you say "Children are killed everyday in this country because parents do not keep their weapons secure."... so, guns are not killing people, bad parenting is. I've seen the bumper sticker in the states over and over "guns don't kill people, PEOPLE do." you say that you don't want guns getting into the hands of criminals, but, as has been said here quite a few times, criminals will get guns, no matter how tight gun control is, black market guns will always be out there.
Agreed that a gun is useless unless you are prepared to pull the trigger, and perhaps a course should go with it, just like a driving test, and if the person realises that they could not actually pull the trigger, they should not have a gun.
I just find it sad that, in a country where guns ARE available with permits, people who choose not to protect themselves are victims.
To get a permit, you have to provide a police record, it must be clean, in some states, you go through basic psych testing, meaning, generally, criminals, and those likely to want to do harm will be screened out
Though I live in Washington DC, I am originally from Texas. Guns are a curse on our society. Children are killed everyday in this country because parents do not keep their weapons secure. I think that they should be held accountable under the law for these senseless deaths. Washington DC had strict gun laws until the U.S. Congress decided that we also had a right to carry guns. Our city is violent enough without putting guns into the hands of criminals and stupid people. A gun will not protect you if you are not willing to pull the trigger. So many people had been killed by their own guns when they were attacked because they wouldn't pull the trigger. No ordinary citizen needs to have an automatic weapon to protect themselves or go hunting. This liberal is very anti-gun.
Carol, the young girl that shot the robber was not criminalized, she got away with it, and if her parents were mentally healthy, they would have praised her, and called her a hero to help her deal with any guilt issues when she was growing up. In saying that, if her parents were mentally healthy they would not leave two young children in the house, with only a gun to supervise them.
Look at switzerland. If you know a house is armed, and homing people who know how to use those weapons... would you break into it?? Hell no.
As for concealed carry... if ONE person in the cinema in the shooting last week was carrying a gun with a concealed carry permit, they could have stopped everything before it started... unfortunately, the cinema was in a "gun free" part of town, and law abiding citizens tend to abide by the law... people intending on carrying out shootings .... well, they tend to disregard the law.
My opinion on what happened in that situation is a little "out there", so I won't type it here, only to be battered with mass ridicule, judgement, and a small pinch of venom for good measure (usually what happens on here), but I will say that a killing spree like this one is NOT the way to measure whether people should have the right to bear arms, or not.
Abigail, there are plenty of security companies that will monitor your home and will call the police or fire department if they detect a problem. There are some companies that will even dispatch a security guard to check on you but, whether that security guard can get to you faster than the police depends on a lot of things. (A neighbor of mine once accidentally set of his home’s alarm. In less than two minutes there were three police cars outside of his home and a helicopter overhead. Of course, location had a lot to do with this quick response.)
I will admit that the “armed response” signs are not something I have seen in Texas unless that “armed response” is referring to the homeowner. A security guard is not the same as a peace officer/law enforcement officer and have limited legal enforcement powers. I am not sure how much an armed security guard would be able to do if confronted by a criminal on someone’s property: the criminals know there is not much a security guard can do to them. And then you get into the liability issues which are another headache (for the victim, the security guard and security company): it is not unheard of for criminals breaking into a home to sue the homeowner when something goes wrong (and one more reason homeowners are told shoot to kill).
Some communities do hire security companies to patrol their neighborhoods but these are usually more affluent neighborhoods. The ones with bigger budgets will include off duty police officers in their ranks since even an off duty peace officer has greater legal enforcement powers than your average security guard. Apartment complexes will offer apartments to police officers at a discounted rate with the understanding that they can call on the resident peace officer if his help is needed. (Just having the peace officer’s squad parked in a prominent spot helps to deter crime.)
Neighborhood watch programs are also popular. In this case, residents will volunteer to patrol the neighborhood. In most cases, all these residents can do is call the police if they see a problem or someone suspicious. These programs also have their problems as we saw earlier this year when a teen was shot and killed by a volunteer patrolling his neighborhood in Florida.
As far as the glamorization of crime, yes, the USA is not alone in this. But you have to admit that no one else produces a greater amount of content (I am referring to movies, TV shows and the music industry) glamorizing this lifestyle. This is a country where a woman’s bare breast appeared on TV for less than a second but caused both the Senate and House of Representatives to come up with new decency legislation to make sure young minds are not corrupted. Yet, no action is taken against content depicting violence, drugs and prospering off of these criminal activities. There are some shows that are so violent or gruesome that I can’t stomach to watch. Yet, there are plenty of kids that are so desensitized that they have no problems watching this. (Of course, we can’t expect others to raise our kids. Parents need to do their part, too.)
