pro-gun or anti-gun and why?

Question

I'm pro-gun. i hunt , but would use them in emergency's or self-defence.
if you are anti-gun consider this: in Great Britian and Australia (i believe) guns have been banned. crime rates have soared and haven't stopped, black market weapons are cheap as dirt, and the law abiding citizens have been disarmed, taking away their greatest defence. you know, the thing a criminal fears most is the victim having a firearm.
so i'd like to hear your answers on this.

Answer 1

Owning guns are a civil right like freedom of speech.

Answer 2

To break it down at the most basic level, self-defense and protection from tyranny are basic human rights, and guns are the best tools to ensure those rights.

There is no credible evidence anywhere that gun bans or heavy restrictions lower crime, in fact there is ample evidence that the opposite is true. Gun ownership in the US is at an all-time high and crime rates have been falling for decades. (Yes there was a slight uptick just recently but if you compare it with the 30-year trend it’s little more than a statistical aberration). About 40 states are right-to-carry and there has never been any serious push to rescind or even restrict those laws once they are put in place. If law-abiding citizens carrying guns in public was such a bad idea doesn’t it stand to reason that there would be at least some effort to roll back that freedom?

The idea that guns should, or even could, be banned in the US is sheer nonsense. From a practical standpoint, there are literally hundreds of millions of guns in the US and no database on where they are and who owns them. So that means citizens would either have to turn in their guns or cops would have to go door-to-door searching for guns and seizing them. Even the most strident anti-gun liberal will admit that dog don’t hunt. Pandora’s box is open and nothing is going to close it.

To put it simply, you don’t lower crime by disarming the victims.

Answer 3

The thing about being anti-gun is that you really can't own a gun to be part of that argument. The problem with that is that the people you disagree with...HAVE GUNS.

This is exactly why I am pro-gun and criminals are anti-gun.

Hey if I'm a thief, a rapist, a murder, then I am already a criminal.

What do I care if it's illegal to own a gun or not.

But hey, that means all the law abiding citizens, whom I am going to kill/rape/steal from, Don't have any guns! That sure makes my job a lot easier.

Thank you gun control.

Seriously, If you don't like guns, that is absolutely fine. But seriously, laws only limit the rights of those who follow them.

Keep that in mind when ever you vote yes on a law. A law takes rights away from law abiding citizens, but not criminals.

Answer 4

I'm pro-gun. I think that everyone has the right to bear arms and defend themselves if necessary. I personally love to target shoot and go hunting, but if I had to I would use my guns in a defense role too.
I think it's terrible when a government disarms or tries to disarm it's people. The people then have no protection from criminals - which means that the criminals are the ones with the power, because we all know that when something is illegal the black market soars with profit.

Answer 5

As an Australian I find it absurd that you quote your opinion as fact. Gun related crime dropped dramatically in Australia following the outlawing of handguns and other weapons. Gun laws have been progressively tightened here since 1915 and the homicide rate per 100,000 people has been effectively halved since that time.
Australia's rate of gun related deaths per 100,000 people is only 1/5 that of the United States. There is not one shred of evidence, that I can find, to support the gun culture's mentality that owning a gun restricts gun related crime. In fact it is overwhelmingly against it. It is an absurd statement.
Perhaps I am biased. I have never understood the mentality of people that shoot for 'sport'. Killing for the sake of killing. I am sure that there is a certain bravery in using a lethal weapon to kill a bird or a rabbit. Its us or them, I guess. Whether you eat what you shoot has nothing to do with the issue of shooting. Why would anyone in a civilised society get their jollies out of drilling a hole through an animal to see it die? Is there some sort of twisted sense of accomplishment from shattering the spine of an animal that doesn't even know it is a prey and whose only defense is to run away or take flight? It takes a certain sort of hero to proclaim a love of hunting.
Do you really in your right mind thinks that a criminal really fears a victim with a gun? So does that mean that if you arm all 300 million Americans there will be no more victims? Or will there be 300 million criminals? Or perhaps you will have a nation that is made of 50% of armed criminals and 50% of armed potential victims. What a wonderful society you are creating for yourself.
I do not have 6 deadlocks on my door or a gun in my cupboard or a handgun under my pillow because we do not have the culture of fear that comes with the fear mongering gun lobby. But I guess you sleep soundly in your bed knowing that Charlton Heston and his supporters are protecting you from the evils of the dark.
I am more than comfortable with my home under the Australian flag and as long as we don't copy America it will stay that way.

Answer 6

i am pro rights. i am a gun owner, and collector. i do not feel the need to blame the object for what the person dose with it. it is my right to keep and bare arms, both under the bill of rights, as well as under my state Constitution.
i do believe that there needs to be some controls on guns, i think the instant background check is a good thing, i just wish that some one who is trying to get an illegal gun would be prosecuted for lying on the form. there are hundreds of gun laws on the books, most of witch are ignored.

i see nothing in the in the history of the US Customs Service that would lead me to believe that banning guns would stop criminals from getting them.

Answer 7

There is really no place for public ownership of guns in today's world. Having said that, violence in some societies is rampant and in others not a problem. In Switzerland every male is issued an assault rifle with ammunition by the government which is kept at home. It is part of national defense. Murder in Switzerland is rare, and is not a big problem in most other European countries.

In other societies violence and murder are part of their culture. Add gun ownership to this and you have a deadly recipe. So what is the answer? Should the United Nations ban gun ownership in the USA and South Africa but allow it in Canada and Germany?

The only answer is to ban public ownership everywhere except in controlled sporting environments.

Answer 8

Sure crime has soared here in the UK, its reached almost half that of the USA.

banning guns draws a line, not banning guns also draws a line, but one that is much closer to crime.

i think that guns should be available for sport *only* as soon as a gun is carried in public there is something badly wrong.


edit for Wig (scroll down) thats per capita figures, the math is already done

Answer 9

definately anti-gun. the more weapons in this world, the worse. its an endless cycle, an arms race to the death. also, all you pro-gun people really need to see Bowling for Columbine...then tell me if you think its worth it. speaking of comparative crime rates, what about Canada?!? And this is a little off topic, but washington, dc was just put in a state of crime emergency due to several murders in recent days around the capitol...so when the capital of the nation is put in a state of emergency due to (gun related) crimes, you really have no excuse saying that guns deter crime. What I find really interesting is that the pro-gun people exactly reflect the United States during the Cold War—the race for nuclear arms that almost led to a nuclear holocaust...

Answer 10

In my opinion, guns cause so much damage in such a small amount of time, and often with such a small amount of thought given to the final result, that I can't understand why anyone would want to use them. I live in an area where hunting is very prevalent in the fall - to the extent that I don't feel safe walking my dog. Or walking myself. I also feel that guns give the gun-owner an inflated sense of power that makes them do things they wouldn't ordinarily do if they didn't have it. This seems to me to be a dangerous combination.