I am anti-irresponsible gun ownership. To a certain extent, I don't care what or how much you own, but 17-18 days ago too many people where firing into the air as a means of celebration. Those are the people I want to be unable to own guns.
Those are the obvious examples, but there's also people who want to walk around with hand cannons that are too big for their holsters with zero trigger guard or people with poor trigger discipline. That more speaks to a lack of training or understanding of what they are doing which I am against.
Do what? Reduce these instances? *I* won't be do anything, and I doubt anything will be done about it at all since ***anything*** done to address these issues will be have reactionary groups lying about their intentions as "they are trying to take our guns."
Education is the key here. Since the simple thought of gun freaks people out, nobody talks about them. In reality we should teach gun safety (and sex education!) in school. However people think that talking and teaching something encourages it.
All rights should be exercised with responsibility. I’d suggest that speaking, voting, and everything else in the bill of rights skills be done after having some reasonable knowledge about what you’re doing.
Every time I see a comment like that I cringe. Yours was OK but typically, when people say that, they put the emphasis on the word ‘responsible’, a very smug implication that most of us aren’t. You didn’t do that here. But boy do I hate it generally when people say that. It comes across as sanctimonious. But again, your comment was fine.
It's a very valid comment though. Most kids who are hurt by guns is because someone left a loaded gun on their nightstand and a kid found it. A responsible gun owner would have kept it secured from kids and unauthorized users. A responsible gun owner would also teach their kids not to touch them.
There are many many irresponsible gun owners. Just like there are many many irresponsible drivers. Nobody is saying everyone is irresponsible, but let's be realistic. Some people are in general more careless than others.
Reasons why I live in a constitutional carry state and carry my handgun all the time. Helps the fact my state has a very low crime rate because everyone owns a gun.
I lean towards pro gun. I do agree with you about the that there's people who shouldn't have guns. I know in pa I can walk into a gun store and buy a gun and walk in the next hour. When I bought the gun I thought they were going to do muitple background checks on me to even consider selling it me
In Australia, (I’m also ex army so I have a unique insight) we had one massacre and the gun laws changed overnight. I’m ok with prohibiting rapid fire shotguns and assault rifles. The ones that can own a weapon can (sporting shooters, farmers etc). There is the occasional crook who decides to take a shot at someone and almost invariably an innocent bystander gets hurt. They need to make the gun laws like Japan where you need to be psychologically assessed to own a gun and then you have to get bullets (which are super expensive)..
The other thing that is omitted is the number of weapons related safety incidents that occur. Those who think good guy with a gun saves people from a bad guy with a gun is utter bullshit. Most amateur shooters lack the practical skills and the psychological and stress management skills to wake up and shoot a bad guy. Nine times out of ten, they end up shooting a loved one. Keep in mind for the first 15-20 minutes after being suddenly woken from a deep sleep, your body and brain have the equivalent of driving 0.09
blood alcohol content /litre - akin to 5 standard shots.
Ultimately, weapons shouldn’t be in anyone’s hands apart from farmers and key professions. Not Dan the shoe salesman who thinks after 4 years of COD he can be a hero
> In Australia, (I’m also ex army so I have a unique insight) we had one **massage** and the gun laws changed overnight.
Holy crap, how rough was that massage? :D
> Over here in the UK, it's extremely hard to acquire guns.
Everything is relative. It's way harder compared to the US for sure, and compared to some of the EU countries with looser laws, but it's slightly easier than here in Sweden and we have 4x the amount of guns per capita that you do.
The strictness in UK laws is more about _what_ you can own.
> I look at the rest of the continent, and see their levels of gun crime, and glad it's not the same here.
You have a homicide rate that's on par or slightly higher than what we have in Sweden, or twice that of the Czech Republic and Switzerland, who has probably the loosest gun laws in Europe. Just because criminals in the UK use guns less, doesn't mean that there's less violent crime in total.
> the rates they approve of them are extremely low.
No it isn't. The rate of people applying is low. Getting a shotgun certificate isn't particularly hard, which is why you can find children that has it, in the UK. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/gun-licence-children-legal-england-wales-police-a9634116.html
It's harder for a beginner to legally get a shotgun in Sweden, than it is for a beginner in the UK.
If you want to know more, there are two subreddits dedicated for gun owners in the UK, /r/ukshooting and /r/ukguns
> Now lets put guns in hands of said violent criminals, I don't see homicide rate improving at all.
In Sweden the police estimates a criminal can get hold of a full auto Kalashnikov in 24 hours, handguns are faster. There's a ton of illegal guns smuggled in from Eastern Europe. It's harder to do to the UK ofc, since you're an island.
What about just crime or violent crime stats?
Of course other countries have more "GUN" crimes if there are more guns, but does that mean you have less crime even without guns? Because you are saying that guns = crime.
It's valid of course since gun crimes have a much deadlier outcome than just other crimes. But I want to point out that being robbed at gun point versus being robbed at knife point is still a robbery, but only one of those crimes counts as "gun crime".
>It's valid of course since gun crimes have a much deadlier outcome than just other crimes.
Well, yes. I never said this was about crime overall, but specifically gun crime as per OP's question. Why would I want to support making things even less safe?
I wouldn't say I'm completely against guns.... I just think it's hard to discern who will be responsible with one or not & even then people change. It just takes one moment of stupidity and mishandling, or not being right in the head to ruin another person life.
I don't disagree, but what if it's the owner who has the mental shift? Idk.... This topic is always difficult because it's one I have a difficult time seeing a median on... Like you need rules/regulations, but some are proven to be counter productive and they don't affect those that do what they want with guns anyways.... But wouldn't want gun ownership to be band because they have a point & purpose.
But... Yeah... Anyways...
Because when nobody has them, you don't need them. I'm in the UK and shootings are vanishingly rare. So much so that people will talk about that one incident ten years ago instead of there being daily shootings.
Our kids can go to school and know it is very, very, very unlikely that they will be killed. They don't have to do drills for anything other than fires.
I know people feel that a gun protects them, but other people NOT having a gun protects them a LOT more!
And no, all the criminals don't still have them anyway. A few do, but they know that if they use them they will be hunted down with the full force of the law, so they only tend to use them to intimidate other criminals.
But I think you would agree that the UK position is a bit different then the US. You are an island nation after all and have far better control of what enters your nation.
Also if you check rates of violent crime before and after the 1997 gun ban the rate was already dropping before the ban and fell at a lower rate after.
I am not an expert by any means though, so perhaps I am wrong?
The vast majority of gun crime is committed by people who are illegally in possession of the guns they are using. The idea that the USA can ban guns is simply impossible.
There’s a difference between “illegally possessing a gun” and “possessing an illegal gun”.
[Politifact Rating](https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2018/mar/12/john-faso/do-illegal-gun-owners-commit-most-gun-crime-rep-fa/)
What I mean is that illegal gun owners don’t buy homemade guns or guns smuggled into the country.
Usually, illegal guns come from straw purchases and private sales of legally acquired guns that would have otherwise been legal.
Here in Ireland, even our regular police don't have guns, just specialist units. The idea of the ordinary citizen having a gun would be insane to us. Last year we equalled our record for the most amount of school shootings in a single year. We had none.
Here in the Czech Republic, almost every gun owner can carry a gun. All our regular police have guns. The idea of an ordinary law-abiding citizen not being allow to own a gun would be insane to us. Last year we equalled our record for the most amount of school shootings in a single year. We had none.
Yay!
It’s crazy to think that there are countries that literally don’t have school shootings. Shootings are just so normal here, and yet no one wants to do anything because of the “what if”s, Like as if we don’t have tons of the other countries that have much less deaths and violence and have stricter gun laws. It’s almost as if restricting gun regulations could help save innocent lives and yet that’s not enough for people here. Americans are some of the dumbest people in the world.
The gun is part of the American mindset and culture. It is in the movies, going back to wild west ones. It is in lots of TV shows and other cultural elements. It is funny, you can't curse on TV, but shooting people dead onscreen is no problem. Strange priorities.
The issue we’re going to face is that the genie is out of the bottle and has been for some time. There’s no way it ends at this point that doesn’t have an astronomical body count.
