seldear | Gun Control Question

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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.

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From:

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.

From:

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.

From:

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.