Why are so many people against gun ownership by law-abiding, clear-thinking legal citizens?

I know of very few people who are fully against gun ownership, and almost no elected officials. Most gun control advocates simply want criminal background checks without loopholes (this stance fits pretty well into the "legally obtained" limitation you mention) and limitations on the purchase of unnecessary assault weapons and such. The use of legally obtained guns used normally for hunting and related pursuits is not being threatened by any mainstream politician.

If you compare the statistics, you will see that Canada, which as you said has strict gun control, has a MUCH lower violent crime rate than the US.

You are correct that "less than 10% of violent crimes are now committed with a firearm". However, that is still thousands of crimes a year.

The fact is that it is impossible to tell who is a law-abiding citizen until it is too late. The guy who killed 30 students at Virginia Tech a couple years ago, the guys who were responsible for the Northern Illinois and Columbine shootings, and so on, were all perfectly law-abiding citizens with no record of any criminal activity.

I've found this to be a very well written paper on gun control advocates from a psychological perspective-

Raging Against Self Defense - A Psychiatrist Examines The Anti-Gun Mentality

http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/Raging-Against-Self...

"By Sarah Thompson, M.D.

righter@therighter.com

"You don't need to have a gun; the police will protect you."

"If people carry guns, there will be murders over parking spaces and neighborhood basketball games."

"I'm a pacifist. Enlightened, spiritually aware people shouldn't own guns."

"I'd rather be raped than have some redneck militia type try to rescue me."

How often have you heard these statements from misguided advocates of victim disarmament, or even woefully uninformed relatives and neighbors? Why do people cling so tightly to these beliefs, in the face of incontrovertible evidence that they are wrong? Why do they get so furiously angry when gun owners point out that their arguments are factually and logically incorrect?

How can you communicate with these people who seem to be out of touch with reality and rational thought?

One approach to help you deal with anti-gun people is to understand their psychological processes. Once you understand why these people behave so irrationally, you can communicate more effectively with them."

gomanyes: You wrote-

"If you compare the statistics, you will see that Canada, which as you said has strict gun control, has a MUCH lower violent crime rate than the US."

This is incorrect-

Canada's Crime Rate 50 % Higher than U.S.

http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/1/24/1...

"He also cites the most recent complete data available from both countries that shows that in 2003, the violent crime rate in the United States was 475 per 100,000 people; while up north, there were 963 violent crimes per 100,000 people. The figure for sexual assault in Canada per 100,000 people was more than double that of the United States: 74 as opposed to 32.1; and the assault rate in Canada was also more than twice that of the states: 746 to America's 295 for the people.

Moreover, he cites research that showed the figure for sexual assault in Canada per 100,000 people was more than double that of the United States: 74 as opposed to 32.1; and the assault rate in Canada was more than twice that of the United States: 746 to America’s 295. Also, in 2005, Toronto had 78 murders; that’s a 28 percent increase in homicides since 1995."

Lots of Canadians want guns back-

Gun Control in Canada

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmrqT9SIkQw

Also-

"The guy who killed 30 students at Virginia Tech a couple years ago...and Columbine shootings....were all perfectly law-abiding citizens with no record of any criminal activity."

Umm...actually Chu (VA Tech) was inelligable- both his mental status and his immigration status. Of the four firearms used at Columbine- 3 were purchased legally by a third party since both assailants were <18yrs, and the fourth was already illegal, yet they were able to obtain it.

- David

Several reasons:

1. They use the reasoning that "if only one life is saved it's worth it".

2. They're not very good at considering trade-offs (i.e. that one life saved can easily be offset by many more lost as those with illegal guns or dictators take advantage of the unarmed populace).

3. They tend to think like dictators (e.g. It's okay to subordinate others' freedoms to my way of thinking).

4. They have good intentions to protect us from ourselves. But, then again, so do most dictators. And, we all know where good intentions left unchecked lead, don't we?

The stats in jacks new watch are incorrectly interpreted. In fact out right lies.

Most of the people I know that want guns or talk about them all the time are not clear thinking, they may be law abiding.

Call me a flaming liberal if you want, if so I'm proud and I'm against individuals in our size country having non well regulated handguns.

Because liberals in this country think that GUNS kill, when it is not the guns it the PEOPLE. So, if we just kill the people who commit GUN violence, then we will slowly but surly rid this great country of those idiots.

Simple logic seems to be if you get rid of guns, you get rid of crime.

However, criminals will always have access to guns, or find some other weapon to use.