed but we still have gun crime. Obviously carried out by the outlaws!!


Susan

 

[froglady]

Trust me- people who have guns (non hunting types) in this country are not using them to protect their homes and families. They are using them to shoot their BIL when they get drunk.

Then I'm amazed that DH is still alive after 29 years!

 

[MICKEY88]

Trust me- people who have guns (non hunting types) in this country are not using them to protect their homes and families. They are using them to shoot their BIL when they get drunk.

most gun owners use them for hunting and protection....

most guns used in homicides have been illegally obtained
, most guns used by drug dealers and runners are guns that are already illegal in the USA, such as fully automatic weapons...
they are smuggled into the country just like the drugs, so if guns are outlawed the criminals will still get them...

rural areas have the highest gun concentrations yet the lowest gun crimes....

guns don't commit crimes or homicide,,,people do...

 

[Sparx]

agree strongly.

 

[PrincessKitty1]

Agree strongly--only outlaws AND the government would have guns--and since our current government is run by outlaws, we'd probably end up being governed by a right-wing dictatorship.