| Dunblane and Gun Laws |
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It's now more than 20 years since the Dunblane school massacre of 1996. On March the 13th Thomas Hamilton killed sixteen children and their teacher before shooting himself. It is the deadliest gun incident in UK history. 16 innocent 5 year old children died that day along with their 45 year old teacher. Many more were seriously injured and only once escaped unharmed from that class. The BBC did an excellent documentary on this and I strongly recommend it.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b07...-our-story Even if you don't want to watch the whole film I urge you to watch it from 33 mins to 34 mins when the names of those who lost their lives are called out. That is the most powerful moment of the whole film. Within weeks the Conservative government had a huge crackdown on assault rifles and handheld guns. Then two years later the Labour government finished the job effectively banning all guns bar extremely limited cases. Just two years it took us to ban guns due to one incident, in the US around 2 children die each week from gun related incidents. Sadly people seem to be starting to accept mass shootings as normal now in America and people still can't accept small limitations. Guns are not toys, they are not your right, they are weapons military personnel use to kill enemy soliders. How many more innocent lives must be lost? Who many more children must die before America finally accepts small changes to gun laws? Europeian Ambassador to The South Pacific
Former Local Council Member Former Minister of Regional Affairs Former High Court Justice
I wholeheartedly agree with you. It is time that America stops being in that spell of gun ownership is a right.
No more! We must have maturity in this!
Deputy Regional Minister of the Planning and Development Agency(March 8-May 19, 2014)
Local Council Member(April 24-August 11) Court Justice of TSP(August 15-December 7)
Pew. Pew. Pew.
I hear a gun.
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ProfessorHenn
Legislator
Guns aren't going away anytime soon. Don't get me wrong, I want a United States that bans private gun ownership, but the National Rifle Association spends millions lobbying Congress. The lobbyists who advocate gun control can barely compete against the NRA.
Ok, so I'm going to be the voice of dissent on this issue.
As easy as it is to say that "guns kill people, therefore no guns ever", there is something fundamentally bullshit about this argument. Yes, it is true that America has the most guns, in fact per capital America has 112.6 guns per 100 residents, which means we literally have more guns than people. And if gun ownership means more violence just by the nature of guns existing, then America should be the most violent, gun-murdery country on the whole planet, right? Wrong. Actually we're not even in the top ten of total firearm-related death rate per 100,000 population per year. In fact, we're not even in the top fifteen when the subject is narrowed to homicides per 100,000 population per year. So how is it that we have all these mass shootings even if our gun related fatality rate does not reflect the rate of gun ownership in the US? Well, for that answer you're going to have to look at what category the US is #1 in with respect to firearm fatalities. Suicide. The United States of America has the highest firearm assisted suicide rate of any country in the entire world and the reason for this is because we do a terrible job keeping guns out of the hands of mentally unstable people. And I think we'd all agree that, by and large, the perpetrators of gun massacres are people who can be classified as mentally unstable. So it's not so much that America has a "gun problem" as it is we have a mental health problem, and adding guns to crazy is a bad mix. That being said, gun related homicides have gone down 49% since 1993 while mass shootings have increased. In essence, mass shootings, while unfortunate, can be combated by keeping these weapons out of the hands of, not everyday average citizens, but people with a history of mental disorders. I'm a big supporter of making sure mentally unfit people do not own firearms. And maybe, while we're at it, it will help decrease the suicide rate too.
The mentally disabled are WAY more often the victims, and not the perpetrators. I'll find a link here shortly.
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ProfessorHenn
Legislator
While I'm in favour of banning most weapons, I don't think *all* guns should be banned. There are valid uses for weapons, such as hunting and thus there is validity in those types of weapons. I'm uncertain on pistols, though I'm rather against many carry laws, especially concealed. But when you bring up larger weapons such as assult weaponry or really any other gun that serves no practical purpose other than attacking another person that I feel should be unconditionally banned for private citizens.
But especially there needs to be careful monitoring of who can buy them. Those with mental problems are one case, as mentioned. (03-17-2016, 11:40 PM)Cathalea Wrote: The mentally disabled are WAY more often the victims, and not the perpetrators. I'll find a link here shortly. I eagerly await proof of this assertion. However, before we get to it, I think we might already be confusing "mental disorder" with "mental disability". Or, if you want to cut out the PC words, crazy vs. slow.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/toddessig/20...656c8218ca
http://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-k...n-violence http://www.cbsnews.com/news/a-question-o...-violence/ I looked for these with the phrase, just for you, "mental disorder and gun violence". Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
ProfessorHenn
Legislator |
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