Brits and handguns.

[Cuddles]

I would like to be allowed to own a gun, mostly because I am childish and reckless. I would not like the general population to be allowed to own guns. I don't think I know anyone who feels, or at least feels strongly, that the law should be relaxed on handguns.

I would like to be allowed to own a gun, mostly because I am childish and reckless. I would not like the general population to be allowed to own guns, mostly because I think they're childish and reckless.

and 4.8 time more likely to commit suicide

I don't think that's correct. According to Wiki, suicide rates in the US and UK are pretty much the same. The methods use may differ, but the presence of guns doesn't seem to make a huge difference. The rest of that list suggests gun ownership is far from the most significant factor in suicide rates.

Being afraid of lawful concealed carriers in the USA is an irrational phobia.

No it isn't. The word "phobia" actually has a meaning. That includes, among other things, the person with the phobia recognising that their fear is irrational, and particularly importantly that it interferes significantly with their normal functioning. Being concerned that allowing large numbers of people to carry deadly weapons around with them does not come anywhere near being a phobia. As Rat said, use of such a word is very clearly just an attempt to dismiss legitimate disagreement by pretending that the opposing view is actually due to medically diagnosable mental problems. This is exactly the sort of attitude that makes it so difficult to have a sensible discussion about guns.

 

[funk de fino]

This thread made me laugh. Handguns are for when you play cowboys when you are a child.

 

[MikeG]

Five pages in just over a day! Anyone would think from that that we have some interest in the subject over here in Britain. But we don't. It is a non-subject. The only time we give it a millisecond's thought is when something awful happens in America, and then we just shake our heads and say thank goodness we're different.

Mike

 

[3point14]

Being afraid of lawful concealed carriers in the USA is an irrational phobia.

I'm afraid of guns with live amunition in them in the same way I'm afraid of very big dogs. They get special attention paid to them.

You may assume that everyone carrying a loaded weapon is well trained and not a nutter. I make no such assumption. It's not irrational, it's perfectly rational.

 

[Craig B]

Could you guys kill it today if it was not taken out long ago? There are efforts by "pig huggers" to prevent hunters from killing them. Hunting in populated areas is not encouraged either.

Ranb

Why should they be eliminated from Europe anyway? They're being reintroduced into Britain. I am in central Italy at present where boar are common, and wolves and bears are to be found. None of them do much harm.

 

[Marcus]

UK had dangerous fauna. We killed it. From what I hear you guys can't even take out your wild boar population.

Why would we want to? There is nothing like bow hunting for wild boars, just enough danger to keep it interesting.

 

[GlennB]

Some debaters will put it down like it's the ace of trumps and they're playing Bridge.

Totally o/t, but there was a case where declarer made 7S while missing the ace of trumps

Meanwhile, yes, you're right on the general point. And they'll ignore the fact that the interpretation of the Constitution varies from time to time according to legal judgements. It isn't cast in stone, but the "Constitution trumps all" debaters take each iteration as a new absolute right. Until it changes

 

[zooterkin]

Just a reminder, this is Non-USA & General Politics, and the topic is "Brits and handguns."

This is not a thread about guns in the USA, nor the US Constitution.

Thank you.

Replying to this modbox in thread will be off topic  Posted By: zooterkin

 

[Ranb]

Why should they be eliminated from Europe anyway? They're being reintroduced into Britain. I am in central Italy at present where boar are common, and wolves and bears are to be found. None of them do much harm.

geni said they killed their dangerous fauna in the UK, he was not specific about pigs. I was not suggesting that anything be eliminated, just asking if they could or would do it this century.

Wild boar are considered destructive vermin in Hawaii where I lived for a while. I was not agile enough to take any though.

Ranb

 

[Rat]

geni said they killed their dangerous fauna in the UK, he was not specific about pigs. I was not suggesting that anything be eliminated, just asking if they could or would do it this century.

Wild boar are considered destructive vermin in Hawaii where I lived for a while. I was not agile enough to take any though.

Ranb

Presumably their status in Hawaii is down largely to the fact that they are not native to there, and the local native fauna have had no time (in the sense of evolution) to adapt to their presence.

 

[fuelair]

In the USA, civilian concealed carriers have a much lower rate of offending than the general population (some surveys have them offending less than cops). After expanding ccw laws, the murder rates have continued to go down.

Being afraid of lawful concealed carriers in the USA is an irrational phobia.

Unless, of course, you are a criminal or planning to become one on our watch.

 

[BStrong]

They were destroyed at the time, melted down for scrap to produce military weapons. Churchill's plan to arm the civilian population against invasion was never implemented and was more of a propaganda exercise than anything else- it seems that it is still being used that way.

There are quite a few rifles and handguns originating from American civilians that came back with British Proof marks and "not English make" post WWII, so they didn't all go in the smelter.

On gun ownership, intelligence and being made safe by armed individuals -

Not surprising in the least. More than a few individuals with direct contact with their armed security make it known that they view their security team(s) as lesser human beings.

I choose not to associate with and/or work for any such individuals.

 

[Craig B]

Presumably their status in Hawaii is down largely to the fact that they are not native to there, and the local native fauna have had no time (in the sense of evolution) to adapt to their presence.

The local native fauna here in central Italy have had time to adapt to the presence of wild boar, (in the sense of diet) and so have I. See http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112752893/italian-wolf-prefers-wild-boar-122112/

 

[Darat]

Just thinking about it I think the section chosen to start this thread in demonstrates the huge cultural gap between the UK and the USA in regards to gun ownership. I.e. this is not a political matter in the UK.

 

[WildCat]

UK had dangerous fauna. We killed it. From what I hear you guys can't even take out your wild boar population.

We could fix that too, if we cut down every forest in the country like the UK did.

 

[WildCat]

Why should they be eliminated from Europe anyway? They're being reintroduced into Britain. I am in central Italy at present where boar are common, and wolves and bears are to be found. None of them do much harm.

For reasons nobody understands North American brown bears (grizzlies) are far more aggressive than their Eurasian cousins. Both to people and other bears, the brown bears in Europe live in densities no grizzly population would tolerate.

 

[Captain_Snort]

We could fix that too, if we cut down every forest in the country like the UK did.

There are various groups who want to reintroduce wolves and bears and things back into the Scottish Highlands. For some reason they all seem to be based in London, so I think they should look at say, Hyde park for their schemes.

 

[WildCat]

There are various groups who want to reintroduce wolves and bears and things back into the Scottish Highlands. For some reason they all seem to be based in London, so I think they should look at say, Hyde park for their schemes.

Yeah, everyone loves wolves and cougars and grizzlies out in the wild several hundred miles away from where they live.

 

[Craig B]

There are various groups who want to reintroduce wolves and bears and things back into the Scottish Highlands. For some reason they all seem to be based in London, so I think they should look at say, Hyde park for their schemes.

I can't answer for Hyde Park, but wolves and bears do no harm in the Molise region of central Italy. The wolves would perform a great boon for the Highlands: get rid of open hill grazing for sheep. A more insanely wasteful practice has never been devised.

 

[Nessie]

There are various single shot handguns presently allowed for target shooting. A case for reintroducing multiple shot handguns has not been made.