I know this is a hot topic in most countries, so I just want to know one thing:
What is your opinion on gun ownership?

In my view, it is important for a society to have the ability to own firearms, with certain restrictions. Like no full-automatics or silencers unless licensed, or no concealed firearms without licenses.

America was founded on the right to own guns, so I guess my views are slightly biased, but that's what they are. What are your views? I won't judge. :sweatface:

No guns. To anyone. Ever. Back to teh good old days o armour and swords, where the skill of one man could do much more then a child with a trigger.

I agree, only certain, specially trained police should be able to use them. Why should any civilian have the right to own an instrument of death. It's madness.

No. Gun, in my opinion, is the most easiest and deadliest instrument of death, even the children can use it. A nine years old boy with a gun is more dangerous than a 60 years old man with a knife.

So... where's the fun then?

I think only psichologically correct people should have access to firearms, so... get a license, a license you'll only get if you pass an examination test, a pretty deep/hard one.

I for one, vote for gun control instead of a total ban... let the people have pistols and bolt action rifles and simple stuff like that... heck, you can even go as it is and give them those assault rifles/carbines/machineguns... just make sure you know where and with whom those pieces of hardware are at all times.

I for one, living here in the Philippines, would balk at total ban... the bad guys here have the big guns anyway! Why not allow the good guys have them to to protect themselves? It would be a useless argument in the US or Europe, yes, becuase your police forces are so effective. But here in the Philippines, it's every man for himself... and the gun is the greatest equalizer any person could have.

Well, considering I'm a big fan of micheal moore and me being all over this board with political views, I'll keep my opinion simple this one time and not spend hours on end ranting.

I don't like guns in the hands of ordenary folk. There is absolutely no point in it exept it gives panicky poeple a false sense of security.

I believe everyone should be allowed to have guns. But nobody should have bullets.

Seriously, people can exist without firearms of any kind, and while military and law enforcement branches of government would be foolhardy to not possess any firepower, there is no guarantee if you strip everyone of guns, and let them keep theirs that they would not abuse that power.

So I actually do stand by my original statement. Permit guns. Ban bullets.

OK NOW I'm going to rant on about firearms.

Last night, a islamic Marrocon shot Theo van Gogh in my country (That's like the Dutch Micheal Moore), once in the shoulder, then in the back after Theo tried to flee and then he stabbed him to death. Then he fled, shot another sidewalker and had a violent shootout with the police.
Ownership of guns is forbidden in my country exept for specialist proffesions like police and security. We are/were one of the most peacefull tolerant nation in the world. We have like one of the lowest homicide ratings anywere, and shootouts is just something that was thought impossible.

It's idiots that get their hands on guns that are destroying the basic fundamentals of my little peaceloving nation.

I agree with you on most points. Here in the U.S. we have lots of gun violence, but that is beacuse there is something called a "criminal". These "criminals" do not obey the law, and that is why there is a thing called violence in every country. Even if you ban guns completely, there are people who know how to get around these laws. And there are the honest people. The people like nearly everyone on this forum, who obey the law to the best of their abilities. People who would never intentionally misuse a gun.

While we're talking about dangerous weapons, why not ban knives, baseball bats, martial arts knowledge, axes, and anything that can be used as a weapon?

Here in America, govenment is based on the will of the people. Making the average person equal to the government is the basic goal of our system. I'm not saying you should allow people to be running around with full automatic weapons just because they turned 18 yesterday, or let a hardened criminal have a handgun, but give the honest people the same ability the government has. The ability to defend their lives and property to the best of their ability.

The average gunowner in america uses their guns for hunting, not violence.

Guns are only as dangerous as the people who use them. Give it to a blood thirsty moron, and he'll be pointing and shooting at whatever moves (maybe even imobile objects).

When handled by a mature and responsible person, it can be used for the good of the public.

