When will people realize that assault weapons and handguns should be illegal to possess or purchase?

Question

The rash of recent school shootings has made me ask this question now, although I have always thought this. Personally, I don't think anyone should be allowed to have rifles or shotguns either, although at least I see some validity with pro-hunting arguments. I simply cannot fathom, however, why people would need a handgun or an assault weapon considering their entire purpose is to kill people (yes, self-defense is killing people too).

If you disagree with my views, I am curious as to your reasoning. Please elaborate on them; I'm interested.

Answer 1

I'm from Alaska, and guns are as much a part of life there as breathing. In Alaska, you don't even need a permit to carry concealed!
I love to target practice and I enjoy hunting. I even like cleaning the guns afterward!
There are lots of reasons why guns should be legal to carry. FIrst off, the most obvious one. Criminals have guns. Therefore, we should be allowed to carry guns to protect against the criminals with guns. I agree, there should be mandatory training courses for all who want to carry guns in self defense, though. It can be dangerous if not properly trained. Even if guns are illegal to possess, there will still be many criminals who don't care and who will carry anyways. Look at Washington, D.C. as an example. Handguns are illegal there, and it is one of the highest crime areas in the United States. Making guns illegal hasn't dropped the violent crime rate a bit! If there are people out there that want to kill you, I don't see a problem in being able to protect oneself against them. I've thought about less lethal means of protection, but there are no reliable ones. Pepper spray and tasers are no good on those that are on illegal drugs, such as PCP, and I knew a person who could get sprayed in the face with pepper spray and it had no effect on him.
Secondly, in Alaska (and lots of other states) there are problems with wildlife attacking people. There are lots of ways to avoid getting into confrontations with wildlife, but once one has started, sometimes the only means to stop the attack is with a gun. In Alaska, there is one bear per square mile of forest, and it's foolish to go hiking in that country without some means of self protection.
There's also the sport of hunting. Hunting helps keep nature's balance. Without hunting, deer and moose would run rampant, due to the fact that we've severely diminished the population of wildcats and wolves (natural predators that used to keep population in check). When deer and moose overpopulate, the natural resources run out, causing them to die from starvation. Not fun! Also, there are lots of people (esp. where I'm from) who hunt for subsistence. If they couldn't hunt, there would be no food on the table.
I'd have to agree with you on assault weapons. They are fun to shoot! but useless against prey and impossible to conceal. Their only purpose is to kill enmasse, and we really don't need that in society.
The rash of recent school shootings is unfortunate and very sad, but it's not the fault of the firearms. This is akin to blaming the car when a drunk driver kills someone. It's not the instrument, it's the person using it. We need to nip this problem in the bud, with better prevention in schools and stricter security, along with stricter rules when it comes to home storage and acquiring firearms. Portraying violence as a good thing on TV and video games doesn't help, either. Kids start to think that violence is fun, instead of the brutal reality that it is.
Hope this helps!

Answer 2

So I take it you are for the NSA phone captures Because you want to limit my right to protect myself. To own an assault rifle or other automatic weapons you go through a background check that makes what has been claimed about the NSA phone captures look like getting carded to go into a night club.

CNN admitted the reason this guy in PA chose his target because of no security. Which tells me if the teacher was armed this guy could have been stopped.

In this state our crime rate is lower than where gun rights are limited because the bad guys know theirs a good chance that they will leave a scene feet first.

We have had mountain lion attacks in this state, I'm to old to fight one off with a knife let alone with my barehands.

I talked to a Secret Service Agent once. He told a group of us about being wolf-packed by a gang. He just pulled his service weapon and they just disapeared.

The only time I've ever fired my pistols is when I'm at the target range. Don't ever want to kill anyone, but if I have to to protect a stranger, my family or myself that would probably changein a hurry.

The closest I've come to drawing was a dog that was in a double fenced yard. It jumped the first one and if it would have had three more feet before the second one I would have had to shoot the stupid thing.

I don't trust pepperspray. My state is way to windy. You make yourself more vulneralble with blowback. I've seen bad guys get tasered with little or no effect, other than make them madder.

The average person has about ten weapons on their person at all times (whether or not they know it is another story). People are still killed with rocks, knives, cars (which my dad was murdered by),

The problem is people blaming an inattamite object. Sir Issac Newton would tell you the pistol sitting beside me isn't going to shoot without an outside force.

There is evil in this world. The guy in PA falls in this catagory. ANY AND ALL murderers fall into this catagory no matter what weapon they choose.

I've read to many stories of bad guys killing a robbery victim after the robber gets the money, not to be armed. It's the old Boy Scout motto, always be prepaired.

