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

[Pipotchi]

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.

If you weren't a yank I'd swear you were a Daily Mail reader. A 6 year old article. Good source mate, good source. Homicide rates have fallen by 30% over the past 6 years, attempted murder by about 25%. Low level violence rose by about 25%.

source: http://uk.sitestat.com/homeoffice/rds/s?rds.recorded-crime-2002-2008xls&ns_type=clickout&ns_url=[http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs08/recorded-crime-2002-2008.xls]

See thats a link. Decent figures, pretty recent, Source that is checkable. I mean its not infalliable but thats a damn site closer than anything else seen so far in this thread (including my own)

Kudos to you scumofsociety!

 

[zacaron]

yes I personaly think it is a good idea and i would have one but im canadian so i have to settle for a large collection of very sharp knives.

 

[sneakypenguin]

Actually you didn't answer the question of why you assume the crim has less training than you, you sidestep it by making yet another assumption. Do you frequently check up on the daily life of your gun toting robbers then?

I assume the criminal has less training than I due to the fact most don't go to the local gun range give their I.D. ,license and permit and practice the amount and spend the money it takes to be efficient with a firearm. I would consider that an decent assumption then to assume that I'm more efficient with a firearm than your average criminal

 

[Scolar Visari]

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.

1. Window or door breaks I roll out of bed and grab the 500 laying there. Shell in the chamber, safety off, finger off the trigger and tac light off. Move down the stairs slowly until I can get a good view of the first floor and then pop on the tac light. I spot the intruder and issue a verbal command to leave. If he heads in any direction but the door I WILL shoot him immediately.
2. Read above.
3. That?s why you practice.
4. I clean it everyday; the rest is up to luck.
5. Unless you are a master at your chosen style of close combat I would suggest keeping as far away from your assailant as possible. Remember that if you can hit him he can also hit you.

 

[Zykon TheLich]

 

[Lord Beautiful]

No.

The less guns a society owns and the harder they are to get, the better. Of course you might say you need them for self-defence, but actually you wouldn't if the bad guy also had no gun. Same effect with less killing tools.

You ever been beaten and robbed in the street? I have, and I sure wish I had been carrying. They had no guns, but that didn't stop them doing a little tap dance on my face. If I had a gun, I could have defended myself.

I believe that the benefit of self-defense, the benefit of a populace able to arm itself, and the simple good sport that guns provide can make them worth the inherent risk. Gun ownership isn't right for all people in all places, but it sure works for me. I think being educated in the use of firearms is an important part of being a responsible citizen.

The number one rule about gun ownership is education. Number two is safety, but that simply follows. Guns should be kept from very young children, but even the youngest should be taught to fear and respect them. It's paradoxical- the first thing I would tell an aspiring shooter is the inherent danger of firearms, yet I still think they are more than worth the risk.

I won't get into the second Amendment, because I understand the topic to be more about personal choice than legality. By the way, that spelling is atrocious. I'm pretty sure you can be put on probation for spelling and syntax that bad.

I completely agree with you. Sweet.

 

[ReepNeep]

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.

Explain your reasoning. The gun simply being present is most likely going to cause him to flee. If he is similarly armed and doesn't flee, the conflict is at least on equal terms.
The latter point is true of any weapon.

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.

Incorrect. Spend a few hours and a hundred rounds or so down at the range and you will be able to use it effectively at the short ranges you are likely to be using it.

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!

Guns only jam when they aren't cared for properly or are fed bad ammunition. Clean and oil the gun after it's taken to the range and feed it ammunition of reasonable quality and it won't.
Knives are useless outside of a meter. The arm locks still requires months or even years of training to reliably apply in a combat situation and thats assuming that your opponent doesn't have any kung-fu of his own.

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.

Pardon me, but you're talking out of your ass. What exactly is a shotgun with an 18" barrel, no choke and a pistol grip instead of a stock meant for again? It sure as hell isn't much good for hunting.

Only a full size rifle cartridge can penetrate a standard exterior wall. Those guns aren't meant for home defense in the first place and Pistol rounds and buckshot most likely won't penetrate more than one interior wall, much less a brick exterior one.

If you teach your children how they're supposed to handle them and to treat them with respect, they won't go accidentally shooting themselves or others now will they? You can simply keep the gun out of reach of the ones that are too young to be trained.

 

[Trace2010]

A few questions to answer about this topic:

1) If I pull the gun, can I pull the trigger?
2) If I pull the trigger, am I prepared to kill my adversary, and accept the consequences therein?
3) Will I take proper care of the weapon?
4) Am I prepared to teach my family how to use them?

If any of your answers to these questions is "NO", then don't bother owning a gun...you'll just become "dead person walking".

 

[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.

Because the government are scare mongering gits. And actually, I could give evidence on why statistics released by the press are at best extremely unreliable but to be honest I don't feel as though there'd be any point.

That's putting an interesting twist on it. Instead of just stopping with 'your sources are shit', you go with 'all possible sources that you might use to support your argument are shit'. Bravo.

 

[Rankao]

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

I don't think I can carry a gun from South America to UK very easily though.

 

[sneakypenguin]

Actually you didn't answer the question of why you assume the crim has less training than you, you sidestep it by making yet another assumption. Do you frequently check up on the daily life of your gun toting robbers then?

I assume the criminal has less training than I due to the fact most don't go to the local gun range give their I.D. ,license and permit and practice the amount and spend the money it takes to be efficient with a firearm. I would consider that an decent assumption then to assume that I'm more efficient with a firearm than your average criminal

Nicely argued, well done (and I really mean that, I'm not being all sarcy, god how I hate it when people, including me, do that).

Thank you good sir.

 

[Typecast]

I don't trust anyone who carries, owns or is near a weapon. That goes tripple for cops with hip holstered guns. As for owning them in the privacy of your own home... if you can't defend yourself with just your body then Darwin is telling you something. Though personally, I'm not against knives and bows and arrows for self defense. Perhaps a portcullis and a moat would better serve in the home security department.

 

[Raregolddragon]

If villeins have guns why not heroes.

 

[742]

Seeing as how I'm single, and will be for the rest of my life, probably, there's nothing wrong with keeping a gun in the house, just so you're ready when the next Ed Gein pops up.

I am in favor of tighter gun control, however, so that guns don't wind up in the wrong hands.

When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns. I hate to trot this cliche out, but it is the simple truth.

Also, a law that isn't enforced isn't worth the paper it's printed on. Current gun laws, if actually followed, are more than sufficient.

what he/she/it said.

i think a rock and a tazer would be as effective. but theres just something intimidating about a gun, and it effects just about everybody.

 

[Simalacrum]

no no no no no no NO!

JUST NO!

guns are a ridiculous idea! such things are what are used in the military, not in a simple household!

guns just give another excuse for people to go towards crime
besides, in your average home a gun would be too unweildy, close quarter combat would be far more effective if absolutely necessary