Hey,
Got into this discussion on another board, wanted to get some more views on the topic.
Should guns be banned in the USA?
How many of you own a gun?
What do citizens need them for?
My view is that less ppl would be dying from gun crime if they were illegal. Thats a logical and reasonable assumption to make imo. To get some data (its from wiki but ive checked it against another source(
Here).. the figures correlate well).
Here are some death rates given as > death-rate per 100,000 population in one year.
USA
Total firearm-related death rate:
10.2
Homicides:
7.07
Suicides:
7.35
Unintentional deaths:
0.59
UK
Total firearm-related death rate:
0.46
Homicides:
0.07
Suicides:
0.03
Unintentional deaths:
0.01
Now from that... the ACCIDENTAL gun death in america is HIGHER than the total gun related death in the uk And generally all figures are SIGNIFICANTLY lower.
So to me it is as simple as saying guns bring death... and should be banned.
What are your views?
America vs UK or EU is comparing apples to oranges.
The fact is, there have been places here in the US where they tried gun free zones, Every time it is tried the crime rate and homicides go way up. Washington DC is a prime example of this fact.
When you outlaw guns, only the criminals have the guns, and they know it.
I can give you countless examples of People saving themselves every day with a personal fire arm. My Neighbor is one of them. His X-wife decided to hire a couple Hispanic gang members to go to his house and off him. This was a few years back. They came to his house in the middle of the night, 2 thugs, one with a pistol and the other with a gas can. They attempted to sneak into his house through a window. He heard something, grabbed his Shot gun and went to the living room, The One with the gun was halfway into his window, He shot that one and they both turned tail and ran down his driveway to a waiting car. The found the one he shot later that night on the side of the road where his buddies dumped him after he died.
They were going to kill him and burn his house down around him, Good thing he had a gun. Heck even if the thugs did no have a gun, what is he going to do against 2 guys.
This is just one case. There are thousands and thousands of people still alive today thanks to personal fire arms.
I would highly recomend checking out this site
The Armed Citizen and looking at some other examples that are updated constantly with the stories you will not hear in the news. For every homicide with a gun you hear about on the news, they will not tell you about the dozen of incidents of people saving themselves/family with a personal fire arm in the time between that homicide report and the last.
Then there is the fact that we here in the US have the 2nd amendment, the right to bear arms and that right may not be infringed, Its the 2nd, not the 5th, 10th its #2 right up there at the top. It was not given to us so we could hunt, or go off for target practice. It was put in the constitution as a means to protect the people from their own government. Remember a little thing called the American Revolution? Do you think there would be a United States of America today if the People did not have the right to bare arms?
Once you start taking away a right such as our 2nd, then why not the freedom of speech? After all you can offend someone with your words, or cause a fight by your words. Just think how different Iran would be right now if those people that marched in the streets to stand up to the government had the right to bear arms? Instead the got mowed down with stones in their hands.
Your numbers only show the number of gun injuries in the UK, Well in a place it is hard to get a gun I would expect nothing less, but you do not show that by taking the guns from the people that overall violence has gone down.
Washington DC has the highest murder rate in the United States last time I checked, And it is a GUN BAN Zone. Criminals will always get guns, or work in numbers. Banning guns just takes away the ability for a law abiding citizen to even the odds against an attacker and turns him/her into a victim. And law abiding citizens without guns just creates a safe work environment for the Criminal.
You mention that if guns were banned than murders by guns would go down, This is probably true, but Murders overall would go way up. Lets say that banning guns would magically make all guns on earth disappear. Ok, Lets say your mother or wife is home alone with the kids and a couple thugs attempt to break into the house. Your wife/mother might have time to get to a phone and call the cops, but how long before they get there? Now would you rather this happen in a world with no guns, if they get in how is your wife going to protect herself and the kids?, do these guys have a Knife?, Do they need one? Are you going to trust the safety of your family to a can of pepper spray? A tazer that may or may not stop one of the bad guys?
I would rather she have access to a fire arm, at least with a fire arm she is on even ground and has a chance. Did I mention here in California they are about to release 40,000 inmates out onto the street due to over crowding? Ya, Ill hang on to my guns.
Fun fact, did you know police have no legal obligation to protect you? There was a case where a man was stabbing his wife to death in the middle of the street while a police officer on the scene just watched in shock while this guy was standing over his wife stabbing the heck out of her.
I have several friends in law enforcement and they all recommend people have personal fire arms for self defense.
There was plenty of Murder going on long before the first gun was ever manufactured. As far as gun accidents, that is "Extreamly" rare to be a case of a faulty gun, it is due to carelessnes. Idiots not following safety rules, Not securing their weapons properly ect..
I would bet there are a lot more accidental deaths in swimming pools than from guns, And I bet the UK has a much higher murder rate from the use of Knives than we do in the US. But thats just a guess.
