Gun Control

[polar bear]

When the 2nd amendment was written, it was some 230 years ago.  They said they wanted a well regulated militia because it proved the best way to defeat an enemy.  Guess what we have a well armed militia and we spend billions on them every year.  If you are so afraid of the government, why do you elect right wing nut jobs that give this much fucking money to our militia?  It makes no sense.  You drive around with the mercian flag and talk about pride in merica but you are afraid of the government?

We need to take the amendment in context of the time they were written.  The next amendment or commonly known as the 3rd amendment is the one that gives you the right to not let soldiers occupy your home.  We really don't have a problem with that, just like we don't have a problem with a well armed militia.  I know it is hard, but we have to understand that the constitution and the amendments were written by men, not "gawd" so there is a chance albeit a slim one that we need to think critically about the time that these documents were written and apply the meaning in todays term.

[Thumpalumpacus]

For all the talk about the invincibility of the US army, we really aren't that good. We lost in Vietnam and have struggled against measily forces in the middle east.

... And in all three cases, the insurgents were supported by an outside power, a condition which probably wouldn't obtain in an American insurgency.

I'm pretty unconvinced that 100 million Americans with guns is less formidable than the Afghanis.

The will to fight must be present.

[Cinjin]

Just an afterthought to the American-citizens-vs.-the-US-Government debate:

I think one could easily argue that if the American people are taking up arms against our own government than it stands to reason that there could easily be major factions of the US Armed Forces that would fight along side citizens - thus becoming the missing "super power" that backed the rebel forces.

Regardless, I think the majority of gun owners are not counting on their 9mm to protect them from armed troops.  I think most gun owners (like myself) are only counting on their 9mm to protect them from john q. public and his new-found willingness to murder, rape, and pillage should the end of the world arrive.  

just sayin.  

[Thumpalumpacus]

Definitely a possibility of American soldiers refusing to fire on American citizens ... but if said citizens are sniping from cover, or laying out IEDs, I'd imagine that those compunctions might melt away rather quickly.

[Zen Badger]

If American citizens ever did rise up, all the government would have to do is shut down all the MacDonalds and Crispy Cremes......
It would be over in three days.

[Fidel_Castronaut]

My opinion certainly doesn't count while I don't have a gun

I don't think I've ever actually even seen a real gun. I think I would scream like a little girl if I ever did and run off down the road, presumably to some hilarious music.

I said the exact same thing last time a gun thread came around. 

"You haven't seen a real gun!?!? OMG!!"

I guess the difference is I don't fear for My safety 24/7. The paranoia seems to the problem a lot of folks in the states have, the guns are just the weapon used to demonstrate it. 

I have actually seen a real gun since, in an airport. Armed police are deployed in airports now in the UK routinely for, well, some reason. 

[Koolman]

I think there is a lot of ignorance around guns, firearms, bang sticks, etc. Psychologically, people have a tendency to fear that which they are ignorant of, and you can extrapolate this to the nth degree, but ...........why would you bother.
There is nothing "wrong" with firearms, just the people who abuse them.
Why do we, as a society, work so hard on the preservation of people? Maybe it would be better if we let all of the dickheads wipe themselves out, and yes, some of the good ones might be collateral damage, but don't you think natural selection would be appropriate?
We, people, I mean, have a superiority complex, among other things.
Might as well ban automobiles, baseball bats, scissors.......how stupid, how unintelligent, how unhuman.

In the end, I think it's about civil liberties, and the constant, systematic, relentless erosion of said liberties.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

I wonder how many gun-rights supporters on this board have ever been present when a fellow human being was shot to death.

Boru

[Koolman]

Probably just as many that were present when someone was stabbed to death.

I get it, some people hate guns, but how dare the haters try and take it away from the enthusiasts? What gives them the bloody right? And don't give me that rubbish about living in a democracy.

And after all, most crime is committed with illegal firearms. I'm 100% for a stop to illegal firearms, but how the hell do you do that?
If you want to hate something, hate people.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Probably just as many that were present when someone was stabbed to death.

Equating firearms to kitchen knives.  Brilliant.  Can you list all of the times where a knife went off accidentally and killed someone?  How about all those instances where someone was cleaning their knife and lopped their foot off?

I get it, some people hate guns, but how dare the haters try and take it away from the enthusiasts?

Personally, I don't hate guns.  A gun is a object - hating a gun makes about as much sense as hating a chair or a paper napkin. 

'Enthusiast' is the key word, I think.  People who are enthusiastic about shooting guns are probably the last people who should have access to them.  But calm yourself - I'm not trying to take your guns away.  You'll give them up on your own eventually.

And after all, most crime is committed with illegal firearms.

I really don't think that's true.  Fraud and embezzlement, for example, are almost never committed with illegal firearms.  The same goes for copyright infringement, plagiarism, perjury, burglary, trespassing, forgery, counterfeiting and illegal dumping of hazardous waste.

 I'm 100% for a stop to illegal firearms, but how the hell do you do that?

You don't, short of stopping the manufacture of all firearms worldwide, and I think we can agree that that's never going to happen.

If you want to hate something, hate people.

Ok, I'll hate people.  But I'm going to reserve the right to hate some people more than others.  Nuff said.

Boru