Guns in the USA

I think it's the love of money that is said to be the root of all evil Pedwards

Well said Cleo panda

Hit the nail there DaisyAnne, it is all about money, the root of all evil

Grandpanow

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.

I read a newspaper article yesterday. There was a poll in the US after the school shooting. 21 people dead, including 19 children and yet fully one third of those polled said that the right to bear arms shouldn’t be repealed and that the ‘odd’ mass shooting was a small price to pay for the freedom to defend yourself. Words fail me.

Sueki44, can you name your source? When I looked up gun ownership per capita, in US there are 120 guns for every 100 people, in Canada 34 per 100.

No fully automated triggers, and limits on cartridge capacity. In essence, hunting rifles allowed, and really restricted access to hand guns. They are very regulated here. If you are going to your gun club, you need to travel with your authorization documents, etc.

My DH owns hunting rifles, as do our grown sons. They all have to take a safety course, and have background checks before license permitted. Storage needs to be secure, and ammunition locked in a separate location. In our house, the guns are stored with a trigger-lock in the attic, and the ammunition locked in a cabinet in the basement, for example. This is fairly typical in Canada.

Comparably, in US, some states you can carry a handgun openly, loaded. You can keep it in your bedtable, glovebox, etc. You can have fully automated (combat-style), etc. Basically no restrictions.

I believe there is no need to own a gun other than for hunting or shooting practice at a gun club.

They have announced lately that there will be further restrictions on hand-guns. They have done studies though, showing that the increasing gun crimes committed in the past few years have been done with illegal weapons sourced from the US and smuggled in over our very large common border. I could not find statistics, but I remember seeing on the news a few weeks ago that up to 80% of the gun crimes committed in Toronto were done with illegal weapons sourced from the US. It is a growing problem in our cities,

Politicians who take money from the NRA are taking blood money including the blood of children. They are not fit to hold office and should be ashamed of themselves.

Spookily enough, I had just read this post on Quora, prior to visiting here. I’ve no idea how accurate these statements are, however the gist of the info is most likely true.
1967 - Jayne Mansfield is killed when her car runs
under the rear end of a tractor trailer. Since then, all
trailers have a DOT bar at the rear to keep cars from
going under them.

1982 - Seven people die when Tylenol packaging was
tampered with. Since then, it takes a PhD, channel
locks, and a sharp object to get into a bottle of pills.

1995 - A bombing using a certain kind of fertiliser,
solution grade ammonium nitrate, killed 168 people,
so the government imposed severe restrictions on
the purchase of that fertiliser.

2001 - One person attempts to blow up a plane with
a shoe bomb. Since then, all air travellers have to
take off their shoes for scanning before being
allowed to board.

Since 1968 - 1,516,863 people have died from guns
on American soil. Gun violence kills an average of
168 people every two days! Now, the problem
apparently can't be solved except with thoughts and prayers!

That would certainly be a start Dizzylizzy. I think what made me stop in my tracks was that we do hear over here of the school shootings, etc. It is so tragic and yet time after time nothing is done.

By contrast it seems it is so common now that the seven shootings in two days in one area had gone unreported here.

The root of the problem is Fox News (a misnomer because it is not a news organization but is nothing more than the media arm of the Republican Party) ... Fox News promotes the gun lobby and it, as well as racism and abortion) is the glue that holds the Republican Party together.

As a U.S. citizen, this situation is very important to me. Several of us, retired teachers and social workers, are writing to the politicians to encourage graduated gun ownership. We recommend no private ownership of guns until age 21 then restricted gun ownership until age 25 with long waiting periods as well as weapons only the person who qualified can fire. The Republicans are very stubborn on the subject of any restrictions. Many citizens of the U.S. do not own any guns and many others only use them for target shooting. We’re really not all crazed gun owners.

There are several videos on You Tube where Americans have been asked how America has messed them up. Some of the answers are about guns. (Though, living outside of the US, they have come to see there are so many more problems).

Children have drills in school from a young age, on how to avoid being shot. They learn to zig-zag while running away from a gunman!

These adults have been so affected that they have dived for cover when it may only be a firework going off or a car back firing. They say they are looked at with pity by their friends and colleagues. "Oh yes, you're American".

It would be interesting to see the difference in the type of guns owned in Canada compared to USA and find out how similar or different the reasons for Canadians owning guns? Is it more to protect from animal attacks ( bears?) rather than human crime?
I have extended family living in USA and they all (adults) have hand guns to protect themselves and attended training and regular practice. They live semi rurally. It was not a subject open for discussion when we last saw them ( before the latest mass school deaths).

They would have to have a mass confiscation of guns because there are so many there. Of course a lot of very powerful people are involved in their manufacture and that is one of the reasons their governments don’t want them removed. Money talks.

