Isn’t gun crime terrorism?

Why?
Please elucidate all the benefits that YOU personally living in the UK would enjoy if America changed it's gun laws???


I honestly don't get why folks like Balbus and yourself are so obsessed with this issue, isn't there some social issues in your own county that would benefit from your attentions?

 

Its a fair question. The USA is very like the UK (culture,language,ect). We identify closely with you. When there are tragedies in your country,be they natural disasters or gun related,we grieve too. Its called empathy,I'm sincerely not aiming to offend, but thats not something Yanks seem good at as a people. Yours seems ,to us,a violent society & it dosent need to be so. Also,Ive got family over there,as lots of Brits have.

When we've had massacres we've acted on gun laws to try to reduce the chances of such incidents being repeated. Some criminals carry guns in our society too but they know that even carrying is an offence use is considerably more serious,attracting long sentences.

Everything is done to take guns and knives out of the community.There are regular 'amnesties',no questions asked opportunities to hand weapons to the police. 'Fitness' to own a gun is closely examined,we wana know weapons intended use,the owners history,any criminal activity,relevant mental health issues, weapons must be locked away in a secure metal cabinet. Licences are reviewed annually.

Yeah, theres loads wrong in our society too. A lot of what Brits debate about on this site applies equally to the UK. This is an international free speech site,we can learn more ,maybe get a new 'take' on an issue.

 

Well we have the same restrictions in place, problem is they are not uniform nationally and there are loopholes that get abused, that I will admit.

But in my mind, the immediate answer for the U.S. to to strictly enforce nationally the restrictions already in place.

I just have a hard time with all the "anti-America" crap that gets tossed around.
No, I'm not some hyper patriot, just rational.

What I have NEVER comprehended is hearing some idiot bad mouthing America, as he's ringing up my purchase in his fucking liquor store!
If America was such a vile cesspool as so many want to portray it, why in the fuck do people from all over the world continue to flock here, legally and illegally?

 

America has more friends than it knows. Being the toughest,biggest guy on the Block has its downsides too tho. We think you know you're the topdog & thats enough,that you're just gona take the endless seeming critisisms coz you LOOk like you can. So everyone takes their shot.

As a massive Impearial power the UK had its myths,it took two world wars for the Brits to wake up to the reality that we could not sustain that position. I think we still struggle to accept it even now.

Though we often suspect that the US dosent take the 'special relationship' seriously , Brits ,largely,do. Maybe thats another reason why we feel free to critisise.

What I see in the US is a country struggling to make a modern democracy work in a hugely contradictory & diverse society,weighed down by myths about itself,the free market,the bogeyman of socialism,the true significance of its constitution and change,Big government,foreign policy demands and the growing threat of internal/external terror. Your two parties are logjammed,refusing to cooperate,too much is frozen in uncertainty & polarized positions.

Theres a lot, I think, that the US could learn from Europe about how to go about blending seeming contradictory influences & demands while keeping the people on board-though I hasten to say that 'we' are by no means a finished product!

The US has a lota myths to exhorsize & some of these are very dearly held,seen as nothing short of Rights & Freedoms,defining parts of your unique culture. I'd ,respectfully, suggest you look to the wider world,Europe being most akin to your values than most, to learn how others approached issues,challenges,values hitherto alien (or suspect) to yours to 'reality test' yourown against theres.

Maybe one of the inherent weaknesses of being THE Country that took in the poor & oppresed of the rest of the world is a built-in rejection ,therefore, of other countries status quo's. America had to be unique & 'better',even superior or it would fail ? Therefore the US has always compelled itself to look for answers within its borders and not the wider world.

 

Just trying to figure out where I said any of what you are implying.

 

I was just trying to make the point that Brits arn't trying to interfere,that its well meant & based on simple but genuine concern. I assumed that your being pissed at anti-Americanist stuff included us horning in with our opinions.

Two english speaking nations divided by a common language eh-we don't get each others meanings.

Just forget it.

 

Let's try and stick with the definition of what IS and what IS NOT terrorism rather than trying to promote changing the form of government in the U.S.A.

 

I think the main piont that should be made here is that we have second amendment rights stating we are allowed to own guns for the purpose of defence agianst criminals and tyrannical government. Switzerland has laws stating every male citizen is supposed to own a gun. They have one of the lowest crime rates in the world. The problem here in America is that the laws we have are not properly enforced. If we wanted to stop crazy sons of bitches from shooting up our schools the logical answer is to teach our teachers how to use a firearm and allow them to defend themselves. Instead the powers that be suggest taking away guns from all the innocents because obviously criminals will obey the laws then right?

 

:cheers2:[/QUOTE]

Interesting why the word “disproportionate “ which is used by media to misguide people. Tthat word gives the impression you owed more and not an Equal…Just saying…

Hi noxious As I read this I think of 2 wrongs doesn't make a right.. People aren't afraid to walk the streets because of a drunk falling down. We don’t put up security lights and steel bars on our doors because of a DUI.. Gun murders are very specific and out of Anger, Revenge, Personal Attitude; a personal emotional response. How often did a person say I am going to drive across town and drive my car into your house? The biggest problem with Gun control is the innocent has to be so careful when shooting a robber if their life feels threaten.. That’s gun control in reverse.. Look at the old west days when so many carried firearms. If you picked a fight chance’s are you could get shot. Explains why so many in the old days were socially polite and respectable to most others.

