do you think think the british public should have the right to be armed to defend property/house etc?

Question

i watched a tv program it showed a robber go into a shop in america and demand money claiming he had a wepon, the woman who worked there gave him money he turned to walk out the door she pulled a gun from behind the counter and shot the thief twice through the hip and shoulder the thief went down and she held him at gun point till the police came! this wasnt seen as a crime by us law enforcement yet it would be attempted murder in britain i think that unless the goverment can 100 percent garantee everyone in the countrys saftey they have no right to take an indeviduals means of defence away from them im not meaning to say firearms should be available but it shouldent be looked upon as " premeditated" if you have a little somthing in your house to protect yourself and property . i dont encorage or support violent behaviour but know a guy who woke up in the night to find burgalers in his house he challanged them(2)lads they beat him and left him unconcious in his own home

i havent said firearms should be legalised
have i, i say we should have THE RIGHT TO DEFEND OURSELVES . it is against the law to assult any intruder b4 they assult you . now wot garentees have you got that you can withstand the first assult if you go down wot hapens to ure wife or kids?

Answer 1

Yes guns should NOT be legalised in britain. It opens it up for any maggot to get a hold of one, One of the nice things about living here is knowing that we have little chance of ever seeing one, let alone having one pointed at us. However we do have the right to bear arms and defend ourselves against intruders. This could be anything that comes to hand, even your hands themselves. Maybe a handy baseball or cricket bat, or a hammer. Personally I favour the razor sharp samurai sword. Nothing says 'get the **** out of my house' quite like one of those.

Answer 2

I lived in the UK in 1989-1992 and my neighbor was a helo pilot, he learned when he served in the British Army. I ask him this very question. He asked me ‘do you remember the Falkland Islands; we gave them bloody hell didn’t we!’ He went on to my other questions and I drew the conclusion that the British Army has some interesting ways of doing things but averaged out they as capable as the us. The problem is size and quality of equipment, this was their disadvantage. I lived in Germany 1992 -1995; we visited East Germany before and after the wall coming down. The 2nd trip over I visited many places, one was a Soviet Army post, and MAN my eyes were open wide! In my broken German and my American tongue and the Soviet Officer I spoke with I realized this once mighty Army was in sad shape! Their uniforms were the same as WWII! They were wool with’ Jack boots’ that came up just inches below the knee! The civilian cloths reminded me of the very inexpensive polyester, it was sad! I saw their living quarters they look liked a shanty town where any thing to cover the w alls was used. They hadn’t been paid in 2 months! My friends picked up a Soviet Officer and took him to the train station. They were enlisted driving a 6 year old Olds Delta 88. The Soviet officer couldn’t believe that enlisted personnel could afford a big luxury car! They gave him a Mt Dew. He had never heard one, never saw a MtDew! Sad commentary of a mighty force, now broken and powerless! I do understand as the Soviet Union broke apart Russia received the largest part of the Military and now are very strong. The powers that we need to watch closely is North Korea, China, and of course Iran and the neighboring countries. I do believe the British could hold their own but they are not big enough, so the ally themselves with like minded militaries, US being the largest of all. There is an interesting thought to this; the Christian Bible speaks of an Army that rises up to concur the world. The blood shall flow as high as the bridle on a horse. As of today there are stats that China is building a large army that will ride on horses….hummm!

Answer 3

No. If you allow people to carry arms to defend their homes then you make it very easy for people to get guns to use in commiting crimes. So the guy who was beaten unconcious would have been shot dead instead. If burglers think the people in the house will be 'tooled up', they will take the appropriate weapons themselves.

The US model is not a good one to follow. The lady you mentioned shot a man twice in the back, so she was not defending herself, she was exacting revenge.

And I'm not a liberal either, I just think the US system actually makes it much more dangerous for innocent people than it is here in the UK. Just look at the gun crime stats.

Answer 4

yes, unfortunately the law in the UK seems to favour the criminal, not the citizen. Due to the fact that the borders have been opened to allow members of the EU to enter with little or no problem, gun and knife crime has soared. In the past, all you had to worry about was a good fist fight, now you have to worry if you are going to be shot or stabbed. The US may have more gun crime than the UK, but if you consider that the UK is supposed to be 'gun free' (except for rifles and shotguns) the hand gun crime is astronomical. Also consider the amount of unarmed police officers being shot/stabbed in this un-armed society. The law in the UK will have to be changed even if its just arming the police. In a society where a poor elderly farmer shoots a burglar, and is charged and convicted, something needs to change.

Answer 5

the US has 30000 gun deaths a year. Uk has about 70.

Uk population mulitiplied by 5 = US poplulation

Uk gun rate x 5 = 350 (so this is comparison if we had US pop)
Us Gun rate = 30000

basicly this means that the US gun murder rate is around 70-80 times more Thats 7000-8000% more than the UK. If population wasnt taken into account it would be around 350 times more - thats 35000% more (I did quick maths for all this, so may be a bit innacurate)

Im not going to give any opinions as I believe you can make up youre own mind on whether guns should be legal or not.

Answer 6

Of course not. I've seen life from both sides. I'm an American married to a British woman now living north of London. I'm a Texas native and I lived in Wyoming. Those are two of the most gun-happy States. I'm glad to be over here and away from so many guns. If the populace is armed, then the cops will have to be. A majority of cops don't carry guns here. Just think of the consequences if they did. The death rate by gun would skyrocket, not just from idiot citizens with guns, but by the police force too. Viloent behaviour would go way up. If you think the kids are bad now, put guns in their hands. You're naive if you think young people wouldn't be able to get guns. Is it legal here for 14 year olds to buy liquor? Of course not. Can 14 year olds buy liquor? Of course they can. It would be the same with guns. This guy you talked about would have been fine if he hadn't been stupid by challenging them. The first rule about burglars is DO NOT CHALLENGE THEM.

Answer 7

yes i agree with you, we should have the right to defend out own home although i dont think guns would be nessersery. I do not believe that anyone should be charged with assult of any sort if they were defending their home, people should enter others homes at their own risk if they wish to commit crime in it, and if they get a beating, tuff they shouldnt have been in there!

Answer 8

Problem is; arm up the 'good' people and you by default arm up all the psychos too. Guns would replace mobile phones as the fashion accessory of choice for the nations 'hoodies'. Don't think we want that.
I might be able to get a gun, but the chances are in a confrontation, a criminal with a gun is likely to be seasoned in violence and far more experienced and willing to use it.

That more innocent people would die as a result of introducing more guns to our society is a 'no-brainer', I would have thought.
Nothing to do with 'liberalism' so ignore those who spit that out as a cheap slogan, it's everything to do with cold hard logic.

Answer 9

I was born in England and immigrated to Canada and I like not having guns. That "kick a*s philosophy some ...I repeat..."some" have in the US is why the crime rate is so high.

England has a 1% homicide rate
Canada has a 2%
America has 10%

You say the lads beat him and left him unconscious..:" well, that's not good, but at least he didn't have a bullet in his head!

Answer 10

No way. Would you like to live in a country with gun crime on a par with the USA. You would open it up so that anyone could be armed. People worry about terrorism now, what do you think it would be like then.