Do we need more gun laws or more armed, trained citizens?

Question

For years we have witnessed the carnage when innocents were mowed down at schools, colleges, shopping malls and post offices. The unarmed (disarmed?) were easy targets for crazed gunmen armed with grievances, weapons and ammunition.
Now someone has shot back, probably saving many lives. All of the gun-control laws that have been passed and are still being contemplated could not have had the affect of one armed, trained and law-abiding citizen on the scene like 42-year-old Jeanne Assam, a volunteer security guard at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs.
The point is that gun laws will not deter criminals with evil intent and police can’t be everywhere they’re needed. But killers can be stopped by law-abiding citizens with guns.

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/CalThomas/2007/12/13/praise_the_lord_and_pass_the_ammunition

vinster8: Could you enlighten me on just how we can ban all guns??...does that include the illegal guns that criminals own??...please fill me in on this new technology..I'd be interested in hearing about it.

Answer 1

More people are killed by car wrecks than guns in America. More cities are safer with citizens owning guns, and being trained to use them correctly, than cities where only criminals own weapons, and citizens are left helpless, except for a baseball bat, to defend themselves in the middle of the night, from an intruder. This is common sense, but I'll provide a link or two, for those who cannot understand common sense.

Answer 2

Atheistic philosophy is doing wonders isnt it? All these highly enlightened gunmen walking around free from God are truly the product of telling kids there is not eternal punishment or ultimate justice for evil deeds.

As far as gun laws go, Id rather be on a bus with 20 people that own a gun legally and are responsible, then on a bus with one nutjob with a gun. Responsible gun owners arent the problem and when you tighten up the gun laws, thats the only ones you hurt.

Answer 3

Yes I support the Second Amendment and I am a liberal as well. I do own a gun myself and support a person's right to own them to defend themselves. However I have to say I don't agree with the NRA as I see no reason why an average citizen needs to have an M-16 assault rifle or why people need to carry around armor-piercing automatics. But keep like a shotgun or a handheld pistol around for protection...yes, I agree with that. Besides taking away guns is no answer. Criminals don't get guns legally and besides they can just find other weapons to kill people with.

Answer 4

Aftering mustering out of the Army,early 1960 I became a police officer in deep south Texas. 'Pop S'. was a retired Texas Ranger, and in his 80's. He did not say much, but when he did, he spoke from 1st hand knowledge, and one of his statements about law enforcement , guns, and the criminal was : " There are two things a dead criminal can not and will not do, one is to lie in court, and the other is, he will never seek revenge."
Back in the 1940's to 1960's most every body knew how to make, in 30 minuets, a deadly 'ZIP GUN'.
Yes, there are a few of us ol' codgers that know that the anti-gun laws only hender the citizen, while those same laws have vertially no effect on the criminal's activities.

Answer 5

The RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS..........is still the law of this land. Requiring peoples to be more responsible and ACCOUNTABLE is someting we lack. When a child is able to get at a gun without supervision-it is accountability I have an issue with. When persons are held to a standard that says you must be responsible for the guns you buy and who has access to them then you are requiring more thought. We always know where our wallet is and we protect our PIN numbers more often than we do guns that we are responsible for. You can't legislate common sense but I think we can have laws that make the person responsible for guns in their possession. Point in fact the Omaha Mall shooting. This kid should not have had access to the gun through a mother who knew the emotional problems he had. I am not blaming her.I am saying she stated she knew as soon as she saw the gun missing that her son had taken it.
You have a right to protect those you love and yourself and I would not hesitate for a moment to shoot someone that was attacking,abducting someone I loved or threatening the lives of my family.
It is a great question. I think their needs to be laws that mean something.

Answer 6

...Definitely more armed, trained citizens. If these bozos knew an armed citizenry was around, and that many could be firing back at them, most thugs would give up.
...Think of how many lives would have been saved at Columbine, in Georgia, and at VA Tech, if trained and armed people had been there and had shot the gunmen. This would not have prevented all loss of life, but the crooks would have been neutralized and many lives saved.

Answer 7

In almost every single instance of a person or persons going postal, or are bent on crime (the LA bank heist shoot out), all involved wither individuals who violated the law by having a gun, by having an illegal gun, or a combination of both. The laws did not work to prevent them from committing their crimes. New anti-gun laws are not the answer and never have been.

Answer 8

I think they should teach safe shooting in school. Educate these kids on what a weapon can do.

I am all for placing guns in the hands of CITIZENS of this country. We ahve the right to bear arms and the right to form an orginized militia, also we have the right to defend our country fomr invaders as well.

Answer 9

its like this no matter if you have a gun or not if you dont know and not prepared for a situaton like that what is a gun good for they need more security and figure out more to protect all of us its awful to watch every move we make so we dont get mowed down to

Answer 10

More armed, trained citizens.

If the church killer knew New Life had a security force that would shoot back, he likely would not have gone in there and avoided that campus entirely, and maybe would not have gone shooting to begin with.