Poll: Guns and you!

[thesnipist]

in my little old humble opinion, you have nothing to fear from the people with many guns, its the people with one you should be worried about.

 

[WolfThomas]

I've just come back from a nine hour hunting trip, I'm tired and dusty. I like Australia's guns laws, they're strict but not completely restrictive like say Britain.

A .22 will kill a deer or a man just as easily as a .44, and if you need to fire more than once when hunting you are doing something seriously wrong.

You'd have to be a sadist to want to shoot a deer with a .22, it won't kill a deer easily unless you magically get a head/eye shot and even then. Hell the law even reflects this, it is illegal to hunt a deer with a gun under .243. And the difference between .22 and .44 (which is a pistol/repeater cartride) is not just width, there's factors like length, weight and load.

 

[ViaticalTarsier]

in my little old humble opinion, you have nothing to fear from the people with many guns, its the people with one you should be worried about.

Haha I enjoyed your comment. Most probably won't understand it though

OT. Banning guns does nothing positive and it has been proven time and time again, but for some reason people just can't seem to break past their irrational fears/thoughts about guns, and then we get the calls for bans and increased gun control.

 

[Keswick Gallagher]

I was Going to have a Big Rant about how I feel on this but I realise there wouldn't be much point being Australian of British origin but there really seems no point if you silly Americans what to have the highest Murder rate out of all developed country's feel free. (quite honestly I'm completely mortified that people actually believe owning a Gun can be a positive thing)

 

[brucelee13245]

Don't ban anything. Especially don't ban "assault" weapons because they look scary, considering "assault" weapons are very rarely, if ever, used in gun crime.

And if I may add a favorite quote of mine, "When all else fails, vote from the rooftops."

Yea, id have to agree with this one. Look at it this way, soccer moms and politicians in America have a crusade against guns of all sorts including assault weapons. The typical assault rifle. (lets take an ar-15 or ak variant rifle) which fire low caliber, high velocity rounds designed to WOUND a 180 pound man( being that treating a wounded enemy soldier costs the state a lot more the burying a dead one. war of attrition stuff.) is considered more dangerous then a hunting rifle designed to KILL a 500 pound animal. You can see that looks and association with military has more effect on anything then the simple common sense fact of the matter.

Also, tho i agree with licensing and the banning of certain weapons without a class 3 permit including background checks and denial of firearms to convicted criminals, i believe that freedom to carry is an important right. Illegal narcotics and drugs are banned in america, but who's stopping people from aquiring them? I assure you, if you ask a group of highschool kids if they have access and utilize marijuana, at LEAST 1 will say they do. It's illegal, but whoes stopping them? The same with guns. Those who seek them will get them, no matter what the law states.

And those who say that that cops are there to defend you?
Imagine your in your home and you hear someone break into your children's bedroom window where they are sleeping. WHAT DO YOU THINK IS BETTER TO HAVE? A .40 caliber handgun in your trained, licensed hands, or a police dispatcher on the phone? THINK ABOUT IT.

 

[blind_dead_mcjones]

firstly let me say that unless you have actually fired a gun, you can't actually have an informed opinion on the whole gun debate period

now, anyhoo i believe in the third option, most weapons you should at least have the choice of owning, provided its for a legitmate reason, however some things do have to be banned (automatic weapons for example, who really needs a machine gun or assault rifle? i know this is an extreme example cos nobody is that dumb but if you had an M60 or SAW for home defence, you'd take out half your house trying to kill/scare off said home invader)

quite honestly I'm completely mortified that people actually believe owning a Gun can be a positive thing

i hope your not insinuating that gun owners are all trigger happy cowboys, cos the reality is much farther from that (gun owners by and large are some of the biggest nerds on the planet, plus with gun ownership comes the responsibility of handling it properly and the healthy respect you develop for the power guns have to take away life, its quite humbling to be honest)

 

[Goosevich]

while individuals with a firearm inventory over a certain threshold automatically get put on a special watch list.

