FrigidSymphony wrote:
Yes, obviously stricter gun control would make it harder for people to get guns illegaly. And even white people shoot their guns off "by accident". Oops, thought he was a deer. DEA, you do have some rational fears, but when you start talking about guns ina positive way, i have to draw a line. that bit about guns not killing people counts as one of the biggest loads of bullshit i ever heard, right after "Saddam's getting uranium from africa" and "I thought he was a deer". Guns make it so much eaier for someone to momentarily lose his head and kill someone, for no reason at all. I mean, come on. You might end up shooting the wrong guy, or you might miss his knees, or you might shoot someone you thought was trying to hurt you and who was actually just telling you you dropped your keys. Do you really trust yourself to handle a gun correctly in a situation where you find yourself under pressure? I don't think so.
Gun DON'T kill people. Have you ever seen, or even heard of, an incident where a gun decided to kill someone with no help from a person at all? I haven't. Because it doesn't happen. For a gun to kill someone, a person must be actively operating it.
Your fear of guns in pretty irrational. To even get a permit to buy a gun, you have to be at least 18 (21 for some kinds). You can't have a criminal record (Which is why criminals do and still would buy their guns illegally). You can't be mentally incompetent. You also have to fill out all kinds of paperwork. They don't let just anybody buy a gun, you know. Most people who buy guns with the intent to shoot will probably take the time to practice with it at a shooting range. Guns are only bad in the hands of bad people...and those people aren't supposed to be able to get gun anyway.
I think a better way of cutting down on gun crimes would be to more harshly prosecute those found of having a gun illegally and also to have the police devote more efforts into tracking down people who are selling them illegally in areas where gun crimes are a problem. When charging the defendants with this sort of crime, offer them a plea bargain to give up the names and whereabouts of the person they bought it from or all the other people they sold to. Right now, police devote too much of their efforts to solving crimes and not preventing them. And eating donuts.
Banning guns isn't going to keep them out of the hands of criminals who want to use them. That's why they're criminals! They don't care about breaking the law! Banning guns for everyone doesn't change anything for the criminal. It's illegal to him either way. People selling the guns illegally are not just walking into a store and purchasing them, either, so it's not a question of keeping the dealers from buying them legally.
All banning guns would do is take away a citizen's means of defense, not to mention the deer population would skyrocket without hunters being allowed to shoot them. It doesn't help that many states have ridiculous laws about what you must do first before you can take a shot at someone who is attacking you.
And as for handling a gun correctly under pressure...well, I cannot say how well, I'd do. I certainly wouldn't shoot if there was a bystander who might get hurt. (Though a bystander ought to be running to get help and not standing around watching.) But you know, I trust myself to shoot the gun correctly more than I trust an attacker to back off and say "just kidding" and then let me go. And in my defense, I'm fortunate enough to be one of those people who is able to stay calm and think clearly in a bad situation. To be honest, I think I perform better under pressure. I very much doubt I would panic and just start shooting. I certainly would never pull a gun on anyone until I was certain danger was imminent...like if they were running towards me with a knife, or trying to force me into their car, or trying to tear my clothes off. You have must have very weird ideas about gun users if you think they'd be so quick to shoot someone who might just be saying they dropped their keys. :roll: