Gun ownership

Non-dyspraxic chat about anything under the sun

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JamesAnthony91
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Gun ownership

Post by JamesAnthony91 »

I won't make this too long, but, does anyone here believe that gun laws around the world should be more relaxed? In Ireland, you need to show your medical records to the police, like, give them access to whether or not you've ever had a chest infection, just to "maybe" get a permit, because it's not guaranteed as a right here to own a gun for sport shooting or hunting. I haven't applied for a permit to own a gun, ranges provide guns and ammo for paying members and that's decent enough, but I do have an aesthetic liking for weapons, whether antique or newly developed, and I was thinking I'd like to collect firearms as well as swords and daggers for the sake of a hobby at some point in my life. I think people should have the right to own guns, but maybe not ammunition? It could be law that the only place you can load and fire your guns, would be at a supervised gun range. I know in some countries, like New Zealand, it's fine to buy guns for collection purposes, and that has had me tempted to emigrate there, because I feel VERY restricted by laws here in Ireland concerning gun ownership.
OneClumsyDragon
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Re: Gun ownership

Post by OneClumsyDragon »

To be fair it'd be harder to regulate gun/ ammunition ownership if people were allowed to have one and not the other
We don't exactly have extensive law enforcement either :-s
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JamesAnthony91
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Re: Gun ownership

Post by JamesAnthony91 »

My idea is based on how it works in Switzerland, except, that's about keeping state owned rifles upon becoming part of Switzerland's militia system at the age of majority. At one point, people could keep the ammo too, but, that caused certain "incidents." I'm not certain giving people guns, but no ammunition, would be any more ridiculous than cannabis seeds being legal(they are here), while growing cannabis plants is still illegal. Nonetheless, I think that guns should be legal to own, with the condition that a person must be no less than 21, and must have passed a psych exam. Criminalizing guns and drugs is a bit...stupid. It's basically funding the same people that sell 15 and 16 year old girls to illegal brothels. It defies sense, it defies logic...yet that is the world, and therefore I have had a WTF face from my earliest days. I guess you could say there's tv and junk food so we don't have to think about it, but, it seems like a weird system to me in all honesty. I believe that denying citizens the rights to guns, is tyranny. It is also stupid to sell them like so many pens and pencils, but, I believe with a reasonable system in place, just the right amount of red tape, it could be all good. Besides that...did you know certain ballistics armour is also illegal? I mean...why on Earth...would it be illegal for a person to have SOME protection against military grade weapons? In Holland that doesn't seem to be restricted...then again, they also don't pollute the water supply with fluoride over there. That might seem like crazy rambling, but fluoride is toxic, a lot of Irish people have demanded it be removed from our water. In Germany, Holland, etc., they banned fluoride BECAUSE it's basically toxic to the human body. What matters more, being ultra safe with our teeth or our brains and various other organs? I cannot wrap my head around why our water would be medicated when it's been proven that nations are better off without fluoride. There are some laws that just do not make sense, and which are unjust.
JamesAnthony91
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Re: Gun ownership

Post by JamesAnthony91 »

When I mention guns and drugs being illegal funding people, I mean that since they're bought illegally anyway, it's only funding criminals by not selling them legally. I know that legal sales wouldn't cripple organised crime just like that, BUT, it would at least be better than throwing money at them by driving people to the black market/darknet/deepweb to buy this stuff.
Tom fod
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Re: Gun ownership

Post by Tom fod »

It's an argument that will run and run as there are multiple facets to it. Media sensationalism only obscures the facts and whips up the fear factor. You can make numerous arguments for and against relaxing controls. Statistically it is usually the owners or their close family/friends and neighbours who are most likely to become victims. Laws/controls seek to minimise the risk and try to keep the death toll down. Criminals will always want guns and will find ways to get hold of them so they can achieve the degree of shock and awe to demand what they want from others with 'minimal' risk to themselves. The more guns there are knocking about the easier it is for them to obtain them, and the tax paying public have to cover the cost of cleaning up the resultant carnage. Is just trying to restrict availability of ammunition going to be effective? If there is unrestricted access to ballistic protection it does also level the playing field in criminals/terrorists favour.

Similarly with legalisation of drugs, the costs monetary, human and political means governments aren't falling over themselves to decriminalise them. Would the costs of regulated availability be any less than an outright ban? Even if regulated could cocaine, crack, heroin or meth use ever be safe? These sort of mind altering substances are also inextricably linked to exploitation of vulnerable people for the sex trade! Governments have a difficult job balancing civil liberties whilst preventing a free for all where certain people decide they have 'a right' to take/do what they want. You sometimes need to think more deeply about why things are so.

People will always have a fascination with dangerous things but it requires an adequate level of responsibility and who's to say a previously 'sane' person won't just flip if pushed too far one day. Once a tragedy has occurred it cannot be undone.
Tom
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JamesAnthony91
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Re: Gun ownership

Post by JamesAnthony91 »

I believe that with proper education, and safeguards in place, the owning of firearms could be alright. Switzerland has a gun culture, but, their system is different from America's system, and I believe we can learn so much from the Swiss system. There's shootings and bombings every other day here in Ireland, the people who create carnage don't care about laws, they just get the guns, and they can be easily obtained. Law abiding, and sane citizens, are not the types you'd need to worry about. America is one very bad example of gun ownership gone wrong, because they simply don't have the proper regulations in place to prevent disaster, not yet anyway. I saw a documentary about Switzerland's gun culture, and a Swiss man spoke as if speaking from my own heart: "A government that fears arming it's citizens is a tyranny." I'm paraphrasing, but it was something along those lines, of no legitimate, trustworthy government, having to fear arming it's citizens. I said it before, and I'll say it again: giving soldier boys, and only soldier boys(civil servants with guns and grenade launchers) weapons, is the equivalent of holding guns to the heads of the population.

