Americans say they need guns to protect themselves?

Question

OK so please explain this to a poor old Brit will you:

If someone breaks into your house and "defend yourself" by shooting and killing him what happens then? Do you get tried for murder? Or are you *allowed* to just go out and shoot anyone you feel is a threat to you? Sounds scary to me!

If everyone "has a gun" and a neighbourhood argument gets out of hand, or a domestic row blows up don't you think the fact that guns are so easily available to hand might cause more risk of an innocent person or two being shot?!

I know its in your Constitution and all but I really don't get the need for guns in this day and age and also the fact that you think we Brits are hard done by because we are not allowed to use them. the thought of people waving guns about in every house is terrifying.

If I have an argument with my neighbour over him making a noise at night, it stays that way - a verbal argument. What if he had a gun and I had one too? Someone could die!

Remember Columbine High?

The thought of "everyone" having guns scares the crap out of me. It could mean that I or someone I love could be shot just because we pissed someone off or had an argument with someone who was a bit of a loose cannon. They whip out their gun and bang we're dead.

I hear your arguments, I guess that growing up in the UK I've never been around guns to me they just seem pointless and dangerous. I would imagine that the chance of a gun toting criminal breaking into your house would be fairly small but the chance of a gun that's lying round the house "just in case" being misused would be much larger.

Of course we don't "all get on" in the UK!!! (I'm in Wales not England by the way) but at least as most of us don't have guns our disputes don't end up in people being shot! I just think that its too dangerous to allow guns to be used other than those who need them for their jobs - ie police, army, and hunting rifles only on special hunting ranges

James W - you just show your American igonrance our gun laws gave nothing to do with "Royalty" and "Serfdom" - we are NOT serfs and if you think we are then you are obviously ignorant and misinformed about modern day Britain, having Royalty does not affect our daily lives one bit. We have all the same freedoms you have.

Answer 1

All common sense.

Therefore opposite to what the gun lobby's in favor of.

Answer 2

The right to bear arms in the Second Amendment of the US Constitution is, in effect, the right to rebel against the government.
The Founding Fathers felt that governemnt should be afraid of the citizens, and that the citizens should not trust the government.
The Founding Fathers also believed that Americans would treat each other with fairness and respect.

However, they ALSO believed in slavery, the natural inferiority of women, and the right of suffrage should only go to white, property-owning men.

The right of self defense varies from state to state. In states such as Texas or Oklahoma, the right for a property owner to shoot a trespasser is unquestioned. In a state such as Wisconsin (mine), a person may only use lethal force if there is absolutely no other option. If there was an available escape route that a person did not take, but instead used lethal force, that person could be tried for second degree murder.

That being said, the simple availability of guns in the US makes straight banning of weaponry impractical. Because there are so many firearms around, making possession of those weapons illegal would simply make criminals out of a large number of Americans. If enough people disagree with a law, the law will have no meaning. The US tried outlawing the sale of alcohol in the 1920's and 1930's. It led to rampant flaunting of the law by the majority of Americans, and also organized crime, bribery and corruption in the legal system, and a spike in violent crime. The National Rifle Association's diatribe "If guns were outlawed, then only criminals would have guns" is entirely true, in a strictly logical sense. But that's probably not what they meant....

The fact is, the vast majority of American gun owners are responsible and law-abiding members of society. It's a small minority of people who cause the majority of the problems. It's curbing THOSE people that raises all the problems. But, legally, there is no way to separate the goats from the sheep with the blunt Rule of Law. There have been attempts, but most of those have been hamstrung, and are easily avoidable. Also, the black market in weaponry still exists, and WILL continue to exist despite whatever laws are passed further curtailing gun ownership rights. As it is, felons cannot possess firearms, certain background checks must be passed to buy a gun from a gun shop, and many other laws are in place. That does not stop the majority of gun crimes, or even slow down the rate of violent crime.

Perhaps the only way to lessen gun violence is through civil courts. Through gun registration (which will never pass), ownership of a gun can be determined. If a gun is used in a criminal act, the legal owner of the gun would be held somehow financially responsible, unless the gun had been reported stolen or missing.

As it stands, the murder rate in the United States is many times higher than the rest of the industrialized world, both in total numbers and especially in per capita violence. Guns don't kill people (bullets do), but they make it a hell of a lot easier. Guns are not the CAUSES of crime, but they do make it much easier for a simple battery to escalate to a homicide.

By the way, the argument about Columbine is really a poor argument. Over ten thousand Americans are killed by guns every year, and because that number is so large, people focus on the handful killed at Columbine. It puts a face on the issue, but it doesn't bring home the whole issue. Columbine got a lot of press attention because of the community and location (a school) of the violence. A similar number of deaths in an inner city neighborhood over the period of a week would draw little attention.

Answer 3

Then don't break into any homes. To carry, people sacrifice some of their privacy so government can do a background check. The two teens that shot up Columbine had no legal right to be carrying any weapon, gun control worked real well keeping guns out of a 'gun-free zone' proving the idea that criminals never obey the law.

Most people that carry never have to use their firearms against humans, but like I did last year have had to draw to stop a dangerous animal.

Answer 4

If someone breaks into your house and you shoot and kill them you will be arrested. And you will be put on trial for manslaughter, at least. Though you have the self defense argument and will most like get off with no penalty.(and some states have a free kill'em law that lets you avoid all that too).

And it sounds scary to me that as a Brit you would just sit there and have you and your family hurt or killed by someone because you could not defend yourself.

It's true that idiots shoot each other for stupid reasons all the time. Though even if they did not have guns they would use bats or sticks or knifes. You can't judge a whole people on the actions of a couple. Some people kill with cars, should we take away all cars, for example.

