Views On Gun Laws

[VicCop]

I had an interesting debate last night with someone on MSN about gun laws, the recent massacre in America and all that stuff, and he was trying to say that every one should be allowed to own guns.

I kept asking him to clarify his reasoning behind his claim, but he just kept dodging the issue. Personally, I think he was just sour that he couldn't own one.

But, why let people own them if they don't need to have them?

What is everyone elses views? Should we all be allowed to own them? Are the gun laws that Australia has in place necessary?

The reasoning behind it is that it's within their 'constitution'. It can't be broken. Here we don't have their types of ideals, such as a bill of rights for example. They have these things set in stone. We saw how easy it was for gun control to change almost overnight after Port Arthur. It's that rock solid over there that if I did most of the things I did here in my daily job over there, I'd be sued. Things like pulling over cars, conducting random checks and breath tests just because I can is something that isn't allowed there. Cops need 'probable cause' before acting against anyone in the course of their duty. This is all within their bloody 'constitution'!

In relation to firearms though. People have said that yes, if they get into the wrong hands they do kill. But we've even seen bad accidents occur when even people who have been cleared by our firearms laws to be able to own and use these guns.

Almost every day I'm required to have a firearm handed to be, I clear it (that's visibly and manually make sure it's not loaded for those who don't know), and follow a dry fire procedure (that's shooting it without ammunition to make sure it's working). Load it, and place it into my holster on my hip. Then I go out in public and carry it on display for everyone to see. It takes a lot of responsibility and discipline to handle and carry firearms. We're not the army, very similar in some respects though. However when it comes to handling and carrying firearms, we have the utmost discipline enforced upon us.

 

[R Photon]

there's a bill of rights in victoria isn't there?

 

[Grennan]

Correct me if im wrong, Canada has the exact same laws. But they dont have nearly the amount of incidents as America. I think America are just nuts about their guns.

Try take them away and everyone will be up in arms about it. A massacre happens, everyone is up in arms about it.

 

[Doubleshadow]

Understanding American gun culture!

To understand the gun culture in the US, one must take into consideration the legacy. As an independant entity, America came out of a rebellion against King George of England. The War of Independance was fought by ordinary citizens marshalled into militias. This left an indellible mark on the founders when they wrote the US constitution. The US constitution (second ammendment) specifically states that citizens must have a right to bear arms. And this is the main point. It is an insurance so that the government would not have the right to supress the people. In other words, if it is justified, the US constitution gives the people the right to rise up behind the smell of gunsmoke, against their government. To some that may sound pretty lethal, but coming from the situation where they were supressed by King George, you can see they were simply dealing with the historical experience of their time. The American constitution is built on a foundation of the people mistrusting their government. This is why you have 3 branches of government which is designed to always be adversal against each other. The founders realized if the government were busy fighting among themselves, they would have less time to dominate the people. They discouraged hubris.

For Americans, it is too late to attempt to control guns. If they were to ban guns, only law-abiding citizens would be restricted from having guns. The bad guys would always get around that. There are only 2 options left:
1. Have a personal police for every citizen and ban all guns.
2. Let everyone have the right to have guns.

As you can see, option 1 is ridiculous, without turning the country into some sort of police state. The only solution, flawed as it may be, is to allow law-abiding citizens to shoot back, when they are confronted by gun-toting bad guys. If some of those 30-something students that were killed had guns, it is unlikely that Crazy Bill would have killed all of them, before a few of them got off a few rounds. Unfortunately, the only thing that supresses one bullet, is another bullet that was fired faster and straighter. The threat of violence seems to carry the best guarantees of security.

 

[1vngal]

Ok, i am all for gun regulation HOWEVER, comments like this really annoy me.

Guns in the WRONG HANDS? How do you define wrong hands before a crime is comitted? Most mass killings involving guns the killer gives NO SIGN of what is going to happen, it is only AFTER the fact that people say when the guns are in the wrong hands.

You're exactly right. There is no way to decide just who is, and who isn't 'the wrong hands' before a crime is committed. It's just a figure of speech. No need to take it out of context.

 

[AirStrike]

Amanda you can't really comment on the topic as your are emotionally involved. I for one have a Cat A license, and don't see why I shouldn't be allowed to. There is no danger of any accident as both firearms and ammo are stored correctly (seperate locked boxes, using seperate keys, bolted to the floor, etc). Mine is used only for shooting of game/pest's (rabbits, foxes and feral cats) when I am at my grandparents (in bushland). Should I not be allowed to own a firearm?

 

[AirStrike]

Also Amanda, have you looked into the different licensing catergories and the requirements to hold them all? I suggest you might want to.

 

[minux]

Almost every day I'm required to have a firearm handed to be, I clear it (that's visibly and manually make sure it's not loaded for those who don't know), and follow a dry fire procedure (that's shooting it without ammunition to make sure it's working). Load it, and place it into my holster on my hip. Then I go out in public and carry it on display for everyone to see. It takes a lot of responsibility and discipline to handle and carry firearms. We're not the army, very similar in some respects though. However when it comes to handling and carrying firearms, we have the utmost discipline enforced upon us.

Police procedures for weapon handling are almost the same as Army. I remember doing a few shoots using various gloks with NSW police while they were testing for a new handgun, was amazing how they would come to our range and do things the same as us and vice versa when we used their range.

 

[Bax]

On the other hand Airstrike if you were to snap one day in the heat of the moment you could easily go to the cupboard and go out and take the life of innocent people.

I personally don't see why most of the population would require a weapon in the house. If its a sport thing then it should be stored at the club etc.

The only reason I'm against them, and I know other weapons do the same, but guns don't ask questions, they're harder to defend against and one shot and your gone. No second chances.

 

[1vngal]

Amanda you can't really comment on the topic as your are emotionally involved. I for one have a Cat A license, and don't see why I shouldn't be allowed to. There is no danger of any accident as both firearms and ammo are stored correctly (seperate locked boxes, using seperate keys, bolted to the floor, etc). Mine is used only for shooting of game/pest's (rabbits, foxes and feral cats) when I am at my grandparents (in bushland). Should I not be allowed to own a firearm?

So what, because I'm emotionally envolved, I can't have an opinion?

To be honest, I don't really have an opinion on whether gun laws are adequate, or if they are reasonable. I do however have the opinion that if you don't need a gun, why should you own one? But that doesn't mean I'm right.

I was just hoping someone could shed some light as to why my friend was getting so upset because of the current laws, and why he firmly believes that each and every Australian should be able to own one.