Virginia Tech Shootings -Gun Control Views?

It's quiet sad that people cannot be safe in school.


What surprised me more than the shootings themself are that, Americans are now pushing to have more guns available. I don't know if this is odd to other americans, but in Australia, we are actually pushing for the exact opposite.


What's your view on gun control? Please also state the country you live in.Virginia Tech Shootings -Gun Control Views?
Do you know it is also the anniversary today of the Port Arthur Shooting Massacre which occurred in Tasmania, Australia in which 33 people were gunned down.





The result of this was that firearms are now banned in Australia unless you own a permit. The permits are not easy to get. We had a gun buy back scheme where people could hand their guns in for money from the Government.





I find the whole concept of ' a right to bear arms' odd. Why would the average person need to have a gun?





Have you seen the movie: Bowling for Columbine where he compares the cities on each side of a lake (one in the USA and one in Canada) and how gun related death in the USA side is huge whereas on the Canadian side people do not have a right to have a gun and leave their doors unlocked.





I leave my back door not only unlocked but open all day - whether I am in or out. I would hate to feel unsafe.





To me if the average person owns a gun - I would feel unsafe knowing my neighbours have weapons in their houses.





GUNS KILL PEOPLE





It would be interesting to know if the incidence of gun related injury has declined in Australia since Port ArthurVirginia Tech Shootings -Gun Control Views?
Gun control.. where do I start?





The problem with political ';gun control'; is simple: it disarms those law abiding citizens who possess firearms for defensive purposes.. and forces them to rely on a government authority to provide ';protection.';





Criminals are not affected as they most likely own or use firearms illegally anyway.





';Gun control'; simply impedes a [law abiding] persons right to defend themselves while simultaneously making them more vulnerable to attack.





Here in the US, our constitutional right to bear arms is actually a safeguard against an out-of-control government.. defense from criminals is just a secondary bonus.
The politicians who took Austrailians guns away thought they were doing a good thing.





It's a 'Feel Good' law where everybody pats themselves on the back for doing something to stop crime.





But the fact is, they only took guns away from people who respect the law.





Do you know that guns come into Austrailia every day from your Pacific and Asian neighbors?





Is there less gun crime in Austrailia since these laws were established, or did they in fact have the opposite effect?





I live in Texas, federally licensed firearms collector and instructor with 35 years of firearms experience.








EDIT: The World's #1 producer of firearms is Russia and the former USSR countries, #2 is China, #3 Germany, #4 Austria, #5 Brazil #6 Italy # 7 USA #8 Spain
i am an American and i am against gun control. this country was founded on commoners with guns fighting for the rights that we have today. i was raised up on guns, mostly targeting just as recreation. yes, there will always be people who are irresponsible and crazy and feared, but that doesn't stop people from driving in their cars and going down the highway knowing that it is possible they could get in a wreck and die. because believe me there are some crazy and irresponsible drivers out there. the nazi's overtook Germany by going door to door and taking away guns, leaving the people defensless. excuse me, but i don't trust people enough to surrender and hand over something that will determine my survival should we ever be attacked. hope this helps.
it's against the constitution.
No gun ownership to civilians unless stringently approved for specific purposes (farming culls, etc). Whilst I understand it is part of the US constitution to bear arms, I can't understand that common sense doesn't prevail. Instead of everyone bleating ';it's our right';, why isn't the bigger picture addressed?





(Australia)





PS - Very sorry for America's tragic losses today
I dont think we should have such easy access to hand guns. I live in Canada, and we have guns :(
guns dont kill peple people kill people i think that we should have the right to own and operate any gun that we ant and how ever many we want but i think that you should have to go get approval from a counselar and get a certified letter stating that you are not a risk to your self or any body else at that time, and you must go every 4 months if you want a gun you will do this. also no violent crime convictons, and make it illegal to share guns or to lend them out if your gun gets caught in some one elses possesion you loose your gun and the right to own one for at least 7 years also must be over the age of 21 even for rifles a gun is a gun we should ban fake guns as tows in the stores chicago il usa
I have to agree with most Americans. Law abiding citizens should have the right to keep and bear arms; it's in the Constitution. Criminals get their guns off the street. Stricter gun laws will disarm law abiding citizens who are trying to protect themselves, not criminals.
First, being in Australia you probably dont understand how things work here in America. Criminals-nutcases dont go into a local Wal Mart and buy a semi-auto weapon they use to shoot up a school or to rob a place with. They buy them off the streets from another nutcase who has stolen them from somoene else. Thus-all the gun laws in the world arent gonna stop that kind of action. Im willing to bet when we find out the facts, we will see that the killer in Virginia obtained the weapon illegally-had not registered it and had no license or permit to carry it. Nuts like that dont care about gun laws.


You could ban every gun in America you wish-make up all the laws you want. i could go out today and still get a gun if i wanted. No papers-no background check-no questions asked.
Did you not hear what happened after the gun ban in Australia?


In the half decade following the1996 gun ban:


Armed Robbery up 45%


Assault up 8.6%


Homicide up 3.2%





Before that, these and other stats had been dropping steadily over the previous 3 decades.





