251–260 of 389 posts
Now that this has been shown to be a false alarm, we can relax with some unintentional humor from the beloved Department of Homeland Security: http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/active_shooter_poster.pdf This is a real thing.
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Given the massive mismatch of firepower, training and numbers between the government and the very best armed/trained groups within the civilian population I have trouble believing that anyone can still make this argument at any intellectual level.
How do revolutions happen even in countries without mass individual gun ownership then? Remember that we're not talking about merely an insurgency here, we're talking about an insurgency with massive popular support, against a government that has turned tyrannical. In such a situation there is no technological or firepower advantage that guarantees victory to the state, even nuclear weapons. There are always points o…
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Yeah, the amazing thing about this gun debate is that, given the drug war, I'm all prepared to punt on prohibition of anything not being worth it... And then I listen to your average pro-gun advocate. Holy shit. Ok, I want everyone except for the average pro-gun advocate to be able to buy a gun.
I expect the people you're referring to are anything but average pro-gun advocates. I (a staunch pro-gun advocate) interact with a lot of gun owners and "pro gun people". And I can say that the vast majority are calm, reasonable, level-headed and logical. Certainly as much so, if not more so, than the rabid anti-gunners. They also tend to be better informed in my experience. Are there some really kooky people out the…
Good that the man was not found there(in a sense that no one was harmed). I still would like to understand few things. Of course I shall not be able to understand how it feels to have a gun when you want it(and afterwards take a decision on how to use it. To defend yourself or flash in malls or kill children for fun or out of depression) as I live in a country where having fire-arms is either a luxury for powerful an…
The police are not always capable of helping you when you need them. The oft-quoted saying is "when seconds count the police are minutes away", and it is very, very true. Guns used in lawful self-defense, which often involves nothing more than drawing the gun causing the attacker to flee the scene, stop an incredible amount of crimes every day. More so, the reason that gun rights are so fundamental in the US is that…
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(I'll answer in the most crude general terms without aiming for nuance just to give you an idea of the culture here. Of course the reality is much more detailed than I can describe in a few paragraphs and what I say is only true to the coarsest approximation.) UK residents are simply not afraid of being shot, because there are so few firearms. Armed robberies (with guns and with other weapons) do happen and as I unde…
This lack of fear is interesting, because Britain's violent crime rate is higher than the US. "Swann noted that in the UK, there are 2,034 violent crimes per 100,000 people. By contrast, there are 466 violent crimes per 100,000 here in America." - http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2013/01/10/fox-af... (I couldn't find a list of countries on Wikipedia sorted by violent crime, only by intentional homicide, so…
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Even when such crimes cause outrage, civilian gun ownership is never suggested as a means of reducing the crime rate. I wouldn't say "never". http://www.armbritain.com/forum/index.php
A pithy response, but could you flesh it out more? In particular, are you suggesting that this organisation has any sort of substantial following? If you make your claim explicit I can disabuse you of any misconceptions you maybe carrying.
In particular, are you suggesting that this organisation has any sort of substantial following?
I have no idea, but that's hardly the point. If they had even one member, it shows that private gun ownership is, indeed, sometimes suggested.
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Except that violent crime in America has actually been decreasing steadily since the 90s: http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/29/justice/us-violent-crime http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_the_United_States Weird that we have we're getting more fearful and selfish, and more and more violent, and yet violent crime is going down. (Weird how these finger in the wind takes of the zeitgeist work...)
You can thank the media for that. Its not that the violence is increasing. As you say, it is the opposite in fact. But the amount we HEAR about violence is skyrocketing. So everyone, do yourselves a favor; STOP WATCHING THE NEWS! Stop reading it! It doesn't benefit you. Take it from a recovering news junkie. You won't miss it. You won't feel less informed. The important stuff will always make it to your eyes and ears…
I stopped watching the news several years ago and have been better off. I recently turned it back on to watch the coverage of Newtown because guns are an important issue to me, and it was a shock - the deafening, negative stupidity blaring out of every conceivable pit was overwhelming after years of only reading news, and doing so selectively.
If you watch a lot of news, especially cable news, give it a try. Just for a month. See if you don't feel better about everything.
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And the problem with that is that it's not that simple as Iraq and Afghanistan has taught us. Guns, of course, are only part of the equation, but I'm pretty sure both wars would have looked a lot different had the population been generally unarmed. Also, the evacuation of the jews of nazi Germany would have looked a lot different had the jews been armed.
The Nazis overran nation states with mobilized armies. A small segment of the populace with guns would have been irrelevant.
I'll start by saying we do not have a gun problem in this country. We have a people problem. Speaking of people problems, I started reading these comments in hope of finding a different attitude than what I have been hearing around the topic of gun control lately. To me, HackerNews has usually been a place with more educated and informed comments but I didn't really find that here. I'm still finding misinformed peopl…
By giving guns away to everyone, you actually force criminals to carry weapons. You encourage them to shoot house owners on sight, because if they do not they might be shot themselves.
I do not have a gun license and i don't need a gun. Guns kill people, and nobody wants that.
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I can tell you without a doubt that I do not live in fear. Carrying a gun simply lets me go about my day knowing that I am equipped to handle an unpleasant or potentially deadly situation should I have to. Where do you live that you believe you will never fall victim to a crime? Are there no bad people where you live? There are a lot of great people where I live in a very affluent and safe environment but I'm not nai…
I live in a country where less than 7 people in every 100 owns a gun and where there are less than 50 homicides per year due to firearms. You live in a country where 88 out of every 100 citizens owns a gun and with less than 5% of the world's population, you are home to roughly 35–50 per cent of the world's civilian-owned guns. [1] You have a cultural problem that other countries simply do not have - more guns do not…