Poll: american only gun poll

[Nghtgnt]

...If the recent shootings by lunatics is a gun control issue, a full-on legal acquisition ban WILL stop them...

Not really - there are so many out there on the market (legitimate and underground) that even if you had an all-out ban today it would still be decades before most are taken out of circulation.

 

[Fuzzed]

I'm gonna throw this out there: It's called China. China once had a population that owned as many guns as the USA does. Then Mao (look him up if you don't know who I'm talking about) and the government banned them, and physically removed them from everybody that owned them. Today, even the sound of a homicide in China is so extremely rare its almost unbelievable. And oh, China has by far the highest population of any country in the entire world. IT's not video games. Get a clue America.

It has no homicide and has the highest population of any country in the world....and is also governed by a totalitarian regime that imprisons thousands of people for speaking out against the government and actively censors information coming into and going out of the country.

I'll take my chances, thanks.

And the United States doesn't....Wake up and smell the coffee.

 

[Fuzzed]

I'm gonna throw this out there: It's called China. China once had a population that owned as many guns as the USA does. Then Mao (look him up if you don't know who I'm talking about) and the government banned them, and physically removed them from everybody that owned them. Today, even the sound of a homicide in China is so extremely rare its almost unbelievable. And oh, China has by far the highest population of any country in the entire world. IT's not video games. Get a clue America.

Mao? Which Mao? The one that killed 20 million of his own people in the "Great Leap Forward"? Or the one that forced people out of their homes to live in communes that were riddled with disease and policed by the military, with no civil or personal rights whatsoever? Oh they were the same one you were talking about? Go figure...

At least he killed 20 million (who knows what the real figure is) with balls instead of secretly killing 20 million plus foreigners all over the world like the U.S. has done. And what does the U.S. call it nowadays...I think the "Great Leap Backwards" or something like that. And how's China doing today...oh ya. Fucking amazing.

 

[Happiness Assassin]

The thing is, what the Obama administration has proposed isn't even that strict. It seems to cover most of the angles on the issue and is very middle of the road. Heck, they even used the NRA's idea of increasing security in schools. Most Americans can get behind keeping guns out of the hands of those who are unfit to use them. The few reasonable gun owners I know actually cancelled their NRA membership because how blatantly off base that press release of theirs was and believe that something has to be done. The only ones who are getting overly worked up are those that take the 2nd amendment to the extreme.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Yes, because the Escapist isn't know for being dominated by a vocal minority...
[HEADING=2]OH, WAIT...[/HEADING]

Gun control and issues of government authority on armaments have been a part of the US since before its inception. It's not a issue that is one sided by dominated by one loud group, its a contested issue.

I'm starting to get pissed at people who don't understand the psychology of various areas of the US coming in to state how wrong everyone is and how stupid things are. I get crucified any time I so much as imply I know anything about a foreign country (because you know all United States citizens are fat and stupid) so I expect everyone else to show the same restraint when talking about a culture they aren't a part of.

Also, don't ever get your news or opinions from Jon Stewart. He himself has said how absolutely terrifying it is that people do that.

 

[Edible Avatar]

I'm gonna throw this out there: It's called China. China once had a population that owned as many guns as the USA does. Then Mao (look him up if you don't know who I'm talking about) and the government banned them, and physically removed them from everybody that owned them. Today, even the sound of a homicide in China is so extremely rare its almost unbelievable. And oh, China has by far the highest population of any country in the entire world. IT's not video games. Get a clue America.

Mao? Which Mao? The one that killed 20 million of his own people in the "Great Leap Forward"? Or the one that forced people out of their homes to live in communes that were riddled with disease and policed by the military, with no civil or personal rights whatsoever? Oh they were the same one you were talking about? Go figure...

At least he killed 20 million (who knows what the real figure is) with balls instead of secretly killing 20 million plus foreigners all over the world like the U.S. has done. And what does the U.S. call it nowadays...I think the "Great Leap Backwards" or something like that. And how's China doing today...oh ya. Fucking amazing.

I gotta agree on both accounts, China is doing better today with it's whole police state/censorship/political prisoners/state-endorsed pollution gig and the US is where it shouldn't be: following in their footsteps. The ends justifies the means right?

6,000,000 Jews and millions of Russians would have protested, but what do they know? Hitler and Stalin were right!

edit: I just did a double take...

At least he killed 20 million (who knows what the real figure is) with balls instead of secretly killing 20 million plus foreigners all over the world like the U.S. has done.

Really?! "With balls"? He gathered up marginally successful farmers and had them killed by beating them to death. Entire villages were killed off. Hell, even Wikipedia has articals on this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mao_Zedong

To say that the government has the right to kill millions of their own people for the sake of progress is downright barbaric.

 

[Ryotknife]

The thing is, what the Obama administration has proposed isn't even that strict. It seems to cover most of the angles on the issue and is very middle of the road. Heck, they even used the NRA's idea of increasing security in schools. Most Americans can get behind keeping guns out of the hands of those who are unfit to use them. The few reasonable gun owners I know actually cancelled their NRA membership because how blatantly off base that press release of theirs was and believe that something has to be done. The only ones who are getting overly worked up are those that take the 2nd amendment to the extreme.

