My son found a quote that's been circulating: Blaming guns on violence is like blaming spoons on obesity.
Taking away firearms will not stop a criminal from acquiring them, They don't follow the law. A mentally ill person also- just because there is a law on the books will not stop a sick person or a criminal from doing what they want.
Also, think about it- we only hear about the bad. That is how the MSM is set up. We do not hear about the hundreds of lives a day that are saved because of firearms in the hands of law abiding citizens. We do not hear about the toddlers who still have a mom because she carried a pistol legally and defended herself against an attacker. We don't hear about these things.
We only hear of the negatives.
With that being said, I personally do not see why automatic and semi's are needed for "home and personal defense," however in a supposed free country, once the citizens begin allowing the PTB to take "rights" away, it begins a domino effect and pretty soon there are no rights left and really stupid and disgusting things start happening. Look at homeland security.
Someone who is driven to do such horrendous acts will do them no matter what. Cooking meth is illegal but there are recipes and detailed instructions all over the regular, public internet. Just a quick Google search away. And just because the recipes to cook the drug are there for the public to easily access, and the ingredients are made from common household items you can purchase anywhere, does not mean everyone uses them to bake a crack cake. You only hear about the few bad who do, not the millions who don't.
You make some good points.
With regards to the spoon analogy, a spoon is something to help you eat that is what is was designed to do. A gun was designed to shoot/destroy/kill things. That’s it’s purpose. Maybe because guns have become so ubiquitous in American culture, people feel the need to have them for “protection”.
You’re right about the stories we don’t hear though, obviously the media will not report on that, and yes law abidingcitizen with carry and conceal firearms can definitely help out in a dire situation. Personally, I don’t see the need to go to Walmart to buy some things and bring a gun with me, that thought has never even crossed my mind.
There will always be criminals breaking the laws and it’s no different with obtaining guns, but what if the government were to buy back guns and amunitions and have them destroyed? With less and less out there on the market would how would you feel?
Regarding the spoon analogy: sure, spoons were made for eating. But they're also handy tools for the act of shooting drugs ;) Humans, as well as many creatures, devise ways to use things not as they were intended all the time.
The government would have to cause an economic crisis to justify a gun buy back at this point. But things would be so shaky I don't think it would work. If things got that bad even people who are against guns would be clamoring on the black market. In a case such as that, crime will rise dramatically, and people will need to defend themselves as even now there's nowhere near enough law enforcement officials to make a difference in the event of something big.
My thinking behind that?
Why was the food stamp program developed? The ptb realized a hungry man is a desperate man. Who will do anything... In cases of economic crisis, or just uncertain times in general, people have less faith in their government.
If that were the case with less and less on the legal market, there would be more and more on the black market. And I would feel fear. And I do not feel fear now. And I say this as a mom who's son- also on Steemit :)- was in a school shooting a couple years ago..
Yes people can take any good invention and make it into something destructive, we have seen this throughout history, but a guns sole purpose is destruction. When guns are so easily accessible what is to stop someone who feels bullied, depressed, angry at their spouse, pissed off at the driver in front of them or any other number of reasons from committing a heinous act with a gun?
Who do you need protection from? Aren't the police supposed to do that, or is there absolutely no faith left in the system/government? I have traveled to numerous countries where firearms are both legal and illegal, but only in America have I seen people so proud to be a gun owner. Maybe it has just be ingrained in the media and education system.
There was a crazed man living on my property that I live on with my kids. Just three weekends ago the police told me there's nothing they can do but ticket him.. Three police men. The man had been living on my property. He started a fire in me and my neighbor's property three weekends ago.
The officers told me I can use a gun in this situation, because there's nothing they can do.
I don't understand exactly how the laws work everywhere, but trespassing is a criminal offence where I am from. I don't understand how there is nothing the police can do.