Another school shooting..

[Bongholio]

man's got to know his limitations blows up hal holbrook

[Chic Freak]

You brits really loathe and fear personal responsibility dont you? I have a question, will you all be crying to your Government when the nutter islamic facists are killing you in the streets? This will be when exactly? I'm not meaning to be flippant, but that's a pretty out-there scenario. Your crime didnt go away when you disarmed the populace in England, in fact it went up. The common man cant defend himself anymore, thats what changed. Thats what your government wanted and you went along with. Welcome to slavery. Despite the common man being unable to shoot attackers, the UK still has one of the lowest homicide rates per 1000 people in the world. The continued ban on guns has also, so far, failed to result in a tyrannical government. By the way the majority of "gun deaths" in the USA are ... ding ding ding. Suicides. Thats right we still flag suicides as homicides. The majority of whats left happen in ghettos. Why does it happening in ghettos make it better/ not count so much? Ultimatly the purpose is so that we have some defense against the government if they turn tyranical and try to take away our other rights. The founders were smart to put that it in there. Otherwise we could end up like Britain wil be in a few years, with speech codes, and thought police and all. Again, this is a fairly fantastical hypothetical scenario. We have been without guns for a long time now, yet this has failed to happen. The difference between us and you is this: Your government allows you to do things. Our constituton allows our government to do things. Period. We keep and bare arms because, noone has a right to tell us we cant. NOONE. Get it yet? Of course. The concept doesn't seem too complicated. But doing something for the sake of it, just ebcause you CAN, despite the fact that it's dangerous, seems irresponsible to me. Not to mention that if all the government did was follow the same set of rules, there would be no need ofr different governments and voting. One group of people could follow the instructions and have done. Your government *does* have power over you, which is why voting is important (this is not a bad thing). And while our government has been trampling our rights for some time it isnt to the point yet where it needs to be thrown off and recreated. But at least at that time we will not be completely unarmed. try that in the UK, oh thats right you wont be able to. Your government has all the weapons... you all better be good little slaves now. There are other measures in place that prevent a government from becoming a tyranny. Not to mention that fact that um, we're not slaves in the UK If you don't like a law, you don't vote for that party next time. Luckily we are beyond a point where guns are a necessary household item. I suspect that America is also, but of course I could be wrong!

[Terran]

When I was away at college for two semesters my roomate kept a handgun in our room....with around 8 hollow point bullets .... I didnt really think twice about it, he was a lot less crazy than I was....

[Cody]

^^ Guns are everywhere. Go to New Orl and you have a 40% of finding atleast a hand gun laying on the side walk somewhere

[coma]

Despite the common man being unable to shoot attackers, the UK still has one of the lowest homicide rates per 1000 people in the world. Japan has almost total gun control and they had 6 gun murders , I think it was, last year. And almost all were yakuza related.

[Whistler]

