I am very anti gun control. Why? Because the 2nd amendment to the US Constitution says that we as US citizans have the right to keep and bear arms without the government having any say. "...the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." This means that the government cannot do anything to infringe("to break, impair or violate") this right. Making me get permits to carry concealed weapons infringes this right because it impairs my right. This is not acceptable and the Constitution is not negotiable.

-Definition from the Webster's New World Dictionary.

"Freedom is not Free"-Korean War Memorial, Washington DC.

Also, I believe that someone mentioned that they had not hear "one case" where a gun was used for self defense. You don't hear about them due to bias in the media, and if you want to see some, here you go.
Some of the millions of cases when guns are used for self defense

Actually, safety locks are very dangerous and counterproductive. Numerous people ahve died because they couldnt remove the lock in time or because their son or daughter, old enough to know how to use the weapon, couldnt acess it. Locks are an absurd waste of time that should be avoided at all costs.
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[This message was edited by YNLissa on July 10, 2002 at 08:43 AM.]

I think that owning a gun would be perfectly safe if the parent would just put a saftey lock on them. Now, I do admit, that it's pretty bad that people go around killing other's with guns or with anything for that matter. There's nothing we can really do to prevent killings. Taking away our RIGHT to own a gun would work only for a few mintues. There's more of a chance that you will be suffocated than you will be shot with a gun. Why don't we just take our hands away. Take away pillows, ropes, crowbars, and anything else that could be used against you. If we did that, we wouldn't be able to live normal lives. We'd have to take away alchohol, prescription medicine, gasoline, matches, etc., etc. Guns could actually save your life. If someone attacked you, and you had a gun, just showing the attaker that gun would make him back off.

There has been a lot of fire about this topic recently, and I thought I'd throw my 2/4/whatever cents in.
I am strongly opposed to gun control-I'll tell you that away right. I am just frustrated that youth today are being brainwashed into believing that firearms-more specifically handguns-are evil entities. In school, most kids hear talk about both sides of an issue, how people in a given country are only told their leaders side of the story, ect ect. The same thing is happening in our schools with firearms. Lies like "the Glock pistol is plastic and can pass through metal detectors" is garbage. The Glock has a polymer FRAME-It is 90% metal! Kids never hear the other fact, like:
-guns are used by civilian Americans 2.5 million times a year in preservation of life and limb.
-More kids drown in bathtubs yearly than accidently shoot themselves with a gun. (Maybe lock those up to and register them, hmmm?...)

A favorite number that the Brady Bunch (Brady Campaign) throws around is the infamous 43:1/22:1.
This is nothing resembling the truth.
Lets examine the 43:1-The two gun grabbers who researched this studied a specific area of, I think California, and compared the number of gun deaths(suicides, accidenttal, ect), and compared them to the number of justifiable homocides over the same period of time, and violla-43:1.

Erm, not quite. During this study, they took into account suicide, which blows the entire thing out of proportion. They went by the assumption that someone suicidal wouldn't kill themselves through hanging/jumping off a bridge/ect, if they could not get their grubby little hands on a firearm.Puuu-lease. A suicidal person won't give up and get a job in the morning if he can't find a gun to shoot himself with.

They also neglected cases where a potential murderer or rapist busted into a house and was warded off by the display or warning shot of a firearm. (I'd **** my pants if I ran into a 300 pound gorilla pointing a 12gauge at me).
Since suicide accounted for 35-39 of the 43, that brings the numbers down abit, wot wot?

Also, all this dither about kids shooting themselves-do you really think that trigger locks will stop kids from shooting each other? A determined kid can unlock/break one of those and proceed to use the weapon minimal problamo. I can't remember who said it, but yes-EDUCATION is the key. I haven't shot myself yet-must be that I know guns are dangerous and I shouldn't play with'em. As soon as a parent makes something taboo, it becomes a hot priority on any kids list.
Momma says "stay out of the cookie jar", and what does little Johnny do as soon as her back turns? You know.


On the subject of school shootings-there is only one way to stop that, and that is to arm teachers. Teachers are very certifies, as they work all day 80% of the year with kids who drive them up the wall. A teach would be well qualified to carry a pistol (concealed) in school-How many would have died at Columbine if the jackasses pulled their guns and started shooting? At that moment, 10 teachers'd be on him, ripping him to bits with .45 fire. A permanent solution. I'm sure Mizzis Brady would decry this sort of thing "escalating the vilolence". Then again, I don't suppose she'd stop to think about the lives that had been SAVED by the teachers prompt action.

