Quote Originally Posted by marcjacob View Post
I know this wont be popular, but these are my thoughts on the School Shootings that once again are happening in the States.

This happened once in the UK, in Dunblane. It shocked the nation and within a year handguns where banned in the UK.

What will it take before America bans gun ownership? It seems to be a right of all Americans to have a gun.

I fully agree with the American idea that you can kill an intruder in your own home if you feel you need too, we in the UK have too tight laws on that.
Just because you pass a law about something, it doesn't "go away."

(Porn allegedly harms women, right? Let's enact a ban for the public good!)

And gun control laws are what they say on paper, but in practive not necessesarily effective. For example, Quebec has comparatively very stringent gun control laws compared to the other Canadian provinces, but several weeks ago there was yet another college campus shooting in Montreal. (and it wasn't the first)

The concept about gun rights stems from personal responsibility, an attitude which clashes with the worldview that rights are derived from the government, and given or taken away as priviledges.

Also - gun control laws are exactly like marajuana laws - just because you pass a law, the thing you have deemed objectionable won't go away. It moves into the black market. Plus, marajuana and guns by themseves are not bad things, just when people misuse them.

I don't own a gun, but naturally I think people should have a right to own them. Just like I don't have sex with women, but I think heterosexuals have a right to privacy in their bedroom.

Steve

PS: As a clarification - if cartain states want to enact gun control laws, I don't have a problem with that. Life in Alaska is quite different from the Bronx. Federalism is the most elegant way to handle gun politics in a country as large and diverse like the US. That is a big difference betwen the US and countries like the UK. On the other hand, federal gun laws --- like most federal criminal laws, including federal drug laws.... are heavyhanded and at the end of the day probably cost much more then they benefit.....