Gransnet forums

Chat

How to stop gun atrocities in the USA....

(51 Posts)
vampirequeen Tue 07-Nov-17 16:25:23

Apparently the way to protect people is to have more people carry guns. The USA has easy access to guns. They have the highest number of gun deaths in the world. We have tight gun laws and the only country with less gun deaths is Japan.

I must be missing something. How can a proliferation of guns make gun use less likely?

damewithaname Wed 08-Nov-17 10:54:31

The world has become is bad place. People are dealings in awful things. In our country, we have an armed robbery in our homes like every few seconds. People die for a cellphone or a few Rand. Although we do have gun laws here, it's become a no brainer to keep a firearm at home to protect yourselves from these beasts. We have farmers being violently murdered each and every single day by groups of these people.

Theoddbird Wed 08-Nov-17 11:11:26

I work on a USAF base in this country. Every day my ID is checked by security police who carry a hand gun and an automatic rifle type. These are loaded and are not just for show. I lived on the USA for 3 years and could not wait to get back. It will never change because of where a lot of political money comes from. Around 15 thousand people a year die from guns shot every year in the states. You are ten times more likely to be killed by a gun there than in any other place in the world... I feel for my American family and friends

grandtanteJE65 Wed 08-Nov-17 11:32:07

Any country which has dangerous wild animals does need to allow country dwellers to have a weapon they can use at need to protect themselves and possibly their animals from bears, wolves, etc.

This to my mind is a completely different proposition than allowing anyone to buy a weapon to have in his home as protection against thieves, rapists or whatever other bugbear they fear.

Here in Denmark, where we admittedly do not have dangerous wild animals, you need a license, issued by the police, to own and use any type of firearm, and not all guns can legally be owned by a private person. You are also obliged to keep the weapon in a proper gun locker and store the ammunition separately also under lock and key to prevent accidents (children getting hold of Daddy's gun) or theft.

Frankly, I don't think there is much chance of getting the USA to understand that everybody does not need weapons and that even the police can manage not to use theirs very often, but we can try.

Sheilasue Wed 08-Nov-17 11:34:41

I don’t think there culture will ever change. I think the USA is backward in a lot of ways.
We know that they do t get as many holidays as us apart from there bank holiday. I read that they get no maternity leave.
A good proportion of them have never had holidays outside of the USA. They no nothing about other countries history
They don’t understand about royalty. And they are always banging on about the right to bear arms.

inishowen Wed 08-Nov-17 12:04:36

You can't reason with the Americans. They will say "it's not the gun that kills, it's the person firing the gun". They just don't get that if there were no guns there would be no shooting. They argue that a knife can kill and we all own knives. A knife is made for a certain use, i.e. food preparation, not for stabbing someone.

sarahellenwhitney Wed 08-Nov-17 12:27:02

Leticia
Religion, race or colour of skin is NOT relevant in the use of a gun. Who ever uses a gun to deliberately harm another without justification then he /she has a mental problem.sad

sarahellenwhitney Wed 08-Nov-17 12:33:08

PS. By justification read in protection of their own or the lives of others..

lovebeigecardigans1955 Wed 08-Nov-17 12:44:45

If guns are needed for protection against other people then I don't think that that country could possibly be called civilised. Americans have a reputation for having a short fuse - shoot first, ask questions later. I can understand farmers and rural dwellers needing to be armed against wild animals but not in cities BUT it's vicious circle - if criminals use guns how can we expect good people to not have the means to protect themselves?

We had a terrible case in the East Midlands a few years ago when an intruder was shot by a householder. I can't remember the full details - the poor man had to face justice. If this had been in the USA there'd have been no case to answer. I don't know the answer I'm afraid but I hope we never get like America.

123kitty Wed 08-Nov-17 13:17:27

Countries have nuclear weapons, using the excuse that they are a deterrent against attack by other nuclear armed countries. Americans feel the same about their guns and the ability to defend themselves. I'm anti gun.

loopyloo Wed 08-Nov-17 13:32:00

I have lost patience with the USA . I have great sympathy with those families affected but that's how the Americans want to live and they will have to live with the consequences.

loopyloo Wed 08-Nov-17 13:33:28

Not just fireworks banned but also Kinder eggs.

