The Historical Results of Gun Control

[TummyDragon]

a good dialogue..

I look at gun control from the perspective of someone thinking about that nut who walked into a McDonald's and blew away 18(?) people, and the other nutbag who strolled into a restaurant and capped about 22 I think it was. Now, while these events are the not the norm, obviously, if I were sitting in a restaurant when some idiot opened fire, I'd like to at least have the chance to live. The chance to defend myself. The chance to keep my wife, son, or even complete strangers from dying at the hands of a maniac. It's very hard to stop a bullet with a cheese burger, but you might have a chance to stop the maniac with a shot of your own.

When a signed piece of paper can actually remove the guns from the hands of those who would harm others, I'll gladly support gun control. I'd love to live in a place where the strong do not prey on the weak. Hell will spring into existence and then freeze over first. I do believe that there is an absolute right to self defense. Is that written anywhere? Highly unlikely.

I've seen countless gun control studies for statistical analysis labs in my college yesteryear. There wasn't a single study that showed a reduction in crime due to a piece of gun control legislation anywhere. This doesn't mean one or several do not exist. The best the pro gun control advocates could come up with was a study where residents "feel safer" because of a piece of legislation. The actual crime rates increased in every study I was privvy to.

The only study which did show a reduction in crime across the board was from Kennesaw, Georgia where a law was passed requiring every household to have at least one firearm (this is for real, check it out). Violent crime overall in Kennesaw dropped by 87%. Home invasion dropped by 93%. Armed robbery dropped by 91%. Crimes committed while in the posession of a firearm dropped by 94%. Criminals seemed to avoid Kennesaw. I'm sure these numbers could have been padded so I take them to be a bit exaggerated, but, even if they are exaggerated, I think it does prove that when the sheep become tigers, the criminal tigers tend to go elsewhere to find more sheep.

I believed then, and still do today, that the gun control hype is a "feel good" political maneuver politicians use to try to make the herds of the masses believe they are safer when in reality, all it has accomplished is the removal of the herds ability to protect themselves.

Good discussion.

 

[TummyDragon]

I'm living in a small country with strict guncontrol and people here don't get their heads blown off just because they were in the wrong neighbourhood.

I would also consider the reason for that is not gun control, but that the majority of the citenzenry of your country has a higher respect for both the law and others.

That respect for the law, and the respect for others simply doesn't exist here in the US en masse.

 

[Phineas]

when I was in China I asked my wife about this. We took a lot of taxis around, and I found it strange that in most cases, if there was anything at all separating the back seat from the front, it was a few bars that someone could easily reach through. One of my "uncles" is a government official, and we occasionally were taken around in a police car. Here in the 'States, the back seat of a police car is like a reinforced bunker; plastic and steel cut it off from the driver's seat, but in China, there was no barrier whatsoever. If I'd felt like it, I could have reached up and throttled the officer we were driving with. If I'd had a gun, he'd be history.

So I asked my wife... what sort of violent crime rate, specifically that of firearms, does China have? her answer, unsurprisingly, was "almost non-existent." she then explained the two reasons why.

1) guns are very strictly regulated. don't know how they do it, but they do.

2) people are raised to respect not only their family, but society. China is a communist country for a reason; they're all taught to put the common good way above their own when it comes down to it.

as has been pointed out, none of this would work in the US because of our emphasis on the individual, and our "glorified" past of armed revolution, along with a Hollywood gunslinger stereotype that makes everyone think that if anyone broke into their home or attacked them on the streets they'd just go all Dirty Harry on 'em, when nine times out of ten it probably wouldn't work that way. The Wild West stopped existing in the early 1900s, but people love Hollywood. 😀

 

[Deleted member 2452]

many good points, on both sides of the issue!

and i'd love to comment on them, but knox said i can't
i guess i'll just sit and read, and look for a more worthwhile topic

steve

 

[Sadistictickler]

I would also consider the reason for that is not gun control, but that the majority of the citenzenry of your country has a higher respect for both the law and others.

That respect for the law, and the respect for others simply doesn't exist here in the US en masse.

Well, if it aint the guns, I suppose the US has a very large amount of morons around; Canada's got alot of guns as far as I know, yet violence is nothing compared to that in the US.

the big reason for guncontrol is to keep dangerous stuff away from irresponsible people, like knox said. Peope who have guns at a place where their kids can get it shouldn't be supposed to have one for instance. I'm perfectly fine with the idea that people own guns when they know what they're doing, but not with having a shitload of heavily-armed retards...

 

[TummyDragon]

Well, if it aint the guns, I suppose the US has a very large amount of morons around; Canada's got alot of guns as far as I know, yet violence is nothing compared to that in the US.

Morons populate the world. my guess is at least 90% of the entire world's population is comprised of those suffering the moronic affliction (i.e., idiots - either physically incapable of, or worse, lacking the initiative for, self determined congitive reasoning). However, we are not referencing intelligence here; we are refering to a higher level of human decency. We are talking about respect.

Countries with lower crime rates have a higher population of individuals who respect each other, their society, and the overall good of humanity. Gun control, in these societies, is really a non issue.

...the big reason for guncontrol is to keep dangerous stuff away from irresponsible people,

As has been mentioned numerous times in debates all over the world, that particular "keep the guns out of the hands of irresponsible people" reasoning is flawed in that only the RESPONSIBLE people will abide by the law. Unless you can launch an enormous gun magnet into space and have it magically suck all the guns up and away, laws will not remove the guns from individuals who do not respect the law.

...like knox said. Peope who have guns at a place where their kids can get it shouldn't be supposed to have one for instance. I'm perfectly fine with the idea that people own guns when they know what they're doing, but not with having a shitload of heavily-armed retards...

I couldn't agree with you more.

 

[Sadistictickler]

yeah, it's something that should've been installed a long time ago, if a good gun-control would've been established 100 years ago, there wouldn't have been such amounts of rubbish around. But as all guns will eventually wear down, the benefits will show in about 30 years or so.