Gun Control: This speaks for itself

[brin]

Goodness no LOL

You can own guns in Canada, long guns, rifles, even hand guns. You have to take a weekend course for your permit is all. What you cant do is carry it other than from your home to the shooting range or to the hunting grounds when in season along with a hunting permit.

All in all I like Canada's law better.

I am curious if you have criminals ..." Bad Guys " in Canada..who have guns ? We do here in the US...and our Bad guys do not obey the laws....maybe your bad guys do, if you have any...Anyway, if we had the same laws as you do then only our Bad Guys would be walking around with guns...so if my wife an I are out shopping and a US bad guy with a gun wanted to hurt my wife or rob us..he could shoot me...but here in this country I carry a gun...yes, I have a weapons carry permit...so now if one of our bad guys or a bunch of our bad guys with guns try to hurt my wife or rob us...well at least I have a fighting chance . I like the US state of Georgia's Law better...

 

[M E Race]

You can not legislate morality, and without morals you can not govern. Look at some of our so called leaders and ask yourself if giving up your rights will make you any safer, or just easier to control?

 

[IslandTractor]

In 2010 there were 214 murders in Massachusetts.
In 2010 there were 134 murders in Arkansas.
There's about 6.5 million people in Massachusetts.
There's about 3 million people in Arkansas.
Massachusetts has the 3rd highest population density in the country.
Arkansas has the 34 highest population density in the country.
Massachusetts has 8000 sq miles.
Arkansas has 53,000 sq miles.
Massachuesttes average annual income +$60k
Arkansas avearage annual income +$40k

While the facts about deaths per 100,000 people are frequently cited, many other facts are ignored.... like in a state almost 7 times smaller with an annual income rate 50% higher there were 50% more total murders in 2010 in Massachusetts VS Arkansas.
So lets look at the murder per square mile number.
Massachusetts had 0.02675 murders per square mile in 2010.
Arkansas had 0.00253 murders per square mile in 2010.
That comes out to a murder rate 10.6 times higher per square mile in Massachusetts VS Arkansas.

And to think you have graduated from at least high school without an appreciation for the concept of population rate when discussing epidemiology. Remarkable. Even though I trust you are being sarcastic there will undoubtedly be fellow TBNers who agree with your inane analysis.

Sadly the ability to ignore or be willingly ignorant of epidemiologic risk means that data does not play a significant role in determining how to lower firearm death rates. This really should be a data driven process much the same as with motor vehicle safety. Instead we have treated gun safety as a political issue and no or very little progress is made.

The NRA has consistently fought against funding of well designed studies with solid methodology. We do those studies for motor vehicle safety, food safety, drug safety, why not for firearm safety??? We learn about how to minimize risk through careful prospective trials rather than someones best guess. Would you rather drugs were put on the market without being able to identify and quantify risks and make that information available to those using the product?

As for what states have the highest firearm homicide rates, one does need to disaggregate the data to get a useful picture of risk to the typical TBN family. If we exclude inner city gun violence that affects primarily young males fighting turf battles, then Chicago, DC, Detroit, Newark etc data that is less relevant to the TBN demographic, then it is very clear that southern gun loving states have considerably higher firearm homicides (and suicide and accidental firearm deaths) than other areas of the country. Assuming of course that you measure human risk as incidence per 100,000 population rather than per acre.

 

[farmgirl19]

Are you advocating that the government shouldn't restrict firearm possession in any respect? Do you believe it is ok for the Alan Lanza's of the world to be able to go down to the local Quick Trip and purchase an AR 15, and a case of .223?

Here is another scenario on your theory: What if a law abiding, gun carrying citizen had been on the grounds and killed Lanza (or the next mental case) before he did his damage?

That actually was the scenario in San Antonio, TX, about a week after the Sandy Hook episode. It is amazing that it didn't make the national news, not even on FOX. A legally armed woman shot and killed a man who was going to shoot up the movie theater, Colorado style. He never got the chance.

 

[IslandTractor]

I am curious if you have criminals ..." Bad Guys " in Canada..who have guns ? We do here in the US...and our Bad guys do not obey the laws....maybe your bad guys do, if you have any...Anyway, if we had the same laws as you do then only our Bad Guys would be walking around with guns...so if my wife an I are out shopping and a US bad guy with a gun wanted to hurt my wife or rob us..he could shoot me...but here in this country I carry a gun...yes, I have a weapons carry permit...so now if one of our bad guys or a bunch of our bad guys with guns try to hurt my wife or rob us...well at least I have a fighting chance . I like the US state of Georgia's Law better...

Bob I am sure the Canucks have a few bad eggs and even firearm deaths. Having criminals does not mean you will have lots of firearm related deaths. The State of Hawaii certainly has criminals (how else could Hawaii 5-0 exist?) but they have pretty strict gun control laws and very low gun ownership. They also had precisely ONE firearm homicide in 2011 which is the latest year of FBI data. And no, they don't just kill each other with spearguns or surfboards instead. Their murder rate is amongst the lowest in the country.

