I have a big problem with the US population’s attitude to guns. Why the hell do they want them?
All these arguments, as one of those above, that not permitting people to own guns will lead to (in this case) Hitler, don’t seem to me to make sense. Some people seem to enjoy playing with bang-bangs. I don’t. All these argument seem to me to be spurious.
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Paul -- "The US population" doesn't have that attitude to guns. Americans have a wide variety of attitudes to guns. There are people who own and use guns safely and reasonably (as, people in rural areas where guns are used for hunting and personal safety--places where bears, poisonous snakes or wild boar are common--or people who do only range shooting); people who carry guns for self-defense because they are in a high-risk situation, as some business owners in certain communities with a high incidence of robbery; people who own guns but treat them far too casually, keeping them loaded and not in secure cabinets; irrational people who act like they are going to ambushed by the gummint's jack-booted thugs any day now.
Just as in many other fields of interest, the most extreme and vocal minorities, both pro- and anti- gun, get the most media coverage. Most American churches are nothing like the "God hates Fags" idiots, and many (I would guess a majority) of the people who own guns are in favor of reasonable regulation and safety measures.
As someone who grew up in a family that hunted and ate game animals (hey, 7 kids and one wage-earner, it was needed) with guns in the home, I know that even people who have guns in the bedroom closet can be safe in how they handle them. However, those guns were stolen in a robbery, so I regret that my parents had not invested in a gun safe. I do not own any firearms, and I don't know if I ever will; and I favor mandatory training, background checks on public or private gun sales, and liability insurance for compensation should your gun be stolen and used to commit a crime. (If you've taken reasonable precaution with your gun handling and storage, and they are stolen anyway, you should then be held not liable.) Am I the "American population" you're so concerned about?
Anyone whose first line of argument is, "If you don't agree with me, then HITLER!" is clearly a wingnut. But that's true in any arena, not just gun control and not just Americans.
There are people in America that would love to see a "no guns" policy; people who want open carry rights everywhere and any time; and all variants in between. Like so many things in this large and diverse country, it's inexact to talk about the American perspective as though there were only one.
FWIW, I am in favor of taking illegally possessed guns away and destroying them -- felons, etc. -- and some mechanism for taking them away and storing them for sale or later return or destruction if the owner is impacted by a household member's actions (as the mental patient's spouse). That seems to me a reasonable way to protect the innocent party's rights AND protect the public.
Just my thoughts, MK
) why would I, a law abiding, non-mental person, be required to forefit MY rights? I can understand the courts asking me to remove the weapon, but seizing it is wrong, IMO.
