Reasonable American Gun Laws?

Question

Here is a question for all you Brits out there. After reading some of the forum posts in the BBC web site about the shooting at VT and getting through a myriad of the usual Anti-American posts there was some good ideas about gun control in America.
Some of my ideas would be as follows:
1 – Do not issue private citizens permits to carry concealed weapons! In fact not carrying guns around at all. If for example you go to a gun range for target practice you need to keep it in a locked case until you get to the range. I think this is how it is in Canada.
2 – As in certain European countries and in Canada you need to have permits for gun ownership. You need to have a valid reason: Hunting, target shooting at a gun club. Sorry fellow Americans it is not a god given right to own a gun, and none of that 2nd Amendment stuff ether its very out dated, I do not think the Brits are going to try to reclaim the colony’s any time soon.
3 – Make it harder to get guns. Being able to easily buy guns at stores like Wal-Mart does not help.
4 – Limit the amount of guns one can own. You do not need an arsenal.
5 – As in Britain, I believe if you are caught with a conceded weapon like a pistol it is a mandatory 5 year prison sentence.

I am not saying banning guns, but there needs to be changes to American gun laws to make it stringent and in lines with other countries. The gun free for all has gone on long enough in America.

A someone looking at the US what do you think should be reasonable gun law’s for the US?

Answer 1

What you don't seem to understand is that America is different from all other countries in the world. In the Federalist Papers, James Madison said, "Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached, and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of. Notwithstanding the military establishments in the several kingdoms of Europe, which are carried as far as the public resources will bear, the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms."

The whole point of making the putting the 2nd Amendment in the constitution, which immediately follows the right of free speech, press and assembly, is to ensure that all the other rights in the Bill of Rights would be protected from ambitious members of our government that would seek to take away the public's ability to speak out, protest and oppose them.

Our founding fathers came from a time when you could go to jail for criticizing the King of England. Would any American like to see something like that happen today? Would any American like to see someone go to jail for criticizing Bush or the Congress? The only tangible recourse that the American people have to stop Congress or the President from doing such things is our absolute God-Given Right to Keep and Bear Arms in this country.

Owning guns is not a privilege. It is an absolute Right. And it is just as important today, if not more important, as it was when the Bill of Rights was written.

I know a lot of people will say that if the Virginia Tech killer didn't have the ability to purchase a gun, then it would have never happened. Well, I would argue that if just one student had a gun in their dorm room or their car, then perhaps they would have had more ability to defend themselves against such a crazy killer.

There will always be crazy people and there were always be ways for crazy people to get guns, legally or illegally. All the more reason for decent, law abiding people to keep and bear arms to protect themselves.

Thomas Jefferson Said, "The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves in all cases to which they think themselves competent..., or they may act by representatives, freely and equally chosen; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed; that they are entitled to freedom of person, freedom of religion, freedom of property, and freedom of the press."

Without our Right to Keep and Bear Arms, our Rights to Free Speech, Religion, Property and Press would be in jeopardy.

There is no such thing as a benevolent Government.

Answer 2

First of all, there is no such thing as the government doing anything reasonable or limited. Income tax started at 1% and was applied to about 1% of the population. Now it is ~30% on 100% of the population. Medicaid cost 10s of millions when started, now cost 10s of Billions. Nothing the government starts as small and limited stays that way. If you put any restriction on guns, it will eventually be a total ban, it is only a matter of time.

Second, a gun is a tool. Just a simple inanimate object that is neither good or evil. It would make as much sense to put limits on the number of hammers or cars that a person can own. Who needs 100 cars? But some people own that many. And cars kill tens of thousands more people every year than guns.

People have been murdering each other for all of the ~10,000 years of recorded human history, long before guns were invented. Ban bad people, not inanimate objects. Why should 80 million gun owners loose their rights and their freedom to own a gun just because 1 nut job abuses it? Punish the 1 nut job, not the 80 million normal people. This is supposed to be the "land of the free". So leave my freedom to own a gun alone.

Either you believe in freedom, or you don't. Clearly you don't.

Answer 3

I have a concealed carry permit, and I carry a weapon. I was in the USMC for 10 years, and civilian law enforcement for an additional 3 years. I have no problem with law-abiding citizens owning guns. The fact is criminals will get guns with, or without additional gun control laws.

I have a Second Amendment right to own a gun, and I exercise my rights

Answer 4

My opinion for the Brits and others. STAY OUT OF AMERICAN AFFAIRS. We have always sorted out our own problems and still can.

If your afraid to come here, stay in the UK. Yes where there are special armed police task force to deal with your rising gun crime. "Oh! but that isn't suppose to happen in your Utopia".

Do you remember in the early days of WW2, when England had its back to the wall. When you cried for help and ARMED AMERICANS sent you thousands of their own personal arms for your defense? Then never asked for payment or for their return. errrrrrr...Thank you!

Stay in your little cubical of a house, that your not even permitted to defend. Yea! You try to defend your home, family and property you can end up in jail and the criminal is made the victim.

Your King George tried to enforce arms control in the Americas on 19 April 1775, look what that got him.

Answer 5

I like how you think. I would even go so far that gun owners should submit themselves to mandatory annual pysch exams to make sure that you are still of a reasonable frame of mind.....same goes for driver's licenses....

We all agree that people with a criminal intent will always be able to get their hands on a gun and reek havoc....but why make it easy for them. I work for a bank and we understand that we will lose money through the course of operations whether its through frad or theft or some other criminal means. But that does not mean that we throw our hands up in the air and make it easy. We ratchet up our due diligence to minimize instances of fraud, make sure that funds are always secured on-site etc....so why do we have this despondent attituted toward gun-crimes....yes, people who want to kill will kill, but we should make it harder for them to either a) get their hands on a deadly weapon or b) if they do , they should not be able to cause mass-murder.

This should not be about people'e right to bear arms...this should be about the right to life that 32 individuals had before someone took it away from them.....32 families will not see their children graduate from college, get their first jobs, get married, have children of their own.....and we as a society don't know if we lost a scientist with the next breakthru etc...what a loss all the way round!!!!

Answer 6

Something similar to this happened in Austin, TX in 1969(I think)

The man went to the top of a tower on U of T's campus and started picking people off.

One reason the death toll was not higher was that normal citizens had hunting rifles and started shooting back at him.
(The police only had mostly hand guns and shot guns)

Gun control laws are not helping.

Answer 7

So you want to make all law abiding citizens unable to legally carry guns and make it very difficult to own one. This will make it so that the only people that have guns are the cops...(they're always around when you need them, right?) and the crooks...brilliant. I'm sorry, but I don't like being an easier target. You think just because it is illegal means the psychos and the criminals won't have guns? What kind of logic is this?

Answer 8

The gun laws are fine. It's nutjobs that kill people, the gun is just the means by which they do it. If the VT kid would have used a bomb to blow people up what would you be saying than?

Answer 9

I think if you like Britain's gun laws so much, you should pack it up and move there.
It's amazing, that out of the millions of Americans who have/do owned guns, there's been a handful that have used them in the manner that this headcase from VT did, so automatically, let's start penalizing the law-abiding gun owners by totally reforming our gun laws...please. Be for real.

Answer 10

In Maine you can carry a loaded firearm in plain view without any special permits or registration and we have one of the lowest instances of firearm violence. do whatever you want in your own state but keep your nose out of ours and when you come to visit God's country, leave your ******* gun home.