Should America review its gun laws?

Question

There are 17,000 murders a year in the US, that 46 every day, many gun related . Remove these guns and cut the murder rate in half or despite this carnage do Americans still want to keep their constitutional rights.?
http://www.care2.com/causes/gun-laws-are-government-sponsored-racism-says-chicagos-police-superintendant.html

Answer 1

No, Wil; we should have done so thirty years ago, before this god-forsaken society became so saturated with guns (specifically, handguns.)

"Constitutional rights" is a misnomer. Our constitution was referring to a "well-regulated militia", and there's nothing well-regulated about gun ownership here. Here's the problem, Wil: handguns have permeated our society so deeply and abundantly that we'll never, ever get rid of them, even if a law were passed. As far as I can see, the only way around this would be to ban ammunition, and gun owners would stockpile within an inch of their lives if such a bill were proposed.

I have no problem with individuals owning shotguns or rifles. I have a huge problem with those who think it's every American's "right" to own a weapon whose entire purpose is that it's easily concealed. Don't even get me started on semiautomatics; why don't we all go about toting RPG launchers.

People who are for effective gun control are, obviously, at a disadvantage here. We're defenseless in the face of all those gun-lovers. For that reason, I sleep with a loaded shotgun under my bed; the stupidity and lack of foresight of this government has given me no other choice.

Answer 2

It's not as easy as you say. There is no way to just remove all the guns. There are many drugs that are illegal here but people have no problem getting them. If you outlaw guns it will create another product for criminal gangs to sell and fight over. Criminals ignore the law so they will still be able to get guns one way or the other. If you take guns away from law abiding citizens they will have no way to protect themselves. Look whats happening in Mexico with all of the drug gang violence. Citizens are not allowed to have guns there but there is a huge amount of gun violence. Gangs break into homes and murder innocent people all the time. These people have no way to protect themselves.



I don't have a problem with trying to make it harder for people with criminal or mental problems being able to get guns. But I don't like the idea of taking guns away from law abiding citizens with no criminal history.



Like someone else already said, many more people are killed every year by drunk drivers than guns. Are we going to outlaw alcohol again? Remember in the 20s we outlawed alcohol. When prohibition started so did the violence and gangs.



There have been cities in the U.S. that outlawed handguns. D.C. and Chicago, yet they have some of the highest murder rates in the country.



In the rare case in which gun bans work, murderers use other weapons. Eight decades of police-state enforcement of handgun prohibition have kept Russian gun ownership low, resulting in few gun murders. Yet Russia's murder rates have long been four times higher than those in the U.S. and 20 times higher than rates in countries such as Norway. Former Soviet nations like Lithuania also ban handguns and severely restrict other guns, yet have 10-15 times higher murder rates than European nations with much higher gun ownership.

Answer 3

Why can't some people understand that it is the CRIMINALS who aren't LICENSED to own REGISTERED guns that are doing the murders?



My entire family are gun owners. We hunt and go out to the shooting range, but we don't go around murdering people. We abide by the law, and if our right to own guns are taken away from us, because the law says so we won't have guns anymore. Guess who will still have their guns though? That's right, the CRIMINALS! Heaven help us if some thug wants to harm us and we no longer have our firearms to protect ourselves...



Criminals are going to get their hands on guns no matter what the law says. That is what makes them criminals. Same as with drugs. We have plenty of anti-drug laws that law abiding citizens obey, but drug dealers and drug addicts don't.



You're damn right I want to keep my Constitutional rights!

Answer 4

I suspect that the people committing the murders with guns, would not obey any new "gun laws" that we enact, since clearly they aren't obeying the law not to commit murder. Why is it that so many anti-gun folks don't get this basic fact: that criminals don't obey laws.

Also take a look at the outlawing of guns in England: it lead to an incredible increase in burglaries. Burglars had the royal red carpet rolled out to welcome them to commit more crimes, knowing that the people whose homes they broke into would go to prison if they tried to defend themselves and assault the burglar, much less shoot him.

Also:

A government that outlaws guns, sets its citizens up for genocide.

Answer 5

It is not as simple as you think it is. Remove gun from people will not solve the problem but will make it gets worse. If you ban citizens the right to bear arm, then only law abiding citizens obey the law and criminals still have guns.

Answer 6

Guns don't kill people, people kill people.

But seriously, guns aren't the problem and with watchdog groups like the NRA, outlawing our Constitutional rights would not fly.

Also, in my city alone most deaths have been beating-related, nothing to do with guns. Getting rid of guns will not get rid of the problem. People are creative. If they want to kill someone, they'll do it, with or without a gun.

Answer 7

More people are killed by prescription drugs and automobile accidents, so while we're reviewing gun laws, lets review prescription drug and automobile laws.



While we're at it, lets review the growing number of cases of citizens who are murdered from police shootings and tazer attacks.

Answer 8

For the first time in my life, I am a proud gun owner! Please don't preach to us about our gun laws, they are just fine.