BritInParis

Never lived in the US but I did manage to see two dead bodies on the sidewalk during a month long road trip in the summer of 2008. That's two more than I've ever seen in the UK.

Matt Sabre

Exactly, they are just too dangerous a thing to entrust to most people. That's why the strict licensing that you see in countries like the UK is pretty effective.

scrubbedexpat099

Leslie

Yeah but were they stabbed or shot?

dc koop

Oh yeah and when politicians start wars they suddenly trust millions of dudes to bear arms and deal with the mess they got everybody into in the first place

When war ends those who survived suddenly become incapable and untrustworthy to own even a .22 pop gun.

I suppose in the UK it's only the huntin' and shootin' aristocracy and landed gentry who can be trusted

dc koop

Hope it didn't ruin your trip dude

jeepster

All those clustered dots are in the black part of town. Stay out of there and your chances of getting shot are about as great as in London. Actually if you take the whole of Europe vs the US the murder rate is approximately the same around 4 per 100k.
As for being poor in the US you're better off here. Yes the social safety net is not as evident but the poor are not stigmatized as being poor, everybody thinks they're middle class (even Warren Buffet).

Matt Sabre

That's not really a rational argument.

Asg123

As for being poor in the US you're better off here.

Not true.

BritInParis

The police weren't keen for me to carry out a post-mortem.

LondonSquirrel

In Metro today was a story of a woman in the US shot dead by her 2-year-old in her car. He picked up the gun of her security guard boyfriend in the back seat. Recently there was another lady shot dead by her 4-year-old.

The problem is, many hoomins are stupid (and a few are bad) so they cannot be trusted with guns.

DH and I argue over nothing else except the idea of gun ownership. He cites one case where a woman 'may have' saved her life by having a gun.

That versus all the murders by gun, suicides by gun, maniacs going nuts with guns etc etc. And he cites one example.

Obviously I am biased too because guns are often used to shoot animals, which I think is disgusting, but even if they were never used to shoot animals, I wouldn't agree with the general public being allowed to have them.

Obviously the gun culture is so ingrained in the US that nothing will ever change. I just wonder why it bothers DH so much when his dad never had a gun, his BIL doesn't have a gun, and he wouldn't dream of having one himself.

RoadWarriorFromLP

I'm sure that it was self-defense.

dc koop

I was pointing out the peculiarities of civilized society,

Historically after the American and French revolutions and at a time when revolutionary sentiments and ideas were on the minds of many both in Europe and Russia that the ruling classes made sure that firearms were better off in the hands of the military and themselves.

In later years as the flood of disenfranchised peoples from Europe began to arrive in America and gradually start to spread westward that what's today called the "gun culture" had it's real beginnings. Firearms were obviously an essential tool for survival in a vast new and often hostile territory

Matt Sabre

So not needed today now that the country is civilized.

TBH, I think there is a very good argument for gun ownership in more remote places but I'm for strict control measures to allow that to happen. I also accept that hunting is a big thing here so allowing rifles for hunters is necessary. There is absolutely no justification for AR-15s and the like though. I also don't see why people can't be limited to one rifle, one shotgun and one pistol. These nutters who maintain full-on armouries worry me.

As for rich people, I don't think they are that bothered about going out in the woods and shooting things like they used to be.

dc koop

I agree that AR-15s are extreme. I never saw the sense in owning such a weapon. The AK47 is a weapon popular enough among hard core gang members. Where they get them from is a mystery though I suspect they originally slip through the gun show loop holes

I wouldn't see any reason to limit the number of weapons a person owns. Many gun owners are collectors of modern and antique weapons and there's no harm in that and they are mentally normal with it. Numbers of weapons don't really mean much. A person who decides to go on a shooting spree only needs one weapon to do the job anyway.

Home defencee is a reason for many to keep a weapon or weapons around the house. Living in a low crime affluent area doesn't guarantee round the clock freedom from harm. Gang members from such places as San Bernardino and L.A have been known to hit residences along the Foothill communities. The proximity to freeways also allows for a fast escape