Should everyone over the age of 18, who has a clean mental health record be required to carry a gun?

Question

In test cities, requiring citizens to arm themselves has been shown to bring the crime rate in said city way down. Would you support legislation requiring all mentally stable individuals to carry a gun?

C. Criminals avoid armed citizens

* Kennesaw, GA. In 1982, this suburb of Atlanta passed a law requiring heads of households to keep at least one firearm in the house. The residential burglary rate subsequently dropped 89% in Kennesaw, compared to the modest 10.4% drop in Georgia as a whole.16

Found here....http://www.gunowners.org/sk0802.htm

Rapes averted when women carry or use firearms for protection
* Orlando, FL. In 1966-67, the media highly publicized a safety course which taught Orlando women how to use guns. The result: Orlando's rape rate dropped 88% in 1967, whereas the rape rate remained constant in the rest of Florida and the nation.19
* Nationwide. In 1979, the Carter Justice Department found that of more than 32,000 attempted rapes, 32% were actually committed. But when a woman was armed with a gun or knife, only 3% of the attempted rapes were actually successful.20

Found here...http://www.gunowners.org/sk0802.htm

Justice Department study:
* 3/5 of felons polled agreed that "a criminal is not going to mess around with a victim he knows is armed with a gun."21
* 74% of felons polled agreed that "one reason burglars avoid houses when people are at home is that they fear being shot during the crime."22
* 57% of felons polled agreed that "criminals are more worried about meeting an armed victim than they are about running into the police."23

Found here...http://www.gunowners.org/sk0802.htm

Answer 1

I am professionally trained. Guns are tools. I support the second Ammendment, but I do not own a gun nor have a desire to own one. I think that while everyone should have the right to own, only those who've been trained should be allowed, ie: You want to exercise your right, get trained. Quality gun control is being able to hit your target, one round, one kill.

Answer 2

I think 14 might be pushing it. Maybe 18. My dad, a career Marine officer taught me to shoot when I was eight. I taught my kids when they were in middle school. I've carried a gun and, quite amazingly it would seem, did not become somehow possessed and start lighting up the place. Rather than being an argument against guns, recent events are an argument for them. In each of these cases recently, it was a situation of the bad guy having a gun and the good guys didn't. Hazan was taken down by the only person on the ARMY BASE who had a gun! And she was a civilian at that! Kind of ironic, is it not? So, if the left should outlaw guns, how would things change from what has happened recently. THAT is the bizarro world of the left.

Answer 3

No.
1) Forcing someone to carry an unwanted weapon is just as bad as taking away the right to carry a weapon.
2) The testing of mental illness is not black and white. There are a lot of gray areas. Mental illness is not a constant state. Just because I am sane now, doesn't mean I will be sane in 6 months from now. Are you willing to get every person retested every year?
3) Who would decide who is sane enough?

Answer 4

Hmmmm.....skillful statisticians are employed by people with pro-gun agendas create these biased reports.

Ask any Police Chief of a city of any size whether they favor this approach. Not likely. Why....it is only a fantasy of the right wingers that the world with guns on everyones hip is truly a safer and more sane world.

I think there are more reasonable ways to control the crime rate. Better education systems, decriminalization of drugs to take out the profit, protection of our domestic jobs to increase the number of liviing wage jobs so less turn to crime, and a better teaching of right and wrong in the schools and at home.

Answer 5

LOL noone should be encouraged to carry guns regardless of their known mental status. The guy at Va Tech flew under the radar and yet after the brutal murder of 32 people it was found he had severe issues. Point being the guy who appears normal today might be the guy that shoots an entire neighborhood tomorrow.

Answer 6

Well, i don't believe that everyone should be REQUIRED to carry a gun, but I do believe it should be greatly encouraged. Everyone should have the capability to defend themselves, but it should be a personal choice. You have to take into account, that even people with sound mental records may, under pressure, not think and pull a gun when its not needed.
Thats why it should be something that people CHOOSE to do, that way they can take the time to be properly educated without being rushed.
(in short, no.)

Answer 7

absolutely not." I" could get a clean mental record right now but tomorrow i could go totally psyco and shoot somebody. i think that would just be silly 2 give 18 year olds a gun. If I had a gun when I was 18 I would probably B in prison right now.

Answer 8

Maybe a max limit also, I help at a old folks home and a few men there think it is still WWII and I am a german guard at a prison camp, so I don't really want them to have a gun.

Answer 9

Negative

Answer 10

I don't like the "required" part of your question. "Allowed" would be much more acceptable. If everyone is "allowed" to carry and are "allowed" the to use deadly force; the criminals won't know who is carrying and who is not. That would definitely give them cause for pause...who knows, maybe they'll change their mind.