Loxley said:
Ah-Teen said:
There are only two legitimate reasons to own firearms. Self defense and to over throw an oppressive or corrupt government.
But you are nuts.
hunting? Besides that I agree.
What purpose besides your own enjoyment does that serve? We don't need to hunt now days, nor do we need to shoot for sport except to practice.
Kyuu said:
jeremy202 said:
thats the point, they dont want you to defend yourself.
Right. Because if the U.S. military, or even the police, decided to come after me, a couple 9mm's and a hunting rifle would totally save me. Also, strict gun laws do in fact result in less gun crime, so you're much less likely to be shot by a criminal with the gun laws than you are without.
The right to own and operate firearms has nothing to do with personal safety. People are much, much safer without guns.
Except, no.
Every year, people in the United States use a gun to defend themselves against criminals an estimated 2,500,000 times – more than 6,500 people a day, or once every 13 seconds.112 Of these instances, 15.6% of the people using a firearm defensively stated that they "almost certainly" saved their lives by doing so.
(just a little addition the writer added) Firearms are used 60 times more often to protect lives than to take lives.
In 83.5% (2,087,500) of these successful gun defenses, the attacker either threatened or used force first.
Less than 8% of the time does a citizen wound his or her attacker, and in less than one in a thousand instances is the attacker killed.
11% of police shootings kill an innocent person - about 2% of shootings by citizens kill an innocent person.
59% of the burglaries in Britain, which has tough gun control laws, are “hot burglaries” which are burglaries committed while the home is occupied by the owner/renter. By contrast, the U.S., with more lenient gun control laws, has a “hot burglary” rate of only 13%.
90% of all violent crimes in the US don't involve firearms of any type.
In crimes where the offender possessed a gun during the commission of the crime, 83% didn't use or threaten to use the gun.
Less than 1% of firearms will ever be used in the commission of a crime.
Two thirds of the people who die each year from gunfire are criminals being shot by other criminals.
You are far more likely to survive a violent assault if you defend yourself with a gun. In episodes where a robbery victim was injured, the injury/defense rates were:
Resisting with a gun 6%
Did nothing at all 25%
Resisted with a knife 40%
Non-violent resistance 45%
When a woman was armed with a gun or knife, only 3% of rape attacks are completed, compared to 32% when unarmed.
Firearm availability appears to be particularly useful in avoiding rape. Australia and the United Kingdom virtually banned handgun ownership. During the same period handgun ownership in the United States steadily rose. Yet the rate of rape decreased in the United States, and skyrocketed in the other countries.
1995 2003 | % of Change
72.5 91.7 | +26.5 Australia
43.3 69.2 | +59.8 United Kingdom
37.1 32.1 | -13.5 United States
(of course there are other factors but, meh I'll put it up anyway.)
In 1966, the city of Orlando responded to a wave of sexual assaults by offering firearms training classes to women. Rapes dropped by nearly 90% the following year.
(so many other factors
)
“... a detailed study of the major surveys completed in the past 20 years or more provides no evidence of any relationship between the total number of legally held firearms in society and the rate of armed crime. Nor is there a relationship between the severity of controls imposed in various countries or the mass of bureaucracy involved with many control systems with the apparent ease of access to firearms by criminals and terrorists.” -Colin Greenwood, “Minutes of Evidence”, Select Committee on Northern Ireland Affairs, January 29, 2003
Medical mistakes kill 400,000 people per year – the equivalent of almost three fully loaded Boeing 747 jet crashes per day – or about 286 times the rate of all accidental firearm deaths.205 This translates into 1 in 6 doctors causing an accidental death, and 1 in 56,666 gun owners doing the same.
Kyuu said:
Oh, and one last thing: did you know the second amendment was intended to allow local militias to equip themselves? The intent was not to allow nutty fanaticals with delusions of fending off an army from their front porch to stockpile weapons they have no real need or use for.
Do you know that, every able bodied man between 18 and 40 is part of the militia.
And did you realize that it was in fact intended for those "nutty fanatical" who thought they could fend off an army invading their own land. You know, cause thats what they did shortly before writing that. Against what was considered the most powerful army on earth, and in fact they themselves didn't think they would survive much less win. That in my opinion, is pretty fanatical.
"Those who have the command of the arms in a country are masters of the state, and have it in their power to make what revolutions they please. [Thus,] there is no end to observations on the difference between the measures likely to be pursued by a minister backed by a standing army, and those of a court awed by the fear of an armed people." -Aristotle
"What country can preserve it's liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance. Let them take arms." Thomas Jefferson
"The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that... it is their right and duty to be at all times armed." Thomas Jefferson
"None but an armed nation can dispense with a standing army. To keep ours armed and disciplined is therefore at all times important." Thomas Jefferson
That last one kinda also says that because everyone has a gun, we don't need an army. Now imagine that, no standing army. No airforce, no heavy navy(just some citizens with boats), no army. No globe hopping. We'd be forced to stay within our boarders. And in the case we were ever invaded, we would be able to fend them off because it would just be too much trouble to disarm all of us.
Not that I really agree with that but for those of you who'd rather countries stay within their own boarders, give that a thought.
