Gun Control Question

[seldear]

As I understand it, Australia has relatively strict gun control laws. I'm not sure exactly what those laws are, never having required the use of a firearm. (Any of the Aussies know?)

US Constitution's Second Amendment? Gun registration?

And where do you stand on the matter of "the right to bear arms" and why? Would love to hear from all sides of the fence and the pond.

Comments

[skydiver119.livejournal.com]

I don't know all the ins and outs because, well i don't have a gun, don't want a gun so i don't care. :)

but i believe that there are limits as to the type of guns that your 'average joe' can possess, the high powered nasty stuff, along with some ammunition that's never gonna be used for hunting but is 100% anti people.

there are supposed to be controls in place. background checks and the like before you can have a gun. also you're supposec to be registered and have a license.

but, just like illegal drugs, there are illegal guns. and those can't be controlled largely because we import so frakking much and have so much border to watch that it's impossible short of turning the country into an armed state.

things like this virgina tech always bring up gun control...but the control is there and he bought his gun legally. sure, there were warning signs that this man had issues...but unti he actually does something, there wasn't anything they could do. You can't lock a person up for life because they might go nutters. and you can't ban tehm from buying weapons for the same reason.

and if he really wanted a gun, there are plenty of illegal ones around. you just gotta know where to go.

our 'right to bear arms' came from us being the rebels and fighting for our freedom hundreds of years ago, and it'll never change. And no matter how much people try to control it, it'll never be controlled.

and for every case like cho's there's a 'robbery averted because bystander had a licensed weapon and shot the robber' case. (we just got concealed carry passes, legally - with a license and permit - i could walk the streets with a gun in my bag...of course every building also has the right to put up a 'no guns allowed' sign and i'd have to NOT bring my gun into the building...so our concealed carry is basically little more than teh right to carry them outside and on public property)

I grew up with guns in the house. my dad had a lot of them. We were taught not to play with them, they weren't toys and we respected that.

in some cases it's not gun control taht needs to be done, but gun education. and people like cho are gonna hurt people. he's smart enough, had he not been able to get a weapon he'd have done something else...last time i looked you could get step by step instructions for making bombs on the net

[sjhw-tolerance.livejournal.com]

Pretty much what D said. I have to stand by our Bill of Rights and the right to bear arms.

It gets to be too simplistic to lay the blame for what happened on the supposed 'easy' availability of guns in the US and Virginia in particular. That poor boy would have managed to find a way to carry out his plan whether he bought his guns legally or not.

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm not laying the blame anywhere. The kid was clearly not right in the head. But some of the debates rising up make me curious - and the culture of 'the right to bear arms' is one that I'm trying to wrap my head around.

Personally, I feel no need for a weapon, but I live in a relatively 'safe' area of town. I'd be interested in the opinions of someone who lived in a less 'safe' area - say the south-west - somewhere where there's a higher incidence of crime and a greater proportion of physical endangerment to an individual.

[saramund.livejournal.com]

I live in one of the worst areas of Sydney (yes, we know - and it was like that when I moved in).

My family is miitary. We've had our cars broken into/stolen 4 times in the last two years. Police patrol with heliocopters on a regular basis, and my rail line has had more 'incidents' than I can count (and several of them fatalities).

And NEVER have I thought to myself - I need to buy a gun to protect myself. I've always seen guns as an escalation - once you bring that out, you can't go back, AND you've put death on the table. And if you're protecting yourself from thugs, and you bring that to the table, they will instinctively protect themselves and more than likely escalate their own violence to match. Catch 22 all over again.

I'm not a pacifist (hard to be, with all family military-oriented) but to me a gun has it's place, and that's not in the home. I'm all for the base-ball bat and cast-iron frypan.

[allisnow.livejournal.com]

Pretty much agree with these guys (OMG).

[sjhw-tolerance.livejournal.com]

eek!

[seldearslj.livejournal.com]

Be afraid. Be very afraid...

[tv-elf.livejournal.com]

Agreed. Well, except I didn't grow up with guns. Dad was a Reservist, but kept that aspect mostly out of the house. (He did manage to hook me on MREs.)

I'm not a fan of guns, but there are times and places where they are needed.

"Gun control" is as real as the Easter Bunny in my mind. We like to tell ourselves that if we just add this one more hoop to jump through, things like Virginia Tech won't happen. That can be a dangerous fallacy. If you want a gun, you can get one. And, as we just learned, it isn't all that strict.

Do I wish guns didn't exist? Sure. But I will defend a person's right to have one.