... then why wasn't there a huge gun problem back when guns were totally unrestricted? In the first half of the 20th Century, anyone could buy guns through the mail, with no background checks, no proof of I.D., no waiting periods. Obviously, there's no connection. In fact, the opposite can easily be argued.
2007-05-15 17:04:58 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
Back then there was a lot of shooting. They didn't always arrest the people involved. I know the 80 year old daughter of one sheriff from the 1930's in Tennessee. He was involved in countless shoot outs, but didn't always arrest the people involved. He was personally shot at least 6 times in the 1930's. I don't think that is a common statistic anymore. I think that there is less shooting now. My grandmother shot a man who was breaking into her corn crib about 1930. (Now days she would be hauled to jail). The next morning there was no dead body, but there was blood splattered all over the door, but people didn't have phones so many of the shootings were never reported to the police back then.
I think the biggest difference now is that many are not carrying guns. I'm not proposing this, but imagine if someone starts shooting randomly and everyone within eyesight turns a gun on the shooter. He would be stopped pretty quickly. I think that may more accurately describe the checks and balances in the early part of the 20th century.
Secondly I think that when police/judges punish the victims they create severe hostility and I think that is becoming more prevalent in the US.
2007-05-19 16:23:01 · answer #1 · answered by Cindy 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In my state, to legally obtain a handgun, you must fill out a report every single time you make a purchase, and wait at least 2 days to get it. There is also an $8 fee for each of those forms. It isn't really the guns that are to blame - its the people that that use them illegally. No gun has ever committed a crime by itself - it takes a human being to pick it up, load it and pull the trigger. Not everybody should be allowed to own a gun, gun owning is a very serious responsibility and has certain conditions that should be met before anyone is allowed to own a firearm.
2007-05-16 00:16:10 · answer #2 · answered by Paul Hxyz 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Back then the population was much smaller in out of the way places like suburbs. A child of twelve who had twenty five or more dollars could buy a 22 caliber rifle to go out and hunt, to gather Gopher's tail, and sell the tails for a quarter a piece at the Pacific Hides and Fur Company.
Now-a-days if you go to the old hunting grounds in the farmer fields that you did when I was a child there are houses within a hundred yards of each other. A bullet has a maximum range of one mile, if wind resistance, and obstructions to not interfere.
I lived on five acres for a few years and one day while I was at the west end a neighbor and his son started shooting prairie squirrels east of where I stood working on my car. They were shooting from their back yard with a 22 caliber rifle.
If a rock or piece of hard ground had caused their bullets to ricochet in my direction they would have hit me.
Naturally my adrenaline kicked in and both of them learned how to use traps after that. Dumb a$$ half country/city boys.
2007-05-16 00:18:58 · answer #3 · answered by d4d9er 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
You answered your own question. All American citizens (the REAL ones) have the right to keep and bear arms without infringement. We are being denied that right unlawfully, regardless of what any court in the land might say. So says the Supreme Law of the Land.
I do not need a license to exercize a right. That reduces a right to a Government-granted privilege.
2007-05-16 00:14:54 · answer #4 · answered by Paladin 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yep. I have no criminal record. I own a gun. I also have a concealed weapon permit, although I rarely carry.
I hope I never have to shoot anyone... but if it is me or them, I wont hesitate.
Criminals will always have guns. I just want a fighting chance to protect myself and those I love.
2007-05-16 00:13:56 · answer #5 · answered by Mike 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Correct. In fact, in all countries that have banned guns all together, their violent crimes have skyrocketed. Criminals will always be able to get guns.
2007-05-16 00:10:21 · answer #6 · answered by Staveros 4 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Could you be forgetting that there might be other factors that can explain the difference between then and now?
2007-05-16 00:09:44 · answer #7 · answered by Brand X 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