Do We Really Need Guns?

[NickJ]

It's my first thread here, and I want to start with the issue, that worries me a lot.

Gun owners always claim that they own guns for self protection, even though the guns in their homes impose a much greater risk to their lives than an intruder. The Americans doesn't need guns, in Europe, for example, they handle the situation just fine without any guns and we doesn't have school shootings all the times as the American.

That's my point. What about you?

[Winchester]

You related to RickBean?

The 2016 campaign season must be getting into full swing with the lot of you hitting up political sites for our opinions.

[eynon81]

where do you get the idea Europeans don't have guns?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_of_ ... by_country


also I think the legal question isn't "why do you need that thing?". It's "can we, through regulation, mitigate the harm caused by that thing? and then, should we regulate that thing?"

part of the awesome of living in a liberal society is having lots of stuff I don't need.

[Stratego]

Different situations. Europeans don't have much to protect. Americans still assets that's worth something.

[Stratego]

The real question is "does the second amendment apply only to firearms"?

Let's say my weapon of choice is a beaver and I'm a skilled beaver fighter. Can I walk around with my beaver exposed if I have an open carry license?

[Professor]

[exploited]

[Professor]

I think that I'm a good example of what Nick is trying to say. I'm a father of 2. I used to have several guns in the house. For protection to some degree, but mainly because I enjoyed shooting them and hunting from time to time. However, when my kids were born, I simply could not bring myself to keep them in the house. I had trigger locks, with the keys locked in our safe. I put the guns out of reach. But, kids will find ways to get into anything. They're like raccoons. So, I gave them to my parents to hold onto. I still use them, but they're not in my house.

However, many people have a real NEED for guns. Hunters, trappers, police officers, etc. Also, as unlikely as it is, there are times in American history (as recent as 2005, during Katrina) where the average person, like you and me, will NEED to have a gun in their house for protection.

Furthermore, the RIGHT to have a gun is meant to mainly protect the citizens from predations by authority - put simply, to protect the citizenry from the police and government who wish to illegally persecute them. Again, this happened during Katrina, where, under the guise of "this is a disaster area", the police would knock on your door and demand that you forfeit all of the guns in your home, to be given back at a later date.

[Stratego]

[exploited]