Given to a baby who doesn't even know what the hell it is... well that's just damn wrong.

meh...i really dont think guns have anything positive come out from it...nothin good can come from shootin a gun...really...in my opinion...
i mean even if a cop( supposedly mature n respondsible enough to handle 1)...shoots sum1...lets say in the leg...nothin fatal...
we tax payer have to
#1 pay for the bullet that was used...( may not apply to other countries )
and
#2 pay for the surgeory that takes place to remove the bullet...

I think they should mandate that guns have to fire bullets backwards. Therefore to fire a gun, you must point the barrel back at yourself and you must push the trigger with your thumb. It's heck to aim, and well, if you're hunting, you better hope you have long arms.

I think what's criminal is that these Weapons manufacturers get big fat wads of cash from the Government to develop these weapons in the first place, and then the manufacturers (after a few years) get to sell the same type of assault rifle and handguns to "Domestic" users!

I mean, first you get paid to make the gun. Then you get paid to sell the gun. Shouldn't they have a law on weapon manufacturers saying "If anyone uses your gun to kill someone (excluding while in active war), you're gonna have to pay the victims family a minimum of US$5,000,000."

Another thing that governments should look into may be "Why is it so difficult to learn how to program a VCR, yet any idiot can fire a gun? Any kid could pick one up right now and shoot you. (And don't get me started on how parents buy toy guns for their kids. Isn't that just teaching them violence is acceptable?) Shouldn't guns be so complex that most grown-ups and all idiots didn't know how to use them?

EDIT: I originally put drugged out dropouts and felons - but I realize that not every crime is commited by criminals or junkies or dropouts.

EDIT #2: In the U.S, the 2nd amendment states that you have the "Right to bear arms." It doesn't give you the right to fire bullets though... does it?

I agree that in countries without law and order, or any form of a functional goverment, you are forced to have a gun. But this irrelevant to the USA or Europe.

Unleashing guns to the public is a mistake I think, nomather how many good poeple there are with guns, one nut makes all of that irrelevant when he starts going through schools.
A good man with a gun makes no difference. Seriously, if you're an AVERAGE good willing civilian who owns a gun; How many poeple can you truly save from criminals who got their guns thanks to the relative ease? Have you ever saved a president? Ever rescued a school terrorized by derranged kids with uzi's? Rescued a kitten out of a tree with a gun? Stopped a murder?

And yes off course poeple are still going to get their hands on guns even with a ban, but these guys are crime lords and mobsters and deranged madman like Osama and these poeple are not after you in particular and can't be stopped by you anyway.

Poeple who are a threat to you're personall health, like the columbine kids or teen street gangs in the bronx, are going to get away with a murder nomather if you own a gun. And with a ban in place THESE poeple are going to have a way more difficult time getting their firearms.

Firearms should be forbidden to get back at the "why not basseball bats or martial arts?" Is because luckely poeple have a treshold they need to pass when they will try to kill someone. When I'm an insane individual, I'm not quick to use my blackbelt to run over the streets and strangle hold poeple to death, I will be more lickely to use baseball bats, but it's still a big thing to kill someone from up close, guns though make it much more easy, it's as simple as pressing a button.

Goverments can use guns unlike me because in my view, they screen out the poeple who can use them correctly (even though that doesn't always work)

Gun states like America all have poeple who are scared of the big mean outside world behind their quadruple locked doors.

I like Elfboys idea. Let the gun-obsessed have their guns. Don't let them have bullets. I would never think of owning a real gun, the closest I own is a BB gun, which fires small plastic pellets. I just fire it at loud asshole drunks in my street that keep me awake, people throwing things at my house etc. My friends fires Metal BBs, and we just useit to practice on cans etc. I'm an ok shot :D Managed to hit a full can and pierce it from about 15 feet with an imprecise hand gun :D. I don't like real guns. Swords for all.

I will give you an example of gun bans gone wrong: England. They have almost every kind of gun ban in place you could think of, and they also have one of the worst gun-crime rates in the world. You know their famous "unarmed bobby on the beat" tradition? Ended. Every "bobby" in London now carries a 9mm pistol because the criminals regularly outgun them.