There it is.

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he then shot my friend's dad in the back and the two ******** took off.

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Thats murder. If a criminal is willing to break the law and murder someone, do you really think they wont break firearm laws ? However, if your friend's dad, or someone else on the lot, had a concealed carry permit, this incident could've been stopped. Unfortuantely, nobody there did, and since they were law abiding citizens, they didnt illegally carry firearms, making them vulnerable to illegally armed criminals

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so please dont think that guns shouldnt be regulated

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Regulating firearms will only affect those who follow the laws. Criminals commit crimes, and obtaining a firearm illegally is far from hard.

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try to do everything you can to make sure you, and the people around you are safe.

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The best way to protect yourself and make sure you are safe is to have a firearm.

two tears ago, my best friend's dad was shot and killed. the day before father's day. he was a car salesman, and went to work that morning, just like any other day. then, these two idots (there are many other words i would rather use...) decided they wanted to steal a car. so they took my friend's dad and his partner into the back, and told them to get on their knees. he then shot my friend's dad in the back and the two ******** took off.

i remember exactly what i did that day, what i was wearing, and how my mom told me. those next few days were literally a living hell. i stood by my friend along w/ many others, and we eventually got through it.

the reason i'm sharing my story is not so people could feel sorry for me (please dont) but so people can see what people with guns do to each other. so please dont think that guns shouldnt be regulated, or that they're the same thing as scisors, b/c they're not. i just want to ask everyone to please be careful of people w/ guns, especially if they shouldn't have one. try to do everything you can to make sure you, and the people around you are safe.

thanks for taking the time to read this

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But when the C was written people didn't own pistols and handguns

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Actually, they did, although more people owned rifles as they were the most EFFIECIENT weapon available at the time, just as pistols are currently effiecient weapons for home and self defense.

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They owned Rifles for hunting as well as safety

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Oh, and that little revolution thing

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Today no one honors the C and thats why all these KIDS are dying from gunshot wounds.

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You're getting a bit incoherent here, are we supposed to be bowing down to a piece of paper, would that magically help the 2 or 3 kids a year who die of ACCIDENTAL gunshot wounds ?

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I think guns should be banned until We The People know how to properly use them.

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First, who would determine that and be the autocrat to say that people dont know whats right ? That goes against the principles that our government was founded on.

Secondly, any ban of firearms will be innefective as such bamns have proven to be in countries such as Australia and Great Britain. Crimes rose in both countries, especially assaults and burglaries, as criminals had firearms, but law abiding citizens did not.

Think about it here. Law abiding good, everyday citizens follow the laws. Criminals commit crimes, they DONT follow laws. If a ban on firearms is enacted, Joe Schmoe the everday law abiding guy will go turn his in, but do you really think that criminals will suddenly renounce their ways and give away their most valuable tool, a tool that they will now be able to use against all of the citizens who no longer have any firearms. Laws only affect those who follow them.

In the Constitution it says "The People have the right to bare arms." Meaning we can have guns. But when the C was written people didn't own pistols and handguns. They owned Rifles for hunting as well as safety. Today no one honors the C and thats why all these KIDS are dying from gunshot wounds. I think guns should be banned until We The People know how to properly use them. And parents should talk to their kids about guns IF they are going to own one.

Bluman

22 times more likely •
That's how much more likely it is that a gun kept in the home will kill a family member or friend, instead of an intruder in self-defense.


Why is that statistic on there? I thought that was updated by the original creator to something like 2.5 times greater, as the original study included suicides in which firearms weren't even used, and some other ridiculous things.


Also, how come the statistics seem so anti gun? Why didn't you include the number of firearms uses in self defense each year? It is something around 2,000,000 per year, I last heard.



Oh, and, on the remedies for violence:

5. Guns -- don't have a license?

I'm not aware of many states that liscense owners of firearms, and the federal government sure as hell doesn't. Is this site geared towards the US? Do you mean some other kind of liscense?

"What I think they need to do is make more rules if school maybe have metel detecters at every door ans security at every door to the school."


That is an over-reaction. School shootings are
very rare for the amount of people who attend public school in the United States. That would be a huge waste of money. Hell, i'm not much on foreign aid, but, I would rather see that money go to foreign aid, and not trying to prevent something that will not happen, often, if at all in most schools.

