They may make all the difference. After a nuclear war, who do you think would invade America? We would still be armed to the teeth, even if our military were decimated. You can do what you want in your country.
Interesting claim. In the 1960s, the England/Wales homicide rate averaged around 0.67. In the 70s, .90. In the 80s, 1.08. In the 90s before the ban, 1.17. In the 90s after the ban, 1.31. Since the ban, the England/Wales homicide rate hasn't reached pre-ban levels. What do you mean by "works"? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate_by_decade
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/39684850 A former Royal Navy officer has been killed by thieves who stole his car from outside his house. Mike Samwell, 35, died after confronting intruders who broke into his home in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Greater Manchester, at about 03:00 BST.. Good thing Mr. Samwell didn't need a gun. Or the burglars.
What has that to do with anything ? Lots of toddlers have run people down with cars because the keys were handy.
While no claim has been made on the part of myself as to having any expertise in the realm of firearms, a significant amount of time has been devoted to studying the issue as a whole, as well as individually. All available data pertaining to that has been studied, suggests that the above mentioned options are not well suited for beginners. Depending on a myriad of varying factors, recoil is stout to the point of being intimidating, sights are insufficient for anything beyond short range encounters, trigger pulls are both long and heavy, and do not encourage accuracy, and the grip area does not allow for a full hand grip. All available data suggests they are counterproductive for learning purposes.
That man was in no danger until he stood in front of his car which they were stealing. He didn't need a gun, he needed to get out of the way. His car was insured, was it really worth dying for? How many homicides in the US today? Allowing for population about 5 times as many.
I was a rifle range officer my last couple of months in the military, and I have extensive training and experience with firearms, including pistols, revolvers, military carbines, shotguns, and hunting rifles. So as a result I can consider my own training as sufficient to teach my sister, although once I get her past the stage of the basics, I will then arrange for a professional shooting instructor to take her further. In the meantime I will keep her gun for her until she is fully ready. And I will watch over her like a hawk every minute of everything. I have supervised the training of American Marines in marksmanship with both the 5.56x45mm carbine and the 45ACP pistol. That is the deal I made with my sister -- if she wants my help and my involvement then she does this my way. Ergo I am confident she will become a successful Annie Oakley as a result. But it will take time.
Well where I live in the Rocky Mountains there is a lot of dope and a lot of bank robbery. To deal in dope or to rob a bank one needs a stolen car. So there is a high volume of car theft going on here, in addition to the dope and the bank robberies. And sometimes the robbers will kill you for your car. Ergo if you want to drive a car you need to be able to defend your own life. If I saw someone stealing my car I would get my baseball bat and force them away from it. There is not time to call the police. That won't work. They will have stolen the car already before the police get there. And in the process if they pull out a weapon or even go for one, that gives me the right to draw my own gun and shoot them myself.
What a high opinion hold you over the life of an Officer of the Royal Ñavy. (sarcasm) What do Criminal actions, Crimes, Homicides have to do with Law Abiding Citizens possessing Arms ? Many people in the U.S. defend themselves successfully and legally everyday.
More than once! so maybe 5 or even 10 times! ;0) That's OK mate, there's over 60 million of us. We generally move for the sunshine more than safety - English people are almost a plague in Spain. Have you ever holiday'd outside the US? If so, how do you feel not being able to carry a weapon when in another country? Do you worry for your safety?
I feel naked without my gun. Usually when I travel by air however I can smuggle a jack knife dagger with me by putting it in my shaving gear in my checked luggage where it looks like a straight razor and never attracts any attention. Ergo I am still armed, just not with a gun as usual.
Only in certain places: late night Glasgow; Juarez, Mexico; Tegucigalpa, Honduras; Panama City, Panama; Mumbai, India. If we had ventured out of the Ricoleta neighborhood of Buenos Aires, I'm sure that we could have gotten into some dodgy neighborhoods there.
Then you are going on record as claiming that someone should simply allow criminals to do whatever they wish, rather than resist their efforts? Should the same standard be applied to sexual assault if the victim possesses health insurance, and their dignity is not worth dying for?
I notice you've failed to address the points made upstream that the data shows no real effect for your gun ban laws.