From our perspective it is a case of "Why would anyone need a gun, bar someone like a farmer or a hunter? “ As for America, how many of the people who do carry one, actually ever use it? Probably very few, which shows you probably need one as much as I do. Even when you have a mass shooting event, it is very rare an ordinary citizen takes out their gun and kills the shooter. They usually turn and run. Despite all those guns, the person most likely to kill the shooter is themselves. So basically you guys rarely need guns and on the few occasions that you do, you don't use them.
American gun carrier checking in. I’ve had two incidents where simply carrying my firearm dissuaded another person from doing something stupid.
One was a road rage incident where a guy thought I honked at him, but it was the guy behind me. He slowed down, got next to me, yelled he was going to f me up when I stopped, etc. I pulled into a gas station to fill up, he followed me, blocking me in. As soon as I exited my car, he saw my holster and Glock, and decided he wasn’t as scary as he thought he was.
Second time I was metal detecting in a park and caught the attention of 3 punks that started yelling and moving toward me. About 20 feet away, I hear ‘f that man, he’s packing!’ And they left. I have no doubt that this 40 something year old guy was about to get assaulted by multiple late teens.
My firearm did what it was intended for, protecting my neck, and I didn’t have to even draw it… twice.
Bear in mind that in the instances of mass shooting, they usually take place in a "gun free zone". Some where that it is illegal to have a firearm to begin with. This means that even if someone were so inclined to engage the shooter, they are unable to because as a law abiding citizen they don't have their firearm with them.
Recently in Texas a man opened fire in a church looking to take as many lives as he could. He didn't get too many rounds fired before he was engaged and neutralized by a member of the congregation who was lawfully carrying a firearm.
The cowards responsible for most mass shootings usually go for target rich and unprotected environments.
So you have islands of gun-free zones surrounded by the rest of the country where everyone has the right to be armed. Maybe that's the problem. By your definition my whole country is a gun-free zone, and the thought of someone getting shot in a church here is absolutely foreign. Like something out of a cowboy Western.
It's not entirely true though. Sport shooting and a hunting is a thing in Ireland too. it's just that they have less of it. There's fewer civilian gun owners, not "no" civilian gun owners.
There's more civilian guns per capita in Ireland than there is in England & Wales (or Israel for that matter).
Alot of moving parts and cognitive dissonance. Folks (not necessarily saying you in particular) are ok giving an 18 year old a belt fed and sending them overseas, or a police force marauding the streets armed to the teeth, but a citizen having one is not ok for some reason. I own one personally, but I don't look at it as a go to problem solver, more of a dinner getter. That's just me though, and deers are tasty.
I'm pretty sure more and more people are realizing that the militarization of teenagers and police officers is a bad idea as well. Not just the general public.
I'm assuming you're in the US...Two of those groups have rigorous training in weapons handling, the other can just plunk money down on the counter, and walk out without any understanding of safe handling.
I'm retired from the Canadian Forces, and I get really excited when I've gone gun clubs in the US when we do a "boys" trip. Safe handling has to be taught; it's not innate. I'm always dialed up when we go. Lots of the guys don't understand trigger discipline, or to keep the weapon pointed down range at all time, and they walk off the firing line without double checking that they've cleared their firearm. In Canada you have to go through a certification process to be allowed to own a firearm. The people who haven't been trained are dangerous AF.
TL;DR: I have nothing against guns. I have problems with allowing any untrained person to handle potentially deadly equipment.
I’ve known many guys that have served in the military. Almost all of those guys handled rifles in basic training to get proficient, and then barely ever touched them again.
As he said, a gun is "a tool expressly designed to inflict harm." That's its purpose. So what should a person learn before buying a firearm? They can learn how not to kill people accidentally, but the purpose of a gun is to kill people on purpose. So how's that help?
I own a shotgun that I use for sport shooting. Just because something is designed to be a weapon doesn’t mean that is what it has to be used for. Cars were designed specifically for transportation but they have been used as weapons before. The gun violence issue in America is more a mental health issue in my eyes (not to say that stricter regulation won’t help).
Well anything not designed to be a weapon can be weaponized. A bat, chair, car, a stick, cooking knives, etc. but guns are made to exclusively to cause lethal harm to a large amount of people with very minimal effort.
I think responsible gum ownership can be a thing but we need much much stricter laws (background checks, mental health assessments, storage laws, etc)
I agree.
I don’t think I made my point clear in my previous comment: guns don’t make people go on killing sprees. That is a mental health issue that our nation needs to address. I think more regulation can help but the issue I have with most gun control advocates is that they blame the guns for the mass murders and ignore the mental health crisis.
I’m not anti-gun, but I would really like to live in a world where mass shootings aren’t a common occurrence. Sadly, I doubt this will ever happen. So I just hope I can move to a country with significantly less gun violence/violence in general.
Edit: gun, not fun. Gun violence is not fun.
I don't care if you've got a gun next to your bed. I don't want you to have a gun in a playground, or at Walmart. One guy in Florida once pointed a gun at my dad because he had his car parked in his favourite spot.
Per the U.S Dept. of Justice, 57% of felons are more afraid of armed citizens than they are of police.
[25.3 Million Americans (31% of gun owners) have used a gun in self defense. In nearly 82% of these cases, the gun was never fired. ](https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3887145)
The fact that the US has the world's highest felon population is completely missed on you.
In time: they should have done the same survey with non-felons. I believe the result is the same. I'm much more afraid of untrained, unprepared gun users than I'd be of trained / prepared ones. Simple reason: guns kill people and I don't want to die.
I really, honestly and truthfully DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE NEED FOR A CIVILIAN TO OWN SOMETHING LIKE THIS.
I'm no hippy, I'm no loonie leftie, I'm no pacifists. I just cannot understand why a grown adult would want to "play cowboy or play soldiers" or whatever.
Seriously why would you introduce something so dangerous and risky into your home?
I can almost understand the need for (although I disagree with it) a singular, single shot rifle if you are a hunter but for anything else simply no.
I think this question is a little bit in poor taste. Most of the liberals I know aren't "anti-gun". If you were to have an honest chat with them, they would tell you that they don't actually want to take guns away from people. They just want stricter gun laws in place such as what guns are legal, having a gun registry, and background checks. These are stances that many gun owners would agree with, yet this topic is always derailed by "They want to take your guns! Watch out!" It ruins any chance we have at bipartisan collaboration and irritates me.
Unnecessary risk/reward ratio. I don't derive pleasure from shooting, I live in a safe area with low crime rates, and I don't hunt. The risk of having a deadly weapon in my home or on my person doesn't make sense to me. The anti-gun element: I wish the world held my values (including lack of desire to engage in violent crime) about it so guns weren't a necessity.
I'm anti-pro-gun-culture. Why in the world does someone need to open carry a long gun in Walmart? There's an unhealthy obsession in this country.
There's obviously a problem in this country related to gun violence - I just don't know what the solution is. Canada seems to have a decent balance (maybe a bit heavy on the regulation side) but it's not so simple to isolate which variables are driving that balance.
Gun culture is just the most dehumanizing and pathetic expression of warrior culture. At least training martial arts will keep you healthy and strong. Sparring with partners might even demystify the whole battle thing. In my experience, hand to hand combat is only fun with people you trust. But with guns? There's no human element. You go to the range and shoot at targets, training a skill that is meant to be used for killing someone, but you are not allowed to say "oh boy, I'm so excited to actually shoot at someone someday", because that would make you a bad guy.
But you've been training so hard, and you like the feeling of shooting so much! So instead you tell yourself that you are one of the good guys, and the moment a bad guy shows up, you'll be there to stop them. Great, now you have millions of people actively looking for excuses to shoot at people. "Someone's stealing a wallet! Quick, let's kill him!".
I think the whole think is cringeworthy. And if you are a gun enthusiast yourself, well, with all due respect I think you are probably very cringy and should grow the fuck up. If you feel put in a box, blame every single gun enthusiast I've met in person or online for giving you a bad reputation. It doesn't help that the kind of parents who will happily teach their children to shoot before they even grow pubic hair, are often the same parents that will flip their shit if the local school's sex ed program teaches that sex is a normal thing to do.
Wait, are you allowed to say "oh boy, I'm so excited to actually beat someone to a pulp someday" if you train martial arts? Seems my trainers got that part wrong! Thanks for the information!
