US Gun Laws

[Asher]

Yes, another mass shooting and another gun law debate.

Can anyone tell me why the **** extended capacity magazines for semi-automatic handguns are very easy to get legally?

What is the rationale here?

Is it for hunting? Or is it for defending your property (that you affectionately call "The Alamo") from an onslaught of invading Mexican aliens?

[OzzyKP]

Guns don't kill people, crazy people do.

[MikeH]

Guns just make it a hell of a lot easier.

[OneFootInTheGrave]

sure but how much damage could a crazy person do with a knife here? 1 dead, maybe two if he is really skilled (and crazies are not usually)...

people kill people, not guns, but guns make it a lot more effective thus >>>> ban them, if there is a country that would benefit from it, it's the US - still given the mentality there, banning guns would give more of a reason for a revolution than socialized healthcare and tagging every american with a tracking chip combined.

[MikeH]

A ban is probably impractical in a country already awash with so much hardware.

[OneFootInTheGrave]

with so many unemployed they could pay 1% of the people on the dole to go around with a metal detector and collect for scrap iron

[SlowwHand]

Terrorists do quite a bit of damage without guns. Additionally, a madman could do quite a lot of mayhem with a knife, rock or rope and serial killings.
Guns are just an easy target, so to speak, for the untrained.

[giblets]

Nukes don't kill. Crazy people do. I guess the US should stop complaining about Iran's nuclear power program.

[MikeH]

True.

[giblets]

A ban is probably impractical in a country already awash with so much hardware.

Yeah, that's probably true. Although maybe restrictions on ammunition could work?

[Felch]

I don't know where gribbler is from, but every other American posting here so far is pro-gun. Every foreigner is anti-gun (or at least, anti-high capacity magazines). Luckily, so long as America is well armed, we'll be free to govern ourselves as we see fit.

I know that Maryland has stricter gun laws (10 round limit on handgun magazines, for example) than neighboring states, and it also has a higher violent crime rate. Seems to me like they're doing something right, and we're doing something wrong.

Restricting ammunition is pointless so long as reloading is common.

[OneFootInTheGrave]

just as a correlation, in London alone there were about 1300 stab wound victims admitted to the hospital in 2010, not sure how many deaths out of it all, so the underlying reasons for crime exist, as they do everywhere dependable on various social conditions, however what is the bet that there would be an order of magnitude more victims and dead people if guns were as easily available and in use?

We can argue on the statistics, but guns are a lot more efficient tools of murder than knifes, and I would prefer a crazy person with a knife trying to assasinate someone, rather than a semi-automatic anything... that's all... the fact that this is unenforceable in the US is another matter *(even if there was public willingness to go in that direction)

[MRT144]

What about a semi-automatic knife? Think about it! 100 stabs per minute.

[OneFootInTheGrave]

sounds menacing

[Asher]

Let's just focus on the extended ammunition clip for a semi-automatic handgun -- WHY IS THAT LEGAL?

I can sort-of see the justification for having a handgun to protect your home, from muggings, whatever. But why the **** do you need 30 bullets in a clip in a handgun? The only thing I can see this useful for is a mass shooting...