Noted. However the standard patterns of sexual dymorphism, combined with the aforementioned military service on the part of yourself, would suggest not only greater upper body strength and hand size, but also a greater degree of tolerance of recoil. What you may be able to tolerate comfortably, may not be experienced the same way for your sister. Military service would have strengthened and desensitized your hands significantly, while hers would not have been. Such is not being questioned or otherwise disputed. It is merely being asked if lightweight, compact platforms are best for learning on, rather than being worked down to after becoming familiarized with a larger platform that allows for greater control through a larger grip area, and greater weight to mitigate felt and perceived recoil. Which is, again, noted. Qualification is not being disputed. It is merely being asked if a platform such as a lightweight revolver from scandium alloy is better for learning the basics on, as opposed to something that utilizes a combination of aluminum and steel and is more robust. That is the deal I made with my sister -- if she wants my help and my involvement then she does this my way. Ergo I am confident she will become a successful Annie Oakley as a result. But it will take time.[/QUOTE] Again, it is your your way, or your qualifications that is being questioned. Rather it is being asked if your sister would more readily benefit from learning on a service pistol-type platform when starting out, since it is the platform that military personnel are educated on.
@Xenamnes those are all good points which you have mentioned. You are correct -- normally we (Americans) learn how to shoot with/on a very small platform called a 22LR. This is a tiny cartridge and a fairly lightweight gun. Children learn how to shoot this way. My sister was a gymnast however and she is very strong. So the next step up from a 22LR is what we call a 380 -- like a Walther -- as in James Bond 007. This is the kind of light service pistol that I will introduce my sister to from the start.
Definition of ad hominem 1 : appealing to feelings or prejudices rather than intellect 2 : marked by or being an attack on an opponent's character rather than by an answer to the contentions made Review your posts and you will find that you drift into the use of ad hominem - a lot. Which does not make you a bad person. You actually do seem to care about logical discourse - that is a good thing.
No. I'm on record as saying it is not worth losing your life in an attempt to stop someone stealing your car. The correct thing to do in that situation would be to immediately report the theft to the police and let them know which direction they were travelling. Statistics for rape in the US and UK are very similar so there is no evidence that guns successfully prevent them.
Guns of every kind and heavier weapons will always be easy for criminals to obtain in the UK and the rest of the world. But you do have a point. When the victims are absolutely helpless and submissive criminals will not need guns to rob, rape, torture or kill them.
The data shows that the UK continues to have a murder rate which is average for a developed nation. America on the other hand continues to have a murder rate many times higher. Whether this has anything to do with the availability of guns is hard to define from the raw data. However there is no demand from the general public for the law to change so you can at least conclude that British people do not think that they need guns to defend themselves.
This is untrue. Guns are extremely difficult to obtain in the UK and very high penalties for possession mean that only very hardened criminals take the risk of carrying them. If guns were easily obtained we would have seen more terrorist attacks like those in France with high numbers of deaths from shootings. Note that the recent attacker only had knives with which to continue his killing spree after ramming his car into pedestrians. Same with the murderers of Lee Rigby. Like it or not, firearms are very hard to obtain legally or otherwise in the UK. Do not make the mistake of assuming the UK is like the US. We have tight border controls and are an Island without any land borders so smuggling guns into the UK is far from easy.
You have been misinformed. “According to David Dyson, a leading firearms consultant, it is possible to learn through the internet how to make a firearm, given a degree of skill…” "In Liverpool docks, you can put in an order for 10 guns and some grenades and they'll say OK and two weeks later, they will be there - and they are straight goers." “The variety of weapons on offer in Britain is extensive and includes machine guns and shotguns, as well as pistols and converted replicas. A source close to the trade in illegal weapons contacted by the Guardian listed a menu of firearms that are available on the streets of the capital.” “Firearms: cheap, easy to get and on a street near you,” “From drug dealing to settling playground squabbles, firearms offences are rising”, Duncan Campbell, The Guardian, August 2008, Last modified on Friday 26 November 201012.12 EST http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/aug/30/ukcrime1
That seems to be the case in Sweden. The UK may not have 'evolved' as far as Sweden yet. We shall see.