Who will give up their weapons when a ban occurs? Those who obey the law of course! Now, the criminals who hold on to theirs know they're less likely to meet resistance!





Some of the most stringent gun controls are in place in Washington DC (almost impossible to own/carry without being a police officer). Funny, DC has the highest crime rate in the US most years.
Since no one has said it: US is the #1 arms producer in the world. aka Guns is big business. a few shootings is not going to stop gun manufacturers because the OWN US along with other corporations influences.





Think: Lord of War, etc
With respect to all those who favor gun control or the limited right to carry and conceal... I disagree. If ANY one of those 50 people that were shot yesterday had a gun to protect themselves, there is a possiblity that this person would have been stopped LONG before he killed 32 people. I'm not saying that someone with a gun would have ';saved the day'; but there is a possibility that it could have happened. As a parent, that possiblity means more to me than hearing my daughter was shot and killed and no one could help. If there is the smallest possibility that she could be saved because someone had their gun, I say IT'S OUR RIGHT.
I think it was a tragedy first and foremost and my thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and their families.





They were just sitting ducks with no way to defend themselves much like the victims of Colin Ferguson.





When only criminals have guns the rest of us can only ponder tactics like ';notifications.';





In a state where concealed-carry is allowed or promoted, the loss of life could have been much less. He may have shot one or two, but a concealed-carrier would have dispatched him right quick.





Sadly there is no way to prevent a killer with a gun. In tribal Africa where there are no manufactured guns, tribesman make them from pipes and rubber-bands so clearly gun control is not the answer. You can make a gun out of wood in an hour! He could have stabbed just as many with a knife.





Since you will never stop the OFFENSE, we must allow ourselves a DEFENSE. We are not all of one culture anymore, so violence will only increase.





The only way to prevent these killing rampages is concealed-carry. Would you rather protect yourself or wait for the folly ';notification?';
Here in the US our right to bear arms is part of our constitution. We want our guns. I want my guns. One tragic thing about the shootings is that the people in Virginia banned the campus police from carrying guns. They also outlawed guns for students. There are places here in the States that allows concealed carry of weapons. The people must pass a background check and training. Where it has been used it has cut crime. There is one county in the south that requires every household to have a gun. Their crime rate dropped dramatically. There will be a lot of people pushing for a gun ban. They will make a row and as much news as possible. The next President will probably be a Democrat and they want to ban guns. There are so many guns around and it is so entrenched that I do not know how they could ban them. The Pro Gun movement is so strong I don't know how the country would handle it. I think that they should enforce all the gun laws fully and have the strictest of possible penalties that are actually applied. I hate to see things like this happen. I do not see banning guns correcting this. He was a bad person.
I don't believe that more people should be allowed to conceal and carry. I do believe in the right to bear arms, though, for hunting/food reasons, to protect your home from criminal burglary %26amp; harm, %26amp;/or your ranch/farm/yourself (also when camping %26amp; hiking in mountains, non-city areas) from wild animals, etc. But to be able to carry them in public for protection, NO! Leave that to the ones that have jobs that require them to be armed. I think that more people concealing %26amp; carrying in public could lead to too many vigilante, unnecessary use of force %26amp; some people's words against another, etc.


I heard someone suggesting on the news today that students should be able to be armed. The disagreement I heard in response to that was that when police would show up, it'd be hard for them to know who the perpetrator was with more than one person wielding a gun. What if there was more than one shooter and the helper disguised himself as a defender %26amp; not an accomplice?





Thanks for the sympathy towards the Virginia Tech Campus tragedy.


My heart %26amp; prayers go out to all the victims %26amp; their families %26amp; friends. And also to the university staff, students, peace officers: %26amp; to your families %26amp; friends.





Condolences to the Port Arthur Shooting Masacre.


http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/鈥?/a>
Guns cannot be sold that way. I prefer they wouldn't exist in the world. What I believe is some powerfull countries sell guns in order to gain more money. They always think of that. More money. Bigger houses. More food, more confort. But mann!!!, people are dying. Don't they see ???





By the way, I'm Turkish.
I can remember two events of this kind in my lifetime (I'm 31, live in UK).





A man shot and killed 16 people in Hungerford in 1987, following which the government banned semi-automatic rifles and certain other guns.


The most recent event was at a primary school in Scotland in 1996, where 16 children and their teacher were killed. After that, all handguns (with the exception of antique and historical pieces) were banned in Britain.





An American might look at that legislation and regard it as reactionary. Well I guess it was, and of course there is still gun crime (though the statistics seem pretty varied http://www.connected.gov.uk/facts/guncri鈥?/a>





However, we haven't had any other gun massacres. How many 'school-shootings' have there been in the US since 1996? 10, according to Wikipedia (19 according to the BBC).





Presumably all the people who are giving this answer a thumbs-down believe that school shootings are an acceptable price to pay for the right to keep and bear arms. Would they change their minds if one of their kids was murdered (or would they think ';if only my kid had had a gun - then he wouldn't have died';?)