On 28/5/21 2:42 am, Checkmate wrote:
I've yet to find a liberal who can tell me how getting rid
of law enforcement and letting known violent criminals out of prison early will result in less killings. Gun laws have never stopped anyone who
wanted a gun from getting one.
True enough, but your argument assumes that violent criminals will be
violent for life, regardless of training or education. Journalists have
always argued against guns, but the general opinion seems to be that
guns are a part of American culture. A right leaning committee visited Australia. They were all members of the NRA, but they said openly that
in Australia, the national character is so different that they would not
be advocating the same thing here. The last time we executed a murderer
was in 1967. Since then, the crime rate, including murders, has gone
down. After the random shooting at Port Arthur, Tas, our gun laws were tightened considerably. Students at one of the American school
shootings said: "If Australia can have better gun laws, why not the
USA?" The answer to that, lies with you guys. Changing a culture is
not easy. Prohibition was introduced with the support of the American
public. (It didn't work, but that is another story.) The USA needs a
similar attitude to gun ownership.
It can depend on what kind of gun. One American owned what sounded like
a Vickers MMG. When the Police asked him why, he said "I'm allowed to
own a gun." The Police replied: "And we are allowed to keep you under observation." After the shooting in New Zealand, repeating rifles were
banned there.
A protester held up the Lindt cafe in Sydney. He had a gun. A woman
barrister was killed. A NSW M.P.said "If everybody had had a gun in
their pocket, they might have shot the hold-up man first." Maybe, if
they could shoot straight, at the right moment. Without training, the
death toll may have been much higher. Police are trained to try
alternatives first. The bullet that killed that woman was a ricochet.
In "The FBI Story," a man threw a loaded pistol at the ceiling. It went
off, and killed him. You may say that it was a crazy thing to do, but
giving people like him a "right" to own a gun means that suitability
checks are unavailable. We would never need 8 Police cars full of
policemen with guns to arrest a non-violent pedophile.
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