Should guns be banned?

[bman7]

Originally Posted by Nation

lmfao I can't believe this was actually my opinion

What's your opinion now?

[Nation]

- no ban on handguns and automatics
- the right to bear arms is very necessary, as it promotes effective self-defence and freedom
- focus on effective ways to make sure that guns get into the hands of responsible users

[Diggydug]

- the right to bear arms is very necessary, as it promotes effective self-defence and freedom

Yeah!

[Member]

I don't get the obsession of a lot of Americans with 'the right' the bear arms. It's a right to have them, but often a crime to use them.

Guns are just dangerous in the hands of irresponsible people. That doesn't mean that a full out ban would be the only solution though. Cars are very dangerous in the hands of irresponsible people too, so there are driver's licences. Why not have gun licences like there are driver's licences? People would follow some classes and if they pass an exam and a background check they would have the freedom to have a gun.

That being said, cars are a lot more necessary than guns, so I'd support a total gun ban, you don't need guns to feel safe when you live in a safe country like the USA.

[bman7]

Originally Posted by Member

I don't get the obsession of a lot of Americans with 'the right' the bear arms. It's a right to have them, but often a crime to use them.

The "obsession" comes from it being a right given in the constitution, which means it's a (virtually) permanent law. And there are not many places in the US where using a gun in self-defence is illegal.

Originally Posted by Member

Guns are just dangerous in the hands of irresponsible people. That doesn't mean that a full out ban would be the only solution though. Cars are very dangerous in the hands of irresponsible people too, so there are driver's licences. Why not have a gun licences like there are driver's licences? People would follow some classes and if they pass an exam and a background check they would have the freedom to have a gun.

There are already licenses and/or permits required to own a gun in some states.

Originally Posted by Member

That being said, cars are a lot more necessary than guns, so I'd support a total gun ban, you don't need guns to feel safe when you live in a safe country like the USA.

The thing is, the states that have some of the strictest gun laws, end up still having their share of mass shootings. It doesn't really do anything to stop them. If you want to get a gun and shoot a bunch of people, having to get one on the black market isn't going to be much of a deterrent. So in the end, by banning guns, you're only banning lawful people from owning them, which means now criminals are the only ones besides police officers to have them, which doesn't make anyone safer.

[Diggydug]

Idea: Learn about how important the Constitution is to the United States.
Idea 2: Learn about how important the Bill of Rights is to the United States.

[Member]

@Bman http://smartgunlaws.org/category/eff...s-of-gun-laws/ Past gun restrictions have been effective so there is some reason to assume that new gun restrictions would also be effective.

I guess the main thing my source neglects would be the amount of crimes stopped by self defense with guns, so here is a news article talking about it: http://theweek.com/articles/585837/t...ns-selfdefense. Self defense rarely happens, guns don't make you safer, they only make you feel safer.

@Diggydug Those documents have been extremely important to America, have inspired the rest of the world and were far ahead of their time. That doesn't mean that they are fully perfect now and that there never should be any (big) changes to the Constitution.

[Diggydug]

"Hey the document your country is based on is kind of dated, time to throw that trash out" - People like Member

It's not the US without the Bill of Rights and the Bill of Rights is basically the most sacred piece of the US government. To tamper with it would be insane.

The Constitution gets changes, so thank you foreign guy who doesn't know how the document works telling us it needs to change.
_________

The reality is, most people are cool with reasonable gun laws to avoid the loss of innocent life. It's when people set arbitrary rules to define what's dangerous that has no impact on actual crime that people get upset.

Back to your "cars require licenses" comparison which doesn't even work. You only need a license to operate a vehicle on public roads. A 13 year old can hop in any vehicle they choose and drive it around on private property all they want, to include private roads if the owner permits.
Vehicle licenses are also at the state level so requirements vary state-to-state on how you get one and what the license itself is actually useful for.

The reason people don't want to budge? People like Dianne Feinstein who take the slightest bit of gun control as an opening to go further.

If I could've gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an outright ban... Picking up every one of them; Mr. and Mrs. America turn 'em all in.

It's on par with taking away free speech, another right guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.

[Member]

So you are against (or justifying lots of people being against) effective (http://smartgunlaws.org/category/eff...s-of-gun-laws/) gun restrictions because when those pass the democrats now fighting for those laws might turn to fighting for more extreme laws?

Because that's in my opinion quite a bad reason to be against effective gun restrictions.

[Diggydug]

The issue is "effective" isn't a universally accepted term. It'd be wildly effective to just make guns illegal. Gun crime would decrease dramatically. To some people, that is effective.

I'm fine with reasonable gun laws such as background checks. I'm not fine with silly things like a ban on "assault weapons" where a remington .22 becomes an assault weapon because it's barrel is a certain length even though this weapon has never been used in a shooting.

Currently the fight is actually to ban mostly cosmetic things and magazine quantity, neither of which do anything to curb crime and fearmongering with terms like "assault weapon" is counter productive and shows a severe lack of understanding of firearms.