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Originally Posted by Hugh
Have to disagree with you - it's a big country, with lots of different folks living different lifestyles; respect them, they'll respect you; one area doesn't give you a view on the whole country - that would be like visiting a small village in Cornwall (or inner-city areas in any large UK city) and using that as a stereotype for all Brits.
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I think it's a mistake to generalize based on any city or town. Actually it's a mistake to generalize at all. Even within individual areas (be they larger towns, cities or the countryside), people aren't necessarily the same. I come from London. People in my area are nothing like those from other areas (say Hackney, or Lewisham). Obviously some are, but most aren't.
Regarding the shooting, I think the US does need to toughen up it's gun laws. I'd like to see them implement similar gun restrictions to those we have here (which do a good job of restricting mass shootings but do allow those who legitimately need them access to guns). I can accept that is not going to happen quickly.
They can start by restricting those with known mental problems from owning guns, which is one bit of Obama-era legislation Trump repealed without replacing.
Various Republicans have cited the fact that even countries that have gun bans do have the odd mass shooting means gun bans don't work. They conveniently neglect to mention that while most countries have the odd terrorist incident or other mass shooting, countries with gun bans tend to have them a lot less frequently than those without. Note: I consider mass shootings to be terrorist incidents, but to Trump at least the difference appears to be the colour of the shooter.
I've noticed that the standard reaction of the country is to argue whether guns laws would work or not, then the Republicans state that it's too soon to bring up the Gun laws again, and that we should all pray for the victims because apparently that's what God wants. Then, after a few days shouting, it's all forgotten only to start again after the next shooting. Which, based on the recent stats, is likely to be in a few days.
Looking at it logically, I would suggest that whatever the Americans are doing to combat mass shooting is not working. Quite the opposite, seeing as the frequency of mass shooting is increasing. I would also suggest that while I am agnostic, assuming God exists, He wouldn't want us to pray for the victims, but would want us not to create more.
Still what can we expect from a country that has apparently decided Gun ownership is a right, while decent healthcare is a privilege?
---------- Post added at 17:25 ---------- Previous post was at 16:53 ----------
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mick
I really don't think any law suddenly introduced today would help change a thing, there are so many millions of guns in circulation in the U.S, that no amount of gun control would help because it would require one hell of a gun amnesty to get rid of them all and you are talking thousands and thousands of tons of guns here being handed over at will and there is no guarantee such an amnesty would get them all because there would be millions of American people not willing to part with them.
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In all likelihood, any gun ban is likely to take decades to take effect, because, as you say, there are a lot of guns in the US.
Personally, I think any Gun ban needs to be paired up with a concerted effort to persuade people to give up guns. There are various methods they could use to do this ranging from education, TV ads etc through to relatively minor actions to make it inconvenient to own or carry guns, and easier to give them up.
Any restrictions, once they start working, will cause prices of the existing guns to rise, which will mean fewer people will be able to afford guns, legal or not.