Would I prefer an animal to be killed in a slaughter house so that not every hick and his uncle/brother can carry a gun? Yessssssssssssssssssssssss!

That proves that making them illegal wouldn't serve much of a purpose, then.

I did not meant to say "Americans are stupid", I just don't get why a so well developed country is not able to change, even just a bit, laws on such an important issue. I can't have a beer, but guns are ok. So, first time i'll get drunk with a couple beers, my aim will be good enough to shoot people with my legally owned gun. Come on, that's not a good thing from any point of view.

I'm not stating that making them illegal would work, but I think that giving people the chance to make their own arsenal increase the chances that, one day or another, for a reason or another, they will eventually use that arsenal.
More control and more strict laws could help. Obviously much more clever people with much more deep knowledge of the sublject are discussing these matters, but the feeling that the huge money incomes of guns selling has a huge influence on all this discussions is a bit too saddening.
Anyway, I don't want to drag this discussion much further.

[quote=nicfit]I did not meant to say "Americans are stupid", I just don't get why a so well developed country is not able to change, even just a bit, laws on such an important issue. quote]



Because, perhaps, there are more important laws that might have to be changed before that one. It is surely a country of many contradictions, but then, which country isn't made up of contradictions? Personally, i think there isn't one, and that generates abnormal things like being able to legally carry a gun in your pocket. It all comes down to finger- pointing, one way or another.

There's a similar argument to the whole issue of smoking bans. Obviously it would be in people's best interests not to smoke, but the revenue created from sales is so great that what would happen if that were to suddenly stop?

Unfortunately, commerce is such a huge factor, it can't be underestimated. It's a no-brainer to state that less guns=less killing. But less guns also=less revenue.

EDIT: And we're ALL a part of this kind of society, so there's no use having a 'them and us' attitude when it comes to capitalism.

I know, they can't drink alcohol "in public", but why don't they have to leave weapons at home too, then?

Yep, I agree, that's why I said "Anyway, I don't want to drag this discussion much further", you summed up what I meant by that.
Then again, a single step in the "right" direction, with the HUGE media coverage of cases like this, could help changing a bit the whole feeling about carrying guns. It's a bit too "idealistic" (is that a word?), I know, but could help, methinks. Now I'll just shut up and read what other people have to say.:o

is it true that in virgina that when purchasing a firearm you dont have to have a background check? it was on the news last night but i dont know if its true. anyone know?

That's just the point. If those people in the inner city/suburb environments were prevented from a owning guns unless they had a damn good reason to, there would be less gun related deaths.

I get the impression swa(y), that you and a lot of your countrymen find it acceptable for guns to be allowed to get into the hands of criminals and the mentally ill, and for them to go out and kill people for no good reason, just so long as you can occasionally go out and kill a deer.
It sounds like a high price to pay.

I hope I'm wrong, but all the time you argue against any form of gun control you strengthen that impression.

hey american PIGS, keep selling weapons at supermarkets, keep the concept of self-defense, liberalize online weapons shops, get you cocksuckers secretaries holding a rifle while sucking your balls. Far west has never been so close, FUCK!
Keep on, Condoleeza! Keep on Dana Perino! your kids will answer with fire! if it was only a paintball fight, we would be less surprised. Say now the asian boy was influenced by violent kung-fu movies and North-Corea violent attitude. Say now he was on drugs, say he was underage drunk.Why do these things happen only in america? you suck.

If anyone here still defends the concept of self-defence with weapons, well, YOU SUCK and you don't even know what is civilisation!
Just blame your liberalism for what happened! not the singular case. Any depressed loser even in this board could buy a gun. this is SCARY.
BAN me if I said bad things, I read some American-Pride here in this thread and it just made me want to PUKE.

32 students dead? add them to your soldiers, pigs.

It's not just the mentally ill who kill! If you compared the amount of murders commited for other more specific reasons to isolated cases of madness, it would transpire that the murderers who kill the most are people who we'd define as sane.

I think there's a strong contrarian tendency on this thread, with quite a few people merely playing devil's advocate. At least I hope they're playing devil's advocate.

It's called having different opinions.

So, in the simplest sense

A. what is the advantage of having guns made legal.

B. what is the advantage of banning them?

A. what is the advantage of having guns made legal. Money/taxes.

B. what is the advantage of banning them? Less people die.

Hey demon666...
see, that's closeminded. there's not only Having or banning. you see? the american cell that works with the "all or nothing" concept.
now what will happen? what will your democratics do?

A. A thriving market, money and the illusion of having some power that'll keep the ignorant happy and in the dark.

B. Some, but this keeping in mind that you are just taking away ONE tool from already violent hands.

I appreciate that taking guns out of public circulation wouldn't solve violent crime. All i'm saying is that they don't help matters. If Americans want to keep their right to own guns that's their business. All I'm saying is that given the rise in crime within the UK, I only see the addition of firearms into the mix as a potentially unwelcome one.

without guns they wouldnt break into houses/rape/steal so often... and if they did they would be less dangerous...