And the vast majority of Muslims in Britain are decent enough people, just like the rest of us... The same can be said about gun-owners. Our community consists of regular everyday people who happen to be into firearms instead of cars, skydiving, coin-collecting, or zombie movies. We have doctors, lawyers, machinists, construction workers, teachers, professors, college students, mechanics, businessmen, etc... who are into the sport. The problem is the loud-mouth minority, who assume the image of majority, because they continue to shout the loudest and the most frequent with the most colourful canvas of wording ... And the sportshooting community is not immune from these sorts within its ranks just like any other group. It's unfortunate that those outside this sport and hobby label everyone within it as a gun-nut in a high-handed manner. Also, quit with the assumptions about British society... I agree. Most of the time, I can at least understand what the opposition is trying to get at. But with gun nuts I just can't. It doesn't many any sense. Any of it. Guns are not about freedom, stop saying it is. I agree with you Ned that just owning guns doesn't mean we're free. It's that the contract that guarantees our Liberty in the US stipulates that we have the right to own and make use of firearms if we wish, and by modifying that contract we begin to lose our freedom. If one part can be tinkered with then what's next? Freedom of speech? Indeed! There is no such thing as (true) freedom! Freedom in reality is nothing other than compromises generally for the benefit of the majority. I'm not going to make assumptions about how things are outside the US. The reason we have the Constitution is so "compromises" are not forced upon the minority by the majority. Freedom is not about guns, or about what you can or cannot get away with , it is an ideal; a state of mind, true UK is becoming more and more of a nanny state, but it does not make me any more free to hold a gun. Freedom is not about guns but our freedom includes "the right to bear arms". I'm assuming the UK is just as free as the US with the exception of gun ownership. It's probably not part of the groundwork of the Liberty guaranteed there. Different history, different culture. People with guns make mistakes, people with guns in the house are more likly to have an accident, i.e a child getting hold of and playing with the gun. Obviously. One is less likely to have a car accident if they're not in a car. Just like anything else in life a person needs to learn and practice being responsible and competent with anything they do so "accidents" don't happen. Life would really suck if people start doing away with things just because accidents might happen. Imagine having no fire because that first caveman thought that having it in his cave might cause a fiery accident. The idea that guns are linked to freedom IS BS. Freedom will and always will be a state of mind. At the end of the day if I am truly intent on holding a gun I will manage to get hold of one, just as if I am truly intent on creating some sort of weaponary I will be able to. This is my freedom and that cannot be controlled by any authority for the masses though it can be made difficult. Just as if I chose to walk out of my door at 2am, on a monday night I can do though the question is why would I want to, theres nothing to do. Nicely stated and I agree. If a criminal wishes to commit a crime no amount of laws and restrictions will stop them. It's insanity to let the actions of the criminal dictate what freedoms the honest man is allowed. To me having a gun decreases freedom because if I have one so does every other guy on the street and if everyone has one then we have fear and fear is destructive to this so called freedom. But then that is just my opinion "An armed society is a polite society." Unfortunately the bad guy will always be armed. You don't seriously believe that yourself? There's not a chance in hell that todays US citizens would use their guns for what they were originally intended for. Sho'nuff Brother Ned! I for one don't intend to use my guns to shoot anyone. Just imagine with all the guns out here in the hands of private citizens, the havoc it would cause if they were used as they originally were intended. Only bulls-eye shooting for me. Guns don't equal freedom. Freedom is not a god given right, and anyone who says so can go and join the Templars. Freedom is when you can live in a country and speak your mind and affect the ruling body. Guns don't come into the equation, stop trying to convince yourself that they do. God had nothing to do with if. If it did we wouldn't have felt the need to write up the Constitution. Good point. Also, let's not forget that if Guns are for everyone, so are nuclear bombs. Yet, I bet there's alot of gun nuts around here who wouldn't want Iran or North Korea to acquire them. Guns are not for everyone. The right to own firearms is provided equally to every US citizen. It is up to the individual to live up to the responsibilities that firearm ownership entails. Individuals who are too young, or have a criminal history, or are mentally unstable cannot bear those responsibilities so they will be incapable of exercising those rights. Everybody should be able to achieve freedom, but most certainly not everyone should be put next to a gun, there's countless people I'd rather not have a gun, so it's best that we're not running around with guns. Not everyone should. I wish most of our LEO's were like the one's in the UK. No guns for them. Or at least not until they are capable of placing every round into the same hole at 21ft. Our range looks like swiss cheese because of them. And the UK is a gun-free society, the countryside has many guns that are legally owned - I myself have been shot at by one of these legally owned shotguns by an enraged farmer, if he'd been closer I would have no doubt heard "get orf mah laaaand!!!" Why exactly were you on his land? "Stay away from my Daughtah!!" Got to love the sound of the form you have fill in when getting a gun where it's just a tick box you tick to admit if you've had any mental health problems... Now boy, that's a system based on trust. Not trust, just liability. It's like when my boss told me when he immigrated here as a youth. They ask "Do you use drugs?" on a form he had to fill out when he entered the country. He thought who the heck would admit to that? Now he realizes it was for reasons for liability. These topics are always great time-killers. Now back to the fiction section. Bye-bye.