I'm not saying martial arts skills are deadly. I am a martial arts practitioner myself. What I am saying is guns are only as dangerous as the person using them. The average citizen in most countries is law-abiding enough not to be a problem. That is why you wouldn't want every street thug to know how to snap your neck, as well as not have them pointing a gun at you. That's why guns are illegal to convicted criminals. And the mentally insane. If someone that is apparently a law-abiding citizen that later turns out to be a murder owns a gun, what can be done? Outright bans take uesful tools and another freedom away form law-abiding citizens? It's a risk. But than again, so is life.

Basically what you are saying is, we should ban anything that makes it easier to kill someone. Therefore, cars should be banned in America, beacuse they are one of the leading causes of death. But wait, the reason people die in cars is because they are drunk, inexperienced, or unlucky. Therefore the problem is not the car, but the people driving it. Same thing with guns. If the person buying it has a personality problem, they should not have one. But the average person in America that owns a gun is not deranged. That is why we have gun ownership in America. Because the majority of our citizens are trustworthy enought to own guns.

EDIT:

Same thing with guns. Even if it is just pulling a trigger, you still have to look at the person and I believe we both agree it takes a really crazy person to deliberately kill someone. And it's not always one shot. Come on, not everyone in America is a crazy murderous nut. That's a minority.

I agree with Ristle on this one! It takes little skill to take someone out with a gun, and if you really need to kill someone than you should practice, practice, practice. People now a-days just feel like they can up and shoot anyone they please. It's their "Secret weapon". Weaklings, that's what they are. Only a coward can feel fine about taking a guy out with a gun....Snipers, however, they are cool. And guns can be fun at times. Then again, I don't really condone the killing of any living thing (Aside from plants, and insects, although I do feel bad about killing flies sometimes....other times I brag about how well I do it) but guns can be used to prevent lethal force. So I suppose the idea in my post is that People really should use guns as a last resort, as opposed to the first thing they think of. So...I'm kinda a mixed bag here.

I think people should carry guns but keep them locked up or away from children. You should never have a loaded gun in your home, have the bullets out of the gun.

You should not be allowed to have machine guns.

If you shoot someone you should not EVER OWN a gun again.

You can have swords and stuff go ahead, I think you should be able to carry swords. But then what will win, a sword or a gun. So as technology grows, so does weapons.

i think gun control is way to weak, but what can you do about it all those gun toating red-necks will miss thier hunting with those firearms well to freeking bad go back to the old days with bow and arrows, and traps like skilled hunters use to do, then get rid of all them guns exept police and other type of officials but they are deringers (tiny pistols that shoot a little bigger then BB bullets)

also i heard that in florida that they passed some amendment that gives people the right to carry conceled weapons (ie. guns) and use them in self-defense with no consequence for them doing that .... what the hell has happened to this world and our people :shakes head in disgust:

Full gun rights. I have nearly a dozen guns in my house and I love shooting all of them at the rifle range when I have the time.

I think in my country, keeping guns at home are unallowed.. but I dunno for sure.. I can't even find any valuable information OL..
but here, many ppl can easily get angry, especially the youngster, it would be lot better that ppl are not allowed carrying or keeping guns at home..

One lil story.. it happened not far from the place I live..
one morning there was a military man in his car passing by, and the bus in front of his car didn't want to move (normal things here.. bus stop everywhere they want it)
it was less than 5 minutes before that military man went down of his car, pulled out his gun n shot the bus driver on his head.. *bang* headshoot!!

I think he -being a military man- should not be that rough n tempted.. having guns n military authority don't give u the right to just kill ppl easily.. I believe, even if he only got down from car, the bus driver would went away shortly.. so there would be no harm

If ppl here were allowed to have guns, man.. u can get many ppl died everyday.. most ppl here are short tempered..