I care about people, not the predatory criminal who carried out the assault/murder. I have no regard for his life or well-being since he/she has no regard for others' but him/herself. I agree with you on that one CR500. Lose the guns? Over my dead body. If I do lose the guns, then I have degraded my capability to defend myself and the ones I love. Not happenin'! I refuse to be a victim and will continue to bear arms as stated in the US Constitution. Call me a cowboy, so be it. I have owned guns for 13 yrs. now and haven't yet taken a life. And, if I end up in a situation where I have to use lethal force, it is in self-defense and the defense of others only! Anything else, otherwise will put me in life behind bars, revoke my firearms rights, or put me on death row. And I can also accept the fact that I might end up sued in a civil court regardless whether my actions are justified or not. Hell, I can even get sued for smashing someones jaw with my fist! The US courts are indeed litiguous. And Vic, the CDC, I applaud them on containing certain diseases but they do have a wicked hidden agenda. They are not as clean cut as you perceive them to be.

Well you make a false assumption that they are more of a liability than an asset which I'll get to later.

Most murderers are crimes of passion or an escalation of existing crime in the first risk versus reward scenarios go out the window due to emotional drive and in the second the people are highly risk immune to being engaged in criminal activity in the first place so the psychological drive to obey the law will only function for those already predisposed to obeying law. Not very effective in curbing what is already a law breaking element.

The UK sees a higher rate in rape, assault, hot burglaries, armed robberies and many other crimes and has since the 96 labour big gun grabbing law. Interpol and the Home Office reports show the incidence of crime in England and Wales to be over twice that of the United States with violent and gun crimes continually on the rise. Recently another level in the increasingly less shocking revelations of the fudged crime statistics add another 3 million to the incidents of violent crime being underreported by the UK. So your assumption of firearms being a greater risk to the population than not does not pan out looking strictly at a comparison of the UK pre ban and after and a comparative examination of the UK and the US over the same time period.

Links:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKL2573012720070625
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/3195908.stm#map
http://www.crpa.org/pressrls101502.html
http://www.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1997/1997005.htm
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs/hosb397.pdf

over your dead body, is it? well, if you involve yourself in gun culture then it might just come to that.

great statistics. you missed out the part where 3-400 people a year die in the uk of gunshots compared to 30,000 plus in the usa.

Watch out Janimal.... dont make blanket comments stereotyping all "americans" as something or other...... as i was accused of doing. Remember its "their" constitutional right to carry guns man.... so its ok.

Tequila, you never did answer my questions on the Gangs thread did you. (Note I havent ended that with a question mark, as its not a question)

Just in case you forgot, or can't find the thread - http://www.wineintro.com/forum/ubbthread...true#Post192147

In life, you can die from other things. Accidents (recently amusement park accidents have taken place/talk about lack of oversight),food poisonings, alcohol/drug abuse, medical malpractice, disease, criminal assaults (wrongplaceat the wrong time), contact sports (ex.=boxing), etc. It's a part of life! Quit being so naive! Die from the gun culture? Keep dreaming. Who are you to judge my fate! You don't even know me!Even those who don't even own a gun die! Ever handled or owned a gun before? Areyou familiar with ethics, tactics,and gun safety? Until otherwise, you will never understand and end up making baised judgements on the gun issue. As far as the statistics go, it's because we have a larger population. And, speaking of statistics, violent crime in the UK went up since the gun ban there as well as an increase in the proliferation of guns. And the cops are outgunned too since they can't carry one except in certain circumstances.

I think the eradication of firearms would be a step toward an ideal world.
As far as application of the Constitution, I think all people in their majority who have not been convicted of a felony should legally be allowed to carry a registered firearm.

I agree on your last statement. Certain people should not be allowed to own firearms (felons/non US citizens/drug addicts/etc.) But from a religious point of view (for those who believe in Christianity), eradication of firerms will only take place in the millenium or after Armageddon. Anyway, I don't mean to put religion into the fray. As long as wars are being fought and criminals are out victimizing others, it's just not going to happen. And if we eradicate guns, might as well eradicate everything construed as evil such as drugs, knives, swords, booze, prostitution, automobiles, fireworks, religion, etc. Might as well start a global dictatorship and start mass killings of innocent people now that they are disarmed of their guns! Not a good idea! Catch my drift? Tyrants like Hitler, Mussolini, Amin, Saddam Hussein,Pol Pot, Stalin,Lenin, Castro, Marcos, Mao, etc. have eradicated firearms from the general population as a step to maintain their power and committ mass genocide without any resistance. Remember the prohibition on alcohol? It failed miserably. Since there are too many guns in every household (mines included), it would also fail. Not to mention you have the NRA and other gun organizations that are an obstacle to the eradication of firearms. Don't underestimate them as well as law-abiding gun owners! Gun owners make up half of the election votes in the US. Gun control measures such as the assault weapons ban not only cost the Democrats their elections in Congress and the House back in 1994, but it also cost Al Gore and John Kerry their votes to get elected for President. Even ex-President Bill Clinton himself admitted that the NRA is a very powerful gun lobbying group that influences voters. And both their anti-gun viewpoints angered a lot of law abiding gunowners, myself included.

tequila, you do not seem to have any grasp oif staistics. mayvbe you need to lay off the jose cuervo.

the population of the uk is ca. 60 million, the population of the us is around 300 million. about six times the size. six times 300 is 1,800, NOT 30,000.

per head of population the gun crime rate in the us is more than 15 times higher.

well, all of you firearms do not appear to have stopped the usa's slide into a military dictatorship, do they?
by the way, about half of the 'tyrants' you named were client govenors instated by the usa and uk.

Also, about the stats -
Almost all stats are given per population, e.g., 10 deaths per 100,000 - so it doesn't matter HOW LARGE the population is - its per a certain number - so the numbers translate regardless of total population.
You could compare a country of 100,000 to 250 million - wouldn't matter. stats are per 100,000, or per 10,000 or whatever the fine print says.

I rarely drink, Janimal. And,I don't drink any Tequila, even though it's my username. We can disagree but do not insult my intelligence. It's already obvious that the US has higher gun crimes because of the large population. Owning a gun is my personal decision, not yours. Not all deaths are caused by guns.