Alcohol kills more than gun homicides each year in the US by far, but it's not guaranteed in the constitution. So, why should it be legal? because you like it more?
I am not a gun owner, by the way.
Guns,guns, and more Guns
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Alcohol kills more than gun homicides each year in the US by far, but it's not guaranteed in the constitution. So, why should it be legal? because you like it more?
I am not a gun owner, by the way.
Stats about gun ownership in USA say that owning a gun increases your chance of you and/or your family getting shot. Most likely by accident but nevertheless a risk.
Shooting oneself in the groin or buttocks seems common. There have been cases of people being shot by their own babies, having found a gun tucked away in a pram etc! Shouldn't laugh of course.
As far as we know incidents of people defending themselves successfully with guns against armed low life nut jobs, is vanishingly small. It's a childish fantasy born of cowboy and gangster movies. - all that 'saved by being quick on the draw' nonsense
Most likely by suicide as far as gun deaths go. No clue how many of those deaths wouldn't occur without guns.
My dad was a sergeant in the MP throughout the 80s, had to give regular arms training to Gardaí (Irish police).
Says the only safe place around a copper with a gun is about 3 miles away behind a stone wall.
Recently here in Dublin a young man with mental issues was shot dead outside his house. Local Guards were called after he slashed a local shop manager with a knife. Armed Guards were called due to knife. Armed Guards duly shoot young man dead. Everyone is shocked and dismayed. My opinion is, the point of armed police is to shoot people. Not to resolve situations peacefully. Thats what negotiators are for. Don't call armed police if you don't actually want them to shoot someone.
Just my €0.02
Says the only safe place around a copper with a gun is about 3 miles away behind a stone wall.
Recently here in Dublin a young man with mental issues was shot dead outside his house. Local Guards were called after he slashed a local shop manager with a knife. Armed Guards were called due to knife. Armed Guards duly shoot young man dead. Everyone is shocked and dismayed. My opinion is, the point of armed police is to shoot people. Not to resolve situations peacefully. Thats what negotiators are for. Don't call armed police if you don't actually want them to shoot someone.
Just my €0.02
Cabinetman
Established Member
All I can say is I’m glad you’re not an armed policeman.
Canada has something like .35 guns per person. The US has 1.2. The vast majority of shootings in the United States are drug related homicides are suicides. We tracked this down in a prior thread. I believe about 1/7th or so of gun deaths are not related to suicide or drug crime, meaning that unless you want to play unusual numbers games, getting shot here is generally avoidable if you stay away from the drug business and keep guns out of your own hands.
If I recall, the figure was around 6k deaths per year not related to suicide or drug trafficking or some other similar felonious activity.
artie
Sawdust manufacturer.
my mistake.
Jacob
Pint of bass, porkpie, and packet of crisps please
And once they start waving guns about it's difficult to back off and wind down. Even worse if they mistake the gun in their hand for the Taser or pepper spray!
Some of the USA police action vids are appalling.
John Brown
Freeloading Social media influenza
You may have missed the fact that I'm unarmed and not particularly worried about intruders. If I were to act intelligently about things that would more likely cause death, I think I'd work top down from the cdc list. I think before I turned into a nanny about rights, I'd try to solve the suicide issue.
It's pure fantasy that people only want to solve things that they consider to be scary on the news.
"Oh well" to the rest of them, huh?
It's pure fantasy that people only want to solve things that they consider to be scary on the news.
"Oh well" to the rest of them, huh?
danst96
Established Member
Removing guns from the US isnt an option and never will be unfortunately due to the massive complications of such a large country which has borders touching other countries. If the right to bear arms in the US is removed, the situation will deepen and worsen in the way that the guns in the country will be unregulated and only be in the hands of those seeking to do evil. People point to Australia as an example where the removal of guns was successful however the two situations cannot be compared. The access to guns would not end with the remove of guns from the country in America. Where do you think the majority of the narcotics in USA come from? They mostly originate outside of USA. The guns would follow the same routes and there would be a greater issue on hand.
