If it's not one thing, it's another...

**PanzerJaeger** · 06-01-2005, 14:41

Guns are more efficient at killing people then knives yes/no?

No, its easier for an unskilled person to kill another with a knife than a gun, imo. This comes from my experience at the range.. its not as easy as hollywood makes it out to be to shoot accurately with a pistol.

**Franconicus** · 06-01-2005, 14:45

Originally Posted by PanzerJager

No, its easier for an unskilled person to kill another with a knife than a gun, imo. This comes from my experience at the range.. its not as easy as hollywood makes it out to be to shoot accurately with a pistol.

Did you ever try to kill a man with a knife? I'd rather do that with an UZI. (Well in fact, I'd rather didn't do it at all)

**Ser Clegane** · 06-01-2005, 14:49

Originally Posted by PanzerJager

No, its easier for an unskilled person to kill another with a knife than a gun, imo. This comes from my experience at the range.. its not as easy as hollywood makes it out to be to shoot accurately with a pistol.

I guess from a distance were shooting accurately would become a problem, killing with a knife might also be rather difficult...

**Byzantine Prince** · 06-01-2005, 15:01

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Killing with a knife is way harder because it's not like you can practice before hands. It's a messy and butal to do and the very thought of it makes me cringe. Guns on the other hand seem to kill people much more cleanly(e.g. shot to the head).

Killing with a gun is even easier for the people that are avid with video games like counter-strike and ghost recon that basically make you an expert if you are good at them. I'm not saying it's the same as real life but it sure prepares you in the head and get's you in the mindset that shooting someone is not that bad.
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**A.Saturnus** · 06-01-2005, 15:10

Any country with more guns is going to have more gun deaths. The real issue is total violent crime.

But the violent gun related crime in the UK hasn't risen (as Pape's link showed), it has declined. And it is by far lower than in the US. I'm not arguing the violent crime rate in the US is due to guns, but nothing indicates that gun control poses a problem in the UK.

Concerning the total number of gun crimes, it seems logical that the country with strict gun laws has more gun crime. There's more to do illegally.

**LittleGrizzly** · 06-01-2005, 16:08

No, its easier for an unskilled person to kill another with a knife than a gun, imo. This comes from my experience at the range.. its not as easy as hollywood makes it out to be to shoot accurately with a pistol.

i would disagree, in very close combat a knife would have the edge, but anything further than a meter and the gun is much more preferable.

**Nelson** · 06-01-2005, 18:31

I would trade the US gun problem (and yes I think we have one) with the UK’s knife problem in a heart beat. Knives are far less lethal. Guns are easy to employ and deadly. You don't need to be a marksman to be deadly. Very few people have accidently cut themselves to death or inadvertently mortally stabbed a friend.

The UK is fortunate that hoods resort to blades instead of guns. That said, outlawing knives is silly. Virtually anything can become a weapon but most things have plenty of practical uses that make the people possessing them more productive and effective. Tremendous and frequent utility is a fair compromise for small danger. Guns on the other hand offer tremendous and frequent danger in return for small utility.

Firearms have no practical day in and day out usefulness for the ordinary citizen that can begin to compensate society for the misery they cause. This is why the whole “If you outlaw handguns why not outlaw knives or cars” argument is absurd.

**Redleg** · 06-01-2005, 19:06

Have any of you ever killed another human being or even an animal with any weapon?

Some of the comments on this thread would indicate that you have not - nor do you have any idea how easy and difficult it is at the same time.

A sharp knife cuts very well and kills just as efficiently as a gun. Comments saying knives are not efficient or easy to kill with - are naive at best - and disengous at worst. Men killed each other for over a 2000 years with sharp pointed sticks and then knives. The hardest part about killing is to decide that - it is necessary or something that needs to be done. This is what a person with a moral conciense (SP) is going to think before doing such an act - and he will most often freeze in making that decision.

WHat most of you are forgetting is that the criminal that decides to kill another human being has already made that moral choice - and the weapon that he/she uses is just that - the weapon they decide to use.

There is a statistic out there that shows just how efficient home defense is with a weapon - most times all it takes is the noise of the weapon being cocked and the homeowner stating he has a weapon for the bugler to leave. If the person intends you harm in the first place - its a different story.

**Papewaio** · 06-01-2005, 23:24

Originally Posted by Redleg

Have any of you ever killed another human being or even an animal with any weapon?

Some of the comments on this thread would indicate that you have not - nor do you have any idea how easy and difficult it is at the same time.

A sharp knife cuts very well and kills just as efficiently as a gun. Comments saying knives are not efficient or easy to kill with - are naive at best - and disengous at worst. Men killed each other for over a 2000 years with sharp pointed sticks and then knives. The hardest part about killing is to decide that - it is necessary or something that needs to be done. This is what a person with a moral conciense (SP) is going to think before doing such an act - and he will most often freeze in making that decision.

WHat most of you are forgetting is that the criminal that decides to kill another human being has already made that moral choice - and the weapon that he/she uses is just that - the weapon they decide to use.

There is a statistic out there that shows just how efficient home defense is with a weapon - most times all it takes is the noise of the weapon being cocked and the homeowner stating he has a weapon for the bugler to leave. If the person intends you harm in the first place - its a different story.

Farm boy here. I can remember watching at age four sheep being culled by having their throats slit. For some reason we didn't try that method on the bulls... a gun was used.

Also when I lived in NZ it was illegal to shoot sheep. Why? Because it is rather easier to kill them from a distant and then take them away then try and get close and kill them.

I have also seen guys kill wild boar with a knife.

Knives are deadly. They used to kill (or chop off penises) in crimes of passion quite often.

However it is one of the most bogus claims to state that a knife is as deadly as a rifle. Why bother to use rifles if the k-bar is going to do the job?

Do the military in Iraq patrol with guns or pikes?

**Kanamori** · 06-01-2005, 19:27

"Firearms have no practical day in and day out usefulness for the ordinary citizen that can begin to compensate society for the misery they cause"

In Wisconsin, deer hunting is quite necessary, and we have about 700,000 registered deer hunters. Our herd is somewhere around 1.8 million, and there were more than 20,000 deer-vehicle (smaller than usual) accidents last year, of which, more than 800 led to injury (many were incapacitating). Our violent crime rate was 7.1% in 2003

**Tribesman** · 06-01-2005, 22:18

In the US, violent crime has been trending downwards in the face of ever increasing gun ownership. I think this points out nicely the absurdity of the argument
Don't you think that the downward trend has more to do with Zero tolerance policies and things like the 3 Strikes sentancing rather than increased gun ownership . More criminals off the street leads to less crime .

Knife killing
Ahhh the poor little girl couldn't find mummys gun so had to use a kitchen knife instead .

**Xiahou** · 06-01-2005, 18:26

Originally Posted by A.Saturnus

But the violent gun related crime in the UK hasn't risen (as Pape's link showed), it has declined. And it is by far lower than in the US. I'm not arguing the violent crime rate in the US is due to guns, but nothing indicates that gun control poses a problem in the UK.

He was speaking of the total violent crime- not total violent gun crime.

Anyhow, I'm not going to try to argue that the UK repeal their gun ban- because I really could care less what they do inside their own country.

My point was to show that a gun ban in the UK did not "solve" your crime problem, in fact it continues to grow. In the US, violent crime has been trending downwards in the face of ever increasing gun ownership. I think this points out nicely the absurdity of the argument that if the US would simply ban firearm ownership our violent crime would go away. That's nonsense, and their is no evidence to even suggest that.