If you don't want to be armed go ahead, If I were you if something happens I would pray that I find a law abiding gun owner and hide behind him (or her)

Answer 3

The second amendment has nothing to do with hunting deer or ducks. The reason we have it is so that the people, in their infinite wisdom, can hunt politicians if the politicians ever get too oppressive.

Our founding fathers viewed the right to keep and bear arms as essential in order to safeguard our liberty from our own government. Remember, they had just fought and won a revolution to get rid of an oppressive (British) government, so they were very suspicious of government in general. They didn't want to get rid of one bad government only to replace it with another.

If you don't think our own government could possibly ever become oppressive enough to warrant violent overthrow, you haven't been studying history much. You may not think we need an armed revolution any time in the near future, but if we ban guns now, do you think the government would be kind enough to legalize them when we really need them? Don't hold your breath waiting for *that* to happen!

School shootings suck. However, living under a dictatorship sucks worse. Utopia is not an option, so you have to pick which problems you want to live with.

Answer 4

Some people out there will use certain words to include to try and include that gun with assault weapons. Believe it or not that weapon was designed to defend against assault. It is a close quarters pistol meant to stop with one shot when the enemy soldiers are rushing in on your position and their is only time for a one shot stop. Their is no doubt in my mind anymore that the ultimate long term goal of the democrats is a total ban of all firearms of any kind. That is why we must not budge on any of this new legislation. It is only a stepping stone. By the way I have that exact same gun by Springfield. Excellent pistol.

Answer 5

So you think banning handguns would lower crime? It's never worked anywhere else why would it work here? No new gun control law has ever made a society safer. South Africa is a frighteningly good example of this.

Self-defense and protection from tyranny is a basic human right and as fundamental to our democracy as freedom of speech and religion. The idea that somehow things would be better if we disarmed all the law-abiding citizens while the criminals kept their guns is laughable on its face.

As far as killing goes, killing is sometimes neccessary and proper in defense of life and limb. If killing were always bad there wouldn't be this thing called "justifiable homicide".

PS. Q-burt is wrong Fully automatic weapons are legal to own but they are very expensive and require a special permit called a Class 3.

Answer 6

The problem with your arguement is that you assume that if all guns go away then we will have a perfect society. Humans have killed each other for thousands of years without guns and there are many alternatives available for psychopaths. For instance, How many could he kill if he ran children over on a playground with a car or SUV? Suicide bomber? Anthyx? Baseball Bat? Kitchen Knife? The point I'm trying to make is that most gun owners are responsible and sane. There really isn't a reason to ban them when there are many alternatives to guns for criminals and psychopaths. And yes people have a right to self defense. What isn't a right is for criminals to steal, rape, and murder. Also remember that many places still have dangerous animals such as black bears and coyotes. Cattle and chicken farmers need to protect their animals from coyotes, foxes, and weasles.

Answer 7

Second Amendment.

The very reason we have this amendment is to prevent the Government from controlling it's people by force.

If you take guns away, only the criminals, like the school shooters, and the Government have the weapons. Now what?

It would get ugly.

The second amendment is just as important as our first amendment. You cannot ask an entire nation to stop defending themselves because of the actions of the few.

FYI...Assault (Automatic) weapons are illegal to own.

Answer 8

I disagree and I will be happy to share my reasoning.

The Declaration of Independence states "...That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government..."

How do you propose we abolish a tyrannical government without guns? Should we ask them nicely? Should we vote them out, after they make voting illegal? Civil disobediance? Did any of these things work before the Revolutionarey war? Did any of these work for the population of the old soviet empire?

The 2nd Amendment is by far the most important amendment. It is the amendment that allows us to protect all of the rights laid out in the Bill of Rights.

It has nothing to do with hunting or any other silly nonsense. No people have ever won their freedom from an oppressive government without guns. Our guns are the ONLY things that protect our freedoms.

Answer 9

I am a 60 year old democrat that has owned guns since I was 9 years old and I never even thought about shooting up a school. I have never owned an assault rifle or a automatic pistol but why would you want to take my guns, I enjoy getting out doors, watching the dog do its job and yes sometimes even killing game. I always eat what I take, do you want my fishing poles too.

Answer 10

Murderers will get the guns if they're illegal. Law-abiding citizens will be the only unprotected ones out there. Would you attack someone if you knew he was packing heat? Of course not. Murderers won't be stopped by a simple law that says they're not allowed to have a gun, silly.

Besides that, we have the 2nd Amendment, which guarantees that innocent people will always be able to defend themselves.