To say we shouldn't relax gun laws as Farage suggests...

[RandyRudolf]

Nigel Farage calls for gun laws to be relaxed

We don't need guns.

Interesting comments below the article though...

Spudnik2 tommanleysays
24 January 2014 11:15pm
Guns of any type ( hand guns or long guns does not matter ) only become a problem when in the hands of the wrong people.
The lower and middle class tend to be the wrong hands these days.
These are the groups most likely to pick up a hand gun and use it in a crime.
The rich however do not need guns, they can hire people for that.
( And they tend to commit crimes that are harmless like blowing up the banking sector ).
It was not that long ago that gun laws were more relaxed and we did not have a problem.
What has changed?
The people of course!
With the decline in standard of living and the stress this has caused all violence is quietly increasing ( even if statistics show us it's in decline because of the ageing population ).
Simply put cure the social ills and the gun and violent crime troubles goes away.
Now why would a Tory want more guns?
The rich are scared

rule of thumb for me is 'do you want a gun and do youngest time keep it at your house' if yes then that person definatly should not have a gun. or access to a gun.

Thomas Hamilton and dunblane. those children would be my dss age now, just turning 24... just think if that bastard hadn't git a licensed gun they would be alive today.

I used to shoot. (Handguns at targets). It was a Sunday outing with my father and friends. We learnt how to handle guns safely. I'm sad I can't do that anymore. Do I want guns lying around the house? Um no! Would I like to be able to own a gun that was secured at a range or club site with excellent security? Yes actually I think I would.
I used to be a bloody good shot!

I do actually have these talks, around me farmers still own shotguns, people still hunt wildlife (Yes in the UK) and air rifles are still given to children to teach them how to shoot.

Do you tell your children what to do if they find a gun on their seat in the cinema? If they find one when they go to the toilet in a shop? If they find a gun under the bed in their friend's house?

Do your children have regular practice lockdowns at school, where they are taught what to do if someone comes in and starts shooting indiscriminately?

I would be really interested to know the stats for gun ownership and what he imagines to be 'class'?

I grew up in the country. Many people owned guns, because it is perfectly normal. And none of them vote UKIP. And none of them, so far as I know, have issue with gun laws as they stand. But a lot of them own guns. Farage (who is a twit) is implying it's mostly violent urban youth who own guns.

I have never come across anyone who can shoot half decently, who thinks guns should be more widely available.

wobbly

Would I be correct in thinking that you are not in the UK?

This
" Do I want guns lying around the house? Um no! Would I like to be able to own a gun that was secured at a range or club site with excellent security? Yes actually I think I would. "

From Wolfiefan is what I would like to see.

Euphemia
"Gun murder per 100,000 population in 2010:

USA 3.2
England & Wales 0.1

'Nuff said."
The sources I have do indeed have 2010 at:
USA - 3.59
UK - 0.05

However, 1997 (when "short firearms" - pistols to the layman - were still legal in the UK) has the following numbers:
USA - 3.37
UK - 0.06

In other words, sod all difference between pistols/no pistols.

WobblyWeebles
"From what I can remember of the stats for this, gun crimes are at the same levels as they where before handguns where banned.

Actually the last seven years in the UK gun crime has dropped every year.

But if you want to be having conversations with your kids like 'What would you do if you found a gun at your friend's house' then perhaps gun laws should be relaxed."

Firearms crime spiked around 2004/5, having risen from 1996/7 (ironically when pistols were banned, although the two are not linked). Firearm homicides were actually relatively flat, with odd spike years rather than a nice curve. The downtick is generally attributed to Operation Trident (and later Trafalgar) which specifically targetted gang-on-gang shootings, and started to bite and get results by 2005.

Even at the time of Dunblane, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) stated that something like 0.8% of all firearms crime was committed with firearms that had EVER been registered. So the ban at most could cut crime by less than 1% - most firearms crime is committed with firearms smuggled into the UK or manufactured in people's sheds. Legislation can't do squat - it's already illegal if you're without a licence, so it's just down to enforcement.
It's a tricky subject because stats vary between firearms homicides, firearms crime (non lethal), and violent "weapons" crime, including knives. Also, some forces have logged incidents as firearms crime where there was thought to be a firearm "threat" like a mugging where the perp had a banana in their pocket, but no actual firearm was involved. And we log stats differently to the Yanks, so "crime" comparisons are no overly helpful, although homicides the same.

As for guns at a friend's house - there are 10 million airguns in the UK. With 24million households, that's one airgun per 2.4 houses. A few people have more than one, clubs will have multiples. Still, odds are the parents of a few kids in their class have them at home. Have that talk. Take them to a club, teach them how to safely deal with an airgun the same way you teach them to be safe around fire, matches and knives.

JuliaParker25
"I was not aware that shooting Bambi and Thumper were Olympic disciplines .No place for either in a modern society"

Since you didn't know they were on the programme (Biathlon was on today btw ski-shoot, great sport), you evidently don't know what is actually involved in them.
I'll give you a clue - bambi and thumper don't feature, please do keep the snide comments to yourself until you've actually studied up. Britain won a Gold in the Double Trap (Clay Pigeon) event at London.
The SCOUTS participate in Olympic style shooting. It's seriously not that controversial nor objectionable.

I have a gun licence and a cabinet full of shotguns. And that makes me happy. But I have never shot a human and have no intention of ever doing such a thing. Normal people don't. Everyone in the UK should have the right to bear arms.

Plenty of countries have more relaxed gun laws than we do and have lower crime than we have. It's the culture that matters far more than the laws.