Zoe, Uk police are not armed...only specially trained police...the vast majority are unarmed. And whilst its obviously the criminals that cause the problems...someone has already evidenced what happened when a young girl was in a house with a younger sibling..and she shot someone who broke in....these incidences criminalise the innocent...and for any young person...killing anyone at a young age has huge implications later in life...countries like the UK...where guns are not commonly available...and the police dont automatically carry them...have much lower gun crime..what do you think would happen if we lifted the ban on guns and allowed citizens pretty free access like the states? bet you anything gun crime would increase hugely and quickly.....its never a forward step for any civilised country to allow guns..or to have captial punishment...we dont live in biblical times and should be aiming for better solutions...not an eye for an eye
Houston has more than 5000 police officers including 5 police helicopters (and that does not include the sheriff’s department, Metro transit police, university and school district police officers- all can legally arrest you and even cite you for speeding). It may sound like a lot but consider the size of Houston: it takes an hour to drive across it and that is driving on an interstate highway at 55mph/88kph). You can’t expect police to be everywhere. And let’s not forget that in Texas it is frowned upon not to help when you see someone in need – “that’s not very neighborly” goes the expression.
Although in Texas some people will think twice about doing something stupid for fear that the other person may be armed, you are correct in that I don’t think arms promote safety. Having said that, I don’t think banning guns is the answer. I think the problem is more complicated than just saying no to guns. If we are talking about crime in general, we have not banned knives but plenty of people are getting robbed and killed by them.
I am with Zoe: you cannot just focus on guns but have to deal with drugs, gangs, guns and even popular culture in general (I am referring to the glamorization of crime in music, TV shows and movies). When you consider that the USA spends something like $70 billion a year with the corrections business, I don’t think the USA will get serious about tackling this problem any time soon (too many politicians depend on that money for their districts).
As far as crime in France, yes, there is plenty of crime in France. But, it is still nothing like in the USA. As I hinted at before, look at crime in a city like Detroit, Atlanta or Houston and you will see that they rival France.
I agree.People assume "gun laws" will stop crime... buts let's hear more on how exactly criminals like to abide by the law???
I grew up in a country where even the police force are not armed. No guns, only for special units,like a rapid response team for armed robberies and high ranking detectives in divisions that might attract assasination attempts.
In saying that, gun crime is high, and in the city I grew up in, (Limerick), there are times when there have been literally a shooting a day, for weeks on end. These people didn't buy their guns legally, and hold no permits. Let's stop focusing on gun LAWS, and start focusing on drug, gang, and gun culture.
I wish some one mass kill spree some of Dutch and Belgian caravaners I can’t go more than a couple of hundred metres before I am stuck in another traffic jam caused by them ambling along at 20 Klms a hour…where can I buy that Kalashnikov …
In response to Abigail’s remark “we never hear about the rapist, the burglar, or the outlaw being shot”. You don’t hear about this in Europe or even at the national news in the USA because it happens so often. Tune in to the news in a city like Houston and chances are you will hear about this several times per week. Once incident I will never forget took place several years ago: a routine traffic stop turned into a gunfight on Houston’s streets. The police officer was outnumbered and outgunned and backup was nowhere in sight. Civilians pulled out their weapons and provided backup for the officer.
I have spent a lot of time in Texas and still visit often. At this time of the year you can find gun shows in a city like Houston almost every weekend. These are huge shows where just about any weapon you can think of is on sale including AR-15s (civilian version of the M-16), AK-47s and smaller weapons for attending church on Sunday. (I had a friend who attended a class to get his concealed weapon permit and the instructor presented his various guns which included one he considered his favorite for church. Some people don’t feel safe even at church.)
I have plenty of friends that own small arsenals (maybe 20 or more guns). These are not what you would consider “rednecks”, either. These are accountants, IT professionals, engineers, conservatives, liberals, etc. Some of them are collectors but quite a few have them for their defense: maybe they are worried someone will break in or that the country is going to hell because someone they don’t like has been elected. I once had a friend leave a gathering early because of bad weather. He lives in a good neighborhood but he wanted to get ready: he was going to “hunker down” with food and weapons in case someone tried to break in when the power went out. Sounds odd but I hear this sort of thing often.
