Quote:
Originally Posted by AENeuman
I struggle every year how to approach the gun topic in my government class. My opinion does not ever come up, but just presenting the issue is complicated.
It seems to me there are 3 main pro-gun groups/approaches:
1. Protection from bad guys
2. Protection from the government
3. Tradition, hobby, etc
As for my opinion:
Number 1 seems to do more harm than good. From family violence, suicide, mistakes/accidents, etc.
I agree with number 2 in so far as I do not think the institution that has the most irresponsible history of gun abuse is the best one to decide if I'm responsible.
Number 3 also seems reasonable, and similar to many other countries.
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I promised myself I'd stay out of gun topics on this board but.......
1. Agree. Ratio of people saved because they had again vs. number of people killed through accidents/intentional incidents involving legal guns is a bit out of wack for this to hold much water with me.
2. This one in particular is the one that makes no sense to me, more so than the others. Having weapons to protect me against my own government is the kind of thing I would probably think of if I lived in Sierra Leone. Do I trust my government? Not really. Do I think having a rifle would do me any good if push came to shove - to the point where point #1 is worth forgetting? No. Chances of me taking up arms against my own government, 0.0000000000001%. Chances of me being shot by a legal firearm, much higher.
3. I have a problem with 'tradition'... just because something has happened for a long time, doesn't make it a good idea. I don't have a problem with 'hobby' though. Australia's gun laws get a lot of press, but you can still own a gun to hunt, a gun if you own a farm, etc. It's just very difficult and there are a lot of checks involved.