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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that no one in this country needs a firearm in their house

170 replies

MumNWLondon · 04/06/2010 17:18

Title says it all really.

Killer in Cumbria had a gun licence.... why does anyone in this country need a licence to have a gun in their house?

AIBU to think that no one should have such a licence?

OP posts:
Coderooo · 04/06/2010 17:44

oh fgs!

Coderooo · 04/06/2010 17:45

he wasnt IN a gun club!!

LetThereBeRock · 04/06/2010 17:45

I'd rather shoot a rabbit than gas it. It's an instant death,it's selective,gassing could kill anything that's down there, and the rabbit can be eaten afterwards if shot.

Ronaldinhio · 04/06/2010 17:46

other hobbies?

nice of you to chose for them....

recognised international sport
rural necessity in many cases
v low number of private firearm holders in the uk
v well regulated system

PuppyMonkey · 04/06/2010 17:46

They're just Starsky and Hutch wannabes.

minipie · 04/06/2010 17:47

I'm not a big fan of guns and don't really see why anyone needs them.

BUT, if someone wants to kill lots of innocent people, they are always going to find a way. They could cause a pile up on a motorway or poison drinking water supplies or something.

Banning guns won't stop this kind of thing happening, unfortunately.

5DollarShake · 04/06/2010 17:48

My uncle is a farmer and has a rifle, goes duck shooting, and the like.

How many farmer suicides are there exactly, that banning guns is going to see the rate drastically reduce?

In any case, since when has committing suicide been dependent on ownership of a gun?

I am 'city folk' and totally agree that most city folk probably don't understand what it's like for most rural people.

Ronaldinhio · 04/06/2010 17:48

i guess it's not so funny if you had to face the last piece of knee jerk gun legislation

i'd suppose that there are lots of fac holders worried about this sort of commentary

LetThereBeRock · 04/06/2010 17:48

I need my eyes tested. I read that as 'banana guns won't stop this from happening' and wondered what the hell a banana gun was.

TheFallenMadonna · 04/06/2010 17:49

I'm not sure why shooting a target with a real gun is less savoury than shooting real people with a pretend gun (paintballing/laser quest) or pretend people with a pretend gun (countless computer games).

nymphadora · 04/06/2010 17:51

Lots of hunting in Cumbria. I know lots of 'normal' people that hunt. So it's not just farmers here that are involved in shooting animals.

MillyR · 04/06/2010 17:51

I don't think it is a case of urban people don't understand, it is more of a case of why should this incidence of shooting in a semi-rural area be used as the example of the dangers of guns?

40% of gun crime is carried out in London, and surely the focus should be on the problems of crime in urban areas, which are going on constantly and often involve illegal weapons anyway. I find is bizarre that a poster from London would not focus on London itself it they are so bothered about gun crime.

You don't need a gun to kill 12 people in a frenzy. You could go out in a car and run them down.

Even within the problem of crime itself, if the crime involves a knife the chances of dying are twice those of where the crime involves a gun. By that I do not mean that twice as many crimes involve knives, I mean that an individual knife crime is twice as likely to lead to a fatality compared to an individual gun crime.

Ronaldinhio · 04/06/2010 17:53

tis always a good idea to base legislation on the actions of one nutter...

sarah293 · 04/06/2010 17:53

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

LetThereBeRock · 04/06/2010 17:54

Rampaging alien wolves actually.

nymphadora · 04/06/2010 17:57

Milly - exactly , people in the middle of London shouldn't need a gun( assuming we go with guns are kept at gun clubs) .

And for the record I'd rather no one had them but I do see the use in this area. They are already quite strict as there was an incident a few years ago with an escaped rhino and there was no one locally allowed to shoot it, had to wait for a vet from Blackpool.

MillyR · 04/06/2010 17:58

I think what many urban people (by which I don't mean the people on this thread) get is that there is no such thing, in Britain, as a 'natural landscape.' The countryside only exists in the form it does because of constant human shaping and control of that landscape. An example might be that sheep on an area of land in Cumbria have been there for generations and developed a specific upland grazing pattern. If they are removed and different sheep are put on, the entire landscape can be degraded.

Part of managing landscapes is pest control.

Northernlurker · 04/06/2010 18:00

My father and grandfather both hold and or have held shotgun licences. The guns were kept for us in country sports. City people just don't get that do they?
YOu can inflict dreadful damage with a shotgun and yet it hardly ever happens. If you want to go after something which is frequently operated by idiots, people with criminal records, mental health issues or just plain recklessness then I suggest you lobby to outlaw the motor vehicle - because it kills far more than legally held guns ever could.

LoveBeing34 · 04/06/2010 18:01

The real problem is that the way it is managed us wrong. There are differences between forces fir a start. I think there are a few very easy steps that could be taken to reduce any risk further, obvious ones really for eg there's no discussion with other people living in the house, the mental issue is reviewed when licence issued but not sure how many times they contact gps after that.

frogetyfrog · 04/06/2010 18:02

A huge percentage of the people I know have a gun cupboard with one or more guns in. Much better to shoot an animal than the alternatives - much kinder! But only if you are a good shot. To become a good shot you need to practice - hence clay pidgeon shooting, target practice etc. People round here shoot rabbits (better than gassing, trapping or ferreting/bagging); duck pheasant partridge (to eat - kind way of getting meat - much better than the slaughterhouse); cull deer (saves many lives on the roads as more deer means more accidents, also to kill those deer knocked over and left in pain) etc etc.

Hopefully at least some people will agree that in all, it is important for rural folk to own guns. Its not the gun that makes a nutter - a true nutter will find a gun even if it is through illegal means.

Yes we are rural.

MillyR · 04/06/2010 18:03

My post should have read what many urban people DON"T get. Sorry.

Ronaldinhio · 04/06/2010 18:07

in the vast, vast, vast majority of cases it isn't the legally owned firearm or fac holder that is a worry for the population
99.999% of gun crime in this country relates to illegally held firearms

it is ridiculous to change laws based on these sorts of probabilities or stats

tethersend · 04/06/2010 18:07

Racking my brains to remember which comedian said it, but I thought it rang true:

Ask everyone if they want a gun. If the answer is 'yes', then they shouldn't have one.

TeamEdward · 04/06/2010 18:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

bronze · 04/06/2010 18:12

I love these threads they always make me want to shout townie in the same way as people shout pfb.

(A townie in the country-who is very grateful for the odd rabbit)