guns on the streets?

Question

Do you belive citizens should carry guns, here in youngstown some one is killed every day or every other day. there was just one a couple of hours ago. i think noone should carry guns but the police.

Answer 1

Yes. Buy a copy of the Federalist Papers to see what the founders intended for the citizenry and why they didn't want a standing army (or police force)

Answer 2

Are the shooters in the incidents you describe all upstanding citizens? Are they of legal age to carry? Is their criminal record clean - no felonies, no misdemeanor domestic violence, no drug or intoxication charges? Are they legally carrying - they have whatever permit your jurisdiction requires? Are they legally justified in the use of deadly force - they are in imminent fear of death or serious bodily injury, they have not escalated the situation, they have tried to leave the situation if possible? ALL of these are required before you can say that they are upstanding citizens. How many of the shootings that concern you meet ALL of these criteria? I'll bet none do.

If the shooters are not upstanding citizens, then why do you believe your town's upstanding citizens will suddenly behave like criminals because they have a gun available?

"At first glance it may seem odd or even perverse to suggest that statutory controls on the private ownership of firearms are irrelevant to the problem of armed crime, yet that is precisely what the evidence shows. Armed crime and violent crime are products of ethnic and social factors unrelated to the availability of a particular type of weapon. The numbers of firearms required to satisfy the 'crime' market is minute, and these are supplied no matter what controls are instituted. Controls have had serious effects on legitimate users of firearms, but there is no case, either in the history of this country or in the experience of other countries in which controls can be shown to have restricted the flow of weapons to criminals or in any way reduced armed crime." - Inspector Colin Greenwood, "Shooting Back," Police Review, 10 November 1978 page 1668 [England]

Many believe it reasonable to fight back against criminal violence:

"Better far than cowardice is killing and being killed in battle." — Mahatma Gandhi

"If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun." - The Dalai Lama, (May 15, 2001, The Seattle Times) speaking at the "Educating Heart Summit" in Portland, Oregon, when asked by a girl how to react when a shooter takes aim at a classmate

In every state that has passed Concealed Carry legislation in the last 20 years, some major law enforcement or criminal justice figures opposed it initially. When the papers come back after a few years (with typically tens to hundreds of thousands of people now carrying - varying by state population) these people can't show any evidence that people are commonly misusing their firearms.

"I lobbied against the law in 1993 and 1995 because I thought it would lead to wholesale armed conflict. That hasn't happened. All the horror stories I thought would come to pass didn't happen. No bogeyman. I think it's worked out well, and that says good things about the citizens who have permits. I'm a convert." - Glenn White, President of the Dallas Police Association, Dallas Morning News, December 23, 1997

"Some of the public safety concerns which we imagined or anticipated a couple of years ago, to our pleasant surprise, have been unfounded or mitigated." - Fairfax County VA Police Major Bill Brown, The Alexandria Journal, 7/9/97

"I was wrong. But I'm glad to say I was wrong." -- Arlington County VA Police Detective Paul Larson, previously an opponent of Right to Carry, The Alexandria Journal, 7/9/97

"The concerns I had - with more guns on the street, folks may be more apt to square off against one another with weapons - we haven't experienced that." - Charlotte-Mecklenburg NC Police Chief Dennis Nowicki, The News and Observer, 11/24/97

"As you know, I was very outspoken in my opposition to the passage of the Concealed Handgun Act. I did not feel that such legislation was in the public interest and presented a clear and present danger to law abiding citizens by placing more handguns on our streets. Boy was I wrong. Our experience in Harris County, and indeed state-wide, has proven my initial fears absolutely groundless." Letter dated December 16, 1999 from then Harris County D.A. Johnny Holmes to Jim Patterson, the author of the 1995 CHL bill

Answer 3

I believe they should, if you are a law abiding citizen. I own guns for protection and hunting.

Answer 4

Outlaw guns and only outlaws will have them.

Answer 5

if i'm somewhere where i can get jumped or killed i want to be strapped.Don't criticize if u never needed 1.

Answer 6

yeah, get rid of them...to hell with hunting, that should be outlawed in my opinion. I doubt it ever would be though