Guns in the USA

I think we should let them keep their guns but ban the ammunition. That way they get their arms as per the constitution but can only beat each other to death with the guns.
There has to be a way forward.

The wording of the constitution was because they didn't have a standing army. I wonder if you should have to do a few years of National Service and then remain a reserve for as long as you hold one.

Sadly, it's all about money, of course.

Didn't the US have national service in the 60s? They were certainly called up for the Vietnam War. They had easy access to guns then too.

The right to bear arms was written into the constitution at a time when people had muskets not automatic weapons.
The country needs to make owning any automatic weapon or any ammunition for that kind of weapon completely illegal. Guns should only be sold to over 21 year olds with a gun licence who have their suitability to own one checked before a licence is issued.
This subject is close to my heart as I have my granddaughters in Texas to worry about.

The USA gun lobby won't give an inch. No ban on assault rifles and not even that likely they will have checks on people before purchasing guns. They are so brainwashed it is utterly hopeless trying to change anything. I do believe they will end up with armed guards in schools (not that this will help of course).

Just for the record, I would be absolutely terrified living there. I would hate the thought of any gun being in the house. It goes against every instinct. I wouldn't even want to hold one. They are disgusting things.

Chestnut

The USA gun lobby won't give an inch. No ban on assault rifles and not even that likely they will have checks on people before purchasing guns. They are so brainwashed it is utterly hopeless trying to change anything. I do believe they will end up with armed guards in schools (not that this will help of course).

Just for the record, I would be absolutely terrified living there. I would hate the thought of any gun being in the house. It goes against every instinct. I wouldn't even want to hold one. They are disgusting things.

There are already armed guards in many schools. Many of us are terrified too. It’s about half the country obsessed with guns and the other half urging some common sense. The interpretation of the 2nd Amendment the NRA touts didn’t come about until a ridiculous 2008 Supreme Court opinion that boggles the mind in the stretches it makes. A little girl just shot and killed herself with her dad’s gun this year where I live. It’s constantly sad and scary.

A large majority of Americans are in favor of gun control. The problem is the gun lobby contributes to Republican politicians’
election fundraising and those politicians aren’t about to upset their benefactors. It’s all very disheartening and selfish.

Can someone explain why the gun lobby say they carry guns for self defence. So that if someone accosts them or they're woken by an armed intruder waving an automatic at them, they can defend themselves.

How can they get in the first shot when the attacker is already pointing a loaded weapon at them?

I seem to be missing something.

The answer to school shootings by the gun lobby - give the teachers guns! Can you imagine if those guns got into the hands of a disgruntled student.

Can you imagine if the teacher then accidentally shot an innocent bystander/child instead of the shooter, but either way, they'd have to live with the fact that they shot someone, even if it was the shooter, for the rest of their life. And what is all this teaching the children? The mind boggles as to the idiocy of such thinking, and the dire effects it could have on decent people. This behaviour is instilled into the children, as normal and acceptable, it is unbelievably short-sighted and ignorant, and extremely dangerous. But of course, like you are all saying, it seems money and power are far more important than people these days! I wonder how US think most of the rest of the world manage to 'protect themselves' where guns are illegal?

Like most people I am heartily sick of learning about yet another mass shooting in the USA. It is beyond my understanding! Watching that 11 year old girl on tv news last night describing what happened in her classroom broke my heart. How would those who defend ' the right to bear arms ' feel if their children were shot dead or witnessed such unbelievable horror in school? The gun culture is so entrenched in people that I dread to think !!!!
I know there will be GN s here with GC in the USA, I can only imagine their fear. Thank goodness Trump is gone , Biden is a good man with an enormous task on his hands. I am not a religious person but I pray this slaughter will stop.

I once had a conversation with a school head in charge of a group of schools in America. It was after yet another of their school shootings. I expected her to lament the American position on guns but oh no, she told me proudly,
'All our teachers are trained in how to use guns.' I could make absolutely no headway trying to get her to look at the situation in another way. Her view was that the way to control guns was more guns! Frightening.

That quote is so redolent of so many arguments in the U.K. over the past few years, and very depressing it is.

But I do feel optimistic that we now have a chance to get rid of these politicians who have caused such division and hate and reintroduce governments of trust, integrity and competence.

I so hope we don’t let this chance slip through our fingers.

Sadly, we have a similar problem in the UK with knife crime. I wish there was an answer.
I have a friend who was a teacher in Pittsburgh who to,d me years ago that all their teachers had guns.

Just been having another interesting conversation with a pro gun person. It seems they’ve got to stop communism which would kill millions of people. And what a mess Ukraine would be if they didn’t have guns. No reply to me asking how come their gun policy didn’t stop Putin from invading. And it seems I’m the one who’s deranged.

as someone living in the US, I am disgusted by the situation. it is terrible, and no one is willing to do anything about it.

Some are trying but doomed to failure, dollars talk.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-61742732

So do we think that if citizens were banned from having guns in the USA the criminals wouldn’t get them anyway? Do criminals obey the law?

PunkWomble these school shootings were not carried out by criminals as such but by deranged people whose access to guns was far too easy.

I'm afraid it's like talking to a brick wall. We have very good friends in florida, the one topic we keep away from is guns. Walmart has a whole department where you can choose a gun and take it away. School shootings are routine they often don't make the local news. The response is always " guns don't kill people, people kill people " my response is always " people with guns kill people "

icanhandthemback

I think we should let them keep their guns but ban the ammunition. That way they get their arms as per the constitution but can only beat each other to death with the guns.
There has to be a way forward.

Surely, that would only spark the dubious underground manufacture of ammunition.

How come the rest of us can live without guns? Its time something was done about the situation

I was going to say that I cannot believe the carnage in America with so many mass shootings. But I can believe it. They think that they have a right to arm themselves, well yes they do but at what cost. The cost is so alarmingly high. I don't believe that this is what their for father's ever dreamed would happen in their beloved America, The land of the free. I think that they would be horrified. Well, it is not. They are chained to an outmoded, irrelevant and an ancient belief system that does not match the modern day society. Australian Prime Minister John Howard had the strength and the forsight to to go beyond any gun laws in our country and demand that guns be handed in to every Police Station in every town and in every state to be destroyed. They were destroyed by the millions. The year was 1996, when there was a massacre in Port Aurthur Tasmiania, 36 dead. It is illegal in Australia to bear arms, it is illegal to fire in public places it is illegal to possess any guns unless you are a collector or a member of law enforcement. I am very proud of Mr. Howard for having the strength to do this. They have to do this in America, it will not be popular and it will not earn the person any votes, we all know this but at the end of the day, he or she may say to his or her grandchildren, " I had a hand in this, I made this country a safer place to live."

How come the rest of us can live without guns?its time something was done about the situation