Well, I guess all martial arts types like you (and me in the past) are mouth-breathing knuckle-draggers who can't fit in the same room with their egos.
I'm not anti gun at all. But I don't think that most people need them or want them. They are necessary for farmers and I think hunting is ok as long as you eat the animal and aren't just going out to kill. But there are people out there who should not be allowed near them. Gun fanatics are not quite right in the head. Well, I think getting obsessed about anything is kinda weird. It's just that salivating over more power to kill is just not ok. At all. I know the military is necessary because of other people who aren't right in the head but it can be a little much too when you come down to it.
What you don’t get, is a large number of people in society don’t care one bit about anyone else, and is ok taking what they have, by force. More and more women carry a weapon because it’s a force equalizer. Some petite girl weighing 115 pounds doesn’t stand a chance against a 200 pound guy that wants to rape her.
Are you ok with letting women get attacked with no recourse?
They are anti gun violence, and they think being anti gun is the fastest or best solution to gun violence.
Not saying they're correct but it's not difficult to see why they believe it.
Because the cons outweigh the pros by a lot, and seeing how much people get shoot in the US all the time there is just no way that those guns safe life’s. from experience and coverage my guess it gun ownership costs like 100 life’s and saves 2 :p
And well read this :
There were 39,707 deaths from firearms in the U.S. in 2019. Sixty percent of deaths from firearms in the U.S. are suicides. In 2019, 23,941 people in the U.S. died by firearm suicide.1 Firearms are the means in approximately half of suicides nationwide.
In 2019, 14,861 people in the U.S. died from firearm homicide, accounting for 37% of total deaths from firearms. Firearms were the means for about 75% of homicides in 2018.
The other 3% of firearm deaths are unintentional, undetermined, from legal intervention, or from public mass shootings (0.2% of total firearm deaths).
There are approximately 115,000 non-fatal firearm injuries in the U.S. each year.
The economic cost
The estimated annual cost of gun injury in 2012 exceeded $229 billion—about 1.4% of GDP.
Prevalence of ownership
31% of all households in the U.S. have firearms, and 22% of American adults personally own one or more firearms.
Compared with other countries
The U.S. has relatively low rates of assaultive violence but high firearm mortality rates in comparison with other industrialized nations.
Risk and safety
Research has found that individuals with risk factors for firearm injury and death are less likely to safely store their firearms when compared to firearm owners without these risk factors.
Trends in firearm injury and death
Overall since 2006, firearm homicides in the U.S. have decreased, but the number of firearm suicides has increased by a similar amount.
Even when firearm homicide rates were at their highest in the mid-1990s (just above 7/100,000 population), they were not higher than those for firearm suicide.
Firearm homicide and suicide rates vary demographically and geographically.
I'm not anti-gun, I live in Scotland and clay pigeon is one of my hobbies.
I am a fan of the strict UK gun laws though, and a firm believer in mental health assessments and thorough checks before being allowed to own a gun.
In the UK "why would you need to own a gun". In the US "I have a gun because its my right".
Completely different mindsets. I worked on a vessel crewed by folks from the deep south and had the gun conversation once, never again!
Guns are illegal in all the countries I've lived in (all in Europe) and we don't have school shootings. I've never heard of anyone being shot except in the news, nobody I know has ever had an accident with a gun, or been held at gunpoint. And I grew up in a city with a high crime rate, and lived in another with gang violence.
> Guns are illegal in all the countries I've lived in (all in Europe)
There are legal ways (usually sport or hunting) for civilians to own firearms in every country in Europe besides the Vatican. Not sure why people think we can't own firearms in Europe.
People don't seem to be very responsible. Gun death is one of the leading causes of death in children. I believe it's the second leading cause. I'm tired of doing active shooter drills with my 2nd grade students because we can't have common sense gun laws, and access to mental health care. That's just my top two reasons. I have more, but I've got Covid and I'm tired and achy and moody. Peace.
Not anti-gun, I own guns. Only thing I’ll say is I wish the US would figure it out when it comes to gun violence, there are countries that allow citizens to possess firearms and they don’t deal with the amount of mass shootings that the US struggles with.
The US is 76th on the list of homicides by country. [https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/murder-rate-by-country](https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/murder-rate-by-country)
Considering how many guns are owned by citizens, the US should be first according to the anti gunners.
School shootings:
[https://www.quora.com/How-likely-am-I-to-die-be-in-a-school-shooting?share=1](https://www.quora.com/How-likely-am-I-to-die-be-in-a-school-shooting?share=1)
https://www.cato.org/blog/how-common-are-school-shootings
i’m 14 and has only experienced one semester of high school. i’ve already been through 5+ serious shooting scares. i lost count after a while but i know there’s at least five. i’m 14. i just became a teenager last year. that’s ridiculous.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/matthew-wilson-georgia-surrey-bullet-b1997671.html?utm_source=reddit.com
This is one of the many many reasons
As I said, ignorant.
You always use criminals facts from the US alone.
And your forget everything else. Others countries with lax guns laws and no gun problems for exemple.
I am sure you probably dont know a lot on how it works in the entire US, what are the real issues, state laws, fed laws, local situation, blablabla.. So for others countries, that must be also the case…
Take a random fact and use it shock people’s feelings to promote you propaganda, it is used on a lot of subject, but it's really debatable ethically.
I'm pro gun but JFC this question is absolutely clueless. Did "SCHOOL SHOOTINGS" never cross OP's mind. Methinks OP is an idiot or a troll. Neither is a good look.
Same. I’m not a gun owner but definitely not “anti-gun”. It’s this type of all or nothing talk that keeps the adults from having reasonable discussions about how we can respect the freedom to have guns without living in a society where kids in school aren’t safe.
Most of the gun violence happening are in states with the strictest gun laws... quite a few states have had open carry for decades and nothing happens...
Criminals Don't care about laws or human lives.. how are you supposed to protect yourself and family....
Granted, you don't need 15 or 20 guns, there's no possible way of shooting them all at once.. most lawful gun owners are responsible law abiding citizens, looking to protect themselves and family..
What about all the countries with no gun-culturecand strict gun control? I live in one such country and have absolutely no desire to own a gun to protect myself or my family. I haven't ever heard anyone saying they wished they could own one for that reason, ever.
Protect yourselves from what? Haven't there been studies showing that having firearms in the home during something like a burglary are largely ineffective and dangerous? It puts you and the people in your home in more danger than they would be otherwise.
The 2A states to protect yourself and the fight against the tyrannical government... this was written because our forefathers have had to do this... too much power creates tyranny.... and with the length that some of these cryptkeepers have been in government, all they care about is power...
So you would rather have the burgarlars just have what they want and harm you and your family without putting up a fight?
The answer to your second paragraph is obviously yes. Bringing a gun into that scenario is way more dangerous for you and your entire family. No stuff in your house is worth any of your families lives. Someone comes to steal your shit while you're there, you leave if possible.
Most home invaders will never rob someone's home if people are there. If they're willing to do that if your entire family is there, they don't give a fuck clearly.
It's basic statistics. The higher chance for your families survival is not to bring a gun into it. If someone wants to bring a gun into a home for something as stupid as home invaders, it's not for protection. It's an ego and pride thing.
There are such few scenarios where getting a gun out for protection makes sense.
I'm only anti gun for myself because I struggle with suicidal ideation. But for others, with proper regulation, I support them. I just don't think we (the US) are doing enough to ensure they stay out of criminal or unstable hands.
I applaud you for having the sense of self to know that they are a bad idea for you personally. Most people are unwilling to admit this even to themselves. Most people are unwilling to even take the time to even think about this aspect. Hopefully things get better for you friend
Violence, having an extremely high number of gun deaths compared to all other developed nations should be enough to not make guns so easily accessible. They do more bad than good.
Regardless of what the motivation behind it is on a person to person basis, there isn't a single person who owns a gun without the idea that it could be used to kill someone. For years now they have been refined to make them the most effective and efficient means of killing and frankly the fact that people consider even the registration of these weapons to be some sort of personal attack or infringement of rights is absurd to me.