Well, i understand your point of view, but practically it's a discrimination for people with passion/hobby. Seriously,collecting guns is like collecting stamps...more or less

Anyhow, if you ban all weapons, crooks will get illegal weapons easy. Now a psychopath will kill anyone with a fork or a butter knife, maybe we should ban kitchen knifes, forks and our own fists and legs huh?

Another situation - here in Poland we barely can have guns (oh those utopian post-socialist country's). Now,

IS BETTER TO HAVE? A .40 caliber handgun in your trained, licensed hands, or a police dispatcher on the phone? THINK ABOUT IT.

police over here is crappy undergunned and outnumbered. Polish policeman have 3 to 10 rounds per year to "train himself"(yes they can buy they're own ammo, but they are underpaid so it's a hard choice, ammo or bread for my family), c'mon i would prefer to have a semi-automatic-only AKM than a police dispatcher that won't do anything (90%).

 

[blind_dead_mcjones]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39213367/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

Yeah, that guy was a further from the truth type. Until he got upset. Then he had the capability of using his mental imbalance to change the lives of many people forever. I don't know how humble that guy was when he shot his own mother to death because he didn't care for the bill.

so because of the actions of mentally unstable people in the minority you tar the majority with the one brush?

 

[blankedboy]

Nothing too powerful should be public.
Like, magma miniguns and such.

 

[ikillu87]

Although I haven't used my guns much since I left the ranch outside target practice, I would be quite unhappy if they were banned.

I don't know about in other places, but where I grew up guns were family arlooms(sp?). Granted this isn't some great, view changing reason, but it matters to me... and all other pro gun arguments have been used, I am sure.

Edit:
And yes, I would like a howitzer... just to say I had one, and pet it lovingly.

 

[One of Many]

You can have my guns, when you pry them out of my cold dead hands.....although, I doubt you'll be able to kill me.

 

[Daniel_Rosamilia]

I believe they should be outright banned for citizens.

Honestly, when does a citizen need a firearm?

Only law enforcement and government officials who are typically required to carry them should be allowed to use them.

And before anyone tries to respond with scenarios of rising crime and black market operations to acquire firearms, well they woouldn't be able to do much without firearms, especially when the law enforcement tracking them down does.

In Australia we have foxes and rabbits. They are both introduced species and they are pests. The rabbits eat crops, and having them in the wild also means less food for native animals that eat the same things as them, namely bilbies. Foxes damage farmland and also kill native animals. There are people here who are employed just to kill foxes and rabbits. This is wehn a civilian needs a gun, unless you want people to kill literally hundreds of rabbits and foxes a month with a sword.

OI!
You saying how I kill the vermin is strange?
I'll slice you a new one with my claymore!

Nah, but I wish we could do that, it WOULD be pretty awesome.

Honestly?
If you have a gun, a legitimate license, and you go hunting or keep them as ornaments/decorations on your wall, fine by me.
But ban some of the more powerful weapons (high-powered sniper rifles, some automatic weapons etc.)

 

[ikillu87]

Although I haven't used my guns much since I left the ranch outside target practice, I would be quite unhappy if they were banned.

I don't know about in other places, but where I grew up guns were family arlooms(sp?). Granted this isn't some great, view changing reason, but it matters to me... and all other pro gun arguments have been used, I am sure.

Heirloom.

I think getting grampaw's Remington deer hunting rifle is fine and dandy. But granny's 1950s AK-47 ... Well disabled is perfectly fine.

Guns designed to specifically kill people instead of having any real utility are all I'd like to see done away with for private ownership.

Plus I think like for driver's license; gun license holders should be tested every few years to make sure they remember how to properly store their weapons, use their weapons, and are mentally sound to keep them in their possession.
Look I grew up in rural Eastern Kentucky and I own several guns myself. But the NRA are not promoting proper use or adequate laws to keep people safe.

