Poll: is a gun a good tool to have in a household?

[DeadpanLunatic]

I have removed my words from this site.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Also, yes, yes I do expect the cops to protect me. It's what they're there for.

The point was that cops are not preventative, they are reactive. They deal with crimes after the fact, not during, most of the time. You will be beaten, raped, dead, or shot long before a cop will ever get to you.

true, but by my (slightly skewed) logic, much the same applies to a gun. Unless you shot every person who might be a criminal beforehand# it is not a preventative measure.
I can see your point, it is a lot faster than relying on someone to call the cops then wait for them. But it also isn't as instant as a lot of people seem to think it is.

(generalising time) People seem to labour under the misapprehension that when shot a human will simply go down like in the movies. Unless they are hit in the skull or face this is hardly ever the case.
Read soldier's memoirs and you'll find tons of stories of men getting shot and either carrying on as normal or even failing to notice that they had been shot for several seconds or minutes. Despite having suffered fatal injuries.
It's entirely possible that you would shoot your attacker, only to have them calmly walk over and stab you into the stone age.
I think a Taser makes a much better defensive weapon, the limited range means you can't hit things by accident, they're extremely intimidating, much louder than people think and have far more instant effect than a bullet aimed by a panicking victim tends to.

#Ps. I hope nobody thinks it's ok to do that.

 

[sneakypenguin]

Last I checked the odds of someone accidentally shooting one of their housemates compared to the chance of them shooting an invading criminal was somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 to 1.

So because others are fools with guns you would take away my right to defend myself? I'm sorry but if some crazy drug addict is robbing me for money I want a means with which to defend myself or loved ones. Even if odds are i'll never have to use it I still wan't that option. It would also be really nice to be able to carry on campus. The way I feel is the government is responsible for many deaths in virginia for not permitting legal carry permit holder to have one on site.
Like people always say when seconds count the police are only minutes away. That's why I am proactive and take control of my safety rather than just hope nothing bad happens.

The problem is though, the easier it is to get a gun, the more likely a crim coming in will have a gun, bad news for your family if they happen to be around because hostage situations are much easier to create with these babies!

Criminals with guns are all the more reason for me to have a gun it levels the playing field or at least gives me another option to deal with a situation. I am positive I have much more skill with a firearm that even if said criminal possesses one I still have an advantage

 

[Rooster Cogburn]

I don't believe that the total absence of guns will stop all crimes absolutely everywhere, nor will it stop people from being able to harm you with some other weapon or their fists if necessary. There are of course occasions when even I would be happy to have a gun handy, being robbed like you have been is of course one of them.

But there are also times of which I'm happy I didn't have a gun handy or I might have done something I would have regretted later on. Overall, if I could make the choice, between people getting robbed, killed, attacked or murdered without the help of guns or with the help of guns, I'd go for the former. It would of course have been better for you if you had a gun, but that was not my point. I said that neither you nor him having a gun is still better than both of you having a gun, which would lead to a tricky situation, with him retreating at best (depends strongly on his mental situation) and at least one of you getting shot at worst.

Also, now that I check I actually realise that my second paragraph probably sounds like shit to the english speaking world. It isn't my native language as you may have guessed by now, we live and learn, perhaps you might help me improve on my english. In particular, I don't see any spelling mistakes.

It's not my view, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't see the sense of it. Also, I sincerely apologize, I was referring to the OP's spelling and syntax errors. I didn't say I was, but I was. I guess I lose points for clarity. I wouldn't have guessed that English wasn't your first language, your own typing is extremely good.

 

[ReepNeep]

*Sigh* people believe any stories they read in a trashy paper. One of my mates is a police officer and he says that from their records knife crime is at its lowest in years. It always gets me that people (I'm not talking about you by the way) are so quick to dismiss religions as blind faith yet happily believe everything they read in the papers. They don't care about telling the truth, all they want is money!

