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?

Every time there is a shooting tragedy in my home country everyone and their mother wants to use it as an excuse to push their anti gun agenda.

This makes no sense

Automatic rifles are being provided without proper controls resulting in the deaths of children and you object to people saying this is wrong?

I think you are fucking disguising.

That was to Bluepearz previous post asking for a country where gun crime decreases following a ban. I meant that gun deaths/violence are more relevant than gun crime because if you widen what is considered a crime, then obviously crime will go up. Thats obvious!

ok squishy aquirmy show me one country in the world that brought in gun controls which directly lead to a fall in gun crime

The U.K. after the Dunblane massacre

bluepears
Now that you quote the BBC (which is accepted as a factual source) you have contradicted your original statistics. But how does that bar chart show banning guns in 1996 had no effect of gun crimes? Read the WHOLE article, it clearly states "the trend in gun crime overall has been going down". So your argument is nonsense.

FYI there is a difference between a terrorist incident (very rare) and a depressed child going to school (very common). But it seems America prefers to arm the depressed child so they can be enabled to take his (it usually is a male) pain out on every one else, with mass murder..

There are no handgun restrictions in northern Ireland.

Absolute and complete cobblers that!

Open carry of handguns is NOT legal under any circumstance. Handguns can ONLY he held in gun clubs...with the single exception of being retained at home if with PSNI permission for "personal protection"...and you need a VERY damn good reason, such as a known threat to your life or being a member of the security services.

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?

Most people who snap and decide to kill everyone (especially children) do not have access to illegal guns. That argument is nonsense. And once they do try and 'contact' the underworld to buy a gun they risk being uncovered by the police and they will have to pay a premium, which a lot of people cant afford.

'Most people who snap and decide to kill everyone' not this guy he planned it he did not 'snap'sandy hook didnt snap was planned

So car brakes - pointless?I
I answered your questions.

sigh fewer restrictions then, and it's not only gun clubs.... If you are going to copy from t'internet do make sure it's accurate.

This is the only legislation applicable: www.psni.police.uk/advice_information/firearms/safe-firearm-storage/

They are permitted in any calibre and any magazine size.

No one can help America until America wants to help itself

When America decided that the death of many 6 year old children didn't necessitate the need for gun control, the war was lost. Nothing will change their minds - not Sandy Hook, not Las Vegas, not Parkland.

On the 14th, I read Twitter as Americans and the rest of the English speaking world debated this yet again. Now I say "enough". Individuals may want to reform the laws, but collectively this is a country that doesn't want to change a thing.

Actually, I would have thought it was relatively easy to compare as, firstly, we are comparing violent crime, definitions of which are similar everywhere, particularly so when comparing between two common-law jurisdictions. I expect there is a comparison somewhere. Do you have one? If you don't, don't make the claim.

As for South Africa, gun ownership and crime is so poorly recorded that their statistics can't be relied on. The police routinely don't investigate crimes because they are under-resourced, disorganised and bribable. For historical reasons, there is a culture of suspicion of the government, and therefore gun control is routinely circumvented. And finally, there is corruption in the government too, so a 21% drop in (what exactly?) could simply be the government instructing their statisticians to release a good news story.

You've answered your own question right there...
this is why it's not easy to compare like for like, as some cultures will not report it, or if it is reported it'll not be recorded.

Since you ask for examples of issues with differences:
www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/Compiling-and-comparing-International-Crime-Statistics.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violent_crime#cite_note-eurosb2010-1

A good example is that in the UK sex offences count as violent crimes, in New Zealand they do not.
Most of Europe counts minor violence against a person as assault, whilst France does not.

Sadly, as Obama during his 8 years in office couldn't bring about gun control laws, I don't see it happening. The US is too attached to their right to bear arms and the NRA is too powerful. The mounting numbers of children and young people being killed in mass shootings make no difference as there is a wilful refusal to see a link with their gun laws.

*sigh fewer restrictions then, and it's not only gun clubs.... If you are going to copy from t'internet do make sure it's accurate.

