I dont understand the reason for hand guns and assault rifles outside of military use?

danger dog

They are fun....you ever go to town with a 240b?

honest answer

thegubmint

Tell you what, when you can absolutely guarantee that no criminal has access to guns any more, you can have mine.

Until you can do that, I prefer to at least be on equal footing with them.

slushpile reader

Well, if you don't understand/see the point/have a desire to own one, I suggest you don't. You take care of your life, and let others do the same.

5x more people are killed in car accidents in the US every year than in shooting accidents. Why don't we stop making cars?

Rocketmaniac

It's called "The right to bear arms" The founding fathers made sure we could also protect ourselves. If we stop making these guns then the criminal will have a field day in the US. (cause a criminal will always find a way to get a gun)

When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.

Andy G

Have you ever tried to defend yourself with a hunting rifle? Of course guns CAN kill people. Just ask any of the thousands of Americans who have saved their own lives by employing lethal force. You can give up your handgun if you want to, but I'm not willing to wait 3 minutes for the police to get here if some wacko breaks my door down.

"If guns kill people, then spoons made Rosie O'Donnell fat!"

55Spud

I don't understand sports cars that will go 150 mph+ when the speed limit is only 75.

Sweetpea

I disagree. What about sport? I'm not really interested in what you are okay with, I am only interested in what I'm okay with.

grumpyoldman

You don't understand because you don't own guns, do not sport shoot and probably do not hunt. I am a gun owner but not as radical as most. I can understand your point of view, even though I disagree with you. Most gun owners can't. I see no reason for foot long knives, swords, or daggers in my life. I suggest you move to Massachusetts where they have tougher gun laws. And good luck.

Religious Nonsense

Yeah that'll fix everything...Ever heard of a sawed-off?? There were three murders in my hometown last week. All stabbings. People kill people! not guns!!!!!!!!!!!!

dayna

guns don't kill people, people kill people. we have the right to bare arms. even if you stopped making them availible to the public, people would still have them. kinda like how cocaine, heroin, marijuana is still illegal, but people still have it. no matter what the government does, there will still always be something happening. the world is not a perfect place, but we have to make the most of it.

Derrick *

Assault rifles are really just a collectors thing. The Assault rifle myth is nothing but a bunch of bull, when the Assault rifle ban was put in place assault rifles were used in 1 half of 1 percent of all murders. Hand guns are what causes violence. Typically low caliber hand guns that are made cheaply (so called saturday night specials).

As far as gun violence going down, it might if you completely outlawed ALL guns like in Britain. But when that happened, stabbing rates just went up. Personally I'd rather be shot than "glassed" as they say in the UK (where they break a beer bottle and stab you in the eye).

Asterisk

No. But people are going to walk down the street with a hand gun.

Do you think people should only be able to protect themselves with hunting rifles?

SANDRA T

If handguns were unavailable to the public, then only the criminals would have them. They would get them even if it were illegal to have them, see.
So, everyone else can have them for self-defense. There is a farmer in jail in England because he shot an armed robber, on the farmer's own property!

My bottom line; It is our contitutional right to leep and bear arms. To say we can't have them is like saying we can't have freedom of press, speech or religion. Since guns are gong to be around anyway, I'd rather be armed, than be a victim.

Butterbar Bob

If you choose not to exercise your rights, that's fine, but don't try to take my rights away.

Tell you what, I'll consider your proposal AFTER you have found a way to get guns out of the hands of criminals.

Manevitch

A) The Second Amendment has nothing to do with hunting. The hunting angle is just a red herring.

B) I have the natural right to defend my life in any way I see fit, including but not limited to any firearm I choose to use.

C) If handguns are made to kill people, why do police carry them? They enforce the law; they don't carry out sentences. The answer, of course, is that they carry them to defend themselves. Why are their lives more valuable than mine or yours?

*****

Obviously you know nothing about guns, freedom, and possible tyranny from government. Enough said.

Dew

well I agree with you to A a point .my Dad own a Gun shop in Ohio.Hand guns are supposed to be to protect your self.Guns are also to used for killing animals,To eat them for food not for fun or just target practise.The truth is it is the People who owns the guns that is the real Danger.

First off, most good hunters carry a handgun "just in case". If you do not take the animal down completely with a perfect shot, you either have to end their misery or let them suffer. A handgun is quicker. To me, that makes it more humane.
I enjoy target shooting with both a handgun, an AR-15, which is similar to the M-16 that the military carries, which let me tell you is no assault rifle. Although the military edition does have the ability to fire off rounds in bursts, it is nothing like a SAW or gernade launcher, which, last time I checked were not available to the public.
Either way M-16's are not for public use.
Gun violence is the type of violence that is most publicized. Lets look at other types, like domestic, or just plain old high school and bar fights.
There is more behind the issue than just the type of weapons that are available.

"5x more people are killed in car accidents in the US every year than in shooting accidents. Why don't we stop making cars?"

Because cars are not soley instruments of death. And I'm sure a significantly smaller portion of Americans own guns than own cars- the numbers are hardly proportionately comparable.

If you wanted a more usefull statistic how many violent crimes are commited a year with a car in comparison to guns? Not as many, im sure. How many total deaths result from not only shooting accidents but murders? You didn't mention that.

Now, I dont really like the idea of legalized guns. Virtually ANYONE who wants to get one, can(Legally or illegaly- liscense or no). With guns available to everyone, nothing stops a nut from getting a gun and going to his college and killing 30 people.

I concede that if no one was allowed to legally own a gun Americans would be defenseless from violent criminals, or say violent government oppression. Those who would owns guns would do so illegally, and therefore would use them only illegally. Though I say that, there is abolutely NO REASON an average citizen should be allowed to own a automatic or semi-automatic weapon.

But, I also must say that for any potential benfit a gun has, as a instrument used only to injure or kill, it does far more harm than good. And I'm sure in the days the constitution was drafted large groups of citizens didn't use their guns to kill each other for turf, or payback. And im sure even less used their muskets to rob convenience stores. The current stance needs ethinking and modernizing

Sage

I agree with you about the assault rifles but not the handguns. My husband and I enjoy shooting handguns for sport. We belong to a shooting club and go there for target practice. We keep them locked up in a safe where no children can get at them. The same with shotguns for trap shooting.
But you're absolutely right about the assault rifles.

TheEconomist

I totally agree, unfortunately some people are still living in 1819 and think the redcoats are gonna come barging into thier houses.

Eve

What, you don't like the thrill of watching people's heads blow off just for the fun of it?

Well if you don't you'd better move to Canada...thowing you a rope before those Republicans kick your *** down there.

What's real fun is watching that thrill in children's eyes when they have their first kill...you know that wonderful father/son moment of daddy buying junior his first bb gun and blasting that poor little bird or squirrel in the back yard...man...we just don't know what we're missing up here!!!

Ooooh kokona...I bet you were just sitting with baited breath to let that one out huh?

Underground Man

There will always be gun nuts and paranoid individuals who will argue that they need these weapons to protect them from all the crime and violence that they imagine threatens them every second.

Some of these people fantasize about being the hero and shooting a bad guy. Some of them fantasize about the day the government tries to take away their guns, and about their violent armed rebellion in response. Some of them will not listen to any reasons, but just tell you over and over, "I have the right to bear arms, I have the right to bear arms, etc." (Just read some of the answers already posted)

In short, the people who will fight to keep these weapons in the hands of the public are arguing based on their own fantasy realities. Reasoning with them will get you nowhere.

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