why are weapons still legal in america?

[AkJay]

granted the Ammendment was made back when Minutemen were still a neseccity (i KNOW i spelt that word wrong), but i like having the freedom to own a weapon, because it CAN come in handy when shit goes sour, plus, without the right for someone to own a weapon, how will i defend myself against the zombies?

 

[mocruz1200]

the machines and zombies will not be killing themselves.....
when they take over, you can use your hunting rifle, ill stick to the AK

 

[j0z]

Who says we don't need a militia? We definitely might if, god forbid, we are invaded.
Plus gun control only keeps them out of the hands of the good people. The criminals don't care, otherwise they wouldn't be shooting people in the first place.
And gun control does not equal less violence. Great Britian is 2nd overall with crime rates in the EU. It has x2 the amount of crime as australia, and x4 as the USA. It also has more crime than S. Africa.

* The UK has the second highest overall crime rate in the EU.
* It has a higher homicide rate than most of our western European neighbours, including France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
* The UK has the fifth highest robbery rate in the EU.
* It has the fourth highest burglary rate and the highest absolute number of burglaries in the EU, with double the number of offences than recorded in Germany and France.

 

[maffro]

LOL good luck getting the guns taken away. XD Makes me laugh just thinking about the poor soul who even attempts this

EDIT: one more thing, do you think that outlawing guns will stop homicides? You do realize plenty of people died before guns were invented, in an even more brutal action.

So when you look at it from my point of view it goes like this. Kill someone quickly with a bullet to the head or heart. or kill somebody in a much more painful fashion with other means..

EDIT2: you live in Hawaii anyway what do you care. How many people get shot in fucking Hawaii

So... you're saying that if we didn't have guns then JUST AS MANY homicides would happen, but we'd just find different weapons? I personally think it'd be pretty hard to recreate Columbine by bashing people over the head with rocks.

And in your second edit you suggest that we should only care about things that happen locally? I hope you don't look at newspapers, you'd just get incensed.

However, you couldn't take away guns from america now. It'd cause a huge industry vacuum, and require a full culture revamp. There is some truth in the argument that "only the criminals would have guns", it'd take many, many generations to change the american culture so that people no longer WANTED guns, such as in most of Europe.

Still, there's no harm in making a start.

 

[Motti]

Oh, and making firearms illegal only keeps them out of the hands of honest people. Criminals don't give a damn about such laws.

This.
Only the honest people would care. Do you think that gun laws being stricter in Australia stops bikie gangs from conducting drive-by shootings? Do you think that terrorists care about laws stopping them from buying AK-47s? No, they just buy their guns on the ol' black market.

 

[Skutch]

Do you actually live in the U.S.A.? Furthermore, there may not be a need for a militia right now, but no one knows for certain what the future holds. In the event that a militia is needed, I'd much rather have a healthy gun industry, rather than an anemic one which couldn't meet production demand in a time of crisis.

Oh, and making firearms illegal only keeps them out of the hands of honest people. Criminals don't give a damn about such laws.

sorry, only potential criminals have fire arms to begin with, and it would be easily enforced, god knows 3rd world countries can enforce the law to the point where almost no one has a gun im sure america could do it too.

yes i live in america, and im in the military. guns have no place in civilian hands.

if at any point we go back to needing a "militia" you might as well move out of the country, because that means the army, national guard, marines, navy, and police is all dead.

Everyone is a "potential criminal", regardless of whether they own a gun.
I served in the military, so I get your attitude about "civilians" handling firearms. But keeping my own experiences in mind, and the prevailing arrogance and attitude of many of our servicemen and women, I for one am extremely glad we have a relatively well-armed populace.
That said, I'm all in favor of banning assault rifles though.

 

[sneakypenguin]

Why the exception for hunting rifles do they not kill people to?

The supreme court ruled the 2a is an individual right the founding fathers meant it as one.

with the exception of hunting rifles because you cant conceal a hunting rifle very well and go rob a store with it, and shoot the clerk because he tries to push the alarm.

*drives car to front door yanks out rifle robs place hops in car* Worked out fine for me

Can this hunting rifle be semi auto or does it need to be bolt or lever action?

 

[R3dF41c0n]

*snip*

sorry, only potential criminals have fire arms to begin with, and it would be easily enforced, god knows 3rd world countries can enforce the law to the point where almost no one has a gun im sure america could do it too.

yes i live in america, and im in the military. guns have no place in civilian hands.

if at any point we go back to needing a "militia" you might as well move out of the country, because that means the army, national guard, marines, navy, and police is all dead.