As for the matter of shooting someone while they are running away, its a tricky subject. I always try to put myself in the shoes of both parties. In the role of the perpetrator, you would maybe think its clear by now, dont run away from the police, you will lose every time. And in the feet of the policeman, they have intel we dont, I dont know about this particular case but they may have had intel that the perpetrator is armed and dangerous or known to carry a weapon. I know if I was a policeman, I would not be pussyfooting around and taking a chance. If I was concerned by an individuals behavior in pursuing him to the point that my life is in danger, you have to protect yourself. I am not a USA hard-right kind of person but I do agree with some of the narrative that says the deaths and injuries of police officers over there gets conveniently ignored by certain parties.
DBT85
Established Member
Owning a bottle of vodka doesn't give me an opportunity to shoot up a school.
Sure, alcohol does kill more people, like cigarettes kill more people. I'd not really be all that bothered if both were outright banned but the reality is we know prohibition doesn't work on boose and fags.
Making it hard or impossible for someone to have a military grade assault rifle at home should not be a contentious issue when the 2nd ammendment was written at a time where the most advanced gun was a single shot rifle.
artie
Sawdust manufacturer.
But if it saved your life. ??
I used to own guns and was a hunter. At one point, I also had four pistols for leisure shooting at the local state range. It was a fun challenge to try to get dots together closer, but I just don't have the time and converted them to tool money.
If you move here, just look at local crime rates and don't move to an area that is inundated with under 25 male crime, and you'll never even need to consider it. I didn't even keep a single long gun though I may inherit some long guns in the future, and will have to figure that out at that point. I have kids and it's easier to not have any around at this point, too.
Point being, I've never felt unsafe not having a gun and do miss punching holes in paper here and there, but man can have only so many hobbies and actually participate in them. If you live in an area in the US where you feel having a gun increases your chance of survival, that's choice number one to avoid.
Transferring all of my stuff legally wasn't an issue...I just went to a retired state policeman who has a dealer license and sells online.
On the ground here in almost all places, it really isn't like the tiny slice of news stories.
To have anything auto firing here, you have to have a class 3 license. There was a short loophole with the bump stock, where the atf lost their mind in calling it something other than auto because the stock functions the trigger rather than the sear, but interestingly enough, Trump threw a fit and had it moved to class 3. Class 3 is a dealer license and if you get it as an individual, you have to set your residence up securely like a gun shop and subject yourself to possible random atf inspections 24-7. Nobody I know has one other than dealers.
Again, the fascination with small number events drives an emotional response but a cause of 95k deaths per year here is blown off as water under the bridge. You just have to admit at some point that you just want someone to promise not to scare you with any events that you find scary.
Let's exclude cigarettes because they rarely result in the deaths of other people.
Cabinetman
Established Member
Not saying you can't live in a bad area - you could if you decide not to look around where you're going to live, but it's more likely that if you follow a job to the states and it's in a rural area or smaller town, you'll just find things to be boring.
Terry - Somerset
Established Member
Guns are not like alcohol, tobacco, obesity etc. Other than suicide and the occassional accident, guns mainly kill other other people.
The other causes of death are largely self inflicted - a matter of personal choice and/or a lack of will power.
As a taser weighs much the same as a banana, and a 9mm gun is closer in weight to a brick the argument that the police officer was confused is fatuous - unless they are truly incompetent or stupid.
The only argument for a police officer to draw a gun is to either use it immediately, or because they believe they may need to react quickly to a threat. As guns are so widespread, any threat may involve firearms.
Why they bother to issue tasers is therefore incomprehensible to me - unless working on the basis that more weaponry must be better than less.
The other causes of death are largely self inflicted - a matter of personal choice and/or a lack of will power.
As a taser weighs much the same as a banana, and a 9mm gun is closer in weight to a brick the argument that the police officer was confused is fatuous - unless they are truly incompetent or stupid.
The only argument for a police officer to draw a gun is to either use it immediately, or because they believe they may need to react quickly to a threat. As guns are so widespread, any threat may involve firearms.
Why they bother to issue tasers is therefore incomprehensible to me - unless working on the basis that more weaponry must be better than less.
danst96
Established Member
Tasers are used on suspects that may already be in custody or someone who is unarmed but is resisting arrest, the same way they are often used here in the UK.
RobinBHM
Established Member
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