ABC video about myths of Gun Crime

[Slimm Jimm]

The primary purpose of guns up here (Montana) is a) something to do i.e. target shooting or b) hunting.

A) is nice when your in the middle of nowhere and have some shells and a pop bottle handy, it helps pass the time.

B) is nice because we have people up here who can't pay us for work in cash, so they give us some meat in exchange. We get food, they get work.

Guns also work for tourism up here since we get so many out of state hunters (which I hate, BTW) and gives a miniscule boost to our economy.

[71 LS6]

Originally posted by g!mp

I think people who don't like guns are afraid of the loud noise. Those stupid pansies.

Hahaha You might be right.

The "Guns serve no purpose but to kill" argument is ridiculous. I currently own 5 guns, but have no intention of killing anyone with them. If guns are meant solely to kill others, then why does the number of gun users in our country far outweigh the number shot? Did they all miss?

Guns are used for protection of oneself, one's family and one's property. They are also used for hunting and for target shooting. Movies would suck without them. They are used in the military. They are also used to fight crime (Justice Dept.) Yes, one improper use of guns is to use them to commit a crime, however this is not their intent.

The right to bear firearms is guarunteed by the 2nd amendment of the Constitution. This right will never be taken away. Getting rid of guns entirely is absolutely absurd. Would we destroy all the guns ever made so far? Convert the factories, get rid of the entire industry? Hunt with bows just to keep the deer populations down? If it were even feasible to get rid of all the guns, does anyone honestly believe that criminals would not still be able to get them? Drugs are illegal, they get those. Criminals will always have access to guns, but fortunately so will police officers, the military, and the everyday citizen thanks to the Constitution.

While we're at it, let's get rid of hunting knives and bows, since their only purpose is to kill. Oh yeah, martial arts should be banned. They just train people in how to hurt others. [/sarcasm]

[chizle97]

eh another reason for me to move to canada. No more arguing about guns.

[RT pRo AuToMaG]

Originally posted by Lopy
I just don't like the way he said that "guns are bad" is a myth. He should have said that "gun control" is a myth. Because you can't say that guns are good, all his arguments that guns are good revolve around you being able to protect yourself from other people with guns. So overall, Guns creat all the problems that pro gun people are saying they need to protect themselves from, and I think it's just stupid to try to solve a problem with the same thing that is causing it.

Well, the thing is, people already have guns. It would have been a great arguement if no one owned a gun or if everyone would turn their gun in if someone told them to do so. Unfortunately, not everyone obeys the law, so if you ban guns, the law abiding citizens are left unprotected, and criminals still have guns. Now, lets add police into the equation. Since we take away guns from everyone that will turn them in, we give police twice as much firepower to balence everything out. Police can't be everywhere all the time, so what happens when someone with a gun comes to rob you or hurt you. See, you used to carry a gun, but now you don't have one since you follow the rules and turned yours in when they banned guns. You have your whole family with you, your daughter, your son, your wife, your parents, everyone, and you can't protect them or yourself unless you can somehow dodge bullets. Now, if you had a gun, quickly pull it out, shoot them all, everyone is safe, bad guys didn't hurt anyone.

You can't go and take something away from people that protect them. 50 kids from a population of 300,000,000 is nothing. That is 1 of every 6 million! That number could go down even further if schools would have proper gun safety classes and people took care of their weapons and didn't leave them laying around. Personally, I am very pro gun, and I'll admit that. For you to say that CRIMINALS will give up their weapons is just like saying that you would give up food because someone choked and died. Lets go ban kitchen knives, toothpicks, forks, and baseball bats, because people get killed with those. Knives were made to cut through items, meaning that they could cut through a body, forks could be used to stab people to death, toothpicks could be used to stab someone in the eye, making them blind, and baseball bats were made to smack the crap out of things, so that could kill someone too. Your thinking is illogical....