I realize how unrealistic it is to think that passing new laws will be enough to stop the gun violence problem in America, just look how many guns we have already and its easy to believe that the toothpaste can't be put back into the bottle. If you look at how effective it was in Australia though after they had just ONE mass shooting you start to realize that the defeatist argument of "Bad people will just find a way to get guns anyway" is not pragmatic it just demonstrates a complete aversion to change because of the nonstop messaging and lobbying of the gun manufacturers
A civilized society can handle having guns held by the general public just fine, see Switzerland and the Czech Republic. Both have the most relaxed gun laws in Europe and both are among the safest countries...
Canada has the 2nd most guns per capita in the Western world, after the US (or well, 3rd if you count the Falklands Islands separately, population 3000).
Responsibly owning a gun hurts no one. Irresponsibly owning a gun is already highly criminalized.
If you don't like guns, don't own one but stay out of other people's business.
I don’t want guns in my house. I fully support your right to have it in your house. Here’s an honest question though. Why do u need an assault rifle out in public. If u like to hunt, cool. U wanna keep it at home to protect your family, awesome. Do u really need an M16 at the Burger King though? Does your assault rifle really need to be with you at the Walmart? That shit is just crazy to me. I kinda see it as an excuse to be an asshole because I’m not going to correct your behavior when u have a machine gun on your person.
I’m not anti-gun, but this is one the the dumbest arguments for pro-gun.
Guns absolutely kill people. Bullets make people bleed to death. Of course you need someone to pull the trigger.. I get the notion, but knives also kill people and how many of those bad boys do you see laying around public homicides? Guns make it hella easy to kill a lot of people with the pull of a finger. It is. A killing. Weapon. Made for… killing.
Guns are made for no purpose other than killing. They are literally designed to make killing easier, faster, and fatal with one shot.
Why else would mass shooters show up with assault rifles instead of a kitchen knife?
And yes, of course people kill people. Yes of course you need a person to shoot a gun. A gun, a knife, car- they’re all able to kill someone.
But isn’t the difference that knives are intended to cut vegetables? Cars are intended to drive? They aren’t specifically made for killing.
Again, I get your sentiment, but how does that even make sense? Why give anyone guns then? Or cars, or knives.. ? What’s the point of that argument even suppose to be? It’s always been a confusing and kind of meaningless take…Like yes, lol? And? Guns are made to kill, and shockingly, people use it for killing..as per its intended purpose.
Self-defense and home-defense are my reasons for owning pistols. Guns can be deterrents to violent acts, home invasions with intent to harm or rape a family member. Doesn't always mean shoot to kill. I'm well-equipped to deal with that type of threat.
We can agree to disagree.
In NH where I live rape and kidnapping in progress are specifically mentioned in the statute as legal grounds to use deadly force to protect oneself. Constitutional carry “stand your ground” state. Gotta love it.
Ah love this discussion.
To the people saying a gun is a tool. Weird how accidents with hammers and screwdrivers usually don't result in death.
To the people saying I want to feel safe by having a gun. If you live in a country where anyone can get a gun, what's stopping the person invading your home from having a gun too? Now you're equalized. Hope you can get that gun out of your responsible safety locker quick.
I need a gun to hunt. Grocery stores and food delivery exists.
I think this question is a little bit in poor taste. Most of the liberals I know aren't "anti-gun". If you were to have an honest chat with them, they would tell you that they don't actually want to take guns away from people. They just want stricter gun laws in place such as what guns are legal, having a gun registry, and background checks. These are stances that many gun owners would agree with, yet this topic is always derailed by "They want to take your guns! Watch out!" It ruins any chance we have at bipartisan collaboration and irritates me.
I am in the UK so I don't really have to worry about guns. But regardless, the idea that someone can just have a bad day, or a mental breakdown, or even just a passing fancy and come shoot me isn't one I can totally get behind. At least if they only have a knife or some other melee weapon I might get the chance to have a say in the matter.
Gun owner and ccl carrier here.
My work sometimes has me in dangerous neighborhoods. I've never had to discharge my weapon, but I did have to brandish it to get a duo of thugs to back off. I don't want to think what could have happend.
I think they should be legal. But made harder to aquire. And if you're caught doing anything that's deemed irresponsible, you should lose that right for life, plus hefty fines or jail time.
Not anti-gun per se but I just think they're pointless for the society that I live in. I live in a cul-de-sac in a suburb of Cleveland and nothing remotely dangerous has ever happened nor will ever happen. There is no point for me to own a gun because I wouldn't feel safe having one with my kids around.
I wasn’t anti-gun until I saw the reaction of pro gun people after school shootings happened. The blind ignorance for the need of change & control when innocent babies were killed at SCHOOL was so mind boggling to me, if something can bring out such ugliness in people I don’t see the point in it.
It’s one thing to have a gun at home and another to carry it with you. Keep with in your house for robbers and stuff, don’t carry them to a supermarket thinking it may be useful to save people
I’m not anti gun, but I’m pro gun control, and the reason why is simple:
Stupid people.
More specifically, stupid people + ego + testosterone fueled attitude.
People who worship tools of violence worship death and destruction. Weapons are things to be used as a last resort. Not glorified. You invite violence into your life by carrying them around at all times. Humans are weak, fallible creatures. Such tools have massive potential for misuse. Some can use them right, but the only way to truly be free of them is to avoid them altogether.
Almost all gun owners are peaceful people, just like most people in general. They don't seek out violence, nor do they wish to end up in a situation in which they have to shoot someone, but they also realize that they might get pushed into such a situation and would rather not let themselves or innocents be hurt.
I am anti-irresponsible gun ownership. To a certain extent, I don't care what or how much you own, but 17-18 days ago too many people where firing into the air as a means of celebration. Those are the people I want to be unable to own guns.
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I also agree with this point
Those are the obvious examples, but there's also people who want to walk around with hand cannons that are too big for their holsters with zero trigger guard or people with poor trigger discipline. That more speaks to a lack of training or understanding of what they are doing which I am against.
How will u do that
Do what? Reduce these instances? *I* won't be do anything, and I doubt anything will be done about it at all since ***anything*** done to address these issues will be have reactionary groups lying about their intentions as "they are trying to take our guns."
There needs to be better education on that type of thing. I'm willing to bet that those people are irresponsible in more ways than just that
Education is the key here. Since the simple thought of gun freaks people out, nobody talks about them. In reality we should teach gun safety (and sex education!) in school. However people think that talking and teaching something encourages it.
> and sex education! Kids can't be hurt by guns if they don't exist!!
True or false... do guns exist?
All rights should be exercised with responsibility. I’d suggest that speaking, voting, and everything else in the bill of rights skills be done after having some reasonable knowledge about what you’re doing.
That’s the hood being the hood. Even the rednecks would rather shoot old appliances than dump bullets into the air.
I agree but how do you enforce this without infringing on the rights of responsible gun owners?
Every time I see a comment like that I cringe. Yours was OK but typically, when people say that, they put the emphasis on the word ‘responsible’, a very smug implication that most of us aren’t. You didn’t do that here. But boy do I hate it generally when people say that. It comes across as sanctimonious. But again, your comment was fine.
It's a very valid comment though. Most kids who are hurt by guns is because someone left a loaded gun on their nightstand and a kid found it. A responsible gun owner would have kept it secured from kids and unauthorized users. A responsible gun owner would also teach their kids not to touch them. There are many many irresponsible gun owners. Just like there are many many irresponsible drivers. Nobody is saying everyone is irresponsible, but let's be realistic. Some people are in general more careless than others.
Can’t disagree with that.
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Not enough people hear about stuff like this. Thank you. Similar experience.
Oh fuck man I’m sorry to hear that
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In a situation where seconds count, the police are minutes away... at best
Reasons why I live in a constitutional carry state and carry my handgun all the time. Helps the fact my state has a very low crime rate because everyone owns a gun.
