An Australian on American gun laws

[Klingers]

WARNING: Inflamatory topic. No troll intended, but I'm going to piss some people off saying this. I think it needs to be discussed.

I'm an Australian and I was browsing an Aussie news website a few minutes back. My eyes flew over the following headline: US High School Shooting in Oregon. My reaction? A half second of "Oh. Heh. Another one. Stupid Americans and their guns.". Then I moved on.

Only after I did a double-take did I feel really saddened by that reaction. I've talked to friends and colleagues, and they've admitted they've been having similar reactions lately.

Do those of you in the USA know what that means, US? This is happening so bloody often now that the rest of the world has given up on you. And that's just sad. The world has become as desensitized to American mass shootings as Americans have to war, disease and famine in Africa.

The big difference between Africa and the U.S. of course is that the U.S. problem has a simple cause and an obvious solution. We enacted it here in Australia after Martin Bryant (Who frighteningly used to live in the house right behind my school bus stop when I was growing up... Random aside) killed 35 people at Port Arthur and haven't had a single mass shooting since 1996.

Australia has 1.06 firearm deaths per 100,000 compared to the United States' 10.3 firearm deaths per 100,000. Just think about that for a minute.

Seriously America. Get your shit together on guns and stop an ugly, totally unnecessary problem.

[Mormolyce]

Do those of you in the USA know what that means, US? This is happening so bloody often now that the rest of the world has given up on you.

What do you mean now?

Australia has 1.06 firearm deaths per 100,000 compared to the United States' 10.3 firearm deaths per 100,000. Just think about that for a minute.

Where is that figure from? Last I read it was in the 4-5 range.

[obdigore]

Yes well, there are people in the US who wish to adopt the same style gun laws Australia did.

There is, however, a large amount of people who think guns = freedomz! and they have deep pockets since they are funded by the weapons industry and you know who is the #1 exporter of weapons in the world? Big Old USA.

[Sunseeker]

Dear Aussies,

We don't give a fuck what you think.

Yours Truly,
America

[Coraulten]

Why do you think you can talk for the whole world based on your own anecdotes?

[PizzaSHARK]

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...Control-Thread

There is a thread on gun control and gun laws already. It's on the first fucking page. It has over 1600 pages and almost 33,000 posts in it.

Stop creating duplicate threads, jesus christ.

[Mormolyce]

Dear Aussies,

We don't give a fuck what you think.

Yours Truly,
America

Funny, because the upshot of this thread was an Australian feeling guilty about the fact that Australians don't give a fuck about Americans murdering each other all the time.

[Notchris]

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...Control-Thread

There is a thread on gun control and gun laws already. It's on the first fucking page. It has over 1600 pages and almost 33,000 posts in it.

Stop creating duplicate threads, jesus christ.

No no. His opinion on another countries laws is just THAT important that it needs it's own thread. Just like every other damn person not from the U.S. that creates this same topic at least twice a day.

[obdigore]

What do you mean now?



Where is that figure from? Last I read it was in the 4-5 range.

Deaths is 10+. Homicides is 3+ (US)
Deaths is 1+, Homicides is .13 (Australia)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ted_death_rate

[Coraulten]

No no. His opinion on another countries laws is just THAT important that it needs it's own thread. Just like every other damn person not from the U.S. that creates this same topic at least twice a day.

Well according to him its the whole world's opinion.

[Sunseeker]

Funny, because the upshot of this thread was an Australian feeling guilty about the fact that Australians don't give a fuck about Americans murdering each other all the time.

And? Now he's feeling arrogant and judgemental. If my choice is between his pity or his indifference, I'll take his indifference.

[Klingers]

Funny, because the upshot of this thread was an Australian feeling guilty about the fact that Australians don't give a fuck about Americans murdering each other all the time.

Yep. That's what I was trying to get at. I'm not just trying to brow-beat gun lovers. What I'm trying to get at is that it's a sad thing gun violence is so prevalent and so frequent in America now that the international community thinks the U.S. is beyond help. That's a very ugly kind of cynicism to foster.

As for not giving a fuck about what anyone else thinks, well... That's another less than endearing American cultural trait for another time and place.

[Fortera]

I'm American and I don't really care what you think. I also find it preposterous that you bother to even discuss what's going on in the US to the point you would just consider yourself so much more intelligent than us because we have different rights than you do. I never find myself giving a shit how you Australians handle running each other over on bikes, how you're all just a bunch of criminals or how your out of control wildlife basically rapes your population. I just have my own problems, ya' know?

Yeah, I'm American, but that does not mean I agree with our gun laws. I don't trust ANYONE because of how angry and violent our country is becoming. And when I hear about another country besides mine having done or tolerated something I don't agree with, the first word I use to describe that behavior isn't 'stupid' or any other word that makes me sound like I think I'm better or smarter than them. Every country has problems, don't resort to throwing your nose up in the air.