CardiffJaguar Wed 08-Nov-17 13:54:14

Let them have their guns, they are going to have them anyway. Eventually they may shoot themselves out of existence. Meanwhile don't go there.

Fennel Wed 08-Nov-17 14:12:56

Some people think that maybe because they speak english they have a lot in common with us. but they are so different in most ways.
eg political parties - their democrats are nothing like our Labour Party, most of whom, to them, are more like communists.

Norah Wed 08-Nov-17 15:38:11

Their spoken english is not the same to ours in so many ways. They are not the same to us about guns. More important, what would they do to remove 300m guns from owners? Americans want their gun and willingly accept the consequences to such ownership. They will implode soon enough.

ffinnochio Wed 08-Nov-17 16:30:12

Hmmm. Bigotry is raising it’s ugly head on this thread.

Bluecat Wed 08-Nov-17 22:51:22

It’s easy to respond to the US gun problem with the attitude of “it’s their own fault, let them go to hell.” However, that doesn’t help. For a start, not all Americans feel positive about guns but moderate voices are drowned out by the noise made by the gun lobby and by those who believe they have a sacred right to bear arms.

Then there are the innocents who have had no say in the matter, like the children and young people so often targeted in these massacres.

Finally, those of us with families in the States can’t just turn our backs. It’s impossible not to worry. For instance, one of my granddaughters was at their local mall when there was a fatal shooting- luckily not in the area where she was, but too close for comfort. She wasn’t scared when it happened, but I was when she told me about it. I was also worried when she fell out (temporarily) with her boyfriend, because he was very upset and “his father has unsecured guns in the house.” Not something you’d usually have to worry about, over here.

Newquay Wed 08-Nov-17 23:01:33

I can understand the need for guns where dangerous wild animals are about but does ANYONE ever have the need for these semi automatic guns? It seems a lot of people can be killed with one "sweep" of them. I think just stop making them would help. Sadly, of course, that would mean the criminals would have still have them.

maddy629 Thu 09-Nov-17 07:08:48

I get sick of hearing Americans say that guns don't kill. Yes, they do when in the hands of people intending to kill.

NfkDumpling Thu 09-Nov-17 07:34:41

President Trump said yesterday, when giving reasons why North Korea should not have nuclear weapons, that carrying weapons does not decrease the likelihood of being attacked but increases it? No one picked up that his stance was somewhat contradictory to the escalation in the numbers of semi-automatic weapons his citizens have.

Anya Thu 09-Nov-17 08:02:26

The ‘right to bear arms’ was initially given in the days when the rifles available had to be reloaded after only one or two shots. Even a handgun like a ‘6 shooter’ was a new concept.

Today it’s a whole different matter when semi automatics can be purchased and a large group of people sprayed with bullets in a matter of seconds. That’s not the right to bear arms, that’s a licence to murder.

But it Obama couldn’t be change then I doubt anyone will. The irony is that Trump wants to ban so-called potential terrorists from entering the US when in truth far, far more people are killed by their fellow Americans.

NfkDumpling Thu 09-Nov-17 08:13:32

In the last shooting a civilian did chase after the gunman and shoot him, but this doesn’t seem to be what usually happens. People dive for cover, but don’t use the weapons they supposedly carry to protect themselves. Most people I think would find it hard to actually kill another being without being trained to do it. I don’t think I could, even shooting an attacking bear would be hard, so there’d be no point in my carrying a gun. (I’d miss anyway)

Baggs Thu 09-Nov-17 16:14:00

Terrorism isn't just about killing people; it's about destroying a culture/civilisation. So I don't really think it's comparable to stupid gun deaths in the US.

Just a by the way comment.

M0nica Fri 10-Nov-17 15:52:55

You can't, unless you revise the Constitution and remove the right to carry a gun. And the chances of that happening?

lemongrove Fri 10-Nov-17 18:30:11

I would have no problem shooting an attacking bear Nfk
grin
There is a big difference between carrying a small gun for personal protection and the buying legally of semi automatic weapons.The mind boggles as to why anybody would even want one.

pollyperkins Fri 10-Nov-17 18:48:30

Sara Helen Whitney - I dont thin Leticia was being at all racist - she was saying Trumps attitude is! Sorry my ipad wont let me write your name correctly!