Mega-Thread: Gun Control Thread

[Slant]

Comparing someone buying a handgun to initiating thermonuclear armageddon?

Mutually assured destruction is what keeps the missiles in their silos. If one man shoots another, 8 billion people won't pay the price.

You're not actually using MAD as a reason to justify guns, do you? Really? Here's the kill for your argument... You only need to fuck up once to end the game for everyone. A gun is not in the same league as that. Don't make ridiculous comparisons. And that goes for the guy you quoted, too.

[Deleted]

I don't think people are afraid of guns, but when they get in the wrong hands issues arise. people argue all the time and sometimes people get so worked up or have psychological issues they pull the trigger, Most of the time they themselves regret what they have done. if you remove guns from the equation it's less likely to result in a death. but of cause even without guns deaths are going to happen but I personally believes it's less likely to happen. no easy fix though

[AtomicSpoon]

Its much easier to enforce this with nuclear weapons.

MAD doctrine alone is what keeps them from being used.

[Slant]

Its not gun owners. Its idiots with guns.

Yes, so... remove guns from idiots, which is in my eyes everyone not being a hunter/gun athlete and military/law enforcement. Sorry, I have harsh views, I know.

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I think it's a social thing. America does still have the "old west" attitude in some places. Europe is like, "we beat the shit out of each other for centuries with sharp metal shit, we're good now."

I actually think that is my attitude about this all. Couldn't have phrased it better.

[Dezerte]

Is this how you think guns operate? Just indiscriminately killing everything in a 100 mile radius?

No, of course not. But then you perhaps understand why gun control laws is also important?

[AtomicSpoon]

If non-criminals start arming themselves, then criminals starts arming themselves; it's an arms race.

Here is the kicker: Criminals will arm themselves regardless. They aren't buying illegally modified weapons from gun shops.

[Schuetze]

I'm not afraid of guns. I live in an European country that is full of guns and ranks 3rd on civilian gun ownership.

I own 9 different guns myself, I can say that I'm a gun enthusiast and my hobby is to collect and shoot them at the range. Nothing provides me more fun than to hit a target that is 50 meters away with my SIG P210 or hit a target 300 meters away with my K31 or SIG 550.

My country has a huge gun culture. Some people have big misconceptions about our laws, and usually spew them all over the place without even knowing what they are talking about. Our laws are not that strict, you don't need any psychological examinations or any tests or training to own a gun in Switzerland, ammo is freely available and shootings are very rare compared to the amount of guns that exist.

We can even own full automatic rifles without a simple permit that is very easy to get. It's an extremely safe country with few criminality, since there's an average of 40 murders with guns every year, not much considering that we have a population of 8 million.

Well, I love guns. Guns are my hobby and the hobby of many hundreds of thousands in my country!

[Dezerte]

And the criminals will find a way. What is your next suggestion?

You think it wouldn't matter if we banned nuclear bombs or not then I presume?

[Vizardlorde]

Tell that to stoning victims.

1 gunshot =/= a stoning
a stoning ~= death by firng squad

[MerinPally]

This argument and thread just goes in circles. With increased regulation, people who want/need their guns will have no trouble getting them as easy as today. We then get one idiot who says "hurr durr ban" and then the regulation argument gets ignored. How anyone could disagree with increased regulation is baffling as it wouldn't affect 99% of you. Those few idiots wouldn't have as easy access and all the responsible owners would have access just like they would today.

[Dezerte]

Here is the kicker: Criminals will arm themselves regardless. They aren't buying illegally modified weapons from gun shops.

Exactly, they are either stealing them from other people or buying them as stolen. They don't poof into existence because the criminals demand it, someone somewhere has to buy the gun legally.

Also, why does countries with stricter gun control laws have lower rates of gun-related crimes then? Because it's an arms race, like I said.

