Originally posted by karajorma
However if guns are banned it becomes much harder for gangs of 15 years olds to get them.
Of course, but that's not the point. You can't simply and suddenly allow weapons to be legally carried on a society where they were banned previously - that's madness. To be honest, I'm not sure
how you'd go about making a change from weapons being banned to being allowed. All I know is that here, those 15-year olds, as well as their 9 year old sisters and 5 year old little brothers, see Daddy coming home from reserves once a year with a gun, and - if the parents are responsible - they are taught to "fear" (respect-fear, not scared-fear) weaponry out of their father's example.
Originally posted by Kalfireth
There's a subtle difference between keeping something in your home that can harm someone - and taking it to the movies with you, or to a club. Also - nowhere in the UK can kids get hold of a gun across the counter. If these things get issued without any kind of age limit or whatever on them - any fool could walk in off the street, get hold of one and put it to god knows what kind of use.
Here (again using Israel as the example I know best), you can't just "buy" a gun. You need to get a permit to carry one, which is government-issued. The government decides or whether you can have a gun based on a number of factors, among them I would assume are past army service record (which most of the population has), stated need for the gun (settlers living in the territories have a much greater chance of being permitted a gun, as their daily travels are in much higher danger of coming under direct attack than a Tel-Avivian), etc.
Originally posted by Drew
About childerent having guns. There have been multiple studies about childeren brought up with guns. Childerent who have fathers to instill in them a fear of guns and the proper use of guns, often never misuse them. Kids who just pick one up off the street are more likly to go and kill.
Took the words right out of my mouth.
Originally posted by aldo_14
( http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22us+gun+deaths%22 )
Multiple sources on this subject..... notably, look at both the murder statistics per-person (where the US has over 10 times the gun murders of England and Wales), and also the simple fact that over a thousand people die annually accidentally from gunfire.
http://www.guncite.com/cnngunde.htmlLast paragraph.... per 100,000 people:
US...14.24
Israel...2.91
England and Wales...0.41
And from here:
http://reason.com/cy/cy031802.shtml[q]Consider, too, countries where guns are common and crime is rare. Switzerland boasts a heavily armed population and a thriving gun culture (shooting contests for children are a popular tradition). Yet its homicide rates are comparable to Great Britain's. Israel, where most adults are either on active military duty or in the reserves and almost every home has a weapon, also has a low murder rate, on a par with most of Western Europe.[/q]