The fact you are a military person and stating this really scares the hell out of me. I suppose hunters are classified as "criminals" then as well? What about a store owner who keeps a firearm in his store for protection against criminals because the local law enforcement is under paid and under staffed? The fact is the military and police cannot be every where at once and this is why most states issue CWPs (Concealed Weapons Permits) so honest citizens can protect themselves. As far as the 2nd amendment is concerned I'm sure the founding fathers knew that government should be afraid of its people, not the other way around. It was their way of giving the citizens a last resort to fight a government that had become too powerful, at least that's how I interpret it.

That's all I'm going to say about this, after all arguing on the internet is like the competing in the Special Olympics...

 

[CheeseFlareUK]

"Amendment 2 - Right to Bear Arms. Ratified 12/15/1791.
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

so basically, it says people have the right to bear arms because a militia is needed.

well, a militia is MOST DEFINATELY NOT needed anymore. we have the army and the national guard, and police.

so why havent guns been made illegal yet? (w/ exception of hunting rifles)

i dont get it, its like people just like seeing more homocides...

Someone hasn't done any research. Fully automatic firearms are in fact illegal. Its only manual and semi automatic that are legal. Not to mention the fact that if they were made illegal only innocent people would not have them. Criminals would import them from places like Russia and china.

i know that, im saying why havent we banned handguns, shotguns, etc etc. keep hunting rifles because those are hard to hide anyway. but get rid of the rest.

As I said it will only keep them out of the hands of innocents. Criminals will still find a way to get all of them. And who uses hunting rifles for homocide?

 

[crazy-j]

because we have not made them illegal yet?

 

[KSarty]

"Amendment 2 - Right to Bear Arms. Ratified 12/15/1791.
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

so basically, it says people have the right to bear arms because a militia is needed.

well, a militia is MOST DEFINATELY NOT needed anymore. we have the army and the national guard, and police.

so why havent guns been made illegal yet? (w/ exception of hunting rifles)

i dont get it, its like people just like seeing more homocides...

The militia is in place specifically to fight AGAINST the government which the army, national guard, and police all fall under. The second amendment is to protect our right to rebel, simple as that.

 

[Zenode]

The American Economy.

Its based around a War Machine, a war economy is described as one that uses more than 20% of its economy on the buildings of weaponry.

So there is your answer MONEY

Australia took guns away and even if you expand our population out to America's we stil have 9000 less gun murders than you per year so yeh gun control works.

America's Argument:but the bad guys have the guns

So what, thats why you have police to take them away from those people.

But police can't look at freaking chicago hows gun control working there?(over july 4th 8 ppl killed 24 wounded and 200+ killed this year)
You can't compare AU or the EU countries to america we have a much more "violent" culture in areas with high minority populations(not racist) and we have a much higher gun ownership rate I would imagine.

Yes i understand that the culture of violence is big over there.

Gun control does work but its how to enforce it, thats the problem in a society such as the United States. I do understand your point but it is a very valid argument.

Also i could imagine on the news Headlines "Obama attempts to control gun ownership Massive Revolts all over the country" but im sure many would hand in their weapons willingly if they enforced the message that the cops are to be trusted and are taking weapons of unlawful owners.

 

[Vriggchan]

its more a sense of pride more me. My families been a part of American since the 1670's. I have the musket that my family used to kill red coats at Concord. Seeing this gun on my wall just reminds me of how we struggled for freedom. The reason Americans were able to fight the British is because they had guns at their disposal.

Even though nowadays we have a regulated militia (National Guard, thank you boys for being our last line of defense) we the people have the right to help out the militia in times of need. It just moves the responsibility of providing the weaponry from the government to the people.

Even though most of the guns on the market today are way op'd Americans feel that we have a right to protect ourselves from everyone, that includes our own government.

With the argument that the bad guys have it. Well I mean if after hearing down the grapevine that i can buy a grenade off of the black market for 350 US... I kinda want something to protect myself with, wouldn't you?

There are radical groups all over the world how they arm themselves may differ but their objective is the same. To oppress and terrorize the innocent public. Americans feel that they should be able to arm themselves in protection against those kinds of people.

 

[The Infamous Scamola]

Which means that all the guns left in the country would be left in the hands of people with an existing and proven proclivity for ignoring the gun laws that are already in place.

now, as a Brit I'm constantly bemused by the American love for weaponry, but speaking as an outside observer, it simply doesn't look to me like banning the gun is feasible for the USA. They're too deeply ingrained in the culture and too ubiquitous. Banning them would be like bailing out the rowing boat without plugging the hole first.

So? I live in a country that has gun control, you can't own guns in my country (except for hunting and clay pidgeon shooting, but that's not the point, the point is nearly no one owns a gun here), but hey guess what? I'm fucking sure the criminals have them. Now, I'm looking through the window, and what do I see? Kids, happily playing in the streets and people going on with their lives as usual. What I don't see is criminals shooting up every other person and taking control of my government.