When I watch the news in France I am amazed by what crime makes it to the national news: a lot of this would barely make it to the local news in major USA cities like Houston, Dallas, Chicago, Miami or New York. I am not surprised so many people own guns in the USA given all the crimes reported in the local news. (I never owned a gun while I lived in the USA but my home for many years was a high rise with very tight security.) When my friends ask why I don’t move my family to the States all I have to do is ask them if they watch the news (especially about crimes against children).
These mass killings are horrific no matter where they occur. But, the stark truth is the US has many more deaths by gun proportionate to the population than any other so-called civilized country. No other explanation for this statistic makes sense than the easy access to semi-automatic and automatic weapons along with arsenals of ammunition, 6,000 rounds in the Colorado incident. Not crazy about hunting Bambi but I don’t oppose hunting rifles if properly registered and stored. The US has gone so far beyond hunting and self-defense justfications that I don’t think the gun culture and the NRA can ever be reigned in.
I tend to agree with Abagail about the media's stance on killing sprees in the USQ.
In saying that, war/arms is one of the most profitable businesses in the US, and is in some way "protected", just like agri-chem, and big pharma.
No news carrier is plastering the Anaheim police shooting charades all over the place. when a whole police department shoot handcuffed unarmed citizens, shoot rubber bullets and beanbags at people having a family day out, and unleash an attack dog into a group of women and children, it is not news at all.
Abigail, I'm not sure where you do your reading but I read a lot of stories of rapist, burglars, muggers, etc. being shot. Recently a young girl was with her younger sibling in a house by herself when two guys were breaking in. She was on the phone to the 911 emergency center and with a gun in the other hand. She asked if she should shoot them. The 911 operator said she couldn't tell her to kill anyone but she should do whatever she felt necessary to protect herself and her sister. She did shoot and kill the guy when they finally got into the house and the other one ran away but was arrested later. She was not charged because it was clearly self defense.
Another case was an Asian foreigner in the US who shot a kid who in a group of kids knocking on doors on Halloween Trick or Treating. The Asian was charged because he shot through the door without ever seeing who was outside. Unfortunately, he didn't know about Halloween and thought the kids were trying to break into his house. If you want to read a book about what can happen to an entire family when cirminals come, read Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood".
I once saw a funny statement that had a grain of truth in it. It said; "a lot of people are still alive today only because it's illegal to kill". I'm sure we've all said "I'd love to kill that SOB" although we never meant it literally.
Natalie, I grew up in northern Ohio but when I went to college at Ohio University in SE Ohio on the border with Kentucky and W. Virginia, I saw that even Ohioans could be red necks hillbillies. Once my career took me to live in countries like Mexico and Brazil, when I came home I could see how rude and crude my fellow Americans were in the manners. I suppose I was the same way until I lived in more polite societies.
When we talk about the number of killings by guns in the US we have to remember that the population of the US is about the same as the whole of the EU so let's not compare any one EU country to the US. Having said that, one killing is too much as far as I'm concerned. When I hear about mass killings anywhere, it sickens me.
Switzerland's distribution of military weapons to the military age men and women cannot be used to excuse the private acquisition of guns in the US. It happens rarely that a Swiss kills someone in anger with his military weapon. It happened once that I remember in the ten years I worked at the UN in Geneva.
The NRA should be listed as a terrorist organization. The collect money to bribe the worthless congress people. We have a very corrupt government, I'm sad to say. I'm glad I'm here and I'm never going back.
People are killed by cars, tobacco, alcohol and a whole host of other things - none designed to kill. Guns are designed for the specific purpose of killing. It is not the gun or the car that kills people it is the lunatic using them. It is people that need controlling. More stringent checks required. The right to bear arms in the US Constitution says nothing about automatic combat rifles etc - perhaps that needs amending. Norway, Israel Switzerland and many other countries REQUIRE their citizens to be armed - surely that is an outdated requirement in the 21st Century.
But guns for personal protection ARE sold here! They are meant to be non lethal & fire rubber bullets. A neighbour had a rifle that fires flechettes - a small shotgun type round expelling small bits of razor blades, no license required. Hunters can have quite an assortment of high power weapons at home, too, & there are the gun clubs...
You don't have to obtain a gun legally to go on a rampage, in fact I would bet that most firearm crime is committed with illegal guns. If you have registered your gun & committed a crime with it the police at least have a starting point.