[SGTKennedy]

ok, dont call me some commie pinko lefty, but most guns were designed to kill, animals or people. not saying you or i will or want to, but thats what theyre for. the argument that they arent for killing is a bad angle of attack, unless you have some fancy target railgun. or a 155 howitzer.
i didnt join the service so some old lady who knows nothing about anything could tell me guns are bad, you cant have one. this is America, they cant mess with our guns. taking away guns would be political suicide, there are to many voters with guns that want to stay that way.
wheres the logic in gun control laws? if im willing to break the law to shoot someone, why wouldnt i be willing to break the law in acquiring a gun?
really i think we should all just turn our guns in and start taking our daily doses of personality removing drugs and watch mind numbing sitcoms. we could be like france.
-kennedy

[Konigballer]

I agree with SGTKennedy.

You really cant even argue against it, guns originally developed, and most are still developed, for the purpose of killing other people.

Unless you are shooting a purpose designed target rifle/pistol or a firearm intended only for hunting, you are using a weapon for a purpose that was secondary to its original one, killing people. MOST firearms, any derived from military issue weapons, are designed to kill someone who is percieved as a threat to their user as quickly and efficiently as possible in either an offensive or defensive situation.

Many firearms can be used for other things as well, like hunting or target shooting, just as well as for the purpose they were designed for. But lets not pretend something like one of the various AK or M-16 derived assualt rifles, whether semi or full auto, was never meant for anything so base as killing people. That's just lying.

The developemeant of both their rounds, 7.62 intermediate and 5.56mm, was solely for inflicting maximum damage on a human being while maintaining an acceptable level of controlability. Those weapons were designed for killing just like some of MY favorite firearms, the Colt 1911, Tommygun, and M14.

These are just facts, and its perfectly ok to use a firearm originally designed for killing on the battlefield for purposes far removed from that. I dont think that makes you a bad person or a criminal in the least as long as you are obeying the law. Just dont fail to recognize and respect the original purpose of many firearms. Thats why owning one is such a big responsability.

I like guns and plan on owning a few one day. I'm not anti gun and I believe there is a high degree of truth in the sang "guns don't kill people, people kill people." However, while I think personal responsability must be held acountable when talking about gun related deaths, I'm not oblivious to the origins and purposes of most firearms either.

[ShooterJM]

Weren't most assult weapons are designed more to severely wound then kill. A severly wounded soldier is more of a burden on a warring faction then a dead one.

[FactsOfLife]

Two things that struck me in this thread.

1. A canadian thinks HE has the answer to America's so called gun problems.

2. I actually know Nick Tahou, and what a garbage plate is.

[SlartyBartFast]

Originally posted by chizle97
eh another reason for me to move to canada. No more arguing about guns.

Not likely. We argue just as much up here.

There was a very interesting and balanced CBC/BBC documentary about Guns and Murder rates. It was based on researchers study of murder rates throughout history.

Showed the link between murder and societies attitudes. Some very interesting statistics and comparisons.

As with all things in society, there are reasonable controls and inreasonable ones. Anyone who is vehemently for or against any one issue is usually wrong in some respect. Mostly, they're wrong because what they so vehemently support or oppose is not a fact or reality, but a perception or belief of a far more complex and muddied situation.

It is that emotional adherence to belief that makes debates about guns and other hot-button topics so similar to religious debates and wars. There is usually far more common ground between the warring factions than differences.

[Willystyle21]

Wow.
Here's one for all those gun hater's.

Take whatever lethal weapon you want ( guns, bows, knives, anything) And go and lock it up in a room for exactly one year with no gun lock and a mag full of bullets, safety off and cocked. Now come back and look at it. 10 bucks bets it hasn't killed a singly thing. Guns aren't the problem. Take a look at china. You know exactly how many murders a year happen with any type of firearm? Last time I checked about 10 at max. Just because of the way the prison system and laws are set up.

If we start to address possible solutions IE. 1. teaching proper gun control, safety, and respect for said weapon at an early age 2. Making laws to harm criminals not average joe american 3. Beating the living hell outta people that break said laws.

I think this country would be in a far better place if that would happen, however I am not ignorant, I know that all the liberal people of the world would rather have everyone stuck in their little bubble where no one else could ever hurt them or call them mean things.

Maybe the real problem is the people trying to make all these laws got beat up too many times in third grade and their little sister had to stick up for them.

I want someone to break into my home and threaten my family just so I can test out my brand new AR-15 modified to full auto. Or I might just decide on the colt 45.