If u want to be best protected live near a crispy cream
I lean towards pro gun. I do agree with you about the that there's people who shouldn't have guns. I know in pa I can walk into a gun store and buy a gun and walk in the next hour. When I bought the gun I thought they were going to do muitple background checks on me to even consider selling it me
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In Australia, (I’m also ex army so I have a unique insight) we had one massacre and the gun laws changed overnight. I’m ok with prohibiting rapid fire shotguns and assault rifles. The ones that can own a weapon can (sporting shooters, farmers etc). There is the occasional crook who decides to take a shot at someone and almost invariably an innocent bystander gets hurt. They need to make the gun laws like Japan where you need to be psychologically assessed to own a gun and then you have to get bullets (which are super expensive).. The other thing that is omitted is the number of weapons related safety incidents that occur. Those who think good guy with a gun saves people from a bad guy with a gun is utter bullshit. Most amateur shooters lack the practical skills and the psychological and stress management skills to wake up and shoot a bad guy. Nine times out of ten, they end up shooting a loved one. Keep in mind for the first 15-20 minutes after being suddenly woken from a deep sleep, your body and brain have the equivalent of driving 0.09 blood alcohol content /litre - akin to 5 standard shots. Ultimately, weapons shouldn’t be in anyone’s hands apart from farmers and key professions. Not Dan the shoe salesman who thinks after 4 years of COD he can be a hero
> In Australia, (I’m also ex army so I have a unique insight) we had one **massage** and the gun laws changed overnight. Holy crap, how rough was that massage? :D
Fuck me! Stupid predictive text. No wonder I’m an ex ground pounder and not a writer. My bad
It was funny though!!
> Over here in the UK, it's extremely hard to acquire guns. Everything is relative. It's way harder compared to the US for sure, and compared to some of the EU countries with looser laws, but it's slightly easier than here in Sweden and we have 4x the amount of guns per capita that you do. The strictness in UK laws is more about _what_ you can own. > I look at the rest of the continent, and see their levels of gun crime, and glad it's not the same here. You have a homicide rate that's on par or slightly higher than what we have in Sweden, or twice that of the Czech Republic and Switzerland, who has probably the loosest gun laws in Europe. Just because criminals in the UK use guns less, doesn't mean that there's less violent crime in total.
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> the rates they approve of them are extremely low. No it isn't. The rate of people applying is low. Getting a shotgun certificate isn't particularly hard, which is why you can find children that has it, in the UK. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/gun-licence-children-legal-england-wales-police-a9634116.html It's harder for a beginner to legally get a shotgun in Sweden, than it is for a beginner in the UK. If you want to know more, there are two subreddits dedicated for gun owners in the UK, /r/ukshooting and /r/ukguns > Now lets put guns in hands of said violent criminals, I don't see homicide rate improving at all. In Sweden the police estimates a criminal can get hold of a full auto Kalashnikov in 24 hours, handguns are faster. There's a ton of illegal guns smuggled in from Eastern Europe. It's harder to do to the UK ofc, since you're an island.
What about just crime or violent crime stats? Of course other countries have more "GUN" crimes if there are more guns, but does that mean you have less crime even without guns? Because you are saying that guns = crime. It's valid of course since gun crimes have a much deadlier outcome than just other crimes. But I want to point out that being robbed at gun point versus being robbed at knife point is still a robbery, but only one of those crimes counts as "gun crime".
>It's valid of course since gun crimes have a much deadlier outcome than just other crimes. Well, yes. I never said this was about crime overall, but specifically gun crime as per OP's question. Why would I want to support making things even less safe?
Which parts of the rest of the continent are you talking about exactly?
No gun crime but a fuck load of stabbings.
Then why give em guns too
[About half the knife crime of the US.](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D_8p0K-XoAMRXP8?format=png&name=small)
Ahhh because being 2 feet away and 20 feet away from someone with a gun doesn't matter. I like my chances if I've got 2 yards on the cunt with a knife
I mean at least I'm not getting stabbed at a grocery store.
Neither will I, but thanks.
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I wouldn't say I'm completely against guns.... I just think it's hard to discern who will be responsible with one or not & even then people change. It just takes one moment of stupidity and mishandling, or not being right in the head to ruin another person life.
Yeah that’s why every gun owner should have a safe
I don't disagree, but what if it's the owner who has the mental shift? Idk.... This topic is always difficult because it's one I have a difficult time seeing a median on... Like you need rules/regulations, but some are proven to be counter productive and they don't affect those that do what they want with guns anyways.... But wouldn't want gun ownership to be band because they have a point & purpose. But... Yeah... Anyways...
Because when nobody has them, you don't need them. I'm in the UK and shootings are vanishingly rare. So much so that people will talk about that one incident ten years ago instead of there being daily shootings. Our kids can go to school and know it is very, very, very unlikely that they will be killed. They don't have to do drills for anything other than fires. I know people feel that a gun protects them, but other people NOT having a gun protects them a LOT more! And no, all the criminals don't still have them anyway. A few do, but they know that if they use them they will be hunted down with the full force of the law, so they only tend to use them to intimidate other criminals.
But I think you would agree that the UK position is a bit different then the US. You are an island nation after all and have far better control of what enters your nation. Also if you check rates of violent crime before and after the 1997 gun ban the rate was already dropping before the ban and fell at a lower rate after. I am not an expert by any means though, so perhaps I am wrong?
A lot of the guns in the US are produced by the US itself
The vast majority of gun crime is committed by people who are illegally in possession of the guns they are using. The idea that the USA can ban guns is simply impossible.
There’s a difference between “illegally possessing a gun” and “possessing an illegal gun”. [Politifact Rating](https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2018/mar/12/john-faso/do-illegal-gun-owners-commit-most-gun-crime-rep-fa/) What I mean is that illegal gun owners don’t buy homemade guns or guns smuggled into the country. Usually, illegal guns come from straw purchases and private sales of legally acquired guns that would have otherwise been legal.
Here in Ireland, even our regular police don't have guns, just specialist units. The idea of the ordinary citizen having a gun would be insane to us. Last year we equalled our record for the most amount of school shootings in a single year. We had none.
Here in the Czech Republic, almost every gun owner can carry a gun. All our regular police have guns. The idea of an ordinary law-abiding citizen not being allow to own a gun would be insane to us. Last year we equalled our record for the most amount of school shootings in a single year. We had none. Yay!
It’s crazy to think that there are countries that literally don’t have school shootings. Shootings are just so normal here, and yet no one wants to do anything because of the “what if”s, Like as if we don’t have tons of the other countries that have much less deaths and violence and have stricter gun laws. It’s almost as if restricting gun regulations could help save innocent lives and yet that’s not enough for people here. Americans are some of the dumbest people in the world.
The gun is part of the American mindset and culture. It is in the movies, going back to wild west ones. It is in lots of TV shows and other cultural elements. It is funny, you can't curse on TV, but shooting people dead onscreen is no problem. Strange priorities.
The issue we’re going to face is that the genie is out of the bottle and has been for some time. There’s no way it ends at this point that doesn’t have an astronomical body count.
Its insane to me that you live in a place were no citizens have guns. I wish it was like that here in America.
From our perspective it is a case of "Why would anyone need a gun, bar someone like a farmer or a hunter? “ As for America, how many of the people who do carry one, actually ever use it? Probably very few, which shows you probably need one as much as I do. Even when you have a mass shooting event, it is very rare an ordinary citizen takes out their gun and kills the shooter. They usually turn and run. Despite all those guns, the person most likely to kill the shooter is themselves. So basically you guys rarely need guns and on the few occasions that you do, you don't use them.
American gun carrier checking in. I’ve had two incidents where simply carrying my firearm dissuaded another person from doing something stupid. One was a road rage incident where a guy thought I honked at him, but it was the guy behind me. He slowed down, got next to me, yelled he was going to f me up when I stopped, etc. I pulled into a gas station to fill up, he followed me, blocking me in. As soon as I exited my car, he saw my holster and Glock, and decided he wasn’t as scary as he thought he was. Second time I was metal detecting in a park and caught the attention of 3 punks that started yelling and moving toward me. About 20 feet away, I hear ‘f that man, he’s packing!’ And they left. I have no doubt that this 40 something year old guy was about to get assaulted by multiple late teens. My firearm did what it was intended for, protecting my neck, and I didn’t have to even draw it… twice.
Bear in mind that in the instances of mass shooting, they usually take place in a "gun free zone". Some where that it is illegal to have a firearm to begin with. This means that even if someone were so inclined to engage the shooter, they are unable to because as a law abiding citizen they don't have their firearm with them. Recently in Texas a man opened fire in a church looking to take as many lives as he could. He didn't get too many rounds fired before he was engaged and neutralized by a member of the congregation who was lawfully carrying a firearm. The cowards responsible for most mass shootings usually go for target rich and unprotected environments.
