Are gun laws U?

[Backwoodsgirl]

In light of recent attacks in NZ, the increase in knife and gun crime in the UK, shootings in the US and France. What do people think are reasonable options for weapons related laws?

It's clear that none on the current system around the world are perfect.

I am a Brit in the USA, and a gun owner, I also have a concealed carry permit. and I am interested to see what people see as reasonable.

I haven’t read the whole thread, I’ve seem all the stupid pro gun arguments before. Always trotted out what about knife crime in London, what about acid attacks blah blah, what they fail to take into account is that people in US still get stabbed & they still have acid attacks, so they have all of our problems and then add gun crime on top. And yes wouldn’t it be great if instead of a pot of acid those kids on mopeds had semi automatics, that’s bound to have a better outcome all round.

Vegas is a great example, imagine how much worse the death toll would have been if instead of using guns that guy had been throwing knives out of a hotel window

I am very happy with UK gun laws. Last time we had a mass shooting in the UK was June 2010. Nearly nine years ago. How many has the USA had in that time? In that mass shooting, he used a shotgun and a .22 rifle, driving round first the local town, then some increasingly dodgy country roads and remote villages in his taxi. In a number of locations, he shot at one person where a significant number of other people were also present, even though he started shooting randomly. If he'd had access to US-style "semi" automatic (aka military grade) weaponry, it would have been spray and pray, and many more would have been injured and killed. It would have been a level of slaughter that the little local hospital could never have dealt with...90 miles from the nearest big centre.

And this would be the difference between the USA and the rest of the world

www.thedailybeast.com/new-zealanders-voluntarily-surrender-guns-after-christchurch-attack

"which of course makes them completely synonymous with an item built specifically for killing"

I learnt to shoot when I was at school. I'm not a bad shot, yet I've not killed anything with a gun.

TheHodgeoftheHedge, I suppose NZ will descend into tyranny now they wont have semi automatic guns to defend themselves from the government.

In the US, the right to bear arms is enshrined in law to prevent the state exercising undue force over the people.

Compare the way our law makers are currently insulting a majority of voters, and we are powerless to do a thing about it.

So if we had guns then brexit voters should shoot the government?

gth in the UK law makers are voted in and out of office, despite what you seem to think this is also what happens in the USA. Regardless of different gun laws they are both democratic countries.

The "funny" thing is that the US's current, Republican president has mounted quite the assault on key pillars of democracy; the free press and the rule of law. Republicans have also aggressively gerrymandered and, when state legislators have been ousted at the ballot box, have passed legislation to strip powers away from the incoming, elected officials.

It's generally Republicans that own guns though.

*In the US, the right to bear arms is enshrined in law to prevent the state exercising undue force over the people.

Compare the way our law makers are currently insulting a majority of voters, and we are powerless to do a thing about it*

Even in the US if the people decided to form a militia and overthrow the government to you really think they’ll have any “power” against the army?

*In the US, the right to bear arms is enshrined in law to prevent the state exercising undue force over the people.

Again, no. The founding fathers weren’t in any way thinking about the rights of individuals. The amendment was to protect the rights of states versus the federal government. The same philosophy that contributed the American Civil War.

Compare the way our law makers are currently insulting a majority of voters, and we are powerless to do a thing about it

Are you suggesting an armed uprising over Brexit or other political issues would be proportionate, if only we had the guns?

absolutely ROTFLMAO at DianaPrincessOfThemyscira proving my point!

Every time someone says the UK should get more guns I'm reminded of a case in the States where a toddler got shot and killed accidentally- two toddlers had a scuffle, the dads argued and one drew out a gun (as that would de escalate the situation...) and in the chaos he accidentally killed a child.

Or the woman who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and managed to get her hands on a gun and started randomly shooting in a mall. She felt tremendously guilty when she was stable again and was the first to say she shouldn't have been able to get one.

Of course, in some areas guns might be needed (I wouldn't fancy bumping into Mr mountain lion without one), but then they could get a permit like everywhere else.

Every time someone says the UK should get more guns

It's a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny majority. Just particularly vocal.

It's such a tiny majority, no one has ever really been bothered to commission any meaningful poll. But if they were to, I'd guess over 70% of people think the UKs gun laws are about right, with a greater number saying "too lax" than "too strict".

Or, to put it another way, I can't remember the last time any political party made it a serious policy to review and relax gun laws.

TBF (at least on forums) it's the American gun nuts that come over and complain. Everybody else seems fine with things the way they are.

Emphasis on nuts.

I can’t think of any reason for someone to have a gun. As for hunting - well fuck off with that - shooting a beautiful animal is disgusting.

I can’t think of any reason for someone to have a gun

Sport ?

I find it hilarious that Americans really think that citizens with guns could stand up against the Federal army.

It's discipline that gives military forces their edge. The British Army and the Continental Army had identical weapons and the British won almost every battle until the French provided military officers, training and naval support (and started a war on multiple fronts). The American military has vastly superior weapons to any they permit to civilians, as well as vast experience in the counter-insurgency role. Should it ever come to the imposition of tyranny, the only purpose civilian weapons will serve is to provide image-recognition targets to drones.

I always think the clinching argument here for Britain's firearms laws to remain as strict as they are is imagining asking a question like "Do you remember the school shooting?"

Ask that in America and most people would likely respond along the lines of "which one?" Ask the same question in Britain and the person you ask would know exactly which incident you are recalling, because there has only been one, ever. Long may that continue to be the case in Britain, I hope.

Amen to that

Agreed louise

"I can’t think of any reason for someone to have a gun."

Just because you can't think of any reason doesn't mean that valid reasons don't exist.

There are over 1.8 million licensed firearms in the UK. You can't get a licence without a valid reason.

There are over 1.8 million licensed firearms in the UK. You can't get a licence without a valid reason.

Isn't a shotgun licence issued by default, requiring a reason not to issue rather than vice verse ?

(You can tell from the question I am not one of 1.8million ....)

You are correct in that the application process is less involved than that for a rifled firearm. However, you do need to have valid reason to own one one and be able to satisfy the local police that you will not be a danger to the public.

www.shootinguk.co.uk/shot-gun-certificate/get-a-shotgun-certificate-32358