How sad to think normal people can't live without a gun . The trauma people go through, especially the children . Piers Morgan commented a few years ago about guns in a American, quite a few people didn't like it ... my late husband was a police officer here in the UK ... his answer to if he was made to have a gun ... he would resign ! I know he would have as he said if you have a gun you are a target !!! I was on a cruise few years ago, I over heard an American lady say she was taught to use a gun at 12 years old !!! Say no more !

Sueki44

Interestingly, Canada has more guns per head than the USA,but a fraction of the gun crime!

Has anyone ever explained why they think that is, Sueki?

Why on earth does a so-called civilised country feel it needs to arm itself with semi-automatics (AR-15s are, I believe, the 'weapon of choice' for mass shootings)?

I can understand someone living in a isolated 'homestead' out on the prairie in the wilds of North America wanting to own a hand-gun for protection, but in towns and cities, why does anyone need to own a semi-automatic? They have Law and Order - a police force. Are Americans so lawless?

And their answer to gun violence and mass shootings - is more guns. As one American told me - if all the good guys have guns, they can 'take out' the bad guys before they have chance to kill or injure too many people. I asked him how he would know, in the confusion of these events, who - if everyone drew their semi-automatics at the sound of gun fire - was the good guy and who the bad guy. In the blind panic of these incidents, how do you know if the man standing in front of you with his weapon is the mass-shooter or the law-abidin' citizen? I didn't get an answer because he (the American) lost patience with me (we were in a bar in Florida) and told me that as a "god-damned liberal lime, I was too "soft in the head" to understand...

And why is it often the religious God-fearin' Right who are the most vocal - those same individuals who are incensed at the prospect of a woman terminating a pregnancy, calling it 'murder', yet who are seemingly well able to tolerate the murder of innocent people (and so many of them school children)?

According to the FBI’s latest report released on May 23, there were 61 active shooter incidents in the US in 2021 – a 52 percent increase from 2020 – and the highest year on record.

Some of the Americans I met were the nicest, friendliest people you could ever wish to meet. Others... not so much. But they were all very critical and suspicious of government(s) and they think that guns are the ultimate check on government power. So they are not only relaxed about killing each other - they want to, ahem, kill their political leaders, too, should the need arise.

Good job we don't have the same culture here at the moment. Joking of course but, much as I loathe the current incumbents in government, I would most certainly not like to see acts of violence perpetrated against them.

How are they even getting into schools. I work in a small primary school and you can’t even get into the building as every entrance is coded and it’s the same in all the schools in the borough.
Is this not the norm for schools everywhere now???
I’m in South Wales.

Interestingly, Canada has more guns per head than the USA,but a fraction of the gun crime!

I just can’t imagine living in a country that has a free for all in regards to guns. The outcome is many deaths and disfigurement.
I’d move my family to another country. Why are sensible folk not doing this to protect their families.

Well done MM
{no, not Meghan this time}!

www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-us-canada-61726841

I have just returned from visiting family in the USA, most of the people I spoke to still think they should be able to have guns but not automatic weapons. Of course they were appalled by the school shootings but the majority of people didn't think that strengthening gun law was the answer. Its such an entrenched mindset I don't see changes happening any time soon unless its to ban automatic weapons.

The impression I have of American advocates of 'the right to bear arms' is that they must live in. a constant state of fear 'masked' by macho posturing.....

I love visiting the US but I'm afraid their attitude is completely different there. They find it unbelievable that police in the UK can go around unarmed. I can't bear to think of what the parents of those massacred innocents must be going through. That little girl who 'survived' was so quick and resourceful, but she has to live with that horrific nightmare in her mind for ever.

Some years ago I accosted what I thought was a burglar in our house. As I walked from the kitchen to the hall I passed the knife block and fleetingly considered whether to pick up a knife. I decided against it partly because I realised that I could potentially be disarmed and the knife used against me, but mainly because in that split second I asked myself if I would be prepared to use a knife on someone and decided that I wouldn’t. I would hate to live somewhere where gun crime was such that a conscious decision would have to be made be made arming yourself ?

I work with advocates for stray and lost and found dogs in Ohio. I have many online friends who I am I touch with. Like you all I am horrified by the dreadful shootings. I wrote to my friends asking why the government has not changed the law arguing that the founding fathers who made the law were concerned with the individual freedom to engage with invaders and that automatic weapons were not invented then. It is true that the powerful NRA is supported by the conservative citizens and the Republicans. However, I was disappointed that neither President Obama nor President Biden has been able to modify the law with regard to any weapons. I suppose a federal system of government gives every state some autonomy on changing laws but I do not know. Many friends ( generally Democrats) do support change but not friends who live very rurally we’re offended that I even raised the subject. I simply do not understand their determination to carry guns.