I guess some members of the Garda are given firearms, the Emergency Response Unit for example, but that's still not the average civilian, is it really? Drug dealers and certain unstable types will always find ways to get their mitts on guns, I say that arming sane people, maybe old men and women who are at risk of being robbed in their own homes, is okay. I am FOR arming people, but that's just my opinion, and it's okay if people differ, I can see why people would frown at the idea of guns being more freely available to the general population. I can see the inherent risks. I think that everything in life involves risk. As for sanity...I'd say someone with severe Bipolar, Depression or Schizophrenia shouldn't have a gun, because they are at risk of harming themselves or others. I am Anti-Psychiatry, not judging people who suffer, but I think there should always be limits to who can legally purchase a gun, in part for their own safety. That's just common sense. I once thought about joining the Garda, because I know there are members who must carry concealed firearms at all times, and that would appeal to my vanity, to have the right to be armed like the Samurai I admire, but it would be a betrayal of my deeper ideals to attempt joining a police force for such shallow reasons. It would not be honourable to seek being above the population in terms of prestige, but the temptation is there in my heart, as it is in the hearts of most, if not all, men.

The case for drugs, is that they are even easier to obtain than guns from illicit sources. The war on drugs has failed. Resources spent on tackling drug crime, are but a waste. Prohibition era America is a great reference for why fighting the consumption of intoxicants can only finance criminals, and end in failure. People from the upper classes, to the lower classes, buy drugs illegally. This is a problem, and legalization of drugs is the solution. The buying and taking of drugs will not stop, but funding criminals with these drugs can stop. Not only that, but legalizing drugs such as Ecstasy, would reduce the deaths and tragedies involved with illicitly produced Ecstasy. The dangers with drugs, are the filthy conditions, and the unscrupulous addition of harmful substances, that would be lessened if not completely ended in proper, regulated, laboratory conditions. The system as it exists, is not a good thing. Reform is needed, reform is always needed. In the UK, aren't they spying on electronic communications now? Just because laws exist, does not mean they are good. It was illegal to be homosexual at one point, and as someone with a lesbian cousin, this angers me. Times changed, and now it's legal, now homosexuals can marry, and I am happy for them. One day, more ridiculous laws will be lifted, hopefully.
JamesAnthony91
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Re: Gun ownership

Post by JamesAnthony91 »

I think prostitution should be legal too. I've heard the opinions of independent escorts. They don't like that what they choose to do for money is a criminal act, they also don't like any laws that might scare away potential customers. Being honest, I considered becoming a gigolo catering to women customers. It would be a good way to earn some cash quickly enough... Only problem is that I do not want to be arrested for that. It's not like I've never broken the law, I'm sure we've all broken a few laws, but it'd be so awkward getting arrested for that. And if it were made public? I cringe at the thought.
Ram
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Re: Gun ownership

Post by Ram »

I've never personally been that much into guns, so don't have any strong opinions on the matter. However, if you could do with a bit of humor, you can look up the stance of African American comedian Chris Rock on the topic of gun ownership on youtube.

I'm also not personally into using soft drugs or prostitutes. Nevertheless, it has always baffled me as to why these two things are illegal since they are both what is termed 'victimless' crimes. If those things are illegal, shouldn't using alcohol or tobacco also be against the law?

I recently met someone from Colorado who described what a success that state's legalization of weed had been. Not only had a lot of money been saved by no longer pursuing drug possession, but also the state's coffers had benefited from the taxes raised by individuals legally selling these substances.
JamesAnthony91
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Re: Gun ownership

Post by JamesAnthony91 »

Chris Rock is one of my favourite comedians, I'll have to check it out. Cyanide&Happiness made fun of gun nuts In one of their animations, I couldn't stop laughing my ass off. Still, I just like guns. Target shooting is something people with Dyspraxia should at least try for the sake of working on motor skills. At some point in my life, I'm planning on at least collecting antique guns, but I'd hope to personally own a modern gun at some point, I just dislike the idea of having to go through all the paperwork just to spend money on something. That, and I dislike someone else having the final say on whether I will or will not get to do something. Here, even if you have a clean record, you can be refused a permit to own a firearm just because the deciding officer decided he/she didn't like your face or something. This is justified by the fact that it's "not a right" to own guns here.

I can't understand why certain drugs are illegal myself, but, I think the world is slowly coming around to the legalization of cannabis, though I prefer the shroom stuff. I think LSD should definitely be legal, even though it's a harder drug. It's not harmful to health, it even has therapeutic benefits, the only danger is that people do stupid things while high on it, and that's the problem. I think there should be LSD Bars/Dens(?) for people to get high in, under supervision, with the experience being recorded for them to take home. It'd be something people would have to go on a waiting list for, kind of like reserving a place for laser tag.
Ram
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Re: Gun ownership

Post by Ram »

Chris Rock's take on gun ownership isn't much different from yours, but I will say no more in order not to spoil the punch line.
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