This is the only legislation applicable: www.psni.police.uk/advice_information/firearms/safe-firearm-storage/

They are permitted in any calibre and any magazine size.*

Biggreygoose if you're going to be patronising at least know what you are talking about. Your link is to storage requirements for people who have been granted a firearma licence. This is the legislation concerning obtaining a firearms licence...bit more complicted that your link!
www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/136045/guidance_on_northern_ireland_firearms_controls.pdf

America has bigger issues that school shootings.
Kids are dying from guns and drugs every day all over the US, let alone domestic violence.
That's not to say that school shooting aren't horrific, they clearly are, but it's just the tip of their iceberg.

First you need a license for a specific category of firearm, then the requirements for storage of said firearms comes into play.
The storage is fairly generic, AFTER you've got the appropriate license which isn't so generic.

not this guy he planned it he did not 'snap'sandy hook didnt snap was planned

Yeah, and? I don't understand your point.

McT

Read appendix 10. There is no requirement for handguns to be stored only at gun clubs.

Julie comment was factually wrong, and straight copied off an internet forum.

Obviously a licence is required, which I thought was obvious.... But apparently not. Hence the correction to 'some restrictions'

My post to squishy was in regard to capacity and calibre of handguns in Northern Ireland. Didn't think the licence requirement required further reinforcing.

bluepears
You are just deliberately ignoring the facts. There is a lag between controlling guns and reducing gun crime. America should know this better than anywhere. Chance of gun controls = everyone runs out and buys guns; No chance of gun control (Trump) = gun sales drop massively.

That is why you have to look at a lot of data from a lot of countries. And as lots of posters have explained with sources, this shows the correlation between gun control and gun violence.

It's not actually a technical requirement to keep them in a locked cabinet (but you'd haveto really justify why not and would be hard pressed!). For all intents and purposes you should, barring exceptional circumstances which most of the public wouldn't be able to argue.

@brilliant, true. I know some forces will accept a clamp for a single shotgun, but that's not universal. And the clamp is still to the fabric of the building.

By the time you have done that you may as well have a cabinet!

No guns = no guns deaths. Fact.
Gun controls = reduced numbers of guns = some deaths don't happen. Fact.

You won't see a huge drop in figures because 99% of gun owners don't kill, and those who do kill don't much care about laws... however, every year, there's a percentage of otherwise 'normal' gun owners who lose the plot and kill with a gun, or have their gun stolen and used by a criminal to commit murder. Stealing guns from nice people is easier than stealing them from other bad people.

Once the gun numbers drop (and it takes years), those remaining on the blackmarket go up in value and then rise further up the crime hierarchy where less murder takes place. One very valuable gun doesn't get used quite as easily as when they were throwaway weapons.

That's how it works. It's not rocket science. Everybody knows it, even the USA knows it, but it's big money and big politics there, and a few middle class schoolkids dying every year isn't actually that big a deal to them.

You're wasting your breath with Americans.

One of my religious zealot American friends just posted this on Facebook.

Godless society?!

The USA is the most puritanical god obsessed country in the west.

TheBrilliantMistake

Good grief. You have conflated two entirely separate points.

My first point was that comparing crime rates between the US and the UK should be easy. Both have similar legal systems, similar offence provisions and both are pretty good at collecting official statistics. The fact that some offences are treated in different ways should be an easy problem to overcome. For example, if sex offences are not counted as violent offences in NZ stats (something that surprises me: I've never heard this and I live there) simply add them back in.

My second point was that South African stats can't be relied upon at all: they're likely to be inaccurate because its government is, to put it bluntly, incompetant at collecting stats. You said there was a 21% reduction in SA after gun controls were introduced. Reduction in what? Murders? Gun ownership? Unlicenced gun ownership? Firearms-related accidents? Reporting? What?

No guns = no guns deaths. Fact.
Gun controls = reduced numbers of guns = some deaths don't happen. Fact.

No drugs - no drug deaths.

See where you get with that one.

18. Firearms on school property. It is violation of Title 20-A Section 6552 to possess a firearm on public school property or discharge one within 500 feet of school property, except as used in supervised educational programs or by law enforcement officials.

Maine laws about firearms on school property. I would hope that a school employee isn't breaking the law