Should guns get banned?

[dcentity2000]

Should America join Europe in outlawing these weapons?

Should there simply be tighter control?

Or should there be more of them, hanging from trees with bows on them?

I say...

Guns need to be banned. They need to go NOW.

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." This is the second Amendment in the constitution of the United States of America, which attracted this comment:

"The Second Amendment has been the subject of one of the greatest piece of fraud, I repeat the word, 'fraud', on the American public. The distortion of the intent of the framers of the Bill of Rights by the gun lobby is glaring, as they focus their argument on the last half of the amendment, while ignoring the first half, on which it was based".

So much, so very much lies locked and loaded in the definition of "the security of a free State". The NRA argues that all states with a weapons ban are invariably insecure which is odd as I live in one famed for good manners and polite old gentlemen in bowler hats. "This amendment was drawn up by people living in an precarious agrarian society unrecognisable to modern Americans, when communities needed guns to hunt and to protect themselves from Indians and highwaymen" states the BBC, echoing a standpoint that the 730 million (United Nations) Europeans live under.

Now, guns don't kill people, people do. However, that's no reason to make their lives so easy.

More than 14,000 homicides were committed with firearms in 1996. Of the dead, 68 were children below the age of four. More than 5,500 of those killed were aged between 15 and 24.

In 1998, Americans recoiled in horror after the shooting dead of four students and a teacher at a school in Jonesboro, Arkansas. In April 1999, 15 died at the barrel of a gun at Columbine High, Denver. Jul 1999: Atlanta - 13 dead. Sep 1999: Wedgewood Baptist Church, Fort Worth - 8 dead. Dec 1999: Radisson Bay Harbor Inn, Tampa - 5 dead. Dec 2000: Wakefield Massachusetts - 7 shot dead. Mar 2001: Santee, Calif - 2 dead.

But the worst?

Victoria Clydesdale, Emma Crozier, Melissa Currie, Charlotte Dunn, Kevin Hasell, Ross Irvine, David Kerr, Mhairi McBeath, Brett McKinnon, Abigail McLennan, Emily Morton, Sophie North, John Petne, Joanna Ross, Hanna Scott, Megan Turner and their teacher, Gwenne Mayor, were all shot dead in their classroom at Dunblane, Great Britain.

This was too much for the nation to bear and like so many others banned firearms from the public domain. The UK is yet to shrink, die, explode, shrivel up or otherwise fall in any way, shape or form as a result. There have been few if any calls to reverse the ban.

In America, things remain different. However, on 8 April 1999, anti-gun campaigners celebrated an important symbolic victory when Missouri narrowly rejected proposals to allow the carrying of concealed weapons.

The result, watched by the entire nation, came after high profile campaigning from Hilary Clinton and, on the other side, a $4m NRA offensive. The NRA would hate to see those guns taken away from them. The "need" them. Despite the Dunblane children.

However.

Letisha Shakespeare, 17, and Charlene Ellis, 18, were two college friends shot in a crossfire while celebrating New Year in Aston, Birmingham, UK, from illegally held weapons. There is no such thing as an absolute ban on guns as this shows - the most we can hope to do is limit the damage they do and whether this is through a total ban, enforced as best we can or tough legislation so we know what people have, we need something the world over, Amnesty International argues.

Amnesty International goes on to talk about the progress made in the third world country Brazil:

In the last 10 years, 300,000 people have been killed in Brazil, largely as a result of urban violence and the proliferation of guns in the country. While 24 men are killed for every one woman, every death leaves a grieving mother, wife, sister, girlfriend or friend. Now the women of Brazil are uniting to try to put an end to the terrifying escalation of violence and gun crime. On Mother's Day, 13 May 2001, the Brazilian non-governmental organization (NGO) Viva Rio launched a campaign under the slogan "Arma Não! Ela Ou Eu." ("Choose gun-free! It's your weapon or me."). Their aim was to bring together women from all sections of Brazilian society to force the men of Brazil to give up their guns. At the launch, attended by actresses, journalists, artists, mothers who had lost their children and wives who had lost their husbands, white flowers were distributed together with pamphlets explaining that owning a gun does not guarantee the protection of your family, but rather puts them at greater risk.

Despite bans in the UK, law remains enforced and generally parallel with the USA state, the Hague finds (you can download the statistics as an attachment here or below.)

