Why do the Americans still have the right to bear arms?

Question

Perhaps someone can tell my why in a civilized western country the population of the USA still needs to carry guns. It is not as if they don't have a police force. They do and it is not as if they are still living in the days of the wild west. Surely more guns create more killings. After all apart from a few tragedies in the UK we do not have mass killings like at Virginia Tech, why is it so in the USA?

Answer 1

The really interesting thing about these answers by Americans is that they can really only present a limited range of arguments to justify the bearing of arms:

1. It's a right - a constitutionally guaranteed one. That is hardly the last word on the matter because the attitude suggests that if it is in the constitution it must be automatically right. It may have been shortly after the Revolution and when England was still felt to present a threat, or citizen militias were still drawn upon. Those times, however, have passed and there is now no pressing constitutional need to preserve the 'right' to bear arms. In fact, there is hot debate in academic circles in America as to whether this clause was intended only as a limited one, and not to have the broad application it is taken to have to-day.

2. Cars, rope (!) and just about anything else can kill people. Well, thank you to the American gun lobby for supplying these facile pieces of argument. Just because other things may kill people doesn't mean that banning the carrying of weapons is a bad idea. Guns are easily transported, they can kill in accidents, or they can be used in deliberate killings. The policing of the sale of guns in the US varies enormously from state to state and there are few occasions when a car has created a Columbine High or Virginia Tech incident. People try to simplify this aspect of the argument to a basic comparison.

3. It makes me feel safer. You only feel safer because everyone else has a gun - or so it seems. In all honesty, if you are confronted with another violent person, you will feel particularly threatened anyway. Of course, the safety issue is a self-fulfilling argument. Everyone else has a gun, so I need to own one to feel safe. Now the US is in that situation, there's probably no going back on it.

4. Banning weapons doesn't stop illegal arms. Correct, it doesn't, but it makes them much harder to acquire in a country in which citizens do not have a right to bear arms. While there are shootings in Australia, a country which bans weapons almost completely except for the police, military, farmers and those people in gun clubs, there is largely a more peaceful culture and far fewer shootings.

5. If the citizens aren't armed, they can't protect themselves from their government. This is one of the more ridiculous arguments that gets trotted out. Yes, it really is all one big conspiracy against you - one by one.

But, at the end of the day, Americans are so inculturated with the idea of their rights - this being one of them - that you will never persuade them otherwise.

Answer 2

I would be willing to bet that in the UK there are more guns floating around the average person than is listed on some piece of paper somewhere. It was exactly that type of thinking that allowed Adolph to confiscate all the guns the people had in Germany, then you can plainly see from History what happened next. And that thinking hasn't changed in all of this time. There are still people with money that think that if they can get all people to believe the bad things about guns, then they can take over again. And it is happening just like that all over the world. People may learn from the mistakes made in History, but politicians never seem to remember.

Answer 3

I saw in the Time Magazine that of the 8 million new guns manufactured in the world each year, Americans purchase 4.5 million! Also in the USA 90 out of every 100 Americans possess firearms. This is the highest armed civilian population in the world. The second highest is apparently Inda, where they own only 4 for every 100 of the population.

Answer 4

Yeah, guns are the answer to why there are killings.. GIVE ME A FRIGGEN BREAK ALREADY!!!! The US is not full of people walking the streets with a six shooter on their hip. As a matter of fact, it's not easy getting a concealed weapon permit, assuming it's legal in your state. That wacko from Virginia Tech was just plain disturbed man, it's got NOTHING at all to do with his constitutional right to bear arms. Ok, so maybe you don't like guns, don't understand them.. never been around them. That's understandable. You don't have a working knowledge of how they can be used for sport shooting (targets), hunting (to put food on a table), and as a last resort, self defense. So lets talk about some things that you may be familliar with, which can be used or have been used as weapons to do harm to people.

Rope
Cars
Sticks
Shovels
Baseball bats
Forks
Spoons
Knives
Toothbrush
Keys
Hands
Feet
Pillows
Fire


Those are examples of things that EVERYONE has and uses every_single_day, not just a select or chosen few. Should we ban those as well jackass? How much sense would that make?

