The catch-all gun thread

[Darkstar]

All the other politics threads pertaining to guns are over 30 days old and the forum told me to create a new thread for the topic, so I did.

http://atheistforums.org/thread-11705-po...#pid442006

This is the thread for all the political issues pertaining to guns. What are your opinions on guns? As for me, I love guns. They are the bulwark of liberty. If a population is armed, then they are free.

Well, for one, I don't think banning guns is a good idea. Criminals will find other ways to get them. On the other hand, I see no reason not to have thorough background checks for those looking to purchase a firearm. Given the number of clearly unhinged people who have killed others with firearms, I don't think how the background checks are being handled at this time is sufficient.

And about liberty...I don't think a hunting rifle is going to stand up to a tank or even an assault rifle. It might annoy the government, but if they really went off the deep end, I don't think the populace could win. Giving ordinary people access to even deadlier weapons would not be even remotely reasonable unless the chance of a sudden transition to dictatorship was actually considerable.

Protip: Don't leave loaded firearms within reach of children or the mentally unstable. I hop I don't have to say why. Not addressed to anyone on this forum, per se, but every so often on the news you hear about these things.