And anecdotal 'evidence' from some random person on the internet which is second hand even to them is so much more reliable. If that were the case, why is your government in the process of stripping you of your right to carry a knife in public?

I'll be back with statistics. I suppose you'll just ad hominem them too.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/810522.stm - A report from the BBC that backs up what I just said.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Just read this article. It puts it better than I could.
http://www.wmsa.net/pubs/reason/reason_nov02_crime_in_uk.htm
Pull your head out of the sand.

I live in England, I live in one of the most violent towns in the country (Boston), I have been assaulted once, been in more pub fights than I care to admit to and someone tried to mug me last year. I have never had a weapon pulled on me, nor has anyone I know. Pull your head out of your arse.

With regards knife crime, the knife laws haven't changed for at least a couple of decades now. The police are tightening up on teenagers carrying them as the number of stabbings among under 18's has risen sharply in the last two years. Understandably they are trying to do something about it.

 

[DeadpanLunatic]

I have removed my words from this site.

 

[Molten Discharge]

Guns are absolutely useless for defending your home. Tbh the only real use in that situation is the crafty shot in the back of the would-be assailant as he flees from the scene.
Guns make situations escalate.
Guns are stupidly difficult to use effectivly. In before the "lolwhut?" crowd, go down to your local range and see just how well your percieved gun handling skill compares to someone ex-military etc.
Guns jam.
Knives dont. With a knife or other short range tool you can disarm people, and the tool can also be used as a lever to double or tipple the pressure applied to a pivot (ie a burglars wrist in an arm-lock whilst I call for the filth). Ouch!
Personally my weapon of choice is a hammer, no license required and much more effective in your house. Serioulsy people, gun manufacturers don't sit around designing guns that are perfect for use in your home. A hammer, however, purpose built to be swung around in confined spaces e.g. an attic.
Also, if a roaming kid accidently plays with it he'll get a bump on the noggin, whereas a stray bullet would probably reach the third house down from mine before it lost its momentum, killing god-knows how many.

 

[fluffylandmine]

Quite frankly no, the gun is not a useful tool.
Lets take a look at the uses of a humble spade for a second.

The humble spade:
-diggin'
-Shovelin'
-pattin' down upraised dirt
-Whackin' Pinata
-hittin' things
-Plantin' into the ground and leaning against, just because it makes you look like someone who actually works for a living.
-Stavin' off the zombie apocolypse.
-Killin' people

The gun:
-Killin' People
-Killin' Animals
-Killin' Zombies, but no-where near as many as would be possible with a spade, unless you had infinite bullets or something (which you don't)

The moment the public realizes this spade crime will be on the rise!

The media is also to blame(see Bowling for Columbine. It had a slanted view but in the end it shows how media can get you hyped up.). The only reason some people have guns is because they thought so many other people had guns. Thus the 'protection' defense is brought up.

Also poverty is to blame as well. Why do you think the out of work guy steals from you? Not for fun(in some weirder cases this may be). It's to support themselves or their family because they just got laid off from the factory*(just so some CEO can buy the single gallon of diesel to make their Gold plated hummer move an inch)*.

P.S. ** was really there just to poke fun at the ridiculously rich who complain to no end that they can't go insane with money and power anymore.

 

[sneakypenguin]

]

Criminals with guns are all the more reason for me to have a gun it levels the playing field or at least gives me another option to deal with a situation. I am positive I have much more skill with a firearm that even if said criminal possesses one I still have an advantage

But if they can't get a gun then the playing field is even anyway. Its actually much easier to fend off a knife wielding attacker with a baseball bat or something similar than with a gun against a gun. And yes, you may have skill with a gun but will all your family have access to this? And why do you assume that a burglar who is athletic and skilled enough to be able to get in through any nook or cranny (which many can) would be any less skilled than you. Unlike guns, there is only so much skill one can have with blunt objects.