Happily, even with countries in the minority when compared to the developed countries of the world with legal weapons, some countries are not totally hung on having a weapon. Over half a million mothers in the USA marched to disarm America under the last Government in a rally supported by the President and the first lady; over a quarter of a million student have signed an obscure online petition.

The world is beginning to speak with one voice, Bush once funnily enough stated. That voice is with us.



Rich::

 

[Squirlz]

Absolutely not. Airbags in cars have killed more children than guns in schools. Is anybody trying to ban those?

 

[disneyworld!]

thanks for a great laugh!

 

[roger_ramjet]

You silly pommies. Do that, and even more people will be unable to protect themselves.

 

[chadfromdallas]

Should guns get banned?

Absolutely

They are unnecessary

 

[wvrevy]

I wouldn't go so far as to say that all guns should be banned. However, I would be in favor of banning all handguns. A handgun has no purpose save for shooting and killing another human being. Period. They are easily concealed, and I hate to break it to the previous poster, but without handguns you would have FAR less violence in schools as well as the general public.

I'm sure you'll have people on this thread talking about the second amendment. What they'll neglect to mention is that, for the founding fathers, the idea of a semi-automatic weapon that was easily portable and concealable would have been considered science fiction (if there had really been a science fiction genre back then). They did not have to deal with things like assault rifles and a powerful lobbying group that would have guns sold on every street corner. The world has changed...it's just a shame we have some people that are so stubborn they don't want to change with it.

 

[poohandwendy]

In a word...no. It's a constitutional right that I am completely in agreement with.

(btw, I do not carry or own a gun, my DH has an old hunting rifle that was my fathers...but never uses it and does not own ammo for it)

 

[Miss Jasmine]

one word...NO

I like my handgun very much thank you.

 

[poohandwendy]

Victoria Clydesdale, Emma Crozier, Melissa Currie, Charlotte Dunn, Kevin Hasell, Ross Irvine, David Kerr, Mhairi McBeath, Brett McKinnon, Abigail McLennan, Emily Morton, Sophie North, John Petne, Joanna Ross, Hanna Scott, Megan Turner and their teacher, Gwenne Mayor, were all shot dead in their classroom at Dunblane, Great Britain.

How did gun control help them?

 

[TerriP]

In a word...no. It's a constitutional right that I am completely in agreement with.

Ditto!

 

[poohandwendy]

They are easily concealed, and I hate to break it to the previous poster, but without handguns you would have FAR less violence in schools as well as the general public.

Correct me if I am wrong, but haven't most school shootings we have heard about involved rifles?

 

[disneyworld!]

one word...NO

I like my handgun very much thank you.

and mine matches my handbag!

 

[luvwinnie]

And how would you get the CRIMINALS to give up their guns?

 

[AllyandJack]

I never bought that second amendment crap, but I think people have the right to own guns. Cars are more dangerous than guns. Let's outlaw those, too, and stick everyone on public transit - I'd rather stay home, personally.

Much like the welfare argument...are we going to take it away from everyone else because a few people abuse it?

 

[jrydberg]

Two salient points:

1. Telling the United States of America what to do usually has the opposite effect.

2. Banning firearms would certainly require an amendment to the constitution -- a proposition that would surely fail, if not in Congress, at the state level.

That said, I'd be in favor of something similar to what wvrevy suggests.

 

[swilphil]

I, personally, do not have any need for a gun, but I do respect law abiding citizens who want to own them. I just wish that more laws regarding gun safety would be put in place.

 

[chadfromdallas]

I never bought that second amendment crap, but I think people have the right to own guns. Cars are more dangerous than guns. Let's outlaw those, too, and stick everyone on public transit - I'd rather stay home, personally.

A car is made for transportation.
A gun has one use...To kill.

 

[binny]

do you honestly EVER see this happening?

:shrug:

 

[penguinande]

Of course they should. A gun is NOT practical as protection unless you keep it with you all the time. Yes, very determined criminals will still be able to get their hands on guns, but the harder it is to obtain weapons, the more lives will be saved. And maybe it won't make a dramatic impact on crime right away, but the longer weapons bans are in effect, the harder guns will be to come by. Police officers, security guards and the military are the only people who should be able to carry handguns. Hunting rifles are less of a threat, and, while I personally don't really approve of hunting, I would feel alright about making an exception for guns that are used for sport.

 

[Deb in IA]

A car is made for transportation.
A gun has one use...To kill.

Interesting comment, from one who routinely compares car exhaust to cigarette smoke . . .