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In reply to the discussion: 13 Shot Outside Arizona Nightclub [View all]LiberalLovinLug
(14,173 posts)You are sadly correct that it cannot be closed now.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/08/28/us-world-firearms-idUSL2834893820070828
The US has an astounding ownership rate of 90 guns per 100 people.
The closest country in second place? India at 4 guns per 100 people.
But do not pull out that tired old talking point that "Even in countries with very strict guns laws, a determined criminal seems to have very little difficulty obtaining one" as a defense of arming everyone.
1. Yes criminals can find a hand gun in countries with strict gun control, but it is still much more difficult to find one, legal or otherwise, floating around to either steal or buy.
2. Most murders are crimes of passion that occur among people who know each other. If in that sudden rush of adrenalin a gun is not available, they may grab a knife, but that is a messy option and usually has a much less lethal result. A gun is too easy a solution to end a quarrel.
I live in a part of the world with hand gun control and like it that way. I can go out in my neighborhood and know that no one else is carrying. If they are they are stupid, because they would be in a lot of trouble if caught with one. It is a much more peace of mind way of living.
But I fear, for my friends in the US, that your orgy of gun love has swung so far that there is no turning back.
Hypothetically, if guns were not an invention, and the closest thing we had to a weapon was dynamite...imagine an America today with the same attitude. 90% of people walking around with dynamite strapped to themselves, ready to light and throw in a heartbeat. That's the kind of powderkeg society you want to live in if you blindly accept this twisted logic of everyone is safer if everyone is armed all the time. Scarey.