American Gun Laws V UK Gun Laws

[Krome]

I love the gun laws in the UK. 2 year minimum sentence for possession of a hand gun. I love right wing gun slinging Americans who even when faced with the facts that you are over 100 times more likely, even taking the size difference of the UK and USA into consideration, to die a gun based death, be it accident or murder, in the US than in the UK they still believe that the US way is the right way.

The most I have to fear if being attacked is having the live daylights beaten of of me with a rolled up newspaper.

If you want my opinion, which is very harsh, on the recent school shooting, is that I find it pathetic that news stations are running shows where people are asking how did it happen? This happens every time a school shooting, which appears to be becoming more common place, occurs. It is obvious why it happens. Went you have guns all of the place in the US and so easy to obtain that when someone is pissed off they have easy access to create serious devistation.

This board is pretty much American, so what are your views on your gun laws? Would you prefer to live in a society like the UK where you dont have to fear gun violence but you have to give up your right to bare arms?

[Krome]

We have had two random shooting in the UK one in 1987 when Michael Ryan thought he was Rambo in a sleepy town outside Oxford called Hungerford and one in 1996 when a scout master killed 15 kids and a teacher in a school in Dunblane http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunblane_Massacre . After Dunblane the laws changed to the extreme gun striction laws that we now have that basically bans everything apart from shot guns for hunting and farming, although the laws for these uses are very strict. Some people quote that gun crime increased in the UK by 40% following the passing of these laws, which it did, but a 40% increase on 105 gun crimes the majority of which resulted in no loss of life was not hard and was mainly for possession.

[kres24GT]

I love the gun laws in the UK. 2 year minimum sentence for possession of a hand gun. I love right wing gun slinging Americans who even when faced with the facts that you are over 100 times more likely, even taking the size difference of the UK and USA into consideration, to die a gun based death, be it accident or murder, in the US than in the UK they still believe that the US way is the right way.

The most I have to fear if being attacked is having the live daylights beaten of of me with a rolled up newspaper.

If you want my opinion, which is very harsh, on the recent school shooting, is that I find it pathetic that news stations are running shows where people are asking how did it happen? This happens every time a school shooting, which appears to be becoming more common place, occurs. It is obvious why it happens. Went you have guns all of the place in the US and so easy to obtain that when someone is pissed off they have easy access to create serious devistation.

This board is pretty much American, so what are your views on your gun laws? Would you prefer to live in a society like the UK where you dont have to fear gun violence but you have to give up your right to bare arms?


Prohibition, war on drugs, yes we have a fine history of banning things efficiently in this country.

[Bill]

Do people run amok in the UK?

Do you know the definition of "amok"? It's a Malay term, supposedly not uncommon in malaysia, especially in a somewhat earlier colonial time, except the preferred weapon is usually a machete.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runs_amok

[Mr. Blue]

It's too simplistic to compare gun laws of various countries as the culture and society really dictates how guns will be used. Switzerland has an extremely high rate of gun ownership, but has a lower rate of murder than the UK. So, are they right? No. They're just different.

American culture grew up on the gun. From Revolution to Westward expansion it's been a necessary part in the founding of our country. I don't think you could put the genie back in the bottle now even if you wanted to.

What happened with this Virgina Tech shooting was a horrible thing, but this guy was hell bent on causing destruction...he would have found away even if there were extremely strict gun laws in place.

Back to the UK though...you have an assault rate that's way higher than the U.S., you have a burglary rate higher than the U.S., you have a car theft rate much higher than the U.S., etc, etc.

Again, I'm not going to compare which system is better because I think there's too many factors involved to just say this is right or this is wrong. I do understand people getting outraged and immediately jumping on an issue when something like the VT shooting happens, but it's probably best to look at the situation for what it is...a mentally unbalanced person running, umm, what's the word I'm looking for, umm....

[Mr. Blue]

btw, I don't own a gun and never did own a gun.

[Krome]

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_ass_vic-crime-assault-victims

I never realised our assault rate was so high. I suppose without guns the only thing you can do is punch someone. Atleast 99% of the time the person will live.

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_bur_percap-crime-burglaries-per-capita
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_car_the_percap-crime-car-thefts-per-capita


Although we have a very high conviction rate.

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_con_percap-crime-convicted-per-capita

I cant even find the USA on conviction rates, maybe plea bargaining effected that statistic.

[Mr. Blue]

I understand your point though...the problem is when something like VT happens people automatically jump that it was the gun laws. However, when someone is truly deranged they find some way to inflict pain on others.

The Oklahoma bombing kind of proved that point. Serial Killers almost never use a gun. You just have to take into account that there will be a certain percentage of any population that's just nuts.

Those stats you post are kind of interesting. Most Burglars stateside say they're more afraid of a homeowner that might have a gun than the police and it's probably why we have a lower rate of burglary, lol.

The thing that you have to consider though is that 42,000 people per year die in car accidents in the U.S....do you go after that next? Do you look at how many people die from drugs, alcohol, obesity, etc, etc, etc.

You can't really. You put rules in place, licenses that need to be bought, etc, but there comes a point where you have to trust that adults will be able to handle responsibility.

[kres24GT]

btw, I don't own a gun and never did own a gun.


The only way I would probably ever buy a gun is if they were made illegal.

[imgonnaeaturlunch]

I love the gun laws in the UK. 2 year minimum sentence for possession of a hand gun. I love right wing gun slinging Americans who even when faced with the facts that you are over 100 times more likely, even taking the size difference of the UK and USA into consideration, to die a gun based death, be it accident or murder, in the US than in the UK they still believe that the US way is the right way.

The most I have to fear if being attacked is having the live daylights beaten of of me with a rolled up newspaper.

If you want my opinion, which is very harsh, on the recent school shooting, is that I find it pathetic that news stations are running shows where people are asking how did it happen? This happens every time a school shooting, which appears to be becoming more common place, occurs. It is obvious why it happens. Went you have guns all of the place in the US and so easy to obtain that when someone is pissed off they have easy access to create serious devistation.

This board is pretty much American, so what are your views on your gun laws? Would you prefer to live in a society like the UK where you dont have to fear gun violence but you have to give up your right to bare arms?
The gun issue is a complicated one. Unfortunately, due to the U S's long history of laxed gun laws, the mindset of people like the VT shooter is to think first about getting a gun to do their damage. This thinking has been encouraged by the U S's laxed gun laws. The U S has this history for a number of reasons (interestingly enough is the role English settlers have played in the history of how guns are viewed in the U S). This country was taken from Native Americans. So people back then were scared that Native American would in turn attack them. So who are we talking about,whites. This fear of being attacked has moved from Native Americans to African-Americans & to a lesser degree, Hipanics. These aforementioned groups all have one thing in common as far as whites are concerned & it's that due to having been wronged in the past they will seek revenge. Unfortunatley the rabid right wing gun industry furthers this thinking in a number of ways. One is making guns easily available in poor neighborhoods thus promoting the stereotype that African-Americans & Hispanics are violent.

[imgonnaeaturlunch]

As an addendum to the above text, I do beleive there are those in the U S who think it's good that the U S is seen as a violent country( due to its lax gun laws), especially by its citezens. I beleive these people feel that being seen as violent makes its citIzens tougher & more competitive especially when it comes to defending her. Wether this is true or not, who knows. I guess it would depend on which sociologist, psychologist or pschiatrist you asked.