What is the point of owning guns?

[MikeH]

What I don't understand about this whole thing is that the vast majority of gun control measures I've seen. eg. registering purchases, requiring id for a purchase etc. are designed to make it harder for the kind of gangbangers Alby posts pictures of in here from getting access to guns, whilst allowing responsible citizens to still own them.

Why on earth would that be a bad thing?

[kentonio]

Cuz America.

[MOBIUS]

USA! USA! USA!

[MikeH]

Cuz America.

Yeah, it really is a totally different mentality.

[Alexander's Horse]

John Wayne, draft dodger, gun owner

[Lonestar]

What I don't understand about this whole thing is that the vast majority of gun control measures I've seen. eg. registering purchases, requiring id for a purchase etc. are designed to make it harder for the kind of gangbangers Alby posts pictures of in here from getting access to guns, whilst allowing responsible citizens to still own them.

Why on earth would that be a bad thing?

Because historically gun registries have been Step 1 in later confiscation. During Katrina the NOPD had a list of registered firearms and Carry holders and went door to door confiscating guns, and tried to get the NG to take part in it.


In NYC they used a gun registry to confiscate firearms in the early 90s.

People like Feinstein are on record saying that if they could get the votes in Congress they would confiscate firearms.


Mind you, this is in the US. Other countries used gun registries to confiscate guns as well.


So, a lot of gun owners don't like the idea of gun registries.

[MOBIUS]

One might say they're up in arms about the idea...

[Lonestar]

One might say they're up in arms about the idea...

Ha-ha

[MikeH]

On the other hand they can also massively help law enforcement find guns used in criminal activity and therefore find and prosecute criminals and prevent further crimes. Which is a massive benefit to everyone.

But it's a different mentality. I come from a country where it is very hard to imagine ever being that bothered either way about owning a gun. Vast majority of people would never need one, fire one... I didn't see a real gun until I was 15 when I went to Germany, I saw a cop there with one.

You do see armed police occasionally here at airports and stuff nowadays.

It's just not part of our culture in any way. Which is why it's hard to understand.

[Lonestar]

On the other hand they can also massively help law enforcement find guns used in criminal activity and therefore find and prosecute criminals and prevent further crimes. Which is a massive benefit to everyone..

Hey, you know what? If TPTB were advocating ending the unending drug war, improving mental healthcare in the country, and seriously talking about the social mobility problems in the country...then I would believe that they are being honest when they talk about the need for more gun control as a means to curtail violent crime.

As it is, at best it's a feel good measure that does nothing but antagonize law-abiding gun-owners, at worst it's because TPTB don't want the peasants to be able to curtail the kind of widespread police abuse we saw in every single one of the "Occupy" rallies except those in states that allowed open and concealed carry.

[regexcellent]

If I recall, our very own Imran Siddiqui said that we should confiscate guns, and use registration as a precursor.

Thereby outlining why we shouldn't have it.

[Lonestar]

John Wayne, draft dodger, gun owner

Yeah, I don't think Ted Nugent should be allowed to own firearms(as an example). If he was "crazy" enough to get out of the draft, then he's crazy enough to not own a gun.

[DinoDoc]

Not that I agree that he's a "prospective" officer, but he has first amendment rights to his political beliefs.

So? That only protects him from the government.

[kentonio]

But it's a different mentality. I come from a country where it is very hard to imagine ever being that bothered either way about owning a gun. Vast majority of people would never need one, fire one... I didn't see a real gun until I was 15 when I went to Germany, I saw a cop there with one.

There used to be gun people in the UK, my family and their friends were very into it. It seems bizarre now, but I still remember a friend of my dads letting me hold an AK47 when I was about 7 or 8. It was always a small subculture in Britain though, and although those people were very angry when the laws were changed, they soon enough moved on and got over it. End of the day it's a hobby for most people, not life or death, no matter what they might tell themselves.

[Lonestar]

There used to be gun people in the UK, my family and their friends were very into it. It seems bizarre now, but I still remember a friend of my dads letting me hold an AK47 when I was about 7 or 8. It was always a small subculture in Britain though, and although those people were very angry when the laws were changed, they soon enough moved on and got over it. End of the day it's a hobby for most people, not life or death, no matter what they might tell themselves.

Bet you that you didn't have more privately owned firearms than people in the country.

Or it enshrined into the Constitution at both the Federal level and that of several states.

Or people who lived in relatively isolated areas where hunting was a way of life, or you couldn't rely upon the police to answer phone calls quickly. You'd have to go to the Hebrides before you find a part of the UK that's as isolated as even chunks of New York State.

"It was always a small subculture" well, it's more like half the housholds in the country in the US own firearms, and even non-gunowners tend to think that that is normal.