That's like spending all of our resources on preventing the sun from dieing in however many years. Its a huge waste, and, not very practical or likely to happen soon.

I haven't read everything everyones has written here but, my feelings on the subject are this.

I don't think making more laws are going to help keep s away from teens. IF you want something you will always try your best to get it. What I think they need to do is make more rules if school maybe have metel detecters at every door ans security at every door to the school. Yeah, Students may not like that and the s are going to like it either but if people can't follow the little bit of rules we do have then we are going to have to make new and harder ones.

I hope you all understood that. Thnaks Jessie

Kids who accidently kill thier friends: Doesn't happen that often, somewhere around, on average of course, 350 kids a year. Out of 80 million legal private gun owners and over 200 million privately owned firearms, I'd say those numbers are pretty good.

And that small number can be solved with one word: EDUCATION.

If Johnny knows that if he plays with his fathers gun, his friends brain matter might get splattered over the back wall, he probably won't play with it. My father kept a 12-gauge in the pantry, it wasn't loaded, and I couldn't lift it. He told me about it, and that it was very dangerous, and that it could kill. I understood that. I wasn't curious because I KNEW what it did already. When i was strong enough to lift it, he didn't keep it in the pantry any more.
Guns are not inherently dangerous, only if a misinformed or deviant person is behind it.

How is a law going to stop a suicidal person from not going out in a violent way. Better yet, why do we have so many suicidal teens?

OK, clarification: I didn't mean fact. I meant opinion. It's my opinion that that is the only way it may be stopped. And I didn't hear an answer to the kids who play with guns and accidntally kill their friends.

There are so many things wrong with the last two reply's. It bothers me.

First of all, kids who bring weapons to school shouldn't be prosecuted that harshly. Weapons don't make kids commit crimes. ****, I find a pair of scissors more effective than my 4 inch blade knife I can open with one hand. I could easily murder someone with a pair of scissors. They look so harmless, and, "normal". Should we arrest and prosecute kids who bring scissors to school?

And, random scans would do nothing. Hardly any kids bring weapons to school anyways, unless its Crip High, or something like that.

"And criminals. Things like this need to be stopped. That can only come with harsher laws and rules. It's a fact."

I would like to see your evidence of such a thing. Crimes with firearms went up in England and Australia when guns were harshly restricted, as the normal civilian population was disarmed, and, criminals could get any firearms on the black market they wanted. While, Joe Average couldn't defend hismelf effectively against Bob Criminal.

"An armed society is a polite society."

"God created man, and Samual Colt made them equal."

I am not for banning guns simply because I know it will never happen in America. That's a sad reality (in my opinion). But we definitely need, at the least, stricter laws. Laws that will keep children from getting a gun and playing with it, accidentally killing their friends. Or suicidal teens taking a gun to school and killing others, or themselves. And criminals. Things like this need to be stopped. That can only come with harsher laws and rules. It's a fact. How else are we to keep children from killing each other? That's what bugs me the most about the gun issue. Kids find their parent's guns every day and are killed every day because of it. It's horrifying.

Some states are going about gun control very well - by imposing stiff sentences for unlicensed gun possession - and incredibly stiff sentences when that gun is used in the commission of a crime.

One answer to controlling guns in schools is extreme diligence. If anyone even thinks that someone is "carrying" a gun or knife, they should report it. The school should merely take that person aside, and do a non-intrusive "scan" with a metal detecting wand, and a "pat-down," the same as they do in airports. To make it "non-descriminatory," students should also be selected at random for the same type of scan.

If anyone is found with a gun or knife, they must be immediately and visibly removed from the school and arrested and charged.

First: DrStrangeLove, I completely agree with you. Great support.

Second: In my opinion, guns are only as dangerous as the person who owns one. Guns should stay legal, as long as the person that owns it doesn't intend to use it to harm another. No many people have mentioned tightening up the firearm laws. Instead of completely banning firearms, why can't stricter laws be enforced? Guns will always be available on the black market. There is no way they will be completely taken away.

I'm waiting to see if he tries.

I dont think he can, its an opinion that cant be justified in an argument, as he said himself. Registration and liscisencing again don't work and contribute to black market sales. A criminal isn't going to register his weapon, especially if he cant legally have it, and hes certainly not going to take a lisciensing test,when he can just go out to main street and get a pistol for 50 bucks.