Guns aren't the problem in the inner city. Gangs are the problem in the inner city. Gangster rap and incompetent black leaders (not mentioning any Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson names) who are more interested in blasting white people (Don Imus) than solving their own race's problems are the problems in the inner city. Guns are the instruments that they use to commit most of their violent acts, but just because there's violence there, should we instantly ban the law-abiding citizens from having the ability to defend themselves?
Australian and British policies not applying to America. Bull****. Australia and Canada both have strong gun hunting cultures - not quite so much here as in Canada and the US, but still, it's there. And claiming that the right to bear arms makes a difference, well, maybe it does, but that doesn't mean that all guns should be available to all people all the time, particularly since the text of your second ammendment makes reference to well regulated militias which simply do not exist under the current gun culture.
No, the policies are 100% different.
Despite the gun hunting cultures, American politics and history with guns are totally different than British and Australian histories with guns. Just look at American history and you can understand why there was a need for the average person to armed with a handgun or rifle: the lawless West, Natives, the Revolution, War of 1812... While times have changed, the needs haven't. There's still violent crime, and still a need for the average citizen to be protected against it. AFAIK, gangs and organized crime don't play nearly as high a role in Britain or Australia as they do in the US; again, I reference heterogeneity. Neighborhoods divided among Italians, Asians, and other minorities are the reason people need to defend themselves in the big cities.
See? American, British, and Australian histories are just too different to say "ok everybody drop your guns and let's fix this problem." To do that you'd have to do any of the following:
1) Fix the problem with heterogeneity.
2) Come ridiculously close to equality of condition for those in the inner city.
3) Ban guns outright.
4) Entirely close every border.
1 doesn't work for obvious reasons. You'd have to massively deport every minority in the country, commit genocide to get rid of them, or, over a very long period, breed them out. That's unplausible.
2 doesn't work because equality of condition is just impossible. Social Security is buggy; health care is far too expensive, and other social welfare programs are often cheated, corrupt, or ineffective. See: Social Security.
3 won't work because those who really want to commit a crime with a handgun will get them.
4 is impossible because you'd need every mile of border, land, sea, and air sealed off. Unless you want to build a forcefield to keep them out, that's just plain impossible.
So really, the only thing we can do to stop violence in the inner city is to promote better education and somewhat better conditions (not equal conditions, that's not possible). What needs to be done is fix the social ills, not increase bans. So yes, I agree with you, we do have bigger problems than guns. So let's focus on
those problems while in the meantime give our people ways to protect themselves.
And, if you're pissed about more civilized countries telling you how to run yours, well boohoo. If one guy calls you a dickhead, ignore him. If two guys call you a dickhead, start to wonder. If everyone calls you a dickhead, start wearing a condom instead of a raincoat, because you're probably a dickhead. Same with this. Everyone tells you you're doing something wrong because... you're doing it wrong!
Really? And who the hell are you to say what's right and what's not? I'll say it again: What's right for Australia and Europe aren't always what's right for the US. Different countries, different histories, different cultures. That's the exact reason there's failure in Iraq, why democracies don't flourish anywhere else in the world.
And please, please don't act like Western Europe and Australia are by any stretch of the imagination the bastions of enlightenment in the world... because, honestly, they're no better than the US.
Well the right to have and use guns should be banned and removed. If no one other then the police and apropriate gouvernment officials and structures would have guns it would be a hell of a lot harder for people to use guns to kill plunder houses etc.
And the government should
always be trusted to do the right thing. We can't cite a single moment throughout history where governments have repressed people who have had no ready access to something that gives them the ability to fight back.