Thank you, that is the word.

Most of them are hunting rifles, a semi-auto .22, a single barrely .12 and .22 guage shotgun, my grandfather's springfeild, and a few pistols. I have used most of them for killing one form of predator or another on the ranch. I don't know about how other people feel, but I rather stand 10+ feet away from the rattler when I kill it. The same goes for coyotes and the like.

As for licensing every few years... well, I'm going to be honest. I'm not licensed for any fire arm. I always intended to, but work and the like just kept pushing that chore till "tomorrow".

As far as the world knows, besides y'all now, I have no guns. It's just very easy for something like that to slip by. Certainly the cops aren't going to come knocking every few years to make sure you're up to date.

The difference between a car and a gun is simple. A car is specifically used in a public setting. You can't very well make it from one end of town to the other without someone noticing. With that is the off chance a cop might stop you/you get in a wreck. If you don't have your license then, you're screwed.

A gun on the other hand can sit in the bottom of a drawer/in a case for years without anyone noticing, and chances are there will be no reason for a cop to come in and notice it.

 

[Wintermoot]

only ban CERTAIN guns for civil ownership (IE,RPG,s,assault,rifles,miniguns, Gatlingguns,etc.)

 

[Moromillas]

Even though I knew it would be low, the ban option still kinda surprised me. Guns and weapons are just another tool... If there were no guns, we would just go back to swords. If there were no swords, we would just go back to fists, or sticks and stones. Furthermore, if someone does something horrible, it's not the guns fault, it's the persons.

 

[UltraParanoia]

I really hate threads like this, nobody is going to change anyones mind, so why bother with what always turns into a "Gun owners are fucked in the head and one second from blasting little braydun in the face" and "anti gunners are fucking facist pussies"

But the NRA are not promoting proper use or adequate laws to keep people safe.

You know why the NRA takes the stance it does legislation wise? Because their opponents are big fans of creeping incrementalism, they'll get one asinine do nothing gun law put in place, then a few weeks/months later they'll have another one up , and so on and so forth until guns are banned completely.

Hell, look at Californias gun bans, .50 cals banned for civilians for no reason, idiotic "assault rifle" rules that have nothing to do with the lethality of the gun.

Back in the 70s the Consumer Product Safety Commission declared ammunition an "imminent hazard" and tried to regulate and stifle their sale.

Or you know, Orginizations like the Brady bastards who actively lie and bullshit people just to get what they want. Of course, we also have politicians who spew bullshit all the goddamn time (Hillary saying 80% of guns used in crime in Mexico are from America to make Mexicos government look less like the incompetant shithole it is, bullshit, ATF says 2someodd % of all traceable guns captured, most of what Mexico has is either stolen/bought from the military or bought from gunrunners overseas (IIRC the cartels do a lot of business with Nigeria trading drugs for guns)).

Of course, there's also the glaringly obvious point about the bastions of proper thinking in America also being the worst crime ridden shitholes in the country.

E:

only ban CERTAIN guns for civil ownership (IE,RPG,s,assault,rifles,miniguns, Gatlingguns,etc.)

That depends on which definition of assault rifle you're using. Do you mean the actual military definition, which generally includes full auto fire? Or do you mean the retarded black guns nonsense that everyone and their brother uses?
Because the first one is already illegal unless you get a class III firearms license, which includes quite a bit of federal buttfuckery before you can get it. The second one is ridiculous, as most "assault rifles" the media talks about are basically semi auto hunting rifles with larger ammo capacity and generally worse optics.

 

[Dwarfman]

I have no problem with someone owning a gun for home defence, sporting or rural purposes.

I do and will draw the line with have automatic and military grade rifles, semi-automatic shotguns and semi-automatic pistols above a certain ammo capacity. Such items were never intended for a civilian population. I mean seriously folks you don't need a glock or M-16 to defend your home with!