once a month! classic!
@TG:
Also to answer Horten’s question. I’m a member of the NRA, why should I be expected not to? “there should be at least a 30 caliber people’s hand gun” I’m in favor, just as long as you keep those guns out of the wrong people.
yes, we shouldn’t give them to criminals once they are paroled! (spelling!)
Finstein was it? your statistics are flawed, because it counts suicide!
“Since 1960, more than a million Americans have died in firearm-related homicides, suicides, and unintentional shootings. In 1996 alone, 34,040 Americans died by gunfire: 18,166 in firearm suicides, 14,327 in firearm homicides, 1,134 in unintentional shootings, and 413 in firearm deaths of unknown intent.”
“Most gun deaths in America are not the result of murder (14,327 in 1996), but suicide (18,166 in 1996).”
"A gun is far more likely to be used in suicide, murder, or unintentional shooting than to kill a criminal. According to federal government figures, for every time a citizen used a firearm in 1996 in a justifiable homicide, 160 lives were ended in firearm suicides, murders, and unintentional shootings. "
"In Europe, by contrast, violent crime is rising. Many factors are responsible, but it’s clear that strict gun control laws aren’t helping.
In 1996, Britain banned handguns. The ban was so tight that even shooters training for the Olympics were forced to travel to other countries to practice. In the six years since the ban, gun crimes have risen by an astounding 40%. Britain now leads the U.S. by a wide margin in robberies and aggravated assaults. Although murder and rape rates are still lower than in the U.S., the difference is shrinking quickly. Dave Rogers, vice chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said that, despite the ban, “the underground supply of guns does not seem to have dried up at all.”
Australia also passed severe gun restrictions in 1996, banning most guns and making it a crime to use a gun defensively. In the subsequent four years, armed robberies rose by 51%, unarmed robberies by 37%, assaults by 24%, and kidnappings by 43%. While murders fell by 3%, manslaughter rose by 16%.
And both Britain and Australia have been thought to be ideal places for gun control because they are surrounded by water, making gun smuggling relatively difficult. By contrast gun-smuggling is much easier on the Continent or in the U.S.
Another inconvenient fact is frequently ignored by gun control advocates: Many countries with high homicide rates have gun bans. It is hard to think of a much more draconian police state than the former Soviet Union, with a ban on guns that dated back to the communist revolution. Yet newly released data show that from 1976 to 1985 the USSR’s homicide rate was between 21% and 41% higher than that of the U.S.
Many French politicians complained during their presidential election that the shooting in Paris meant “It’s getting like in America, and we don’t want to see that here.” Americans may draw a different lesson from the evidence, and hope that they don’t become more like the Europeans."