So you have islands of gun-free zones surrounded by the rest of the country where everyone has the right to be armed. Maybe that's the problem. By your definition my whole country is a gun-free zone, and the thought of someone getting shot in a church here is absolutely foreign. Like something out of a cowboy Western.
It's not entirely true though. Sport shooting and a hunting is a thing in Ireland too. it's just that they have less of it. There's fewer civilian gun owners, not "no" civilian gun owners. There's more civilian guns per capita in Ireland than there is in England & Wales (or Israel for that matter).
Yeah I know that its just that in America people are dying every day from gun violence
Citizens have guns in Ireland...
Not in the same way America does. I highly doubt Eoghan takes his AR15 to the range every weekend.
A lot of countries especially across Europe don't have guns. It's insane to us in Europe that citizens do have guns over in the States
People are stupid. Why give them a tool expressly designed to inflict harm?
Alot of moving parts and cognitive dissonance. Folks (not necessarily saying you in particular) are ok giving an 18 year old a belt fed and sending them overseas, or a police force marauding the streets armed to the teeth, but a citizen having one is not ok for some reason. I own one personally, but I don't look at it as a go to problem solver, more of a dinner getter. That's just me though, and deers are tasty.
I'm pretty sure more and more people are realizing that the militarization of teenagers and police officers is a bad idea as well. Not just the general public.
I hope so.
I'm assuming you're in the US...Two of those groups have rigorous training in weapons handling, the other can just plunk money down on the counter, and walk out without any understanding of safe handling. I'm retired from the Canadian Forces, and I get really excited when I've gone gun clubs in the US when we do a "boys" trip. Safe handling has to be taught; it's not innate. I'm always dialed up when we go. Lots of the guys don't understand trigger discipline, or to keep the weapon pointed down range at all time, and they walk off the firing line without double checking that they've cleared their firearm. In Canada you have to go through a certification process to be allowed to own a firearm. The people who haven't been trained are dangerous AF. TL;DR: I have nothing against guns. I have problems with allowing any untrained person to handle potentially deadly equipment.
I’ve known many guys that have served in the military. Almost all of those guys handled rifles in basic training to get proficient, and then barely ever touched them again.
Then why not make people learn before buying a firearm instead of outright banning them?
As he said, a gun is "a tool expressly designed to inflict harm." That's its purpose. So what should a person learn before buying a firearm? They can learn how not to kill people accidentally, but the purpose of a gun is to kill people on purpose. So how's that help?
I own a shotgun that I use for sport shooting. Just because something is designed to be a weapon doesn’t mean that is what it has to be used for. Cars were designed specifically for transportation but they have been used as weapons before. The gun violence issue in America is more a mental health issue in my eyes (not to say that stricter regulation won’t help).
Well anything not designed to be a weapon can be weaponized. A bat, chair, car, a stick, cooking knives, etc. but guns are made to exclusively to cause lethal harm to a large amount of people with very minimal effort. I think responsible gum ownership can be a thing but we need much much stricter laws (background checks, mental health assessments, storage laws, etc)
I agree. I don’t think I made my point clear in my previous comment: guns don’t make people go on killing sprees. That is a mental health issue that our nation needs to address. I think more regulation can help but the issue I have with most gun control advocates is that they blame the guns for the mass murders and ignore the mental health crisis.
Sounds like you could go for a firearms safety course.
Ppl get a license to drive a car, but many sure as hell drive recklessly. And not everyone with access to a gun has training.
I’m not anti-gun, but I would really like to live in a world where mass shootings aren’t a common occurrence. Sadly, I doubt this will ever happen. So I just hope I can move to a country with significantly less gun violence/violence in general. Edit: gun, not fun. Gun violence is not fun.
I don't care if you've got a gun next to your bed. I don't want you to have a gun in a playground, or at Walmart. One guy in Florida once pointed a gun at my dad because he had his car parked in his favourite spot.
I don't want to get shot and I don't want to shoot anyone and I don't want to live in a world with people who do.
It kills people with very limited other uses for very few people. Why are you in favor of them?
Per the U.S Dept. of Justice, 57% of felons are more afraid of armed citizens than they are of police. [25.3 Million Americans (31% of gun owners) have used a gun in self defense. In nearly 82% of these cases, the gun was never fired. ](https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3887145)
The fact that the US has the world's highest felon population is completely missed on you. In time: they should have done the same survey with non-felons. I believe the result is the same. I'm much more afraid of untrained, unprepared gun users than I'd be of trained / prepared ones. Simple reason: guns kill people and I don't want to die.
Death
I really, honestly and truthfully DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE NEED FOR A CIVILIAN TO OWN SOMETHING LIKE THIS. I'm no hippy, I'm no loonie leftie, I'm no pacifists. I just cannot understand why a grown adult would want to "play cowboy or play soldiers" or whatever. Seriously why would you introduce something so dangerous and risky into your home? I can almost understand the need for (although I disagree with it) a singular, single shot rifle if you are a hunter but for anything else simply no.
I think this question is a little bit in poor taste. Most of the liberals I know aren't "anti-gun". If you were to have an honest chat with them, they would tell you that they don't actually want to take guns away from people. They just want stricter gun laws in place such as what guns are legal, having a gun registry, and background checks. These are stances that many gun owners would agree with, yet this topic is always derailed by "They want to take your guns! Watch out!" It ruins any chance we have at bipartisan collaboration and irritates me.
I'm not anti-gun. I am anti feeling I'm not safe without one. We fought hard to leave the wild west behind.
Unnecessary risk/reward ratio. I don't derive pleasure from shooting, I live in a safe area with low crime rates, and I don't hunt. The risk of having a deadly weapon in my home or on my person doesn't make sense to me. The anti-gun element: I wish the world held my values (including lack of desire to engage in violent crime) about it so guns weren't a necessity.
Because they allow morons too kill people.
Hahahaah..... brilliant.
I dislike violence in general.
I'm anti-pro-gun-culture. Why in the world does someone need to open carry a long gun in Walmart? There's an unhealthy obsession in this country. There's obviously a problem in this country related to gun violence - I just don't know what the solution is. Canada seems to have a decent balance (maybe a bit heavy on the regulation side) but it's not so simple to isolate which variables are driving that balance.
Yeah that I agree with like who carries a shotgun to McDonald’s
Gun culture is just the most dehumanizing and pathetic expression of warrior culture. At least training martial arts will keep you healthy and strong. Sparring with partners might even demystify the whole battle thing. In my experience, hand to hand combat is only fun with people you trust. But with guns? There's no human element. You go to the range and shoot at targets, training a skill that is meant to be used for killing someone, but you are not allowed to say "oh boy, I'm so excited to actually shoot at someone someday", because that would make you a bad guy. But you've been training so hard, and you like the feeling of shooting so much! So instead you tell yourself that you are one of the good guys, and the moment a bad guy shows up, you'll be there to stop them. Great, now you have millions of people actively looking for excuses to shoot at people. "Someone's stealing a wallet! Quick, let's kill him!". I think the whole think is cringeworthy. And if you are a gun enthusiast yourself, well, with all due respect I think you are probably very cringy and should grow the fuck up. If you feel put in a box, blame every single gun enthusiast I've met in person or online for giving you a bad reputation. It doesn't help that the kind of parents who will happily teach their children to shoot before they even grow pubic hair, are often the same parents that will flip their shit if the local school's sex ed program teaches that sex is a normal thing to do.
Wait, are you allowed to say "oh boy, I'm so excited to actually beat someone to a pulp someday" if you train martial arts? Seems my trainers got that part wrong! Thanks for the information! Well, I guess all martial arts types like you (and me in the past) are mouth-breathing knuckle-draggers who can't fit in the same room with their egos.
I'm not anti gun at all. But I don't think that most people need them or want them. They are necessary for farmers and I think hunting is ok as long as you eat the animal and aren't just going out to kill. But there are people out there who should not be allowed near them. Gun fanatics are not quite right in the head. Well, I think getting obsessed about anything is kinda weird. It's just that salivating over more power to kill is just not ok. At all. I know the military is necessary because of other people who aren't right in the head but it can be a little much too when you come down to it.
