Why can’t America ban automatic weapons?

[MaryPoppinsPenguins]

I don’t get it. I honestly don’t. After Sandy Hook that should have been enough... statistics speak for themselves.

Why? What don’t I get?

Is there actually any evidence that the US does suffer more violent crime than the UK or indeed most other Western countries?

I too am American, but live in the UK.

The UK and the US record violent crime differently so it is difficult to compare the statistics. In the US violent crime is very well-defined and falls in to one of four categories: agro assault, robbery, rape and homicide. This is the definition of violent crime given by the FBI.

In the UK violent crime encompasses a much larger range of offences. You can go to the ONS website to find out what the list is, but it is a huge list of offences, many of which many wouldn't consider violent.

So it's hard to compare violent crime in the two countries.

What's easy to compare is the rate of gun deaths and homicides since the definitions are the same, and in both cases the US is much worse. One might be ok with the huge number of gun deaths in the US if the overall homicide rate was the similar (since that would mean that people are just killing each other with different weapons in the UK), but it's just not the case. The homicide rate in the US is much higher than in the UK.

The issue to gun control is there is an inherent distrust of the government, coupled to two polarized points of view.

but arguably this is where guns have failed americans the most. Ostensibly the reason for having guns is to keep a tyrannical violent government in check Yet American police kill over 1000 people a year. It wouldn't surprise me if police in the UK haven't killed 1000 people in a span of a 100 years.

This country where a someone can buy a gun no questions asked but where they will ID a middle aged person buying a bottles of beer.

The American people wish to retain the ability to march on and forcibly remove the government if the need arose (such as another hitler type coming to power)

This really is the weakest argument against gun control. The US has the most militarized government in the world. The population would never ever have the slightest chance against it.

It saddens me that children are being slaughtered for this dumb goal.

The problem with that is that in any country the government has bigger and better guns than the ordinary populace does. What's the point of automatic/ semi-automatic rifles when the government has drones ?

Julie8008

off the top of my head, there is a loose correlation that the states with the most gun control are the most violent. For instance, California, Georgia, Illinois, New York, all have the strictest law’s. and all feature in the red areas.

Florida, The Carolina’s And Texas all have the least gun control and also feature on the map.

For a long time stuff coming out of the states shocks me. I think their glossy super image has masked the fact they are a strange country in many ways.. No maternity leave, the whole health care system.
I agree it screams irrationality for someone to sound wounded and hurt that this will turn into yet another.. Get rid of your guns!

That's deep entrenched thinking!

Of course wasn't the last horrific killing the las Vegas one?

Of all the times to to push gun control laws, THIS IS THE RIGHT TIME Emma! Bad taste is knowing that more than 20children were murdered in a small school in your country, and people there still think that gun control is a bad idea!

Is that seriously how easy it is to get a gun in the USA?

It varies immensely from state to state: where I used to live, the process was much more rigourous and included police checks, a requirement to keep guns in approved, locked storage, and limits on the guns that could be owned by non-US residents / green card holders. They stopped issuing concealed carry permits some years ago, though did not rescind previously issued permits.

It also persistently tops the tables for the lowest number of deaths from shootings.

It's worth noting that the number of suicides from shooting in the US is about double the number of homicides from shooting. I'd have thought that that would be a decent argument for tighter gun control TBH

I live in Maine, I haven’t checked the crime stats but I am pretty sure as a state it would be safer than the UK. (Similar landmass)

Homicide rate for UK is 0.93 per 100,000
Homicide rate for Maine is 1.9 per 100,000

(Figures from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime).

Seems very clear that the more stringent the gun control in the fewer gun deaths. So gun control would work in America.

Rinoachicken

Interesting numbers thanks for finding them. So about double the rate, so scaling that up about 20 Murders a year in Maine,

Seems very clear that the more stringent the gun control, the fewer gun deaths. So gun control would work in America.

Homicide rate for Maine is 1.9 per 100,000

There are only 1.25 million people in Maine so this figure will vary wildly from year to year.

It would be interesting to know what particular subset of the existing laws are the most effective?

They need more guns and better guns because everyone else has guns
And of course the companies that sell guns need to keep making a profit

Soon they will all need to get killer drones

The homicide rate in London is 1. So Maine, which has none of the common markers of crime for the US (it is affluent, mainly white, non-urban etc etc etc), has double the homicide rate of London.

The idea of linking where you feel safe only to violent crime is slightly odd though. There are so many factors.

I live in Maine. I don't worry about my children being shot at school. I don't worry at all about any of us being shot or attacked. If I passed a broken down car on the highway at night I would get out and help.

I do worry about drunk drivers. I don't particularly worry about aggressive drivers.

I don't lock my doors and I don't worry at all about property crime. I leave my laptop in my car without a second thought.

I don't worry about wildlife at home, but when I'm camping I carry bear spray. My daughter goes to school in a very rural area with bears living in her school's playing fields - I am glad people at her schools have guns available nearby.

Generally I feel perfectly safe. I don't have a gun and probably never will, unless I happen to move to a very rural area.

it is affluent

It really is not affluent. Where did you get that?

There are only 1.25 million people in Maine so this figure will vary wildly from year to year.

2005 - 1.4
2006 - 1.7
2008 - 1.5
2009 - 2.4
2010 - 2.0
2011 - 2.8

The idea of linking where you feel safe only to violent crime is slightly odd though. There are so many factors.

but how safe you feel may not actually be a good indication of how safe an area actually is.

I wouldn't leave my laptop in my car because where i live about 50,000 people would walk by my car a day, one of which may be a thief.

2011 - 1.8 (not 2.8)

correlation does not equal causation

Maine is not affluent.

I do live rurally and I am also glad of guns near the school for bears