Sunday Herald Gun Ban Poll - VOTE NOW!

[SurfnSpear]

there's a tenious link here for some spearos....
The Sunday Herald has an online poll asking:

"Ten years on from the Dunblane tragedy, should all firearms be banned?"

Vote now at: http://www.sundayherald.com/

 

[Oldsarge]

There's nothing tenuous about it! First it was handguns, next will be rifles and shotguns, then airguns, then spearguns and, for those who didn't notice it, there is a serious suggestion that kitchen knives be controlled!

 

[BatRay]

:head :head :head

So sick of anti-gunners.

 

[budokaiboy]

I feel sorry for you guys in Cawl li fawn ya. The gun laws are pretty restrictive there and that's coming from a guy from NY! I have real steel airsoft and paintball guns and I guess one of my paintball guns is technically illegal because it has a collapsible stock.

My friend ordered an SR-16 airsoft rifle from Tokyo and Customs confiscated it. The company doesn't cover that so he ate $300.00, Sheesh. I guess the UK is gonna ban airsoft guns too. Don't even get me started on riding dirtbikes in NY.

George Orwell was a visionary.

 

[BatRay]

Kid I know was kicked out of school for bringing an airsoft gun on campus. Now he's got a record, and it'll be hard for him to get back to school. As for the other gun laws...it's too annoying and frustrating to talk about them now.

 

[SurfnSpear]

There's nothing tenuous about it! First it was handguns, next will be rifles and shotguns, then airguns, then spearguns and, for those who didn't notice it, there is a serious suggestion that kitchen knives be controlled!

Hey Sarge, thanks for that. I wholeheartedly agree! I was a bit diplomatic when I used the word tenious...rofl

 

[Jon]

Kid I know was kicked out of school for bringing an airsoft gun on campus.

I had a fourth grader bring in a loaded handgun, with hollow points not pellets, to my school and threatened to shoot the kids in my class if anyone told. He was booted out of school for a couple of months but the law states that we HAD to let him back in.

Had another student whose younger brother, 5 years old, was shot in the head while he was eating at the kitchen table- bullet came from outside.

Had another student shot twice during a basketball game.

Had another student who......Well, you get the picture.

There are those of us on here who hunt, and spearfish, yet would allow for sane gun restrictions. As my grandfather used to say, "If you need a machine gun to go deer hunting with I don't want you in the woods".

I have zero problem with sane handgun restricions and HIGHLY doubt that people would lose their rifles/ shotguns/ spearguns as a result. That all seems like more NRA propaganda to me.

I don't expect to change anyones opinion on this, just as I know you won't change mine, but I did want to make sure that people realize that there ARE other viewpoints out there.

Jon

 

[SurfnSpear]

Jon, your opinion is respected on the forum...However, I am a definite 'No' on specifically what the poll asks.
"should all firearms be banned?"

...reading forum members characters, I believe we all shape our own opinions really, and I think a lot of us are not likely to parrot propoganda, NRA or others.

Regards

 

[Jon]

I voted No, of course, on the poll because of the wording; however, placing restrictions on certain types of firearms doesn't bother me a bit.

I don't believe restricitng machine guns means that they will come and take away your shotgun next- which what had been posted in this thread.

Like I said before, I know that I will have ZERO effect in changing anyone's opinion on such a matter, but I just wanted to make sure other opinions got posted- and from some of the P.M.'s I've gotten I know that there are others who feel the same way.

Jon

 

[BatRay]

The airsoft case was just an example of what's gone on. My perspective: it was stupid for the kid to bring the airsoft gun on campus; very, very stupid. It was a local college campus. He was returning the gun to a friend, but ended up getting arrested and kicked out of school. He had no police record, and he's not a bad kid, but they chose to make an example out of him, and that's that. Just a bad situation all the way around.

As for the real guns, my concern is that responsible gun-owners aren't standing up and being counted as much as they ought. NRA does a lot of the talking, and they're known for making statements that make them sound insensitive at best and fanatical at worst..

 

[Oldsarge]

Like Jon I teach. Certainly concern for the safety of our students is paramount and sadly I can attest to the tragedy of having to bury a former student who was dim enough to flash the wrong gang sign in the wrong neighborhood. However, it's already illegal for minors to have handguns. The problem lies either at home, where the guns are inadequately secured, or with a society that glorifies antisocial behavior in its entertainment. What's needed isn't more gun control but better people control, and that means less tolerance for sociopathy.

Maybe I better just close this thread?

 

[Old Man Dave]

There's nothing tenuous about it! First it was handguns, next will be rifles and shotguns!

99.99% of people are banned from owning these in the UK. Airguns are severely restricted, some are banned. Spearguns are still freely available.

Personally I love guns but when you see the statistics on gun crime you gotta wonder?

Dave

 

[Huan]

There's nothing tenuous about it! First it was handguns, next will be rifles and shotguns, then airguns, then spearguns and, for those who didn't notice it, there is a serious suggestion that kitchen knives be controlled!