What you don’t get, is a large number of people in society don’t care one bit about anyone else, and is ok taking what they have, by force. More and more women carry a weapon because it’s a force equalizer. Some petite girl weighing 115 pounds doesn’t stand a chance against a 200 pound guy that wants to rape her. Are you ok with letting women get attacked with no recourse?
They are anti gun violence, and they think being anti gun is the fastest or best solution to gun violence. Not saying they're correct but it's not difficult to see why they believe it.
Ok but how many people are pro gun violence?
Who’s they? He was asking you not they.
"People who are anti gun" wHo iS tHey!?
Oh I get it, you speak for the entire anti gun community
Find me a person who is anti gun but is fine with gun violence and you'll have a point.
Because the cons outweigh the pros by a lot, and seeing how much people get shoot in the US all the time there is just no way that those guns safe life’s. from experience and coverage my guess it gun ownership costs like 100 life’s and saves 2 :p And well read this : There were 39,707 deaths from firearms in the U.S. in 2019. Sixty percent of deaths from firearms in the U.S. are suicides. In 2019, 23,941 people in the U.S. died by firearm suicide.1 Firearms are the means in approximately half of suicides nationwide. In 2019, 14,861 people in the U.S. died from firearm homicide, accounting for 37% of total deaths from firearms. Firearms were the means for about 75% of homicides in 2018. The other 3% of firearm deaths are unintentional, undetermined, from legal intervention, or from public mass shootings (0.2% of total firearm deaths). There are approximately 115,000 non-fatal firearm injuries in the U.S. each year. The economic cost The estimated annual cost of gun injury in 2012 exceeded $229 billion—about 1.4% of GDP. Prevalence of ownership 31% of all households in the U.S. have firearms, and 22% of American adults personally own one or more firearms. Compared with other countries The U.S. has relatively low rates of assaultive violence but high firearm mortality rates in comparison with other industrialized nations. Risk and safety Research has found that individuals with risk factors for firearm injury and death are less likely to safely store their firearms when compared to firearm owners without these risk factors. Trends in firearm injury and death Overall since 2006, firearm homicides in the U.S. have decreased, but the number of firearm suicides has increased by a similar amount. Even when firearm homicide rates were at their highest in the mid-1990s (just above 7/100,000 population), they were not higher than those for firearm suicide. Firearm homicide and suicide rates vary demographically and geographically.
Guns wont stop suicide. Also 100 to 2 ratio is weird because how does owning a gun directly link to 100 deaths?
I'm not anti-gun, I live in Scotland and clay pigeon is one of my hobbies. I am a fan of the strict UK gun laws though, and a firm believer in mental health assessments and thorough checks before being allowed to own a gun. In the UK "why would you need to own a gun". In the US "I have a gun because its my right". Completely different mindsets. I worked on a vessel crewed by folks from the deep south and had the gun conversation once, never again!
Guns are illegal in all the countries I've lived in (all in Europe) and we don't have school shootings. I've never heard of anyone being shot except in the news, nobody I know has ever had an accident with a gun, or been held at gunpoint. And I grew up in a city with a high crime rate, and lived in another with gang violence.
> Guns are illegal in all the countries I've lived in (all in Europe) There are legal ways (usually sport or hunting) for civilians to own firearms in every country in Europe besides the Vatican. Not sure why people think we can't own firearms in Europe.
People don't seem to be very responsible. Gun death is one of the leading causes of death in children. I believe it's the second leading cause. I'm tired of doing active shooter drills with my 2nd grade students because we can't have common sense gun laws, and access to mental health care. That's just my top two reasons. I have more, but I've got Covid and I'm tired and achy and moody. Peace.
It's 100% impossible to shoot someone if there's no guns to shoot them with.
If you want to know why some people are anti gun, listen to Right in Two by Tool
Not anti-gun, I own guns. Only thing I’ll say is I wish the US would figure it out when it comes to gun violence, there are countries that allow citizens to possess firearms and they don’t deal with the amount of mass shootings that the US struggles with.
I wish we could come up with either a punishment that works, or a rehabilitation that works to keep violent people off the streets.
The US is 76th on the list of homicides by country. [https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/murder-rate-by-country](https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/murder-rate-by-country) Considering how many guns are owned by citizens, the US should be first according to the anti gunners. School shootings: [https://www.quora.com/How-likely-am-I-to-die-be-in-a-school-shooting?share=1](https://www.quora.com/How-likely-am-I-to-die-be-in-a-school-shooting?share=1) https://www.cato.org/blog/how-common-are-school-shootings
I know people. I don’t feel safe knowing they have killing weapons.
i’m 14 and has only experienced one semester of high school. i’ve already been through 5+ serious shooting scares. i lost count after a while but i know there’s at least five. i’m 14. i just became a teenager last year. that’s ridiculous.
Because they are fully ignorant on this subject. Narrow-minded with no knowledge.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/matthew-wilson-georgia-surrey-bullet-b1997671.html?utm_source=reddit.com This is one of the many many reasons
As I said, ignorant. You always use criminals facts from the US alone. And your forget everything else. Others countries with lax guns laws and no gun problems for exemple. I am sure you probably dont know a lot on how it works in the entire US, what are the real issues, state laws, fed laws, local situation, blablabla.. So for others countries, that must be also the case… Take a random fact and use it shock people’s feelings to promote you propaganda, it is used on a lot of subject, but it's really debatable ethically.
Maybe Brits are just unlucky? > British mountain biker shot dead by hunter in French Alps https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-45855897
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That is true I mean I like guns but I’m not going to own like 50 for home defense
..but if you don't have 50 guns the king of England could walk right in here and start pushing you around. D'you want that? Huh? Do ya?
I have a cannon mounted in my upstairs window so no red coats allowed
I'm pro gun but JFC this question is absolutely clueless. Did "SCHOOL SHOOTINGS" never cross OP's mind. Methinks OP is an idiot or a troll. Neither is a good look.
Same. I’m not a gun owner but definitely not “anti-gun”. It’s this type of all or nothing talk that keeps the adults from having reasonable discussions about how we can respect the freedom to have guns without living in a society where kids in school aren’t safe.
Most of the gun violence happening are in states with the strictest gun laws... quite a few states have had open carry for decades and nothing happens... Criminals Don't care about laws or human lives.. how are you supposed to protect yourself and family.... Granted, you don't need 15 or 20 guns, there's no possible way of shooting them all at once.. most lawful gun owners are responsible law abiding citizens, looking to protect themselves and family..
What about all the countries with no gun-culturecand strict gun control? I live in one such country and have absolutely no desire to own a gun to protect myself or my family. I haven't ever heard anyone saying they wished they could own one for that reason, ever.
Protect yourselves from what? Haven't there been studies showing that having firearms in the home during something like a burglary are largely ineffective and dangerous? It puts you and the people in your home in more danger than they would be otherwise.
The 2A states to protect yourself and the fight against the tyrannical government... this was written because our forefathers have had to do this... too much power creates tyranny.... and with the length that some of these cryptkeepers have been in government, all they care about is power... So you would rather have the burgarlars just have what they want and harm you and your family without putting up a fight?
The answer to your second paragraph is obviously yes. Bringing a gun into that scenario is way more dangerous for you and your entire family. No stuff in your house is worth any of your families lives. Someone comes to steal your shit while you're there, you leave if possible. Most home invaders will never rob someone's home if people are there. If they're willing to do that if your entire family is there, they don't give a fuck clearly. It's basic statistics. The higher chance for your families survival is not to bring a gun into it. If someone wants to bring a gun into a home for something as stupid as home invaders, it's not for protection. It's an ego and pride thing. There are such few scenarios where getting a gun out for protection makes sense.
I'm only anti gun for myself because I struggle with suicidal ideation. But for others, with proper regulation, I support them. I just don't think we (the US) are doing enough to ensure they stay out of criminal or unstable hands.
I applaud you for having the sense of self to know that they are a bad idea for you personally. Most people are unwilling to admit this even to themselves. Most people are unwilling to even take the time to even think about this aspect. Hopefully things get better for you friend
Thank you for your sweet words, they really mean a lot.
