Gun Control

[Fragony]

Mandating that people keep handguns at home WILL DO NOTHING to deter crime. Let them carry if they own it and prove competent to carry (via some safety course standard). The people who are crazy are going to carry anyway, especially if it was already at home. Plus, handguns are protected by the second amendment. Don't believe me? Ask the DC v Heller decision.

There are no perfect solutions for anything, but isn't it a bit hypocrite to allow handguns in a society where the government is expected to protect anything that goes beyond the public realm. Split up these realms instead, a private and a public one.

[ICantSpellDawg]

Who expects the government to protect them from "anything that goes beyond the public realm"? Are you talking about the Netherlands? I don't follow, please elaborate.

[Fragony]

Who expects the government to protect them from "anything that goes beyond the public realm"? Are you talking about the Netherlands? I don't follow, please elaborate.

Police got the streets, we got our homes. If criminals bring pistols if we can legally have shotguns they don't stand a chance. Streets won't be me much safer if handguns are just banned but that is where taxes are for no?

[ICantSpellDawg]

No. I like the idea of carry with some training and I intentionally left this out of the initial post

[Fragony]

No. I like the idea of carry with some training and I intentionally left this out of the initial post

I don't mind owning one but why would you actually carry something that lethal. It can only get you into trouble

[Hooahguy]

I don't mind owning one but why would you actually carry something that lethal. It can only get you into trouble

Protection, really. Guns are the great equalizer- an attacker might have 200lbs on me, but I have a gun and a bullet goes into him just the same as it would for me. While you may not need one in the Netherlands, or many parts of Western Europe for that matter, I wouldnt walk alone late at night in pretty much any US city. Especially Chicago. A friend of mine from there has been mugged numerous times in that city.

[Fragony]

Protection, really. Guns are the great equalizer- an attacker might have 200lbs on me, but I have a gun and a bullet goes into him just the same as it would for me. While you may not need one in the Netherlands, or many parts of Western Europe for that matter, I wouldnt walk alone late at night in pretty much any US city. Especially Chicago. A friend of mine from there has been mugged numerous times in that city.

Give them what they want if you get mugged, might be humiliating but it's better

[Montmorency]

You want nobody to have any guns, I want everyone to have all of the guns.

The thought strikes me that no "in-between" is possible, at least not on anything less than the long-term policy scale of centuries. You are in the right for acknowledging that any 'solution' must be applied nationwide, at least...

So, if a consistent and stable OWG is not a possible prerequisite, then the only real options are to allow guns freely (which seems to be your ideal) or to declare a War on Guns to rid the country of every privately-owned firearm, putting police and military arsenals under permanent high-security (or even 'demilitarizing' wholesale), making firearm-related offenses capital crimes, purging the market of gun-parts, flooding the CBP (Customs and Border Protection) with funding and widening their authority/remit...

So your ideal seems more workable, but I'm not sure I like the sound of it. Middle-ground it is; hopefully it could work.

Thankfully, this is all academic and any "middle-ground" national legislation that does happen to arise (and I believe none will be passed) would be poorly conceived, inarticulate, ineffective, and/or sporadically executed - and it would expire, be heavily modified or be repealed within only a couple of decades. Each of us can soundly dream that his own perspective is correct. It's probably better for our peace-of-mind...

[a completely inoffensive name]

Thankfully, this is all academic and any "middle-ground" national legislation that does happen to arise (and I believe none will be passed) would be poorly conceived, inarticulate, ineffective, and/or sporadically executed - and it would expire, be heavily modified or be repealed within only a couple of decades. Each of us can soundly dream that his own perspective is correct. It's probably better for our peace-of-mind...

America in a nutshell.

[Fragony]

Double