Truth of the matter is, CRIMINALS WITH ILLEGAL GUNS KILL CRIMINALS WITH ILLEGAL GUNS, not civilians. All of the psychos that are out there to go on a killing spree in a highschool bought their weapons regularly and legally. And the fact of the matter is, if someone sees you in the street and thinks to himself "I'm gonna ice this mofo", you could be fucking Harry Callahan with your .44 Magnum, but he's still gonna have the upper hand.


Also, if criminals killing civilians is such a problem, it should be up to the police, not some redneck with a shotgun to solve the problem.

Fact is, the whatever number it is amendment was put there by the founding fathers so that they could easily defend themselves from the British, it has no place whatsoever in a modern 21th century democracy.

 

[vampirekid.13]

"Amendment 2 - Right to Bear Arms. Ratified 12/15/1791.
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

so basically, it says people have the right to bear arms because a militia is needed.

well, a militia is MOST DEFINATELY NOT needed anymore. we have the army and the national guard, and police.

so why havent guns been made illegal yet? (w/ exception of hunting rifles)

i dont get it, its like people just like seeing more homocides...

Someone hasn't done any research. Fully automatic firearms are in fact illegal. Its only manual and semi automatic that are legal. Not to mention the fact that if they were made illegal only innocent people would not have them. Criminals would import them from places like Russia and china.

i know that, im saying why havent we banned handguns, shotguns, etc etc. keep hunting rifles because those are hard to hide anyway. but get rid of the rest.

As I said it will only keep them out of the hands of innocents. Criminals will still find a way to get all of them. And who uses hunting rifles for homocide?

no one, thats why i said it woudlnt need banning.


you guys are totally not looking at the big picture.

ok, so we ban guns.

they now need to be imported, which means they are a lot more expensive.

are criminals going to still get them? yes.
are all criminals taht would have them if they only costed 50$ like they do now going to still have them? no because in all reality it would cost a few thousand for a gun. which means only the RICH criminals would have them.

 

[Njoker8]

From what I've seen, America has a deep seeded love for guns. With all the crazy people out there, taking away their guns will only make them crazier. Which in turn could lead to rioting, killing, raping etc etc. During Prohibition, we banned alcohol, look what that happened. People went crazy, criminals capitalized and got richer. We learned from that mistake, and I hope we know better than to repeat it. Besides, gun collecting/firing is a great hobby, it kills some of my sadness and is a great ice breaker. (At least down here)

 

[shaboinkin]

guns are a hobby to some people, or even a sport. I shot a gun once, and it was pretty damn fun. I am thinking about whether or not if I should buy a gun in the future and just use it for recreation.

 

[The Infamous Scamola]

The militia is in place specifically to fight AGAINST the government which the army, national guard, and police all fall under. The second amendment is to protect our right to rebel, simple as that.

Yeah, I'd love to see the day a couple of barely trained rednecks with shotguns manage to have the upper hand on the American Army, National Guard and Police.

Come on people, as much as you want it to happen, the U.S. government is not going to "fall under".

 

[CheeseFlareUK]

"Amendment 2 - Right to Bear Arms. Ratified 12/15/1791.
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

so basically, it says people have the right to bear arms because a militia is needed.

well, a militia is MOST DEFINATELY NOT needed anymore. we have the army and the national guard, and police.

so why havent guns been made illegal yet? (w/ exception of hunting rifles)

i dont get it, its like people just like seeing more homocides...

Someone hasn't done any research. Fully automatic firearms are in fact illegal. Its only manual and semi automatic that are legal. Not to mention the fact that if they were made illegal only innocent people would not have them. Criminals would import them from places like Russia and china.

i know that, im saying why havent we banned handguns, shotguns, etc etc. keep hunting rifles because those are hard to hide anyway. but get rid of the rest.

As I said it will only keep them out of the hands of innocents. Criminals will still find a way to get all of them. And who uses hunting rifles for homocide?

no one, thats why i said it woudlnt need banning.


you guys are totally not looking at the big picture.

ok, so we ban guns.

they now need to be imported, which means they are a lot more expensive.

are criminals going to still get them? yes.
are all criminals taht would have them if they only costed 50$ like they do now going to still have them? no because in all reality it would cost a few thousand for a gun. which means only the RICH criminals would have them.

50$? I don't know where you are but in every gun shop I have been in a cheap handgun is about 300$. I am looking at the big picture though. So we ban guns blah blah blah more expensive. Crime decreases A TINY BIT. Most people willing to commit crimes are willing to look at the fact that they will get 10 times the cost of a gun in a single robbing. And really? A few thousand? From 50$ to a few thousand? A 100% increase would be about 600$ for a good gun. And if all guns were illegal then innocents would have no protection when being assaulted or having people try to kill them.