Gun Control - Opinions?

[Classic Conservative]

I basically support whatever gun control will lower the murder rate. In principle, I don't care about the "right" to own a gun.

You need to the read the second Admendment buddy.

I said I don't care about it personally; the current legal situation is another story.

Also regarding your signature, you need to read the Fourteenth Amendment, buddy.

Umm, what does an All Lives Matter March have to do with the 14th???

[dead0man]

Yeah, that was a little confusing to me.

[Figueira]

I basically support whatever gun control will lower the murder rate. In principle, I don't care about the "right" to own a gun.

You need to the read the second Admendment buddy.

I said I don't care about it personally; the current legal situation is another story.

Also regarding your signature, you need to read the Fourteenth Amendment, buddy.

Umm, what does an All Lives Matter March have to do with the 14th???

Not that, the part under it. But thanks for telling me that's an "All Lives Matter" march; I was confused by that picture.

[tschandler]

The ultimate reason pro Gun rights people don't trust gun control people is their unwillingness to learn anything about guns.  Todd Akin was an idiot but the legitimate rape quote was hung on ALL republicans by the media.  But Kevin de Leon and others make regular idiotic statements about guns and expect GRA's to trust them to regulate guns in good faith. 

[dead0man]

I believe their defense is "we don't have to know anything about guns to know they are only used to bring death".  Even when admitting they don't know anything, they feel the need to add on something that isn't true.

[Torie]

No automatic weapons, no gun possession without a license, no license without having received a gun class certificate of competence, and a background check that comes up with no mental issues, or criminal record involving crimes of violence at least, and perhaps a waiting period from the time one wants to purchase a gun, and being able to purchase it (so those who are temporarily angry have time to cool off). All of the above is allowed by the Second Amendment. There is no need to repeal the Second Amendment. The debate over the gun issue I find even more irrational and irritating than the debate on abortion, which is saying something.

[Thunderbird is the word]

No automatic weapons, no gun possession without a license, no license with having received a gun class certificate of competence, and a background check that comes up with no mental issues, or criminal record involving crimes of violence at least, and perhaps a waiting period from the time one wants to purchase a gun, and being able to purchase it (so those who are temporarily angry have time to cool off). All of the above is allowed by the Second Amendment. There is no need to repeal the Second Amendment. The debate over the gun issue I find even more irrational and irritating than the debate on abortion, which is saying something.

[dead0man]

No automatic weapons, no gun possession without a license, no license with having received a gun class certificate of competence, and a background check that comes up with no mental issues, or criminal record involving crimes of violence at least, and perhaps a waiting period from the time one wants to purchase a gun, and being able to purchase it (so those who are temporarily angry have time to cool off). All of the above is allowed by the Second Amendment. There is no need to repeal the Second Amendment. The debate over the gun issue I find even more irrational and irritating than the debate on abortion, which is saying something.

Automatic weapons are (virtually) illegal now.  No legal automatic weapons are ever used in crime.  I don't understand the point in making them more illegal.  Unless you mean semi-automatic in which case no, you can't ban those.

I'm not keen on the required license or the class to get it, but would be willing to compromise to that position if it would shut the debate down for, say, 50 years.  But it won't.

[Blair]

Can we stop this myth that people who support gun control are bleeding heart liberals who've never touched a gun before. Heck for someone from the UK I've done beyond the average amount of shooting, I've got a working knowledge of guns/gun legislation yet I still favour gun control

[dead0man]

Can we stop this myth that people who support gun control are bleeding heart liberals who've never touched a gun before.

Right after gun control people stop being ignorant about guns.  No, not all of them are, but the majority.

[Enduro]

Because a piece of paper is going to stop people from getting guns.

[politicus]

Because a piece of paper is going to stop people from getting guns.

Gun possession is much lower in countries where citizens aren't allowed to have firearms for other uses than hunting, so it would have an effect. Especially if backed by stiff penalties.

The "criminals will always get guns" meme is only true to a certain extent. Gangs will, but not all types of violent criminals and not to the extent they do today.

[dead0man]

It's not just criminals that will always get guns, regular folk that like guns get guns, even in places where they are illegal.  There are 20 million illegal guns (almost 4 times more than the number of legal ones) in Germany, the vast majority in the hands of (otherwise) law abiding Germans.  Germans like guns.  They have the 4th highest per capita number of legal firearms in the world despite having despite having some of the most restrictive gun laws.

[Why]

The only gun control that would truly work would be the non existence of any guns anywhere in the world. All other policies will continue to fail by slightly varying levels of failure.
Having gun ownership as a right is never going to work, but if you try and remove guns all that is going to happen is the bad people have guns. Perhaps a kind of balance of strength is least worst option.

[DemPGH]

I'm not a fan of American gun culture, but a lot of forms of gun control, particularly assault weapons bans, aren't the best way to cut down on gun violence. I'd support some basic restrictions on gun ownership such as a national registry and universal background checks for gun purchases, and perhaps requiring liability insurance as well. Of course, societal violence is a lot more complicated than restricting gun ownership, and there are preventative methods that can be taken such as heavy public investment into poorer areas to discourage the incentive to form gangs, establishing universal and widely accessible mental healthcare, etc.
 

I agree with that, especially the latter part.

Anyway, this issue is tough for me. I'd support registry, licenses, and background checks, and assault weapons bans would depend upon what we're calling an assault weapon. High tech sniper rifles should be banned, e.g.

I do not support repealing the 2nd at this time, nor do I support comprehensive bans.

