I decide to draw the line at high powered ballistic weapons designed specifically for killing. Not baseball bats. Not knives. Not cars or whatever other dumb shit you can think of that’s primary purpose far outstrips secondary retarded applications, but GUNS, who’s prime use is invariably for causing harm.
Don’t pretend that outlawing guns has absolutely no effect on the circulation of weapons among the criminal element either. It’s not a case of “Are you a scumbag? Yes? Okay here’s your easily obtained gun.” Gangs in London have to fucking share a gun because it’s so hard to get your hands on one.
Fact: Fewer people are killed by gun crime per-capita in countries that outlaw guns than those that don’t.
Oh ok. So you’re not talking about people being stupid with guns anymore. Now you’re talking about making the guns illegal. Dude, make up your fucking mind. Of course outlawing guns will have some effect, and I don’t remember saying that it wouldn’t, and I can easily go back and re-read my posts to verify. We’ll go back to England. Outlawing guns there works for two major reasons: You can only get a permit to own a gun through the police (and they can refuse or revoke based on discretion) and the populace is in favor of increasing control of gun ownership. You can’t even make and sell realistic imitation guns without risking jail time. You have to get a permit to say that you want to get a gun, then a permit for what kind of gun you’ll have, the whole while being required to prove, with good reason, why you want a gun in the first place. What’s more, if you’re caught carrying a gun on your person, even with a permit to own the gun, it is illegal and you can be sentenced to five years in prison. Gun deaths are decreased, but gun crime isn’t.
That shit wouldn’t work in America because of a bunch of factors. The accessibility of places to get a permit, the ease of the testing and training to get a permit, the ease of access to legal and illegal weapons, the fact that there are over 50 manufacturers of firearms in the US alone, and the fact that there is no requirement for law enforcement to monitor anyone’s use of their firearms until a crime has been committed. Not to mention the sheer logistics of tracking the gun-owning population of the US. Take away everyone’s registered guns. Make owning guns illegal in the US. If you don’t have the support of the people behind you, even if you enact some laws like England, there will still be gun deaths in the US.
Cocaine is illegal and isn’t even made in the USA, yet it somehow still gets here. Guns are made in the US, AND are imported. Do you realize what I’m saying to you right now? You can outlaw the guns all day, people will still have them if they want them. Some of the most heinous gun crimes in the UK in recent years were committed by people who passed the permit requirements. A gun is a gun, legal or no. You want to stop gun crime, stop making guns. Don’t just outlaw them.
People were shooting at helicopters with real guns during the riots, in fact shooting offences even the ones unrelated to the riots went up during that same week.
Now that you mention it, I remember hearing about that. Promptly forgot about it because stupid people being stupid isn’t something I retain for a long period of time.
Yeah, that dude was too intent on “standing his ground”. You’re supposed to back away from the threat. Even if you’re gonna pull your gun, you back away from the threat, keep everyone in your line of sight and remove yourself from the situation. Hasn’t this old bastard ever watched a movie where someone took a hostage? You pull the gun (if you have to) and make an exit. The longer you (and the gun) remain on site, the risk of someone dying grows exponentially.