egbert wrote:Gallstones wrote:
I have three rifles.
Many of the people I know have many rifles and some handguns.
My rifles never speak to me and try to convince me to take them out and shoot someone.
No wisdom or self awareness needed. Just common sense.
Perhaps Brits lack common sense?
At one time, I had a S&W revolver and several long guns. I'm not a hunter - one experience of seeing a beautiful living animal become an agonized writhing bloodied mess was enough to cure me of the "sport" forever. If I had to kill my own meat, I'd be a vegetarian.
Anybody who eats meat should be required to kill and prepare it at least once. Those who don't should be REQUIRED to eat nothing but vegetables. Meat should be reserved for humans, not sheeple.
The guns were acquired as interesting collectibles, and, I suppose somewhat of a sense of power and privilege in owning them.
Only the revolver needed to be registered, but then along came long gun control legislation, and, rather than face the expense and hassle, I sold them.
Frankly, it was a relief to be rid of them - just more belongings to store, look after, worry about, and I felt more at ease knowing they weren't there to be used in the heat of the moment. As far as the self defense notion, if intruders burst in, what are the chances I could access a gun in time anyway?
Zero, in the UK. Approaching 100 percent in my house.
There is that ever so tiny thought that it's dangerous for citizens to be unarmed, because they cannot fight back against an oppressive government. But, in reality, what are the odds of that, at least in N. America, unless you're a Ruby Ridge right wing nut.
The odds are actually quite high, as demonstrated by the existence of despotic tyranny in most places where the citizenry are not armed, and the lack of despotic tyranny in the places where the citizenry are armed, specifically the United States and Switzerland.
The purpose of an armed citizenry is, in part, to discourage tyrants from even attempting despotism, and it works remarkably well when it's allowed to function as the Founders intended. Even our current wannabee tyrant, Barack Obama, is treading very, very carefully when it comes to gun control, because it's the one thing that crossed political parties in the US. Even many run-of-the-mill Democrats and liberals despise gun-banning politicians.
It's all fine and dandy to think you're a responsible person, BUT, as this country has seen in far too many cases, a moment of carelessness, a curious child comes across an improperly stored weapon, a domestic dispute, alcohol, mental illness, a long held grievance at work, and, next thing, you have dead children, innocent university students slaughtered, co-workers massacred, families wiped out.
Actually, the instances of accidental gun deaths are becoming more uncommon every year, thanks to the NRA's efforts. Most gun accidents happen because people are NOT educated in gun safety and marksmanship, particularly children. Yes, there are accidents, rarely, and domestic disputes and other instances of criminal behavior, but balanced against those are the up to two million times per year that firearms are lawfully used to prevent crime and injury by law-abiding citizens.
The unintended, and largely ignored consequences of banning guns is that each of those up to two million people would become a victim of violent crime if guns were banned in order to try (not succeed) in preventing either accidental or intentional gun injuries. That's why concealed carry is becoming MORE widespread in the US rather than LESS widespread. Governments are bowing to the will of the people and their rights, and to their need for self defense, and to the fact that more guns equals less crime, and therefore less injury and death as a whole.
Better to make access to firearms difficult. The one thing that pisses me off is that access to firearms doesn't seem to have gotten any more difficult for the criminal element.
There's a simple reason for that: Criminals don't obey gun control laws, or gun bans, even in the UK or Japan. If they want a gun, they will get one, or the will make one.
Gun control laws only disarm the law-abiding, making them helpless victims of armed criminals, who may be armed with any of a million other types of deadly weapons not including firearms, but which a firearm would be the appropriate and effective defense against.
"Seth is Grandmaster Zen Troll who trains his victims to troll themselves every time they think of him" Robert_S
"All that is required for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." Edmund Burke
"Those who support denying anyone the right to keep and bear arms for personal defense are fully complicit in every crime that might have been prevented had the victim been effectively armed." Seth
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