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?

Sorry I really dont believe you need a semi automatic rifle to deal with rats.

But seriously. Defend guns. Cling to guns. You NEED them. It’s so not safer in England... or Australia... a ban would really endanger your squirrel control. Best keep killing kids. Damn squirrels.

Thank you MaryPoppins I was beginning to think that I was going mad!

Or maybe there are species of giant savage murderous and very fast rats and squirrels over there we don’t know about?

I don't think biggreygoose is arguing for relaxed gun laws, or for guns to be freely available rinoachicken (correct me if I'm wrong big)

It really has come down to this?

Sod our kids, we need our guns because...squirrels

You said
I am glad people at her schools have guns available nearby.

I live in the UK....

And it all depends on the number of rats. Personally I like doing the task as quickly and efficiently as possible.

'bluepears I find it astonishing that you are trying desperately to quibble over the small numbers of UK gun related crime (which includes no mass school shootings since the ban I might add) when the figures for your own country are counted in the THOUSANDS!' where do you think my own country is you idiot
bluepears if you want to make a point then you need to produce a factual source of data that is not CPRC based.
i dont need to do anything but i find it intresting you cited no proof for your statements however here is proof undeniable from the bbc news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6960431.stm but you know im right you know the gun ban had no effect and you know it didnt stop the cumbria shooters or Westminster or 7/7 or Manchester

I'm not. Quite the opposite.
The gun laws in the US border on the insane.

But screaming 'ban the semi automatics' and 'ban more than 1 gun' doesn't help as it shows the person shouting doesn't really grasp what they are asking/talking about.

Rah!!!

"I can also get any gun i want, as long as I can justify it...." Surely not a handgun? ( quote rightly imo)

America is too stupid to help itself at this point it would seem. I think maybe it hasn’t crossed some people’s minds that they can come for any child, in any school, in any place. It doesn’t matter how rurally you live. Suddenly the people who have the squirrel killing cans could have a bad day and use them for something other than squirrels...

And ‘it wouldn’t happen to me’ must be quite consoling. But I’m sure that’s what most Sandy Hook parents thought too.

But screaming 'ban the semi automatics'

Is it correct that a semi automatic will fire more billets in a short time than an non semi automatic weapon?

Bluepears, it may not have stopped the examples you gave, but gun control stopped lots of others. I have not seen anyone say that gun control stops all murders.

By your logic, brakes on cars must be pointless because they don't stop all car accidents!

In the UK we are just so largely opposed to guns, it's very difficult for us to comprehend the mindset of Americans who are in favour of them. Semi-automatics just boggles our minds.

The premise that guns don't kill, people do is correct. However, Killers (people) without a gun might kill fewer or none if we limit the availability of firearms.

We have a knife problem in the UK, and whilst it's nothing to be proud of, it's a small mercy that it's harder to kill large numbers with a knife than with a gun.

It seems that no matter how horrific mass shootings are, they are soon forgotten for the large part, and America really does just raise their heads and carry on.

@squishy. Difficult, but not impossible.

People working on deer culls or shooting lots of large game can. - restricted to 3 shots. For humane dispatch - police keep registers so you can be called to traffic accidents to help out. Keeps the armed officers on the important things.

Getting rarer these days, they prefer you to have a short barrelled, small caliber shotgun for the task.

There are no handgun restrictions in northern Ireland.

bluepears what exactly is that news article from Jan 2008 supposed to prove undeniably?

Yes. They do.

There is a world of difference between a semi automatic .22lr and semi automatic 30-30 or 7.62 though.

,' but gun control stopped lots of others' proof? do you really think someone who is going to go on a shooting spree is going to stop because he cant get a gun legally? the guns are already out there. my simple point is as the op said the us should ban automatic weapons my point as evidence by the uk figures is it will not have an effect if they do that. (and they would also have to secure the Mexican border)

I think that any barriers you put in front of someone who wants to shoot up a school will help, yes.

What's your opinion on brakes on cars? Pointless?

no but then i understand this graph

You laugh at squirrels and rabbits. But remember that the grey squirrel is a terribly invasive species and does terrible destruction to the native reds. They need to be controlled (ideally irradicated).

It is also an offence (if rarely prosecuted) not to control rabbits (also an invasive species) on your land. Being largely nocturnal that means hunting them at night. It's a cold and wet job, so doing it quickly and efficiently is better.

It's true that the US has more of an issue taking back all the guns that are out there. It's not particularly easy to do that, but still, that shouldn't stop the principle of better gun control being put in place.

Would it stop determined killers? no. Might it stop some who had easy opportunity to kill? quite possibly.

There's also an issue of the American psyche that needs to be addressed, not to mention staggering levels of social inequality. For all the sadness of school shootings, those are not at the very heart of America's gun deaths figures. Social inequality is, particularly in inner cities.