I hate how crazy our gun culture is in this country. A reporter actually asked Bill Bradley yesterday if he felt this situation would have been minimized if we allowed all citizens to carry concealed weapons. Because obviously some other student would have risen to the occasion and taken out this lunatic. Fortunately, Bradley said it was the craziest idea he had ever heard. Pro-gun folks always preach about how guns don't kill people, people kill people. But like you implied, guns EMBOLDEN those who are on the edge. You don't typically hear about guys like this driving their car through a crowded mall or going on stabbing sprees. Guns empower them enough to carry out these horrible, cowardly acts.
Very sad thing to happen. Parents do not send their children to be educated and for them to be killed. (flame suit on) Americas gun culture is crazy. There is no need for the regular civilian to carry guns. They are simply just not necessary. I look forward to the day when the President has enough sense to change the constitution. Until then, this kind of thing will continue to take place. Our Prime Minister made a ban on Semi-automatic weapons after the port Aurthur massacre in 96 when 36 people were killed including one of my dad's friends. Very good thing our PM did.
I heard that too. People were complaining that if students were allowed to carry weapons, this wouldn't have happened. First off, there is no NEED for a college student to carry a gun and second, i doubt any would have actually tried to take on the kid. There probably would have been MORE bloodshed
Amen to that. But as you say, the "Trigger happy's logic" seems hard to convince. Probably some of them watched too much of Inspector Harry, and almost each of them has a story of that cousin who luckily had a gun @ home to get rid of that weirdo trying to get in blablabla and finally that it's their right, and has always been so (funnily, Heroin and Cocaine used to be legal as well, and no one wonders why they aren't anymore, same for drunk driving or the absence of speed limits etc etc etc.) Lastly, i (and almost everybody does it daily...) always wondered how many people really deserved to have a driving license or a voting right, being way to dumb for either of those. I don't even want to imagine the very same guys with a gun in their hands.
Amen to that. But as you say, the "Trigger happy's logic" seems hard to convince. Probably some of them watched too much of Inspector Harry, and almost each of them has a story of that cousin who luckily had a gun @ home to get rid of that weirdo trying to get in blablabla and finally that it's their right, and has always been so (funnily, Heroin and Cocaine used to be legal as well, and no one wonders why they aren't anymore, same for drunk driving or the absence of speed limits etc etc etc.) Lastly, i (and almost everybody does it daily...) always wondered how many people really deserved to have a driving license or a voting right, being way to dumb for either of those. I don't even want to imagine the very same guys with a gun in their hands.
There's a lot of truth to your statements. Everyone outside the US can see this. Unfortunately here the right to bear arms is part of the constitution plus you've got the powerful NRA lobby and attack dogs that try to shoot down every attempt to instill some control. If you look at places that have more strict guidelines deaths by guns are minimal. It's a fact. Guns are part of this culture so you can almost expect these tragedies will occur and occur again.
I dont own a gun..never have...never will. Im also against guns being carried in everyday life in the name of 'protection'. IMHO that would only lead to more knee jerk shootings because lets face it..the average person is over-emotional in many situations. having said all that... if you think banning guns is going to stop insane people from killing you're being a bit naive. Most mass murderers are known to be quite bright and have a lot of conviction towards their 'mission'. They WILL devise bombs or other means of killing large numbers of people..and truthfully..if we push these people to bombs or chemicals..well, we'll probably see HIGHER death tolls in the future.
If you want to talk facts, then look at all of them. In EVERY state that has given citizens the right to carry weapons, crime rates have dropped significantly. Not once, not twice, but every singe time. When Australia implemented weapons bans, crime rates shot up. Coincidence? I think not. We don't need useless gun control laws in the US.
No offense, but your version of the average person is quite different than mine. IMHO, it's not the actual use of a firearm for protection that prevents a lot of crime. It's the possibility that a potential victim could be armed that deters criminals. Take away that possibility and you've given criminals a lot more confidence that they can successfully attack people.
Do you have any actual experience living in the US, or are you basing your entire argument on what you see in the media? Honestly, it sounds like you're the one that's been watching too much TV.
That's all the problem, you need to actually make sure you got your hands on as many guns as possible when putting such a ban into effect. Lastly, i doubt your statistic very much simply because again, it's not some ciminal that is the most likely to shoot you down, but your brother/uncle/wife whatever. So of course if you admit that 'hey, i shot him in the face because he tried/wanted to shoot at me' doesn't count as a crime (and punishing a "criminal" has never been a crime, right ?), then you could be right pal...
In fact i've spent quite some time in the states, but not in the flyover states, where i have no experience at all, to be honest. But in all that, i haven't heard any argument why it would be better to have a gun -or to avoid hijacking the thread- how it would have helped if weapons were easy to buy (since they already were) vs. how it would have helped if no firearm was easy to buy in the Va. shooting.
No offense taken I quote George Carlin... "Just think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize half of them are even stupider"
I love that quote! We're all in different environments, so I realize that my version of average is just that...my version. Different views make the conversation around here much more interesting.
You can doubt my statistics all you want, but the fact remains that they are statistics because they are verified. Don't believe me, take the time to look them up for yourself. And while you're at it, go ahead and find me some proof that gun control works. As we like to say over here in the wild, wild west, the proof is in the pudding!
I agree, and it's not so much over-emotional. It's the fact that almost all people react on Emotion rather than Thought.
Excuse my ignorance, but who is the Phelps family? The only Phelps I know of is Michael Phelps, the Olympic swimmer.
This catastrophe all comes down to the fact guns are so readily and easily obtained with the US. Some say that if the students and campus guards had guns then the disaster wouldnt have been as severe. I think it would have been worse. Take the press pictures seen, the cop pinning down the asian guy, fair enough because maybe they heard it was an asian gunman however if this student had fled understandably as he was scared, he would probably have been shot, a similar case to the Mendez case referring to the London bombings. Also take the fact that F-chat members assumed that this Wayne guy was the shooter, before we know it the world thinks this guy is the killer and he is receiving death threats. The campus would have been far worse of a bloodshed if guns were allowed, far worse and i think we would have seen a hell of a lot of guards being sued for negligence. The US needs to get real about its gun laws and wake up. Otherwise its just going to get worse and worse. That fandan Saddam wasnt allowed to slaughter anymore but the US lets its young walk into gun stores to buy guns and kill their own. F*CKED UP! Only a matter of time i say before guns are ruled out, how long that will be i do not know but something i do know is there will be far more and probably worse massacres than this to come in the US
The US is different than the UK. You just can't ban guns and say all is well. We're connected to Canada from the north and Mexico from the south, which is connected to the rest of Central America and South America. Guns are readily available in these countries. It isn't like Scotland, Ireland, France, Norway, etc, close to UK where guns aren't as abundant as in South and Central American countries with drug cartels, guerrillas, and lots of gun production. If someone wants guns in the US, they can easily get them, illegally. Banning guns will only take them out of the hands of law abiding citizens. You want 300kg of cocaine? Fine, not a problem at all. Get yourself a Cessna and fly under the radar hopping through the Bahamas til you hit the US. Getting illegal things into the US is MUCH easier than the UK so banning them won't stop it as much as it would elsewhere. It probably wouldn't have taken more than a week for that VT student to find a gun illegally here in the US if guns were banned from being legally sold. It only would've delayed the time of the shooting.
