Do we need more gun control or looser gun control?

Question

In wake of VTech shooting

Answer 1

There are many questions on this same subject. I will only answer one of them. Lucky you. Gun control laws will not stop the gun toters from toting guns. They will always be able to get guns if they want them. The black market on guns will simply explode. Then the only ones with guns will be cops and criminals. Since many Americans don't want to disarm, that means that we will also have millions of brand new criminals. Gun control will not control anything except a few meek law abiding citizens putting them at the mercy of everybody else.
On the other hand, reverting back to the old west style of everybody being armed will certainly make the criminals think twice before pulling a gun on anybody, their victim will probably be armed as well, but it will also create an environment where more gun play will probably occur. The shoot first and ask questions mentality will undoubtedly cause gunshot wounds to flood the hospitals emergency rooms. There is no good answer except to continue as we are and try to convert the mentality of the population away from anger and violence. That is a tough assignment.

Answer 2

Think of this way.. Would the gunmen have have started shooting , if they knew there were 40 people packing heat that had handgun training in each classroom?

The problem with gun control is that it is an over simplification.

What we really need is to make it a requirement that anyone who wants to carry, have to be certified and made responsible for the weapon and it's use. Every gun should be titled, like a car, and a test fired bullet should be kept on file along with the serial number of the weapon.

Making it harder for law abiding citizens to bear arms, simply makes it safer for the criminals to commit their crimes.

Answer 3

I think we need better gun control. I love that we in america have the right to bear arms but think that we need to get guns out of children hands and have more control over them. Right now it is legal for an individual to sell their own fire arm to whom ever they please, not a great idea. I think all firearms should be registered to user by serial number and that would need to be transfered to another person via licensed gun seller who has done the proper background check.
All of this may not have helped in the VTech situation but it would have helped in many other situations.

Answer 4

They key is not taking guns away - but rather making sure people are qualified to use them before they buy them. In many states (I don't know what the law is in Virginia) all you have to do is wait a few days before buying a gun. But there is NOTHING in place to make sure the person knows how to use it responsibly, and take care of it appropriately. That way when some psycho does manage to get his hands on a gun, there will be people around who are able to safely and effectively stop him.

Answer 5

The VA Tech shooting is just one incident -albeit a dramatic one. Would stricter gun laws have prevented Mr. Psycho from getting his 9mm hanguns? Probably not. Would "put a Glock in every dorm" have saved lives? Probably not (because people who aren't trained to handle firearms will cause more damage than good, and because people who aren't trained to handle firearms in stressful situations will cause even more damage, or will just not take it... plus, how many kids would (or should) be carrying a firearm to class, where most of the deaths occurred???)

let's talk about gun control on a systemic, large scale, before using one crazy person's story to make bad law (either way).

Answer 6

Criminals will always have access to guns on the streets via the Black Market. The only thing gun control laws will do is prevent law abiding citizens from purchasing weapons legally.

So ban guns? Yeah that will be great......all of the criminals will have guns and we won't be able to protect ourselves.

Answer 7

We need tighter control. If ANYONE can go into walmart on Monday, sign a paper or two, and pickup my gun on the following monday, this opens the doors of possibility for all sorts of psychotic ENABLING. Criminals will always have guns. I agree. But I am interested in getting guns out of the hands of "noncriminals", i.e. hotheaded husbands and boyfriends and disgruntled employees who keep doing impulsive things with guns because of our lax laws. Anyone with a loose screw can arm themselves and ruin several lives any time they have a bad day and feel like messing with other people. And what about all the drive bys? It's insane. ban guns NOW!

Answer 8

I don't think that it should really affect gun control policy at all. The guns that he was seen using were plainly illegal as it is. Still, it obviously will. The government overregulates everything for a little while after something like this, then they forget about it a week later.

Answer 9

We just need responsible people. Other countries (and not just the war-zone & child soldier ones, either) have about the same level of gun proliferation, yet the death-by-firearms statistics are far lower! For some reason, Americans don't know how to treat a firearm with any level of decency or respect for its devastation power, and God knows how we're ever going to change that -- I got nothin'!

Answer 10

If we had more gun control, then this guy might not have had as easy access to guns but I'm sure he would still have found one. In England, where there is gun control, they have to worry more about pipe bombs and other stuff more. So eliminating one issue would just cause other issues such as black market and other forms of terrorism.