Don't act like the UK is all high and mighty.. you have sick a$$holes too.

Answer 5

Gun crimes in England have almost doubled since 1997, when a ban on firearms began.

According to the Sunday Times of London, crimes in which guns were used numbered 4,671 in 2005-06.

Also, government officials report that most gun crime is committed by children and teenagers under 18 years old.

David Davis, the shadow home secretary, told the Telegraph: "What this shows is that the majority of these crimes are committed by youngsters under 18.

"The government's policy has failed with the group most responsible for this increase in crime. It is long past time the Government stopped believing its own propaganda, and took measures to get a grip."

We have guns in the USA so we can protect ourselves if need be...which might real soon....

Answer 6

By god, do you have any respect for your MILITARY both your's and my forefathers have fought and died for the right to bear arms. This is also the same as the freedom of speach. In the last month alone I know of 5 good friends that fought and died for this country so we can continue to do so. The right to bear arms is very important not everyone is a bad person yes as americans there are a few bad appels but that goes with any country. YOU can find guns on the street and you will alwayse be able to if someone wants to shoot up there school it wouldnt take much effort to go and buy one illegaly and do so if they truly want to shoot up there school they will weather it is illegal to posses a firearm or not, they will get one and do so. In the united state alone there are 240,000,000 million firearms regestered out of a global number of only 870,000,000 there are 90 firearms in the united states for every 100 people. It would not reduce the crime rate much to make them illegal because there are so many I mean cocane is illegal but yet there are thousands of pounds manufactured and sold in the U.S. alone. Im sorry to say this but please think before speaking and be gratefull for what this country does for you compaired to other places instead of nit picking and trying to find something wrong.

Answer 7

Actually its all down to a misunderstanding that occurred at the printers who were given the contract to print the first few hundred copies of the American Constitution.

This particular article in The Constitution, was actually meant to give all Americans the right to wear short sleeved shirts.

The reasoning for the inclusion of this article, was to prevent cheating by professional gamblers who would often try to conceal Aces up their sleeves when playing poker or blackjack.

When they were found out it would often lead to people shooting each other, so the founding fathers thought this would be a good method of preventing people from being shot.

It should actually have read "EVERY AMERICAN HAS THE RIGHT TO BARE ARMS", but unfortunately the typesetter working for the printer concerned was a bit dyslexic and mis-spelt the word 'bare'.

Unfortunately, after the founding fathers had written The Constitution and sent the drafts off to the printer, they were all so pleased with themselves that they overdid it a bit with the Jack Daniels, and were then too inebriated to notice the error when the printer sent the proofs back for checking.

Consequently the error went unnoticed at the time, and by the time someone noticed it, nobody was prepared to admit to it, and so it has remained in the Constitution to this day.

Answer 8

It's in the constitution. We were given the right to bear arms against our enemies ( the British, at the time) and to protect ourselves.
With as many gun owners as we have in this country they will never give up that right. It's a macho thing for men.-- like going on a hunting trip for wild animals that are penned up so they can shoot something and mount the head on the wall in the den. Some people get pleasure in unusual ways.
Re: the violence in schools..... The kids are exposed to so much violence on tv, movies, and video games that they do not know how to expres their feelings and disagreements in an appropriate way. And until the public stands up and says stop the violent movies and games, it will continue.

Answer 9

Because it is our Freedom, & our rights as an American to carry our guns, I have several guns, & a Archery set, I keep them in my home for 2 reasons, One is to protect my family & the 2nd is to hunt deer. This is America, But as any country, we also have criminals running wild. BTW, Guns don't kill people, people that don't know how to use a gun leglly kills people, if all of our guns are taken away, they will find another way to commit a crime with another weapon.

Answer 10

Americans do still live in a country where self reliance is prized. Hunting and fending for ones self is still commonplace. Most firearms are used for protection and hunting.
In any country, the bad seeds will/can acquire assault or automatic weapons (or worse) if they are in the market for it.
Considering the amount of measured violence in the US, a firearm is a good deterrent if used and stored properly.

The wild west was not that long ago...and in many places still live..