+1, my sentiment exactly. Sadly I stupidly assumed that most of the US public would prefer a gun-free society but now I seriously believe that even if they were offered a complete gun free environment (including the Criminals, hypothetically) they wouldn't take it.SharkyMcshark wrote:
This is how it is. Gun control wont work in the USA imo. This is because the ownership of firearms is so deeply rooted in their culture that there would be a revolution pretty much if people tried to restrict things enough to lower the levels of guns violence. This means the only way to makes things safer is to go in the opposite direction.
Sure, hell, give everyone the right to be packing in public. Welcome to the old days of the wild west boys and girls, where everyones a cowboy!
Only problem is this. Some sick bastard walks into a public place and starts shooting people. You know odds are he's not going to stop shooting until someone shoots him or he shoots himself. So Citizen Joe doesn't stop to yell "freeze, put the gun down", he just unholsters and lets fly. Citizen Jim arrives on the scene after hearing gunshots. He sees Joe gun the sick bastard down and thinks "Oh shit, someone on a rampage" and the same thoughts run through Jim's mind, about how psychopaths generally dont like to stop shooting people, and seeing as hes now mistake Joe for the psychopath Jim unholsters and starts shooting at Joe.
Voila. There we go. The ORIGINAL gunman is down, but down your public place/mall/school/college has turned into a wild west shootout.
Now, I've fired a Glock 19*, one of the guns used by the VT shooter. I can't tell you how amazingly scary it would be living in a society where I know that everyone I see walking down the street is packing a gun. While its none of my business, it is sad that American culture is so insane and obsessed over firearms that the only way they can feel safe is if they have MORE firearms
*Who'da thought the one of two models of gun I've ever fired would be used by that guy....
You see, from a lot of the pro gun comments it seems to me that the "self defence" argument is nothing more than a smoke screen for the real reason they don't want a ban/harsh restrictions. The real reason is because they love them, it is ingrained in their culture and perpetuated by their Hollywood counterparts. It is eveidence by the some of the photos here (from an earlier page) and on the internet. "Look at me with my big gun", it's obvious how attached they are to them emotionally.
It's nothing to do with defending one's self against a mugger/burglar/rapist because as many people here have pointed out, the chances are the criminal wins and someone dies in most cases. No, it's defence of an American Tradition that has got people fired up here and there is nothing wrong with that in principle, I would be mad if someone said we Brits couldn't eat fish-n-chips.
However at some point you have to look at your traditions and ask if they need re-evaluating.
Recently we banned fox hunting in the UK, a tradition spanning hundreds of years and we had the same kind of arguing technique used by the pro-hunting brigade that the pro-gunners are using here. Avoid the cruelty aspect and concentrate of how we need to control Foxes blah blah blah.
I understand it's your tradition, I understand it is very hard to change culture overnight but surely you would support at least discussion on the matter and more restrictions that weed out potential psychos. Doing a mental health check would be a start....