So would banning guns in USA have prevented this childs death

Nick, read your post. You made it sound that because there was a gun there WOULD be a death, it would be inevitable.
Anyhow I'll not argue your semantics further
 
The interesting statistics come from a long study into the effect of gun ownership in the US.
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/hicrc/firearms-research/gun-threats-and-self-defense-gun-use/

Interesting conclusions, increased gun ownership in some states, unsafe storage and young age are factors relating to gun deaths. All easily controllable though legislation similar to ours but it's getting the buy in from the electorate. The US have a different social relationship with their weapons, so no government will be able to get such changes through, especially one that currently has power spilt between houses.
 
How is it semantics when i was specifically referring to this incident in isolation (if you re-read my original post you'll see that) where the 4 year old was killed?
 
ecoleman said:
Sure, but the population of USA is also far greater than the UK.
The issue is that the people that use guns for illegal activities will always be able to lay their hands on a gun, especially in the US as guns are easily smuggled over boarders.
Click to expand...


Do you understand how statistics work, and graphs when they show incidents per 100,000 of the population - just asking;)
 
ecoleman said:
I can't answer that question, but as an ex firearm owner in SA, I had plenty of training and respect for the firearm that I was carrying.
Click to expand...


This explains a lot about your arguments/discussions so far.
You lived in a country which had a "gun death/murder" rate twice that of the US and 60 times that of the UK.
As I said before, I am quite happy with the firearms laws in operation in the UK compared to the US and South Africa.
 
andy700 said:
This explains a lot about your arguments/discussions so far.
You lived in a country which had a "gun death/murder" rate twice that of the US and 60 times that of the UK.
As I said before, I am quite happy with the firearms laws in operation in the UK compared to the US and South Africa.
Click to expand...

So am I. I'm just saying that banning guns in countries like USA or SA is unlikely to have a huge effect on deaths.

In the last few years before I left SA (that was 11 years ago) SA made it quite difficult to get a firearm licence and even tried to limit the number of firearms owned. You can wait years now between purchasing a firearm and actually getting a licence.

Despite that the murder rate and violent crime has increased year on year.

The problem is that it's only the honest citizens that are finding it difficult to own a firearm.
 
ecoleman said:
So am I. I'm just saying that banning guns in countries like USA or SA is unlikely to have a huge effect on deaths.

In the last few years before I left SA (that was 11 years ago) SA made it quite difficult to get a firearm licence and even tried to limit the number of firearms owned. You can wait years now between purchasing a firearm and actually getting a licence.
Click to expand...

It's usually a few months now, and you can license AR15 type (semi auto) rifles again.

Despite that the murder rate and violent crime has increased year on year.
Click to expand...

The murder and other contact crime rates went down for a few years, if you believe the SAPS statistics - which I don't - but they increased again during the last reporting period.

The problem is that it's only the honest citizens that are finding it difficult to own a firearm.
Click to expand...

Agreed. This is the case in most countries with very restrictive firearm laws.
 
Byker28i said:
1.2 million people in the UK regularly shoot according to the UK NRA.



But see above they are, you just need to qualify to have one, convince the local constabulary that you need one for valid reasons.
In the US, if you buy one from a store there are checks, forms to complete and in some states, a cooling off period before you can return to buy the gun.

In the UK, it's easy to rent a handgun from criminal elements for some, going rate is around £250 a day, with £5 a round.
Click to expand...
In fact, there are two classes of gun, with difference licenses for each - plus a third class or category that's harder to get.
S.1 is basically rifles, you do need to have a good reason to get one of those
S.2 is a standard shotgun, and you don't need a good reason for one of those, or any reason at all. And there is an underlying right to hold a S.2, you just need to be of good character, not to suffer from mental health problems, have a permanent address and adequate security so, in effect, just about everyone who is safe can get one.

The main difference here, as opposed to the US, is that we don't carry them around with us and don't have them immediately available.
 
Garry Edwards said:
I

The main difference here, as opposed to the US, is that we don't carry them around with us and don't have them immediately available.
Click to expand...

No, it isn't. The main difference is that there is a constitutional right to keep and bear arms in the US.
 
MartynK said:
No, it isn't. The main difference is that there is a constitutional right to keep and bear arms in the US.
Click to expand...

Yes, but not to carry them about one's person.
That's a state by state law.
 
viv1969 said:
Yes, but not to carry them about one's person.
That's a state by state law.
Click to expand...

Yes, I know. I think local jurisdictions can also impose further restrictions, providing there's no state pre-emption, but this is all contingent on the 2nd Amendment. That's the main, and critical, difference between the US and the UK in this context.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top