Time has no impact on fundimental truths.
"To disarm the people [is] the best and most effectual way to enslave them."
~George Mason
Government, media and communication are very very different to anything Mr Mason could envisage even in his wildest dreams.
This was also a time when slavery was considered essential by many "land owners" in the US, women didn't get a vote.
It was considered acceptable to wipe out the continents native population and Americans were killing each other at an alarming rate during the civil war.
Things change.
I do not consider myself a "slave" yet i own not 1 firearm.
So that kinda blows that statement out of the water.
Please elaborate on this statement.
Gun deaths per 100,000 population (for the year indicated): <table style="border-collapse: collapse" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="537"> <tbody><tr> <td width="184">
</td> <td width="80">
Homicide</td> <td width="75">
Suicide</td> <td width="193">
Other (inc Accident)</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="184">
</td> <td width="80">
</td> <td width="75">
</td> <td width="193">
</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="184">
USA (2001) </td> <td width="80">
3.98 </td> <td width="75">
5.92 </td> <td width="193">
0.36</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="184">
Italy (1997) </td> <td width="80">
0.81 </td> <td width="75">
1.1 </td> <td width="193">
0.07</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="184">
Switzerland (1998)</td> <td width="80">
0.50 </td> <td width="75">
5.8 </td> <td width="193">
0.10</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="184">
Canada (2002)</td> <td width="80">
0.4</td> <td width="75">
2.0 </td> <td width="193">
0.04</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="184">
Finland (2003)</td> <td width="80">
0.35</td> <td width="75">
4.45</td> <td width="193">
0.10</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="184">
Australia (2001) </td> <td width="80">
0.24 </td> <td width="75">
1.34 </td> <td width="193">
0.10</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="184">
France (2001)</td> <td width="80">
0.21</td> <td width="75">
3.4 </td> <td width="193">
0.49</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="184">
England/Wales (2002)</td> <td width="80">
0.15</td> <td width="75">
0.2 </td> <td width="193">
0.03</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="184">
Scotland (2002) </td> <td width="80">
0.06 </td> <td width="75">
0.2</td> <td width="193">
0.02</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="184">
Japan (2002) </td> <td width="80">
0.02</td> <td width="75">
0.04</td> <td width="193">
0</td> </tr> </tbody></table>
Data taken from Cukier and Sidel (2006) The Global Gun Epidemic. Praeger Security International. Westport.
Or
Although i posted facts as these are substantive and quantifiable, i was really just going on personal experience.
When i've been over in the US most shootings no longer even make the evening news unless there is some kind of weird or more shocking than usual circumstance involved.
This is coming from a guy that was raised in a area notorious for gun crime yet we experienced only 1 tragic of murder related to firearms in 2 years.
2006/2007 there were a total of 58 deaths in the entire country related to firearms.
To put that into perspective.
The UK is 244,820 square km in area
and has a population of around 62,000,000.
Had 58 gun related murders 06/07
Michigan is slightly bigger in size at 253,226 square km and has a substantially lower population at 10,000,000
Yet had 437 gun related murders last year.
That's more than half the population, the same surface area yet 8 times higher gun related murder rate.
This is not even looking at suicide or accidental death rates related to firearms.
I don't see how anyone could argue that Europe is a safer pace to live with regard to fire arm murder.
So i'm extremely happy with the firearm laws over here and can't help feeling if the US adopted the same laws it'd be a hell of a lot safer place to live for you guys, your kids and grandkids.
If that means tearing up some old out of date piece of paper in the process then to my mind at least that's an extremely small price to pay for my kids safety "thumbsup"
To reiterate i am no anti-gun nut.
I love shooting and i love guns, i'm talking 100% here about hand guns.
Other than competitive target shooting i see no place in this day and age for a civilian to have a CCW (which is a hand gun in 99.99%).
In the respect of fairness i got most of my statistics from these following links that were the first the came up from various searches.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/jan/10/gun-crime-us-state
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6960431.stm#map
http://www.gun-control-network.org/GF01.htm
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080726073842AALenS2
Cheers
Mark