[Slant]

Actually the problem with the American people is the television set. People dont want to think for themselves, they want the govt to.....or the news outlets. No one wants to check the facts anymore, or hell learn anything. They just want comfortable complacency. I play this game on my phone called Simpsons Tapped Out. On one quest the Superintendent of Schools tries to make the students smarter. The incompetent mayor states something along the lines of Smarter constituents, dont vote for the incumbent. I know thats a bit off course for this discussion, but it explains all these people bitching about wanting change but not willing to do the work involved.

Yeah. I see those tendencies, but I'm actually feeling evil for telling that to an American, because I instantly get slapped with the patriot hand and how dare I criticise american media. Ironicallly, the only american news show I like to watch is hosted on... comedy central. I've probably learned more about US politics from Stewart than from any other news outlet, including CNN.

[Deleted]

Its not gun owners. Its idiots with guns.

idiots with guns aren´t gun owners? interesting....

[AtomicSpoon]

You think it wouldn't matter if we banned nuclear bombs or not then I presume?

It wouldn't. Because they aren't banned. Countries merely "agreed" not to use them. If a country was in a situation where they needed to use them they most likely would.

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idiots with guns aren´t gun owners? interesting....

Quite a bit of gun crime is committed with stolen firearms. Imagine that? Criminals committing crime to do more crime.

[Lightwysh]

No, of course not. But then you perhaps understand why gun control laws is also important?

I agree with gun control, to an extent. Keep Automatic weapons gated behind a fuckton of paperwork, make mental evaluations part of a background check, close gun show/3rd party sales background check loop holes. I also think gun owners should be required to undergo a safety class and be required to own a locking storage unit for their gun.

All these things do not infringe on our rights, They can help to a degree. But the biggest problem is our nations attitude of "guns solve all problems". Once we can correct and change this, we would see a huge swing in gun crime without getting rid of guns.

[Slant]

I'm not afraid of guns. I live in an European country that is full of guns and ranks 3rd on civilian gun ownership.

Well, everybody knows the Swiss are naturally good hearted, if sometimes slow, people that just want to be left the fuck alone. So we're good with that. And you don't have a history of rampaging through Europe messing everyone's day up, so you're actually more peaceful than anyone around you. :P

[Cthulhu 2020]

Is this how you think guns operate? Just indiscriminately killing everything in a 100 mile radius?

That's not what he said at all. Perhaps you just wanted an excuse to use that gif.

[Deleted]

I said low-life thugs, you know the beggars and stuff that steal cellphones with knifes, the kind that have no connections to the "underworld" you know?
I can't really discuss this but I am not sure somebody can actively use one if he can't afford the ammunition for them, from what I hear in here they want to avoid conflict and just want to do stuff where they can easily win, so rather than having an expensive gun they could sell for food they could eat they attack in numbers, the people who use guns are going for bigger targets or rather riskier "rewards", you won't find somebody with a gun to steal a cellphone but rather to steal a car.
pls personal attacks pls I never tried mushrooms only weed and doesn't even get me high

Ah yes, a beggar ripping someone off with a knife, now that's a good reason to start having a gun. Wait, what? Now the other 99% who can afford illegal guns, that sure as hell ain't a problem. Hell, doesn't have to be illegal anyway. But hey, if you want the highest number of firearms owned per capita combined with the highest firearm related deaths per capita and think you are safe, fine by me.

[Daws]

Well lots of arguing I'm going to bring it back to the title question though -

Q) Why are people so afraid of guns?
A) Because getting shot will either hurt a lot or kill me

And thanks for playing another round of gun enthusiast asks a silly question.

[Lightwysh]

Yeah. I see those tendencies, but I'm actually feeling evil for telling that to an American, because I instantly get slapped with the patriot hand and how dare I criticise american media. Ironicallly, the only american news show I like to watch is hosted on... comedy central. I've probably learned more about US politics from Stewart than from any other news outlet, including CNN.

American media is absolutely contributing to gun crime. Glamorizing mass killers, promoting the "old west" attitude.

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That's not what he said at all. Perhaps you just wanted an excuse to use that gif.

I like that .gif. But this is how I imagine a lot of people think guns work.