Who believes in " The Right to arm themselves "?

Question

As an Englishman, in this country ( UK ) we find it very difficult to understand why anybody would condone the carrying of Guns. With so many of your childen being shot and killed in the USA isn`t it time for common sense and vote for a change in the Gun law `s ?

WOW, Mike R, you really believe that having strict gun laws is a failure and we have corrupt moralities rammed down our throats!!! You poor mis-guided man!! the next thing you will be telling us is that the war in Iraq is neccesary !!!!!

Missy x, while i understand that common sense should always prevail, thats not the point, Guns kill!! Fact !!

Martin S, how did you become top contributor with such long winded answers ?

Dear Mike R, a well known saying from the second world war "" When the English bombed, the Germans ducked. When the Germans bombed, the English ducked. But when the Americans bombed EVERYBODY DUCKED!!!! No change there then !!!! Apologies to my American pen pals but Mike R just needed a reality check !!!

Answer 1

i bralive you sould be able too but it makes for ALOT more crime....in australia you cant have any guns real of fake and they only have 64 gun crimes a year!

Answer 2

This is a hot topic in our home too.
While I understand the whole concept of the "Right to bear Arms" I do believe that handguns are rediculous. Those are strictly for use on other people.
I believe that if you have guns for hunting fine. My question is this. Where did all of the criminals get the handguns? The majority didn't get them legally, they stole them or bought them from the people who did. If handguns aren't able to be in everyone's home then the criminals eventually won't be able to get them either.
The problem is that there are so many illegal weapons out there now that most people feel as though they need to carry for protection. It's a catch 22 that personally I wish we didn't have to worry about!!
I'm sick of hearing guns don't kill people, people kill people...Please, doesn't it kind of make it a little easier to do with a gun.
I believe in our constitutional rights wholeheartedly I also believe in education so I agree with the poster above about the kids having respect and knowing how to use a "hunting" gun". Not a handgun.

Answer 3

I don't think we all need to go running with a gun in our pocket there are to many nutters in the world and I think the more guns the more you have of getting shot.
One of the best things that John Howard did was to ban certain guns like AK assault rifles and make it hard to get a gun license if you have a criminal record and any history of mental health problems.
People make me laugh they think Aussies are completely unarmed but the people who need the guns like farmers have them.
Hi Norm election over with the right result.

Answer 4

No, because making guns illegal would mean only criminals would have guns...makes no sense for the good guys to be unarmed and the bad guys the only ones with guns. Only good guys pay attention to laws anyway; making something illegal would have no impact on criminals at all, but it would hurt us and give the bad guys a distinct advantage.

EDIT: Making something illegal will not stop people from breaking the law; e.g., prostitution, rape, murder, armed robbery, drugs...all illegal activities and yet...only law abiding citizens would obey the anti gun law, of course, while the criminals would continue to break the law only this time around we wouild have no protection...

Answer 5

The thing is, a gun law will only keep guns out of the hands of law abiding citizens. Sure, it would make it more difficult for someone who was normally a law abiding citizen to run out a buy a gun in a fit of rage, but there are so many legal guns available already and so many illegal guns available to those who seek them out, that denying the right of citizens to possess firearms for their personal protection at this stage in the game would be like going into the middle of a war zone and telling one country that they should give up their guns so that not as many people would get shot.

Sure, not as many people would get shot but only because the aggressors who would have been deterred by armed resistance can now just march in and take over. Statistics show that in the areas of the U.S. with the highest percentage of personal gun ownership there is a corresponding decrease in the average rate of violent crime and robberies.

Gun-control advocates look at guns only as a means to harm others even though they are more often used to prevent injury. According to a 1995 study entitled “Armed Resistance to Crime: The Prevalence and Nature of Self-Defense with a Gun” by Gary Kleck and Marc Gertz, published by the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology at Northwestern University School of Law, law-abiding citizens use guns to defend themselves against criminals as many as 2.5 million times every year.

That means that firearms are used 60 times more often to protect the lives of honest citizens than to shoot with criminal intent. Of these defensive shootings, more than 200,000 are by women defending themselves against sexual abuse. About half a million times a year, a citizen carrying a gun away from home uses it in self-defense. Again, according to Kleck amd Gertz, “Citizens shoot and kill more criminals than police do every year [2,819 times versus 303].” Moreover, as George Will pointed out in an article entitled “Are We a Nation of Cowards?” in the November 15, 1993, issue of Newsweek, while police have an error rate of 11 percent when it comes to the accidental shooting of innocent civilians, the armed citizens’ error rate is only 2 percent, making them five times safer than police.

Other studies give similar results. “Guns in America: National Survey on Private Ownership and Use of Firearms,” by the Clinton administration’s Justice Department shows that between 1.5 and 3 million people in the United States use a firearm to defend themselves and others from criminals each year. A 1986 study by Hart Research Associates puts the upper limit at 3.2 million.

Those studies and others indicate that often the mere sight of a firearm discourages an attacker. Criminologist John Lott from the University of Florida found that 98 percent of the time when people use guns defensively, simply brandishing a firearm is sufficient to cause a criminal to break off an attack. Lott also found that in less than 2 percent of the cases is the gun fired, and three-fourths of those are warning shots

Answer 6

The answer is simple... We as Americans have the "Second Amendment Right"
Why?... because we (Americans) From the very beginings of our conception knew that every man and woman has the right to protect themselves from foreign and "domistic" threats!! Which is why we (as Americans) are not being hurded around like absolute sheep, we are not video recorded on our every step. (not yet anyway)
If we as Americans give up our right to bear arms we will end up just like the people in the UK... Having a corrupt political moral shoved down there thoats!!
People are going to kill people regardless if its with a gun or with a sharp stick...
"They" want to take our guns away so that we have no way to appose.

Its not our fault you in the UK or AUS gave up your right! Dont try pushing your failures on us!!
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Check it out Normmc!!...
Im not looking for your best answer, And I surely dont care to talk to you about whether "we" (Which includes the UK) should be in Iraq or not.. Thats not your question is it?
BUT.. I guess I might as well be candid with you!
The reason we have the right to bear Arms is so that when we are faced with a horrible threat... We dont have to run to the Shelters and hide and wait for "another Country" to come to our rescue!
Isnt it about tea and strumpit time for you??

Answer 7

Kids do not get shot because people have guns, kids get shot because of lack of parenting. My family had guns throughout my whole childhood. My parents taught my siblings and I to RESPECT guns, that they were only for protection and hunting. Even taught us how to load and fire them. Neither my siblings are I have EVER misused a gun. Our society here is one of absent parents. Either both parents HAVE to work, or they rather buy their kids electronic crap to babysit them instead of spending time with them.

Answer 8

That would be one way to look at it. Another way is to attack the reasons why children are feeling so isolated that they use a tool to kill others.

The posit stands, that if guns were illegal only the criminals would have guns.

Answer 9

I believe it