We do need guns in this day and age. The bad guys have them, and they don't care what the law says. In places where you can carry a gun, the criminals are much less likey to try something harmful to you. They don't want to take the chance of getting shot.

Guns, like any object, comes with a responsibility of use. It's far better to have intelligent people who know how not to use an object over something dumb like an argument....then a bunch of blind fools who you can only control by taking the guns away from them(it's treating you a like like little kids...you can't play nice with guns so the government takes them away.).

Answer 5

1. If someone breaks into my house in the midddle of the night and I believe that they are going to harm me or my loved ones I have the right to protect myself and my family. Most likely I will not be charged with a crime as long as I had all my weapon permits in order.

2. No if you shoot your neighbor for playing loud music you will go to jail. I watch the news regularly and I cant recall any stories of that happening by the way.

3. It must be nice for you to live in a country that never has any murders. All the people in England getting along and never fighting. No knife attacks or people using their cars to kill someone.

4. I don't know anyone who waves their guns around the house. If that is what you guys were doing, I see why your law makers passed laws saying you can no longer have guns.
5.I saw a picture of the Queen holding a hunting riffle. Was she arrested shortly after that for commiting the crime of touching a gun?
As for Columbine High school I will say this, those boys should never been allowed to have those guns. They stoled them from a locked cabnent. It was a devisting crime. But please riddle me this- was it the gun or the peson who commited the crime? 14 men hyjacked 4 airplanes on september 11 2001. They killed over 3,000 people, they were able to do it with knives and box cutters. Are Brits allowed to have sharp instruments or would that be to dangerious, do you guys wave them all about in your flats terrifying your families?

Answer 6

Everyone has the right to protect himself or herself. No, people cannot "just go out and shoot anyone" - if you had ever taken a gun safety course, you'd now how to handle and respect a gun. They are nothing to be feared - to me, seeing a gun is the same as seeing a knife or a car or a baseball bat, or anything that people use to kill others. They don't get up on their own and go out shooting people.
As for getting tried for murder, no, you won't be tried for murder if it's reasonable to assume your life was in danger (it's called self defense).
Yes, I can see why people like you are so deathly afraid of guns - it's because you don't know how to handle them. It's a fear of the unknown. If you've been trained how to handle them, they're no different than a car. Do you think we should make cars and knives illegal, since people use those to kill others? I doubt it. Of course guns are dangerous - but so are many things we use every day. We can't get rid of anything hard for fear someone might use it as a weapon. The problem with guns comes when people refuse to learn how to use them and take car of them properly.
You cannot tell everyone they have to get rid of their guns simply because there are a few bad people in the world. That's infringing on others' rights to keep and bear arms.
You say you "don't get the need for guns this day and age", and yet, countries like yours that have high restrictions on guns also have higher crime rates - why do you think that is? It's because the criminals are now the only ones with guns, and they know the average citizen has no way of protecting himself against a gun-toting criminal! If I'm walking down the street alone, and some criminal tries to mug me or rape me, don't I have the right to defend myself? What you're saying is no, I don't! That's wrong! You have no right to tell me I can't defend myself against someone who is bigger and stronger than me.
As for what you say about Columbine, those were disturbed kids, and their behavior should not be considered reflective of people who know how to responsibly handle guns. But don't you think that if the teachers, prinipal, or someone at the school had a gun, it could hve resulted in even fewer fatalities?
As an old saying goes: God made man, Colt made them all equal.

Answer 7

Columbine was children and the vast majority of children have no access to guns.

You are under a few false beliefs.

No one is out waving guns around, inside or outside their house.

You have to have a permit to take your gun out and about, people do not walk around armed unless they are police or criminals. Making guns completely illegal would not effect the criminals at all, they aren't going to suddenly become law abiding citizens.

If you have to shoot someone to defend yourself you are in fact tried for murder. The police treat it as any other killing.

Our Constitution Right to Bear Arms is actually NOT about protecting your life against a criminal in a break in, that is really only a side effect. It is about the citizens protecting themselves from the government in case something very odd happens to it.

Answer 8

It is not an open and shut case obviously.

And last time I looked, people still committed murder in England, but back to your question.

The original intent of the ownership of guns in the US was to protect yourself against your own government. If you take a look at how America was founded, it sort of makes sense.

There is also the little problem in that out in the mid-west you actually need the things to protect your self against wild animals. You don't have much in the way of rattlesnakes, cougars, or grizzly bears in England.

When guns get in the way of domestic disputes, yeah, that is a real problem. It is also a huge problem in the drug trade. Eventually we will get everything sorted out. Don't hold your breath though.

-Dio

Answer 9

If guns ownership is criminalized then the only people that will have them are the criminals. That doesn't sound to scary, does it? If a rapist-murderer can break into any home knowing that he is the only one with a gun, that should make the rapist murderer feel pretty safe and confident about doing just that. I think probably 99% of the public will not use a gun if they had one, but the other 1%, if they had all the guns, would have no deterrent from using them whenever they wanted.

Answer 10

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Answer 11

I suspect that you have been watching to much TV

Sure there are a lot of Guns But I am not ready to admit defeat of Civility.

It is Human compassion that prevents everyone from going on Killing sprees.

If we bow to the almighty Government and admit that we can no longer live in a civilized society. So please round up our guns, The next Government action will be to remove the uncivilized Animals we have devolved to.

The FBI crime stitistice show Armed violence is the lowest ever in this nation. Sone one or some thing is conviencing America otherwise.

Go big Red Go