Stymie said:

you know I love ya stymie but that's just silly. Do criminal's obide by the law? no, so what good would outlawing them do?

UCantHavaDaMango said:

me and you gots a lot in common!

UCantHavaDaMango said:

Instead of giving outlaws permission to carry guns? Anyone can have a gun in countries where guns are not outlawed, they dont ask for character references when you buy one. Also, guns end up changing hands illegally, because there are so many in circualation. In countries where guns are illegal, theres less gun crime.

..
[Edited 1/2/07 10:29am]

Graycap23 said:

no it isn't. I'd say hiding it would be more nuts than that. My husband wears a 9mm on his side everywhere he goes, even walmart. (except a court house or an airport) He has a permit to carry concealed so he doesn't have to put it on his seat in his truck but if he didn't have a permit to carry concealed he'd have to legally put in on the seat or the dash board in order for it NOT to be concealed.

Shorty said:

Them being legal doesn't do much good either. People who are not criminals don't abide by gun rules either, hence the bunches of jackasses that shoot them on NYE without thinking that what goes up, must come down. My personal opinion is that most people who have them are cowards. It's a way to be big and bad and not have to settle a dispute without resorting to violence.

LleeLlee said:

My husband is not an "outlaw" You are right...anyone who wants an illegal gun can certainly get one, but if you are a law obiding citizen, they do ask for character refrences and do extensive background checks when you buy one. Yep, guns change hands illegally....no matter what the laws are.

I can think of no moral, positive use for a gun.

LleeLlee said:

That's the story behind the movie 'Babel'--Japanese guy innocently gives his rifle to a friend in Morocco who gives it to his son who shoots a tourist.

CarrieMpls said:

Me either.

sextonseven said:

Great movie, by the way.

Shorty said:

We manage in the U.K. there is gun crime but its on a much much smaller scale then in countries that allow their citizens to carry guns. Having a gun culture contributes to gun crime imo.

Stymie said:

Loved it.

Stymie said:

I completely disagree with you. My husband is not a criminal and DOES abide by gun rules. Like I said earlier in this thread, my husband carries a gun, and has yet to settle a dispute by resorting to violence.

Shorty said:

I should have prefaced the word people with 'some'. I apologize but I stick by everything else I said. There are too many instances of kids getting killed with legal guns inside their own homes.

CarrieMpls said:

you and your lovely children are all tucked in and asleep peacefully in your home when you awake to a crash....you rush down stairs just in time to find some criminal about to murder/abduct/rape your child.....I would find it completely moral to shoot that muthafucka in the head to save my child,family.

Stymie said:

Same here.

Stymie said:

I completely agree with you stymie, I in know way endorse irrisponsibility when it comes to guns. They should be taken VERY seriously by the whole family and properly trained

Stymie said:

That SOUNDS great until u are confronted with a CRIMINAL. Then what?

Shorty said:

Now I have to agree with you there, Shorty. Ever see that movie An Eye For An Eye?

Graycap23 said:

So you're saying, fight fire with fire?

I think there are better ways to prevent crime then put more guns in people's hands.

More guns=more potential for violence and death. Less guns and less access to guns means less potential for violence and death. It's a pretty simple equation.

Graycap23 said:

Then the criminal gets what he wants, I guess.

BTW, it's illegal to carry a firearm/handgun on you in Illinois so I'd be a criminal for carrying one.

I do not own a gun, I wll never own a gun. If need be, I'll lock my house up like Ft. Knox but I will never shoot anyone.

Shorty said:

moral? I don't know... positive? I don't think there's anything positive about the situation. All I know is I would feel much, much less safe with a gun in my home than without it. As I stated in another post, there are better ways to go about crime prevention than owning your own gun.

Stymie said:

If they did that, guns would be taken way from people who bought their firearms legally, with the necessary paperwork and such. The government would have a very difficult time taking them away from the criminals who have stolen, or homemade weapons (unless they are caught using them). A criminal's worst fear is an armed victim. Without legal gun onwership, they would know that all of the law abiding folks on their street were unarmed.

Even though my man enjoys his target shooting hobby, he would agree that the world would be better off without guns. Unfortunately, the world isn't perfect, and bad people own guns. He feels he is doing a good thing by learning to use a gun properly and safely just in case he may need to protect someone. If he ever did have to use his gun, it would be the absolute LAST resort. He's not a coward. He had to have a background check done in order to obtain a permit. It's also pretty easy to lose your right to carry a weapon. My man's father back talked a police officer when he was younger, and his right to bear arms was taken away. He's nearly 50 years old now, and he had to go to court to try to get his right back.

To scare off the aliens, of course! Sheesh!

http://www.prince.org/msg/100/213042

JustErin said:

Ditto.

UCantHavaDaMango said:

All I know is that criminals walk down the street carrying guns. Everybody else cannot. So in Illinois, your guy having the right to bear arms means jack (the 'right to bear arms is an archaic term, btw, meant during war times of at least 250 years ago). He could not carry a concealed weapon without a permit. Gun laws are stupid. If they are gonna do this thing right, give everybody the right to carry a concealed gun. Criminals would then never know who they were running up on.

CarrieMpls said:

To be honest I used to feel the EXACT same way as you do! I still believe that prevention is best, as does my man. Unfortunately, prevention doesn't always work. When I heard the news story about a family who was tied up in their home, with the young children abducted and raped (one was also murdered), I thought, how could this situation have ended differently? If one of the parents pulled a gun on their attacker, the story wouldn't have ended violence-free, but their child might not have been killed. I guess you just never know until it happens.

Some criminals are so sick and desperate, that a dead bolt lock and security alarm are not enough to stop them. Anyway, enough about that. I'm starting to creep myself out over here!

Stymie said:

I hear what you're saying, but I really don't think that would be a crime deterrent. We have a conceal and carry law in Minnesota and I don't think it increased the sale of guns nor decreased crime with a gun. I suppose I could look it up...
And really, do we want that to be one? Everyone walking around with guns holstered on as if this were the wild west?

Stymie said:

So, can people carry a weapon with a permit? They can here in WA. I do know that gun laws vary in different parts of the country.

UCantHavaDaMango said:

There's also a chance that the attacker could have grabbed the gun and killed the entire family.