What exactly would you even do to fix it? Go to detroit and try to take guns away from roaming gangs. I'd love to hear how you'd stop that madness. Most people who are just regular working stiffs who own guns usually own them because they know there are worse people out there who have guns. There are SO many bad people armed in this country that there is no way to just fix it. If you try, it'll be war. You can't do it.

[Merite]

Cool, we'll just pass that along to the rest of America, homicide rate will go down real quick, thanks for letting us know.

[MyndZero]

America should just straight up enforce a BAN on guns unless you're some sort of authority figure in the community. You don't need a gun, you never have. It's like the US is living in the old 'gun' days while trying to enforce newer things on their society.

If safety is really an issue, then the government needs to do more to ensure safety. However, let's face it - there would be a lot less gun incidents if they did ban & take away guns from the citizens that don't require one. This obviously results in more safety for the country.

[Ginantonicus]

I don't see the issue about just guns, but the way America thinks. I think that the US is able to answer a question in a way that makes no sense to anyone else other that the US (In this case the right to bear arms being in place to over throw the government should the need arise). For instance A study was done into the amount your spine moves while on a spine board (immobilization device) wile being removed from car through the vehicle doorway compared to letting the person walk out themselves. It was found that yore spine moved less if you walked out yourselves so the Americans then said "If at all possible let the person leave the car by themselves". Where as the rest of the world said "Try not to carry someone out through the side of the vehicle".

[xylophone]

Australia needed to be disarmed because you're all descended from criminals.

Infracted

[Klingers]

I'm American and I don't really care what you think. I also find it preposterous that you bother to even discuss what's going on in the US to the point you would just consider yourself so much more intelligent than us because we have different rights than you do. I never find myself giving a shit how you Australians handle running each other over on bikes, how you're all just a bunch of criminals or how your out of control wildlife basically rapes your population. I just have my own problems, ya' know?

Yeah, I'm American, but that does not mean I agree with our gun laws. I don't trust ANYONE because of how angry and violent our country is becoming. And when I hear about another country besides mine having done or tolerated something I don't agree with, the first word I use to describe that behavior isn't 'stupid' or any other word that makes me sound like I think I'm better or smarter than them. Every country has problems, don't resort to throwing your nose up in the air.

Alright, I'll ignore the ill-informed stereotypes and try and put you in my head as to why some of us even give a shit:

Because America is a country that shares a lot of anglo-centric history and cultural similarity with Australia. A large amount of the media we consume here in Australia (news and entertainment) has an American slant. Since WWII we've been staunch military allies and our regional security heavily relies on your support.

There is a lot of cultural cross-over between Modern America and Australia. Your health system's fucked, your education system's fucked and your collective attitudes on gun control are fucked, but the reason we bring this stuff up is because we actually give a damn about you all.

Australia needed to be disarmed because you're all descended from criminals.

I find this stereotype quite funny. The United States is all "Blergh! Liberty! Freedom! Boston Tea Party! War for independance! Stars and Stripes!".

...Meanwhile here in Australia we pretty much just waited a bit longer and went "Oi. England. Can we be our own country and stuff?" and England was all like "Sure. Just keep slapping our monarch on your coins.".

[Crissi]

America should just straight up enforce a BAN on guns unless you're some sort of authority figure in the community. You don't need a gun, you never have. It's like the US is living in the old 'gun' days while trying to enforce newer things on their society.

If safety is really an issue, then the government needs to do more to ensure safety. However, let's face it - there would be a lot less gun incidents if they did ban & take away guns from the citizens that don't require one. This obviously results in more safety for the country.

There are quite a few instances where having a gun is quite acceptable. Living out in the country to shoot attacking wildlife for one. Subsistence hunting for another. An outright ban makes no sense in those regards, especially if it takes 10-15 min for police to arrive like it does in some very rural areas.

Do NOT mistake this position to be on the same level as NRA or many of the gun rights peple on here. I am a FIRM believer in implementing and enforcing proper regulations, but outrght bans are something Im against.

[Zoaric]

America should just straight up enforce a BAN on guns unless you're some sort of authority figure in the community. You don't need a gun, you never have. It's like the US is living in the old 'gun' days while trying to enforce newer things on their society.

If safety is really an issue, then the government needs to do more to ensure safety. However, let's face it - there would be a lot less gun incidents if they did ban & take away guns from the citizens that don't require one. This obviously results in more safety for the country.

Yet we'd still be getting guns coming in illegally to the people who don't give a flying
rodent what the law says...

EDIT: Also, what Crissi said. Particularly the part about the cops taking forever to show
up... For someone who lives where I do, the cops could take 20 - 30 minutes to arrive,
at which point there's nothing they can do.