"English and Aussies gave up close to 1 Million "personal" weapons to their respective gov't. Violent crime in both of these countries have gone up (by %400 in Australia)"
You're making things up Panther, I happen to live in Australia & the simple fact is that violent crimes are down in all Australian states & have been going down at a very low per-capita rate for donkies years. Now the NRA may say otherwise but they were the ones who were forced to apologise to the Australian tourist Commission when they threatened to sue the NRA unless they could come out with the facts.
You see we don't have local law enforcement regions in Australia, all our police forces are state based, plus there's only 6 Australian states (& 2 mainland territories) so one just has to log onto the statistics dept of each of those 6 states to see that violent crimes have been relativelly static & actually decreasing at a slow rate on a per-capita basis. Mind you when figures are so low, (there are only about 80 firearm deaths a year in Australia nationwide) it could take just one armed holdup going wrong for there to be a fluctuation of 5%. Now if you were to compare that with any region of the US with 19 million people you'd see that the odds of being a victim of a violent crime in the US are many, many times higher than Australia.
BTW 'personal' weapons have been illegal for Australians for donkeys years. It was Semi-Automatic rifles they mage illegal when they introduced those knee-jerk laws after that recessive went crazy with the Armalite in Tasmania. You really should find out the facts before posting next time, you know.
"Dabanshee.... i won't even argue with your statistics. They are really immaterial to the question. Whether or not the need ever arises for a weapon, it is a Constitutionally guaranteed right in America to be able to possess and bear a weapon. Most folks will never "need" a flotation device either, but i'm glad that the they exist, and can be used to save lives, under the right conditions. If you don't feel comfortable with guns, fine, don't own one. If you feel strongly enough about the matter, lobby for the Constitution to be amended to suit your fancy when it comes to the gun issue. But at least be honest about it if you think that citizens should not have the right to bear arms. At least i would be able to respect you for actually being willing to say it straightforwardly, rather than using statistics in an attempt to enforce your wishes in a back door, weasel-like manner. Until and unless you are honest about your intentions, don't expect those of us who do own guns to take you seriously."
To be perfectly honest Gen, IMAO people who think they need firarms for self defence are just 'paraniods' with tickets on themselves & an inflated opinion of their own importance that they really think they need a gun for self defence, either that or they are making an allowance for their small dicks, unless of course they actually have a position in life that increases their chances of being held up, like owning a liquor store in the South Bronx or being a drug dealer (they get held up more than just about anyone else). Because the simple fact is if you keep a gun for self defence its more likely that it will kill a friend relative through an accident or some compulsive/impulsive act of drunkenessor jealousy etc, than it will ever be needed to stop an intruder (the news program I saw said by a factor of 23 times, but even if it was by a factor of just 1 to 1 it would negate any reason for having a firearm for self defence unless you had a job that required it.)
Lets face it, with 95% of the people who keep a firearm for self defence its a ego trip, the're wanking off on their boys-toys, nothing more. I wonder how many practice drawing it out in front of the bedroom mirror.
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