reply to post by DerekJR321
reply to post by beezzer
Originally posted by DerekJR321
There is an estimate that there are about 350 million guns in America. That is, legal registered firearms. Add on illegal weapons (not talking
stolen.. talking weapons that made it across the border, smuggled in, etc) and your talking probably half a billion.
Originally posted by beezzer
I personally feel that with over 250 million firearms in the hands of Americans, we are going to have an uneasy peace with our own government because
the idea that they could actually collect that number of firearms is ludicrous.
Just because something is hard to do, doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be done. Besides, you guys are both looking at it from the wrong angle. In
Australia after our last massacre in 1996 the government outlawed sporting firearms, including all semi-automatic rifles including .22 rimfires,
semi-automatic shotguns and pump-action shotguns. They instituted a ‘buy back’ scheme and people voluntarily surrendered their guns. They got
about 600, 000 of them. In 2003 they started and handgun buy back scheme for target arms of greater than 9mm calibre and got around 50,000.
Now no one believes they even got 1/3 of all the newly outlawed weapons, but the ones left behind are now closely guarded and hidden and as the owners
know they will not ever be able to buy them ever again. So they too have been effectively removed from circulation. Nor can you source bullets for
them anymore.
As these remaining weapons are hidden they are now no longer stored within the home which has significantly reduced accidental gunshot injuries
especially amongst children. Suicide by firearm rates are also down significantly as they are not easily accessible by anxty teens with a grudge
against the world. I can see this having some impact on school massacres in the States for the same reason.
So yes it works, just not quite in the way you guys think it should. No one’s sending in the troops to collect all the weapons, it’s all
completely voluntary. But when you can’t buy bullets or take them down to the range to practice or display them in your homes they slowly become
kinda useless.
After these schemes were implemented the crime rate in Australia for gun related violence (namely robbery and homicide) began dropping and despite
yearly fluctuations the trend overall has continued to drop.
Originally posted by beezzer
But I respect a country that can live in peace without having the issue of firearms. America though, values freedom above all else. And that means
freedom to act as stupidly or irresponsibly as you are entitled to.
With freedom comes risk.
To sacrifice that freedom for security is something though, I think, untenable to most Americans.
Beez I’ve said this before but it’s worth repeating.
For some perverse reason gun ownership in America has been linked with freedom. But everywhere else in the world not having to own a gun equals
freedom...
edit on 24/12/2012 by 1littlewolf because: (no reason given)