[HaveANiceLife]

I think that people should be allowed to own what they please. Guns included. I don't like the idea of a gun registry because I don't like the idea of being on a list.

[Intell]

Ban semi-automatic guns, rifles, machine guns etc. Allow people to own guns, through extensive testing, gun lessons as well as background checks, and mental history. Guns should be highly regulated, and preferably only allow the government to sell guns.

The gun culture in the US is horrifying, like the fact that regulating guns and establishing background checks, is against your freedom, somehow. I literally have tons of friends here who think US is a place, where everyone kills each other, people joke that the US is the most backwards country and that everyone in the US is gun nut. My friends here say that here and they're horrified at the fact, that I owned a gun in the US.

[Murica!]

Ban semi-automatic guns, rifles, machine guns etc.

You do realize that that would ban all guns but single action revolvers and possibly some shotguns, right?

[Intell]

Ban semi-automatic guns, rifles, machine guns etc.

You do realize that that would ban all guns but single action revolvers and possibly some shotguns, right?

Yes, a shotgun and pistol would do you fine, in protecting yourself.

[Murica!]

Ban semi-automatic guns, rifles, machine guns etc.

You do realize that that would ban all guns but single action revolvers and possibly some shotguns, right?

Yes, a shotgun and pistol would do you fine, in protecting yourself.

Do you even know what a single action revolver is?

[tschandler]

I basically support whatever gun control will lower the murder rate. In principle, I don't care about the "right" to own a gun.

Then you support increased gun rights?  The violent crime rate is down in the US.   So not only are we getting calls for outright bans, but keyboard warriors wanting to confiscate citizens property.  Why is this place such an echo chamber?   A gun is a tool.  A very important tool for recreation, self defense, and  putting food on the table.   I don't think anti gun rights keyboard warriors have any idea actually how many guns exist in the US especially in certain regions.   If guns really were an epidemic problem you would see these shootings in vastly different places.  Gun Ranges in Alabama, a Gun Store in rural Iowa.  The places with strong gun cultures are not seeing these mass shootings. 

Why?  Because these shootings are all done by cowards.  They choose intentional soft targets where they won't be shot at back.  Most of the guys including the Columbine shooters, the Virginia Tech shooter and the latest shooter all shot themselves when authorities arrived. 

The common factors of these shootings are soft targets, areas without a strong gun culture, and cowardly beta males. 

[bedstuy]

I basically support whatever gun control will lower the murder rate. In principle, I don't care about the "right" to own a gun.

Then you support increased gun rights?  The violent crime rate is down in the US.   So not only are we getting calls for outright bans, but keyboard warriors wanting to confiscate citizens property.  Why is this place such an echo chamber?   A gun is a tool.  A very important tool for recreation, self defense, and  putting food on the table.   I don't think anti gun rights keyboard warriors have any idea actually how many guns exist in the US especially in certain regions.   If guns really were an epidemic problem you would see these shootings in vastly different places.  Gun Ranges in Alabama, a Gun Store in rural Iowa.  The places with strong gun cultures are not seeing these mass shootings. 

Why?  Because these shootings are all done by cowards.  They choose intentional soft targets where they won't be shot at back.  Most of the guys including the Columbine shooters, the Virginia Tech shooter and the latest shooter all shot themselves when authorities arrived. 

The common factors of these shootings are soft targets, areas without a strong gun culture, and cowardly beta males. 

That's a bunch of crap.  Obviously, most gun deaths are not from a few high profile mass shootings.  Most gun deaths are suicides, accidents and homicides during violent confrontations between people who know each other.  But, it's not like nobody has a gun in Colorado or Virginia or Southern Oregon.  Those places are not exactly Marin County. 

If your theory was right anyway, there would be tons of mass shootings in Western Europe.  After all, they have a vastly weaker gun culture than anywhere in America. 

And, since this is Atlas, here's a map of the US.



It basically looks like the Republican states have more firearm deaths. 

[Green Line]

Ideally, abolish the 2nd amendment and ban all privately held guns except in extremely narrow hunting cases.  I know that's not politically possible so in the meantime I support doing everything possible to make guns more difficult to obtain.  

The second amendment was written in a time when automatic/semi-automatic weapons did not exist.  Guns were not as dangerous back then because they took so long to reload and fire, mass shootings couldn't really happen.  I sincerely believe if the founders were around today they would never support people owning the kinds of guns we have now.  And even if they did support it, who cares what they think?  They weren't perfect

[Intell]

Ideally, abolish the 2nd amendment and ban all privately held weapons except in extremely narrow hunting cases.  I know that's not politically possible so in the meantime I support doing everything possible to make guns more difficult to obtain. 

The second amendment was written in a time when automatic weapons did not exist.  Guns were not as dangerous back then because they took so long to reload and fire, mass killings couldn't really happen.  I sincerely believe if the founders were around today they would never support people owning the kinds of guns we have now.  And even if they did support it, who cares what they think?  They weren't perfect

Sarcasm or...

[Green Line]

Ideally, abolish the 2nd amendment and ban all privately held weapons except in extremely narrow hunting cases.  I know that's not politically possible so in the meantime I support doing everything possible to make guns more difficult to obtain. 

The second amendment was written in a time when automatic weapons did not exist.  Guns were not as dangerous back then because they took so long to reload and fire, mass killings couldn't really happen.  I sincerely believe if the founders were around today they would never support people owning the kinds of guns we have now.  And even if they did support it, who cares what they think?  They weren't perfect

Sarcasm or...

No, why?