Should America ban personal ownership of guns ?

Why do so many people like to own guns? The answer is that different people own guns for different reasons.

Some people own guns so that they can hunt.

Some people own guns because they enjoy recreational target practice.

Some people own guns because they enjoy competitive target practice.

Some people own guns because they like to collect historical things, and guns are a big part of history.

Some people own guns for self-protection from criminals or to protect their families and neighbors from criminals.

Some people own guns because they ARE criminals or want to intimidate people.

Some people own guns to defend their nation against invasion without having to be part of the military.

Some people own guns to act as a check-and-balance against their government becoming a dictatorship.

Some people own guns because they spend a lot of time where there are potentially dangerous animals.

Some people own guns because they are heirlooms that were passed down from their parents, grandparents, etc.

There are lots of good reasons to own guns, and only one bad one (to commit crimes with or to use to intimidate people).

Guns are inanimate objects, they cannot be good or bad. They are simply tools, and if owned by a good and honest person will be put to good and honest uses, but if owned by a bad person will be used for evil. Just like a hammer -- if an honest carpenter owns it, he will use it to build homes for people. But if a murderer owns it, he will use it to bash someones head in. Or a car -- if an honest person owns it they will use it to go to and from work or school and so on, but if a dishonest person owns it they will use it to help them commit crimes and get away faster.

In this day and age many people take a foolish position that "guns are evil and should be outlawed" because they perceive that most gun owners are criminals or psychos -- nothing is further from the truth. In fact, only about 1% at most of all guns in private hands in the USA will EVER be used in a crime (that statistic comes directly from FBI and BATFE studies) -- which means that 99% of privately-owned guns are NOT going to be used in crimes. Pretty amazing when you consider the percentage of the US population who are career criminals, and that there are probably more guns than people in the USA (based on known gun ownership rates and the number of people who don't report gun ownership because they fear confiscation). The reason for the discrepancy is simple, and it is this: the vast majority of gun owners are responsible people who go to great lengths to keep their guns properly stored and protect them from falling into the hands of criminals.

There certainly need to be certain restrictions on gun ownership, for example you don't want career criminals or insane people to have guns and you don't want households with really young children to have loaded guns just lying around. Proper systems of background checks take care of the first case, and reasonable trigger-safety-lock and liability laws cover the second.

The fact of the matter is, almost all law-abiding (good) gun owners would support laws requiring all gun owners to take safety classes and abide by safe handling and storage procedures, IF these laws were written in such a way that they (1) did not PREVENT law-abiding people from lawfully owning guns (by local anti-gun police or politicians holding up the permit process as if they were a dictator), (2) did not require unreasonable fees designed to tax gun-owners out of existence, and (3) had safeguards permanently included as part of the law so that the information collected as a result could NEVER be used to facilitate a nationwide confiscation of privately (and lawfully) owned guns.

The debate over gun ownership is a long and involved one, and to have any real hope of making any sense at all of it you need to carefully read the information presented by both sides. That is INFORMATION, not fear-mongering and scare tactics (which are employed routinely by both sides unfortunately). Check out every reported statistic to make sure it really is a real statistic and not something somebody just made up, and see what the other side has to say about the same statistic.

You should be deeply afraid of lossing our guns. This is a constitutional right. Next most american scientist don't agree with the global warming idea, they say about 1 degree in 100 years, that the polar ice caps grow and melt in cycles. And they should of course support the right of the fetus ( child) and stop abortions, since there is no real right to it ( right to privacy was a incorrect ruling) And the right to own guns is a protection for all people, the reason it was put in, was that if the US government was ever too corrupt, the people would be armed to be able to take over the nation. And if this was made as a treaty, aproved by Congress it could over ride our constittion. Even worst do away with it. Look and see what type of countries want to rid thier people of guns, Iran, Cuba, Russia, China, Korea, The UN is to be feared

It has been tried and ALWAYS fails. The highest crime rates are in places where citizens are not allowed to have personal firearms. Criminals of course still have their guns and they know that they can go into any home they want and the owner will not have a gun to protect themselves. In Australia, home invasion has become the epidemic crime since they banned guns. It IS a constitutional right and so shouldnt even up for debate, but although I understand peoples fear of guns if they only see the crimes committed with them, its based on ignorance. I cannot understand how our society still accepts that guns are responsible for crimes, not criminals!!! Banning guns is unconstitutional and DOES NOT WORK. (except for the criminals)

Banning firearms is an idea that is initially appealing to those who don't understand the implications. It does not work. People who commit crimes are going to commit crimes no matter how many laws are made. Murder is illegal. Assault with a deadly weapon is illegal. Armed robbery is illegal, yet all of these deeds occur. Making firearms illegal will result in only the criminals being armed. Where does that put you? It is not the duty of the police to protect you, and in almost every case they arrive to late to prevent damage. It is up to the private citizens to protect themselves.

It may never happen. With our history from the Wild West and the opinions of the Second Amendment, even if we feel they should be banned, it would take a major shift in attitude to make it happen

I live in New Zealand so I only recently saw the West Wing debate episode where the Jimmy Smits character proposed making it harder to buy ammunition. Interesting thought.

In NZ, you have to get a permit and I think they actually contact your family and neighbors to insure you're a stable person. And you have to take a class to learn how to handle your weapon. And most people who have guns keep and shoot them at gun clubs.

I feel much safer here than I did in the US. Gun deaths almost never happen. Can send my son off to new friend's to play without feeling like I ought to interrogate the parents first.

There is no way you could ever ban guns in the US. Do you really think soldiers and police would go door to door to their friends and neighbors seizing their guns? It would be worse than WW3.

no because we are very different then the rest of the world, we have been taught as a nation to stand up for our self's and if guns are baned then only criminals will have guns, and i for one respect my ancestors deaths, giving us the right to keep and bare arms and yes those people who fought to give us that right are my ancestors i can trace my family back to the revolutonary war.

Bit your tongue and read the Constitution.

Absolutely not!