Steve, in answer to your earlier question I live in the south of England.
In actual fact here in the leafy New Forest we have had two incidents in the past couple of weeks (probably the same perpetrator) where a middle aged man wielding a gun and disguised with swimming goggles, has held up people and made them go to a nearby cash machine to take out money. This is an extremely rare occurrence and every possibility the 'gun' is a fake anyway.
Your paragraphs above I have to say make no sense in relation to this discussion. Of course cricket bats, knives etc get used to commit acts of violence and sometimes death. But the many times greater lethality of guns puts them into a different category. The motor car is the most lethal weapon in the UK but no one is suggesting we ban them. The killer in the recent school shooting had access to all four of his mothers guns. Four guns. I don't know anyone who owns even one gun. Like the locality of the shootings, we too live in a quiet, law abiding area. The difference being that if a 20 year old kid with a grudge here wanted to get a gun he would probably have to go off to a city and get involved with the crime underground to be able to source one. Not just get the keys to his mum's closet.
Jim
Hi Jim. Thanks for the response.
1. Am I wrong in thinking you live in a pretty nice area? We have such areas in the states too. Much more than not. Areas where we can go 50+ years without a serious incident.
We haven't yet reached the point in the discussion (all such discussions of this type have a very predictable sequence where specific information is entered, people google, we go to the next level, etc, etc.. the best we can hopeful in a thread of this type is to be civil and present information relative to our beliefs.
One such area we haven't got to yet but you eluded to, is that the vast majority of those handgun numbers and homicides.. are gang related and in truth centered in small specific areas of several big (and failing) cities. If we erased those numbers we'd find the USA to be as peaceful and non-violent as yo find your little patch of earth.. as compared to if you were living in your worst areas.
2. I have some experience with weapons as they've been my professional tools for decades before I started carrying cameras instead (no wonder I like the big heavy 1 series bodies..;o), and I think it's a huge mistake to discount the lethality of edged or blunt instruments as weapons. Spend a few hours watching the shows that analyze midevil or antique weaponry.. Sure, guns are more effective and maybe even in a different class.. but they're hugely lethal and they're what we'll be facing (without a gun to protect ourself) if certain laws pass.
And I'm not convinced people think that far ahead. Because they can't see it of feel it, they're not allowing for the deterrent effect certain communities enjoy because the bad guys know it's an armed community. Or how effective at 50, 60, 70 years of age they'd be protecting their own family while out in public. Or even if you're young, how effective you'd be against mutiple assailants. I've familiar because its' been by business to put myself out there. I've done that in the past, and I know through experience what's out there. So now as I enter my 50's I've very realistic about how effective I'd be protecting my family without firearms. The answer is not very.
Everyone agrees that all these proposed measures probably won't stop the next school attack. But if they go through, how many home attacks, armed assaults, and other violence will normal citizens be during because of this? The numbers will be high. We know this, because since we've enacted CCW laws in 49 states, 41 states are use friendly, in almost all of these states violence has decreased. We have 200% less violent crimes committed than ten years ago. And few are asking why.
3. I 100% agree with the access issue.. this kid should never have had access and the guns should never have been secured in a closet, locked or not. I talk about this here: "
What Would Have Prevented The Sandy Hook, CT School Shootings?"