Canada and Australia have tougher gun laws but we have quite a few states with either tough gun laws or low gun ownership or both. New England has low gun ownership and lower total homicide as well as firearm homicide than most of the rest of the USA. Areas in the deep South in particular have very high overall murder and especially firearm homicides. Why is it so hard to connect the dots?

 

[DieselnHooters]

I am curious if you have criminals ..." Bad Guys " in Canada..who have guns ? We do here in the US...and our Bad guys do not obey the laws....maybe your bad guys do, if you have any...Anyway, if we had the same laws as you do then only our Bad Guys would be walking around with guns...so if my wife an I are out shopping and a US bad guy with a gun wanted to hurt my wife or rob us..he could shoot me...but here in this country I carry a gun...yes, I have a weapons carry permit...so now if one of our bad guys or a bunch of our bad guys with guns try to hurt my wife or rob us...well at least I have a fighting chance . I like the US state of Georgia's Law better...

I would likely feel the way you do if I hung around the ghetto or did my shopping in Dodge City lol

 

[kiotiken]

I am curious if you have criminals ..." Bad Guys " in Canada..who have guns ? We do here in the US...and our Bad guys do not obey the laws....maybe your bad guys do, if you have any...Anyway, if we had the same laws as you do then only our Bad Guys would be walking around with guns...so if my wife an I are out shopping and a US bad guy with a gun wanted to hurt my wife or rob us..he could shoot me...but here in this country I carry a gun...yes, I have a weapons carry permit...so now if one of our bad guys or a bunch of our bad guys with guns try to hurt my wife or rob us...well at least I have a fighting chance . I like the US state of Georgia's Law better...

There's no denying you're right. In fact there was a case last week (maybe 2) in Toronto about a bank robber who shot at a bank client and hit the teller in the leg. The client then chased him outside and was shot in the stomach (obviously not the sharpest knife in the drawer). They caught one of the robbers, haven't heard if they got the shooter yet. It was actually a riffle that was used in the shooting, no word if it was registered

Both sides can point to individual instances were a gun was tragic/life saving. There is a lower rate of gun crime and murders in Canada and even though I certainly can't prove that it's because there are just less guns in society, I believe it. Whenever there's a tragedy, the NRA comes out saying we need more guns to be safe while others call for gun control. Nobody ever seems to acknowledge that neither approach will prevent something tragic from happening again. I personally believe that overall, we are safer with less guns and that the owners of those guns are trained and sane.

 

[brin]

Bob I am sure the Canucks have a few bad eggs and even firearm deaths. Having criminals does not mean you will have lots of firearm related deaths. The State of Hawaii certainly has criminals (how else could Hawaii 5-0 exist?) but they have pretty strict gun control laws and very low gun ownership. They also had precisely ONE firearm homicide in 2011 which is the latest year of FBI data. And no, they don't just kill each other with spearguns or surfboards instead. Their murder rate is amongst the lowest in the country.

Canada and Australia have tougher gun laws but we have quite a few states with either tough gun laws or low gun ownership or both. New England has low gun ownership and lower total homicide as well as firearm homicide than most of the rest of the USA. Areas in the deep South in particular have very high overall murder and especially firearm homicides. Why is it so hard to connect the dots?

Doc - It's not hard to connect the dots...I have no doubt at all a law banning ownership of all firearms or strictly limiting ownership and use would greatly reduce the incidence of deaths from the use of guns. My point is and always will be the danger of allowing the government to disarm the honest law abiding population; history shows us many bad things have happened when only the government and criminals have all the guns. So no question there is a price to be paid for freedom....unfortunately gun ownership just like vehicle ownership as an example is not without risk nor is life itself....

 

[teejk]

Goodness no LOL

You can own guns in Canada, long guns, rifles, even hand guns. You have to take a weekend course for your permit is all. What you cant do is carry it other than from your home to the shooting range or to the hunting grounds when in season along with a hunting permit.

All in all I like Canada's law better.

We can't use Canada as a model. You have a much lower total population which is concentrated in relatively small areas (I think I heard once that 90% of your population is within 150 miles of the US border...I haven't looked lately but I think it is still largely true just looking at your handful of major metropolitan areas). While much of the US population is concentrated in a few large cities, our agriculture industry demands that large numbers of people are scattered across a very large land mass. And Canada doesn't have the issue of dead/dying industrial cities where much of our problem comes from. And at the risk of offending somebody, I'll opine that you manage to control your immigration much better than we do.

We share the continent, not much else.

 

[brin]

I would likely feel the way you do if I hung around the ghetto or did my shopping in Dodge City lol

Sorry...I cannot make sense of what you posted....???? The only thing I can do is guess what the insults you were hurling were....I guess you imply I hang around a ghetto....I will be glad to answer that...No I do not I live in a large brick home on acreage in a rather exclusive area just a short drive from the busiest airport in the world and the hub of the South of the Greatest country on earth....I do not shop in Dodge City...but in very nice stores...I am prepared to defend myself though....just in case one of the Quebec criminals finds his way into my piece of paradise and tries to shoot me or my family member.

I tried hard but I don't think my response was quite as silly and inane as your post.