Mmm Gun control, what an oxy moron word.

I deal in facts and not feelings, which the word “Gun Control” as it addressed is.

That said lets run with this. What would think if the U.S. closed down all Gun shops period? Wouldn't that really control the “Gun Control”? No Gun Sales in the U.S.

Well situation actually exist in the U.S. The island of Puerto Rico, which is a part of the U.S. and just last year, they voted in P.R. to become a state in Washington passes it.

Puerto Rico has NO gun shops on the whole Island. One would think that P.R. would have little gun murders. Well just last year the United nations that tracks global murders on the streets says that if P.R. was a country it would be the 5th most murderous county in the world.
P.R. pop. 3.8 mill, P.R. is close to 1200 murders a years and just about all are from guns and I say again no gun shops in P.R.

Again the media is chumping Americans so people to react on feelings and not facts and common sense. Mmm aren't elections based on “feelings more then facts”

 

Very well put

 

I believe that we as a people have become very desensitized to a lot of fucked up shit, on the bus this morning, these two guys were having a conversation about a contract killing that was done on someones family, and then I heard them talking about someone who got set on fire, and how his clothes stuck to his body when the fabric melted or w/e...and I was trying not to bust out laughing, not because what they were talking about is funny, it wasn't funny at all.

What was amusing to me was how people just talk about such shit in public like it's just everyday stuff, just the usual, and from further back I hear another conversation somewhere, "Who got shot?". That bus route goes straight thru the hood, but I'm not stoppin' there.

Put on your rosy red glasses!! Everything's good.

 

That is some seriously sick shit and yes I agree society has become quite desensitized to the reality of how disturbing this world is. Now its just everyday life. We are living in hell on earth my friend.

 

Over at 'The war on terror-why arnt we winning?' at page 44 we still havent got even a working definition of terrorism,don't hold your breath!

As for 'changing the form of government in the USA',its a related issue...

 

Thats a quaint thought, romanticizing the old west is pretty common for those that have not actually studied that time period...me thinks you've watched too many movies...

Those guns aren't even considered firearms anymore, a person can walk right into a gun shop, purchase one and walk out the door, no background check required. Have you ever fired a blackpowder revolver? outside of 30 yrds they are inaccurate as hell, unless you're fucking Doc holiday or something. With the proper load, a skilled gunman maybe 50yrds and thats a stretch. I would be more afraid someone shooting an 1851 colt revolver at me might accidentally hit me! From what I know about blackpowder revolvers, in the hands of the average old west fuck who couldn't afford the powder and lead to practice, I have no doubt I could have simply run and dodged my way out of just about any old west gun confrontation.

Also those guns were very expensive back then, besides being practically worthless around the farm, your average citizen could not afford one. Single shot shotguns were the working gun of the farmer and average citizen, and they saved their precious powder and lead to protect against mostly threats from wildlife to their cattle.

The only way people got those colt revolvers in the first place was from military service. After the civil war many got to keep their weapons. A military service weapon was likely nearly shot-out by the time it made civilian hands anyway and probably so inaccurate as to be virtually worthless outside 20 '
just FYI

 

Dp

 

Colt revolvers where very affordable due to mass production.

There are a lot of inaccuracies in this post.


http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/technique/gun-timeline/

 

oh you mean this? (from the site)

"Samuel Colt developed the first mass-produced, multi-shot, revolving firearms. Various revolving designs had been around for centuries, but precision parts couldn't be made with available technologies. Colt was the first to apply Industrial Age machining tools to the idea. Mass production made the guns affordable. Reliability and accuracy made the Colt a favorite of soldiers and frontiersmen. The Colt depicted is a Third Model Dragoon percussion revolver (ca. 1853). A Colt with such lavish decoration and gold inlay is extremely rare."


Affordable to who? The government thats who

 

I can't find any info to support your claim. In the 1870s Colt was selling the Peacemaker, which fired cartridge rounds no balls, for less than $20. Adjusted for inflation, they are more expensive today.

 

Ive read a few posts of yours now,on various threads. They seem always to be about violence & threat,even your poetry is sick with it. Why is this?

 

Terrorism, to me is simply the heightened imposition of fear for ones safety. An individual can become terrorized, as can be a community, or even a Nation. Generally, what we are talking about is random acts of violence being committed with no way of knowing when or where they might occur. Most often the selection of a target has no relation at all to the ends of those committing the acts of violence other than the desire to heighten the fears of a large portion of the population who then due to increased fears of their safety may make demands of those who would more rightly be the targets to bring about changes improving or increasing their safety. As the government will not negotiate with terrorists, those who commit acts of terrorism allow/induce the governed to negotiate by proxy for them. A people who are more willing to be governed more strictly are also more easily defeated in the future in order to live safely.

That is my opinion.

Perhaps you're right, as I indicated in my boldened sentence above. But what FORM of government might you wish to see it changed to? A pure Democracy, a Socialist Democracy, a Communist (however that might be defined) form of government, or something else?