Hmmm true but guns are prevalent in todays society so they are a necessary evil imho. While yes my family does not have the training I do they still know how to use firearms i'd say my family with a shotgun is more than a match for a criminal around the house. Also criminals don't take CQC classes or practice with 500 rounds at the range a month so I'm sure that gives me at least a slight advantage.

 

[Pipotchi]

WRUNG!
When the guns are outlawed, only the outlaws, Police and Army have guns. I gaurantee that the Police and the Army will have more and bigger than the outlaws...

So you expect the cops to protect you? When they show up ten minutes after shots are fired? When the situation is already over? The best you can expect out of the police is to catch the guy after the fact.

An armed society is a fearful society, fear of your fellow man is no better than fear of your government.

Come live in England for a bit mate. Hand guns are illegal whilst rifles and Shotguns are subject to VERY strict controls as well as strict controls on the sale and storage of ammunition.
Most of the countries guns are in the hands of either professionals or criminals. Also, over here there is this unwritten rule (or seems to be) that if a person is out on the street with a gun, the Police will simply kill them without question. A person getting shot is still rare enough to make national headlines in the UK, so do the math yourself.
Strangely enough the number of gun deaths in the UK is massively lower than the US, even by per 1000 population.


Also, yes, yes I do expect the cops to protect me. It's what they're there for.

This, put simply America has lots of Guns and lots of people die from gunshot wounds other than criminals, wives, neighbours kids etc

England impossible to get a gun unless you are a criminal or a police officer, gun crime is very rare

This argument is so patently ridiculous. Note that you say gun crime. Isn't your government in the process of taking away your knives too because of an epidemic of *snicker* knife crime? Criminals use whatever weapon they can get ahold of and with a populace they know for a fact will be unarmed... you do the math. You are more likely to be a victim of violent crime in the the UK than you are in the US.

Just read this article. It puts it better than I could.
http://www.wmsa.net/pubs/reason/reason_nov02_crime_in_uk.htm
Pull your head out of the sand.

What? You mean that article written by a college professor who writes books advocating your second amnedment rights, now theres an impartial source. Whats that she also has a reputation as having doctered her quotations? Outstanding! Whats that? Its also almost seven years out of date Huzzah!

Firstly she focuses on the year with the highest gun crime in the UK, it has declined every year since then see http://www.gun-control-network.org/CO05.htm (also out of date but covers more recent years than your article)

Secondly I work as a special constable for a Police force in London and the fact that you when refering to the recent knife crime stories shows me what a callous person you are. I rarely need a gun myself and I have only once seen a suspect waving one about

Keep your guns we dont need them to keep ourselves and our families safe.

 

[Pseudonym2]

First of all cars have a purpose other than killing people unlike guns. Second doctors also save more lives than guns and only kill people when are not doing their job properly. Third if the sound of shotgun scares people, I would recommend investing in a tape recorder and a taser.

Dude, that was sarcasm, catch a clue.

Personally, I don't have much interest in guns and don't want one around, however I think people should have the *right* to have guns just like they have the *right* to do other potentially stupid stuff.

Choose the method that suits your personal situation the best.

Sadly, the doctor/car argument is often used without irony.

 

[Zykon TheLich]

No offense t

 

[Pipotchi]

*Sigh* people believe any stories they read in a trashy paper. One of my mates is a police officer and he says that from their records knife crime is at its lowest in years. It always gets me that people (I'm not talking about you by the way) are so quick to dismiss religions as blind faith yet happily believe everything they read in the papers. They don't care about telling the truth, all they want is money!

And anecdotal 'evidence' from some random person on the internet which is second hand even to them is so much more reliable. If that were the case, why is your government in the process of stripping you of your right to carry a knife in public?

I'll be back with statistics. I suppose you'll just ad hominem them too.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/810522.stm - A report from the BBC that backs up what I just said.

Thats almost nine years out of date and its the same report that the previous biased out of date report refered to

 

[OverlordSteve]

Shoot a robber, and the best you can get off with is Murder in Self-Defense. Let's all learn to beat the crap out of burgulars.