Discussing the Right On list: The right to bear arms.

[spot]

An anonymous list in Thank God CBS didn't shut him up! beginning "Right on" carries a paragraph on the right to bear arms and asserts that

Originally Posted by Anonymous

Guns do not make you a killer. I think killing makes you a killer. You can kill someone with a baseball bat or a car, but no one is trying to ban you from driving to the ball game.

Here we go then - the "Guns don't kill people, people do" territory.

Guns make killing people easier. People - military, paramilitary or civilian - who would otherwise not kill become killers because they have access to a gun.

The majority instance of killing by gun in a civilian context is suicide, not murder or accident. The most commonly used method of suicide in the United States is firearms. In the UK, where access to firearms is difficult and inconvenient, shooting forms an insignificant proportion of suicides. Ready access to guns makes impulse-suicide far more available in the US and the rate of suicide is noticeably higher.

Either for suicide or for murder the easy accessibility to guns makes killing a simpler proposition. What would otherwise be difficult becomes easy. Killing someone with a baseball bat is, as the list says, possible, but it's nowhere near as common. It might be more satisfying but it takes a lot more effort and the result's a lot less certain.

[Rapunzel]

I would uphold anyone's right to bear arms . . . but wouldn't they be kinda hairy?



Sorry Spotalicious . . . I just couldn't resist!

[spot]

Originally Posted by Rapunzel

Sorry Spotalicious . . . I just couldn't resist!

Your ancestry involved many goats. Go for a long walk, check the horizon for Spaniards or whatever people do where you live.

Happy new year, the four of you!

[Rapunzel]

Originally Posted by spot

Your ancestry involved many goats. Go for a long walk, check the horizon for Spaniards or whatever people do where you live.

Happy new year, the four of you!

So when my maaa said "go aht" she didn't mean 'go out' she was calling me a goat!
Ahh. Light dawns. I didn't understand at the time - well, I was just a kid!

Sorry for the silliness, I was always a fan of pans...er...puns.

Happy New Year Spot.

[Accountable]

Originally Posted by spot

An anonymous list in Thank God CBS didn't shut him up! beginning "Right on" carries a paragraph on the right to bear arms and asserts thatHere we go then - the "Guns don't kill people, people do" territory.

Guns make killing people easier. People - military, paramilitary or civilian - who would otherwise not kill become killers because they have access to a gun.

The majority instance of killing by gun in a civilian context is suicide, not murder or accident. The most commonly used method of suicide in the United States is firearms. In the UK, where access to firearms is difficult and inconvenient, shooting forms an insignificant proportion of suicides. Ready access to guns makes impulse-suicide far more available in the US and the rate of suicide is noticeably higher.

Either for suicide or for murder the easy accessibility to guns makes killing a simpler proposition. What would otherwise be difficult becomes easy. Killing someone with a baseball bat is, as the list says, possible, but it's nowhere near as common. It might be more satisfying but it takes a lot more effort and the result's a lot less certain.

Guns are necessary tools to prevent the government from overstepping their boundaries -- the fact that we don't use them for that even when it's long past justified and that some small sectors of society abuse their puposes notwithstanding.

[Benjamin]

The "right to bear arms" was instituted in 1776 at a time when 'arms' meant muskets. So the constitution gives us the right to bear muskets. I don't have a problem with that. I'm not so sure about AK-47s, though.

[CARLA]

I agree Benjamin by the time you got that Musket loaded you would have forgotten what the problem was.

ACC

[Accountable]

Thanks, Carla.

Good to see you again, Ben!

[fuzzy butt]

Originally Posted by Rapunzel

I would uphold anyone's right to bear arms . . . but wouldn't they be kinda hairy?



Sorry Spotalicious . . . I just couldn't resist!

I think we should not have the right to bare arms unless we have the right to arm bears.

or we could make guns free!!! Yep give everyone a gun and have the bullets cost $1000 each.
that way if you really really want to kill someone you'll have to get a second job .

[Bryn Mawr]

Originally Posted by Accountable

Guns are necessary tools to prevent the government from overstepping their boundaries -- the fact that we don't use them for that even when it's long past justified and that some small sectors of society abuse their puposes notwithstanding.

So if, say, a quarter of the population did not agree with what the government were doing you are in favour of armed insurrection?

The Branch Davidian felt that the government were overstepping their boundaries - do you feel that their response was justified?

At what point do you decide that the abuse of the purpose of the right to bear arms is more harmful to society than the "right" that you do not use?