There are a lot of things that both sides can agree to in the proposals. What gets the pro-guns ire up is when "assault weapons" are brought into play. And no, assault weapons are not assault rifles. Assault rifles have been banned for like 30 years. Basically banning guns or types of guns (anyone more than is already banned at least) is off the table. Not to mention a lot of the things they are banning is because they LOOK scary, like bayoneta lugs or a pistol grip. A lot of it is nothing more than fear mongering.

If assault weapons were off the table, you will probably see a lot less resistence from the pro-gun group (although not the NRA). Background checks, permits, registration, mental health, closing loopholes. These are areas that you can find a whole lot of common ground on. About the only other major sticking point is limiting to 10 round magizines, and even that resistence would be lessen if assault weapons were off the table.

The sad thing is, the Democrats know this. They do this on purpose so they can play the act of the reasonable side when they add things to a legistlative that they KNOW will be heavily resisted. But they keep trying to sneak in drastic changes that they know the other side will resist among the reasonable changes.

You essentially have two sides that dont even want to try to engage one another in a dialogue and instead grab any camera they can find and point to the other side for blocking any and all progress on this issue.

 

[Fuzzed]

The days of tota

I gotta agree on both accounts, China is doing better today with it's whole police state/censorship/political prisoners/state-endorsed pollution gig and the US is where it shouldn't be: following in their footsteps. The ends justifies the means right?

6,000,000 Jews and millions of Russians would have protested, but what do they know? Hitler and Stalin were right!

The U.S. does a good job at lumping things it doesn't understand into the same category. Heck, Reagan is probably responsible for killing more Central and South Americans than Mao is of his own people. Maybe Reagan's name should be thrown up their next to those leaders as well. But obviously I don't agree with that. Just like I don't think Mao and Hitler share any sort of resemblance (I hear they had the same size penis though).

 

[Edible Avatar]

The days of tota

I gotta agree on both accounts, China is doing better today with it's whole police state/censorship/political prisoners/state-endorsed pollution gig and the US is where it shouldn't be: following in their footsteps. The ends justifies the means right?

6,000,000 Jews and millions of Russians would have protested, but what do they know? Hitler and Stalin were right!

The U.S. does a good job at lumping things it doesn't understand into the same category. Heck, Reagan is probably responsible for killing more Central and South Americans than Mao is of his own people. Maybe Reagan's name should be thrown up their next to those leaders as well. But obviously I don't agree with that. Just like I don't think Mao and Hitler share any sort of resemblance (I hear they had the same size penis though).

Please, i know you are grasping for a coherent argument, but could you please point to a academic article or something that backs up your claims? The Contras and Sandinistas simply do not tally up to millions of people killed, as you claim. You have honestly and truthfully lost me, my friend.

edit: Moved this down here

At least he killed 20 million (who knows what the real figure is) with balls instead of secretly killing 20 million plus foreigners all over the world like the U.S. has done.

Really?! "With balls"? He gathered up marginally successful farmers and had them killed by beating them to death. Entire villages were killed off. Hell, even Wikipedia has articals on this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mao_Zedong

To say that the government has the right to kill millions of their own people for the sake of progress is downright barbaric.

 

[Fuzzed]

The days of tota

I gotta agree on both accounts, China is doing better today with it's whole police state/censorship/political prisoners/state-endorsed pollution gig and the US is where it shouldn't be: following in their footsteps. The ends justifies the means right?

6,000,000 Jews and millions of Russians would have protested, but what do they know? Hitler and Stalin were right!

The U.S. does a good job at lumping things it doesn't understand into the same category. Heck, Reagan is probably responsible for killing more Central and South Americans than Mao is of his own people. Maybe Reagan's name should be thrown up their next to those leaders as well. But obviously I don't agree with that. Just like I don't think Mao and Hitler share any sort of resemblance (I hear they had the same size penis though).

Please, i know you are grasping for a coherent argument, but could you please point to a academic article or something that backs up your claims? The Contras and Sandinistas simply do not tally up to millions of people killed, as you claim. You have honestly and truthfully lost me, my friend.

edit: Moved this down here

At least he killed 20 million (who knows what the real figure is) with balls instead of secretly killing 20 million plus foreigners all over the world like the U.S. has done.

Really?! "With balls"? He gathered up marginally successful farmers and had them killed by beating them to death. Entire villages were killed off. Hell, even Wikipedia has articals on this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mao_Zedong

To say that the government has the right to kill millions of their own people for the sake of progress is downright barbaric.

Alrighty, Mr. condescending, cavalier racquetball player (sorry, had to). "Ad-hominem" is a sport I don't waste my time with.

 

[Edible Avatar]

Alrighty, Mr. condescending, cavalier racquetball player (sorry, had to). "Ad-hominem" is a sport I don't waste my time with.

I apologize if my comments are sounding rather caustic. I don't intend to target you, i was trying to understand the argument put forth.