Of course you do realise OldSarge that knives are banned from under 18's already in the UK?
That doesn't stop a bad kid from using a screwdriver to open someone.
Living here in Ireland, guns were for a long time sort of persona-non-grata with the result that back in the late 70's there was a nationwide gun round-up.
ALL guns were taken into safekeeping and are only now being returned to their owners, New legislation is being passed that will allow a normalising of gun laws.
BUT the caveat is that in the news last night 3 people were told to leave a 40th birthday party they came back and fired 5 rounds from a handgun into the house, result? 1 single mother aged 22 ,dead.
I would bet that the handgun is not legal. Should handguns be banned? No should the possession of illegal firearms be made stronger In my view the possession of same should be the same as attempted murder.

 

[SurfnSpear]

The possesion of illegal firearm offence is a very pertinent specific that should possibly get much deeper scrutinisation. Coming from South Africa, I have experienced first hand the spinoffs of unlicenced firearm use. The caveat, well yes, some of those firearms are lifted from licenced users in varying circumstances. Different countries allow for different approaches.
It's certainly a debate.

Regards

 

[BatRay]

Maybe I better just close this thread?

I hope not on my account . I was just lamenting the sorry state of society, the firearm aspect in particular.
The worst thing of it all is that there is no solution to the underlying problem. That's what makes the gun control debate so frustrating.

 

[crusty]

Its very hard to take something off someone but they wont miss it if they never had it before.

Hear in Australia to own a gun you have to be a member of a Gun Club or work in an industry where you require one and they have to be locked in a gun safe,

Our government took back all semi/Full auto weapons about 5 years ago
there was the initial uproar but everyone has forgotten about it and you never hear any more.

We dont have people shooting each other to murder someone over hear you have to do it with you hands, Stab, strangle, Bash them and that takes alot
more motivation than just pulling a trigger where you dont have to come into contact with the pearson.

Sure the Hard Core Crims can get guns its not that hard but they are a very small minority, so we dont need them for self defence or home defence
but im sure alot more people would feel safe if we could.

I sleep with a baseball but under my bed and my Spearguns arnt to far away
and i would use either if I thought my Family would be threatened but a gun is just that one big step i dont think i could take.

Im not for or against them I cant make a educated choice from the other side of the world, Im just offering another view from someone who lives in a society where you never see one

Crusty

 

[BatRay]

Interesting. Are all guns banned, or is it just handguns? Are rifles or shotguns allowed? What kind of penalties do gun-toting criminals face? I was a criminal justice major in college, so that stuff interests me.

 

[crusty]

Yep
All Banned,

To own a rifel or shotie you have to have signed decs from farm owners stating that you are allowed to shoot on their property, you cant have a criminal record of any kind you have to have it licenced, and cant be semi or full auto.

To own a pistal you have to be an active member of a Pistol club and i think they have to be kept locked at the Club but im not sure on that.

If you are caught with one chances are you wont be dropping the soap in the shower for the next year or so, or at least you will cop a huge fine and
be the law will allways be watching you.

If i wanted a gun there is just so much to go through it would all be just toooo hard, I could buy one of the local outlaw bikie club but i dont want to be owing them any favours, and i dont have any underworld contacts to buy from them.

Most of our Crims carry knives, screw drivers, bats. and they only hassel petrol stations ect and its a marvelious what a face full of Peper Spray will do to them.

We do have our fair share of Druggies and a decant crime problem but the worst that may happen is my house/ car will get broken into.

And to get into the house the have to get past 2 Staffies and a Edge 1.4

Crusty

 

[Spaniard]

In the UK airguns will be next for sure; there is already momentum from those up high. Spearguns are so seldom seen that I think we are safe for the moment until there is a major crme-incident involoving one then we can all kiss spearfishing as we know it goodbye. Too many bleeding-heart liberals in this country!!!!! I have a Sporasub Rafal under my bed with a titanium trident awaiting any foolhardy intruders

 

[Mr. X]

99.99% of people are banned from owning these in the UK. Airguns are severely restricted, some are banned. Spearguns are still freely available.

Personally I love guns but when you see the statistics on gun crime you gotta wonder?

Dave

Mention spearguns and the first words out of Brits seems always to be: "do you need a licence for that". Tells you something about the mindset here. I always say no but I might just say "yes, got it" in future so they don't worry about it. This has happened at least 5x so far. Have we become excessively prissy or cowed, or is it natural curiosity? There was a time when a "lovely weather for it" might have been a more common response.(A look in any garden shed or kitchen draw will reveal a treasure trove of equally effective weaponary for those of an aggresive disposition).

Before I got into spearfishing (but was starting to thinking about it), I saw a couple of equipped spearos walking down to Durdle Dor with their girlfriends as I was walking up. As I passed a young woman, she turned to her boyfriend and said, somewhat shocked, "Is that legal? Do they need a licence?".:waterwork The spearos were quite respectable -- just fishermen really, suited, with floatlines wrapped around them & floats on their backs.

Even before Dunblane & Hungerford massacres, the gun laws here were very strict. In Dunblane, the police received complaints about the gun owner on two occassions (one was more than enough to justify confiscation of the weapons & suspension of the licence under existing law at the time). In Hungerford I believe the guy had an unlicenced semi-automatic weapon. In both cases the existing laws had been broken/ignored. Consequently, the only people affected by the increased restrictions were the law abidding users. I wouldn't advocate a free-for-all but the laws were passed as a knee jerk reaction to the press coverage at the time (both events were awful & pointless). The state we are in now, where even our Olympic shooters go abroad to practice is ridiculous. Britain was once a world leader in firearms knowledge and experience -- there will be precious little left soon.