Lord Larehip

The self-defense argument has never impressed me. You are more likely to shoot yourself or a family member by accident or during an argument than you ever are to kill a burglar or intruder. In fact, you are 43 time more likely according to a study by the New England Journal of Medicine.

I was going to bring up the case I read back in the 90s about the couple who came home while their daughter was supposed to be sleeping at a friend's house the night before Halloween. The house appeared to have been entered. They called out and no one answered. Common sense says you call the cops. No, this guy believed all that malarkey that you can't depend on the police and must defend your castle yourself so he grabbed his handgun and did a room by room search. When he walked past a certain closet door, it sprang open and the man fired at the figure jumping towards him. It was his daughter who was trying the scare him for Halloween. She had forgotten something so she returned home to get it while her parents were out. While she was there, the parents returned home so she hid in a closet to give them a BOO! She was shot in the neck but still conscious. In the hospital, she regained consciousness briefly and saw her father weeping over her. She whispered, "I love you, daddy" and those were her last words.

When I tried to find this story online, I typed "Man shoots daughter he mistook for intruder" and--holy f-uck! These are tons of these stories starting from 2013 and going back year by year by year!

Dr_Rez

Lol it has never impressed you? Yes, the opportunity to defend myself and family is pretty unimpressive......... Because one guy hasnt spent time practicing and I have I shouldnt be allowed to do so? Great citing of actual sources.

lol at your logic

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Lord Larehip

Do it yourself, I got the 43 figure right off the internet. You think I made it up? Look it up and take your pick of your source so I don't have to hear how I cherry-picked the data.

butthead aka 216

what do u mean it doesnt impress you?? you dont think someone should be able to defend themselves?

and i will say that your stat you gave is really misleading.

usage of guns in self defense stats range from 65,000 per year to 2.5 million per year. (gun control lefties use the smaller number, NRA righties use the high number).

from numbes ive found, about 3800 ppl died from accidental gun death in a 5 year span.


so:

1 year: 65,000-2.5million guns used in self defense
5 years: 3800 accidental deaths


so i cant overstate how misleading your stats are

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GuitarBizarre

I'd really love to go statistical here, and point out comparison figures and whathaveyou (For example, your gun crime rates being 90 times ours, per capita), but I'm having a very difficult time getting statistics on how many knife crimes ACTUALLY HAPPEN in the USA. I've googled for 20 minutes and can't find the US equivalents of the following data:



Total Non-Homicidal Knife Crime in UK: 29,320 incidents 2012
Total Knife Crime In UK (Including Homicide): 29,513 Incidents 2012.

UK Population 2012 - 63.7 Million

Knife Crime Per Capita UK 2012 - 0.0004633124





If you have any idea where I could look for the US figures regards the above, that'd be great, but I can only actually find numbers for total violent crime, and those numbers come with disclaimers like this:

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John Wilkes Booth

Just out of curiosity, how would you fix gun laws?

I'm honestly undecided on this issue since I don't believe it's practical to try to disarm the American public, since as you have pointed out we're already armed to the teeth. Yet I think a good number of 2nd amendment advocates are delusional in promoting the dogma that a successful restriction of access to guns wouldn't drop the murder rate.

For me, it's a practical question. Is it possible to drastically reduce the access to both legal and illegal guns at this point in the game? I think if we could achieve the type of absence of guns that exists in England, the murder rate would drop drastically. It's just a matter of whether or not that is a feasible goal.

GuitarBizarre

I'd also like to state - If as a country you get to a point where taking away lethal weapons from your citizens would cause a civil war, you ****ed up a long, long, LONG time before you decided to take them away.

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butthead aka 216

im operatin on the belief that isnt feasible or realistic. at this point in the game there are too many guns in circulation to ever get this country to the level of other countries in terms of gun ownership.

i also dont think its black and white. i truly honestly just dont even comprehend the ppl that think i shouldnt be allowed to own a gun. theres likely a lot of undecided gun owners out there who will likely never use a gun or have to use one to defend themself. i hope i dont have to either but i feel secure knowin that i have that option.

one thing that interest me is how when it comes to gun laws, each state can be very different. hell even cities can be different. the laws for philly are different than the laws where i live in pittsburgh

and guitar that would happen if the government just said 'ok guys everyone turn in your guns or face punishment' and we as citizens would have every right to fight somethin so stupid and we would. not that i think the government would ever do that tho

djchameleon

There are a few loopholes that need to be closed like the ones about being able to purchase at gun shows without background checks, etc. I pretty much agree with you but that's one of the few things that can be done. Also potentially having required updated checks annually and mandatory safety courses about using a firearm. Just a few things I thought of and I'm sure there are more little things we can do here and there.

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John Wilkes Booth

I agree about the gun shows.

I also think there should be measures to regulate the sales of guns by private owners, to make it harder for criminals to get their hands on guns. I think that any personal gun sales should have to be mediated through a third party that verifies the buyer is legally allowed to the buy the gun. There should also be laws in place that state any theft in guns must immediately be reported to the police, and anyone who fails to do so should be subject to prosecution.

I also think that ammo should be more regulated. Obviously it's not feasible to have a background check every time someone purchases a box of bullets. But there should be a form of ID that does require a background check to obtain and renew which would be used for each purchase of ammo.

Also, to me there are just certain weapons/items which practically speaking aren't worth letting people buy. I don't see why people really need AR-15's or tactical shotguns for home defense or hunting. I can't imagine why any law abiding citizen would need tear gas grenades or body armor. Etc.