Till another time.
*tips hat*

 

[andrat]

I'm a North American, I guess us Canadians should get a vote since we're your hat, and it's liable to get shot off as a result of drastic changes (I voted some changes).

 

[Bvenged]

I am not American but I voted anyway BECAUSE I CAN

Gun control seems fine in america, the crime hate has been going down for years. People only care because of small, short violent outbreaks of crime like the massacres.

And now the results are permanently skewed. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!

I might as well ruin it as well, since I'm not American either, and I still voted.

Also, these gun threads are now even worse and more numerous than the drowning threads...

I voted too and i'm not American either....

I voted to get rid of all guns because the internet will be hilarious if they announced that and many giggles will be had.

Whoops, my hand slipped and I voted too. Now I must join in on this diabolical laughter.

I can't tell you how your country should be, but I can give my opinion on how I think shotguns and assault rifles are not PDWs.

How can you call a full automatic assault rifle "Personal Defence"? what the fuck are you defending against? If someone pointed a pistol at me, I'd be shitting equal amounts of bricks if it were an assault rifle instead. Assault rifles are precisely that. ASSAULT. You ASSAULT with them. How is ASSAULT retailed as DEFENCE in your country? Who the hell do you personally need to ASSAULT to DEFEND your life?

 

[Something Amyss]

so i was watching a jon stewart bit today and the audience seemed universally in acceptance of gun control. i understand jon stewart attracts a certain viewer base but it got me to thinking. do we only hear from "the gun nuts"? is the only reason this is an issue because gun advocates are more vocal?

please do not answer the poll if you are not american

Polls indicate that near 70% of NRA members are in favour of sensible gun control options. The NRA gets to throw its weight around because of the size of its membership, but the membership doesn't agree with the obstructionism.

Americans don't generally want to ban all guns or anything, but a lot of the things being opposed by politicians and the gun lobby are soft issues to the American public.

Which really is great to see. Just when I thought we were never going to get anything done.

 

[newwiseman]

The ATF needs to be given the ability to police and monitor gun sales. Other than that there are far cheaper and more dangerous ways for disturbed individuals to get high body counts.

 

[Chunga the Great]

I'm gonna throw this out there: It's called China. China once had a population that owned as many guns as the USA does. Then Mao (look him up if you don't know who I'm talking about) and the government banned them, and physically removed them from everybody that owned them. Today, even the sound of a homicide in China is so extremely rare its almost unbelievable. And oh, China has by far the highest population of any country in the entire world. IT's not video games. Get a clue America.

It has no homicide and has the highest population of any country in the world....and is also governed by a totalitarian regime that imprisons thousands of people for speaking out against the government and actively censors information coming into and going out of the country.

I'll take my chances, thanks.

And the United States doesn't....Wake up and smell the coffee.

Can't tell if actually serious...

But no, you're right! Hey, Germany was terrible but then Hitler came to power and it was great! There was almost no homicide! Those millions of innocent people gassed and starved to death in concentration camps were just growing pains! Oh, and Russia? Ha! Terrible before Stalin came to power. He may have killed untold millions of non-communists, but there wasn't a lot of homicide!

 

[Chunga the Great]

I'm gonna throw this out there: It's called China. China once had a population that owned as many guns as the USA does. Then Mao (look him up if you don't know who I'm talking about) and the government banned them, and physically removed them from everybody that owned them. Today, even the sound of a homicide in China is so extremely rare its almost unbelievable. And oh, China has by far the highest population of any country in the entire world. IT's not video games. Get a clue America.

Mao? Which Mao? The one that killed 20 million of his own people in the "Great Leap Forward"? Or the one that forced people out of their homes to live in communes that were riddled with disease and policed by the military, with no civil or personal rights whatsoever? Oh they were the same one you were talking about? Go figure...

At least he killed 20 million (who knows what the real figure is) with balls instead of secretly killing 20 million plus foreigners all over the world like the U.S. has done. And what does the U.S. call it nowadays...I think the "Great Leap Backwards" or something like that. And how's China doing today...oh ya. Fucking amazing.

"With Balls"

Are you actually serious or are you just taking a joke too far? You could at least provide SOME evidence that the U.S has secretly killed "20 million plus foreigners all over the world."

 

[ZorroFonzarelli]

Nothing will change. Nothing ever changes, even when changes are made.

Banning high-capacity clips means people will bring more clips. Banning assault rifles means people switch to semi-automatics. And this is just the people who use legal guns.

We have laws against murder. It's hysterical to me that some people honestly believe that those who break those laws would be stopped by other laws.

For criminals, there realistically is nothing different between Gun Control and tacking on 2 more years for murder.

Visiting a friend the other day I saw a sign on his neighbor's house, with a picture of a gun on it and the words "I don't call 911". If I were dead-set on breaking into someone's house, I wouldn't choose his...

 

[AgedGrunt]

Banning assault rifles means people switch to semi-automatics. And this is just the people who use legal guns.

Having a rifle such as an AR-15 does not mean it has select fire for automatic. As I understand those are restricted to military, law enforcement and licensed individuals who work in the industry. The new laws go after semi-automatic rifles which in that context makes them no different from a common pistol.