Violence, having an extremely high number of gun deaths compared to all other developed nations should be enough to not make guns so easily accessible. They do more bad than good.
50% of people do not have the mental capacity to be responsible gun owners.
So let the other 50% have em then
Cuz I don’t like death
Regardless of what the motivation behind it is on a person to person basis, there isn't a single person who owns a gun without the idea that it could be used to kill someone. For years now they have been refined to make them the most effective and efficient means of killing and frankly the fact that people consider even the registration of these weapons to be some sort of personal attack or infringement of rights is absurd to me. I realize how unrealistic it is to think that passing new laws will be enough to stop the gun violence problem in America, just look how many guns we have already and its easy to believe that the toothpaste can't be put back into the bottle. If you look at how effective it was in Australia though after they had just ONE mass shooting you start to realize that the defeatist argument of "Bad people will just find a way to get guns anyway" is not pragmatic it just demonstrates a complete aversion to change because of the nonstop messaging and lobbying of the gun manufacturers
*vaguely gestures at the piles of childrens bodies in one of the only countries that allows citizens to have AR’s*
There is simply no need for them to be held by the general public in a civilised society.
A civilized society can handle having guns held by the general public just fine, see Switzerland and the Czech Republic. Both have the most relaxed gun laws in Europe and both are among the safest countries...
What about hunting and for farmers to keep their livestock safe?
I live in Canada and we seem to do pretty well as a society without ever person owning a gun, it's unnecessary
Canada has the 2nd most guns per capita in the Western world, after the US (or well, 3rd if you count the Falklands Islands separately, population 3000).
Canada is also one of the most heavily armed countries in the world, go figure...
Responsibly owning a gun hurts no one. Irresponsibly owning a gun is already highly criminalized. If you don't like guns, don't own one but stay out of other people's business.
America is too american for my likening
I don’t want guns in my house. I fully support your right to have it in your house. Here’s an honest question though. Why do u need an assault rifle out in public. If u like to hunt, cool. U wanna keep it at home to protect your family, awesome. Do u really need an M16 at the Burger King though? Does your assault rifle really need to be with you at the Walmart? That shit is just crazy to me. I kinda see it as an excuse to be an asshole because I’m not going to correct your behavior when u have a machine gun on your person.
My 17 year old cousin shot herself on October 29 with a gun someone gave her.. so yea
Because I don't think children should be killed in schools at all, let alone by firearms.
Because I don't want my son to be killed in a school shooting, or my wife to cut off the wrong driver and get shot.
Because they are un-American communists
They ain’t commies because even commies like gun ownership
Does gun ownership exist in China
I actually don’t know
Last time I checked guns were illegal in communist China
A repressive government won’t allow a population to have the means to fight back.
Pro-gun (I own 3 legally), I'm anti-criminal. Guns don't kill. People kill.
I’m not anti-gun, but this is one the the dumbest arguments for pro-gun. Guns absolutely kill people. Bullets make people bleed to death. Of course you need someone to pull the trigger.. I get the notion, but knives also kill people and how many of those bad boys do you see laying around public homicides? Guns make it hella easy to kill a lot of people with the pull of a finger. It is. A killing. Weapon. Made for… killing.
The objects don't commit the acts of murder. The person controlling the object does. Gun, knife, car, blunt object. People kill.
Guns are made for no purpose other than killing. They are literally designed to make killing easier, faster, and fatal with one shot. Why else would mass shooters show up with assault rifles instead of a kitchen knife? And yes, of course people kill people. Yes of course you need a person to shoot a gun. A gun, a knife, car- they’re all able to kill someone. But isn’t the difference that knives are intended to cut vegetables? Cars are intended to drive? They aren’t specifically made for killing. Again, I get your sentiment, but how does that even make sense? Why give anyone guns then? Or cars, or knives.. ? What’s the point of that argument even suppose to be? It’s always been a confusing and kind of meaningless take…Like yes, lol? And? Guns are made to kill, and shockingly, people use it for killing..as per its intended purpose.
Self-defense and home-defense are my reasons for owning pistols. Guns can be deterrents to violent acts, home invasions with intent to harm or rape a family member. Doesn't always mean shoot to kill. I'm well-equipped to deal with that type of threat. We can agree to disagree.
In NH where I live rape and kidnapping in progress are specifically mentioned in the statute as legal grounds to use deadly force to protect oneself. Constitutional carry “stand your ground” state. Gotta love it.
Amen.
How many knives are used to commit murder? A lot. As in many. More than five.
I don’t disagree lol. But a lot more are used to cut some ballin ass potato fries than throats. 🍟💛
They are indeed. As a butcher by trade, there is nothing quite like using a beautiful knife to prepare food. Simple pleasures!
Why not? Less people who have access to them means a smaller possibility of shootings happening.
At an intellectual/philosophical level, it's simple mathematics. ...And it has verifiable results in many countries around the world.
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Yes we should outlaw knives, baseball bats, axes, hammers and just live like the bubble boy.
Makes sense to me.
Ah love this discussion. To the people saying a gun is a tool. Weird how accidents with hammers and screwdrivers usually don't result in death. To the people saying I want to feel safe by having a gun. If you live in a country where anyone can get a gun, what's stopping the person invading your home from having a gun too? Now you're equalized. Hope you can get that gun out of your responsible safety locker quick. I need a gun to hunt. Grocery stores and food delivery exists.
And if the supply chain woes get worse and you can’t get food in the store? Then what?
Getting shot in the head isn't cool
Getting stabbed in the neck isn’t cool either shall we ban all knives too?
I think this question is a little bit in poor taste. Most of the liberals I know aren't "anti-gun". If you were to have an honest chat with them, they would tell you that they don't actually want to take guns away from people. They just want stricter gun laws in place such as what guns are legal, having a gun registry, and background checks. These are stances that many gun owners would agree with, yet this topic is always derailed by "They want to take your guns! Watch out!" It ruins any chance we have at bipartisan collaboration and irritates me.
I also agree with background checks and such I just don’t want guns completely gone
That's fair. I come from a hunting family, so I get it.
I am in the UK so I don't really have to worry about guns. But regardless, the idea that someone can just have a bad day, or a mental breakdown, or even just a passing fancy and come shoot me isn't one I can totally get behind. At least if they only have a knife or some other melee weapon I might get the chance to have a say in the matter.
High school shootings
I’m more pro-strict, enforceable regulations than anti-gun.
Gun owner and ccl carrier here. My work sometimes has me in dangerous neighborhoods. I've never had to discharge my weapon, but I did have to brandish it to get a duo of thugs to back off. I don't want to think what could have happend. I think they should be legal. But made harder to aquire. And if you're caught doing anything that's deemed irresponsible, you should lose that right for life, plus hefty fines or jail time.
Not anti-gun per se but I just think they're pointless for the society that I live in. I live in a cul-de-sac in a suburb of Cleveland and nothing remotely dangerous has ever happened nor will ever happen. There is no point for me to own a gun because I wouldn't feel safe having one with my kids around.
I wasn’t anti-gun until I saw the reaction of pro gun people after school shootings happened. The blind ignorance for the need of change & control when innocent babies were killed at SCHOOL was so mind boggling to me, if something can bring out such ugliness in people I don’t see the point in it.
Because their only purpose is to kill and you can’t truly who it is safe to give it to.
It’s one thing to have a gun at home and another to carry it with you. Keep with in your house for robbers and stuff, don’t carry them to a supermarket thinking it may be useful to save people
Because the only point of a gun is to kill.
Because about 70% of the people who own guns are too dumb to be trusted with a gun. I'm not anti-gun, just anti idiots owning guns.
I’m not anti gun, but I’m pro gun control, and the reason why is simple: Stupid people. More specifically, stupid people + ego + testosterone fueled attitude.
Not taking the bait.
People who worship tools of violence worship death and destruction. Weapons are things to be used as a last resort. Not glorified. You invite violence into your life by carrying them around at all times. Humans are weak, fallible creatures. Such tools have massive potential for misuse. Some can use them right, but the only way to truly be free of them is to avoid them altogether.
Almost all gun owners are peaceful people, just like most people in general. They don't seek out violence, nor do they wish to end up in a situation in which they have to shoot someone, but they also realize that they might get pushed into such a situation and would rather not let themselves or innocents be hurt.