Check 6 asked of Crab:
America is not your country. You may notice that few, if any, Americans criticize the U.K. or the British in this forum. Why do you feel the need to criticize America/Americans?
We Brits seem to feel that Americans are like petulant, disobedient children whom we must constantly criticize and counsel. Therefore, many feel condescendingly superior to those across the pond, and treat them with a sort of accommodating disdain. This is, of course, silly.
It is reported that 25,000 people die from gunshots in the U.S. every year. By itself, that number looks awful. However, it must be kept in perspective. And that perspective must include: how big the country is, physically; how many people are in it (284 million people); and the prevailing laws concerning guns.
Something like 50,000 people are killed on U.S. roads every year; half of that number involve alcohol, despite ever-tightening drunk-driving penalites. But Americans surely think this is acceptable. How do we know? Easy! In the suburban areas of the U.S., if you are driving and pass a bar you will notice that the parking lot has plenty of cars in it, day or night. Bars are still allowed to have parking lots! Let us admit - come on, we're all adults here - that those people who DROVE to the bar are not in there sipping warm buttermilk or sodapop. And when those patrons leave that establishment, they go out, get in their car and drive. (Oh right, most of them have "only had one," as they'll tell the officer).
If Americans were really, really,
really serious about curbing alcohol-related fatalities on their roads, they would simply pass a law that said, "No bar shall have vehicle parking available." But they don't. Restraint of trade? Pish-posh. What's important here, the economic welfare of some businesses or the HEALTH of 25,000 Americans? We see the answer very clearly, thank you.
So what's the deal with guns? Many Americans feel that in this increasingly violent world there is a justified need to own a firearm for personal defense. And, wonder of wonders, the law allows just such ability!
It's easy to point at the number of annual gun deaths (accidental or otherwise). But what can never be known is how many deaths are PREVENTED because someone had a gun that was never fired. It is impossible to count a non-death. Anti-gunners would surely say, "NONE! That never happens!" But that is not facing reality. Perhaps it is not unreasonable to assume that
more than 25,000 lives were saved every year because a situation came up which the gun defused or ended without being used. Like I said, anti-gunners would choke before admitting such a thing.
Certain cities have adopted very strict anti-gun laws. We see how successful these laws have been in places like NYC and Washington DC. Makes me wonder, when I hear calls for a nationwide ban on firearms in the U.S., what sort of success such a law would have?
Check 6 also noted: "When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns!" This is a truly scary thought which gets right to the crux of the matter. Why should only the criminals be "allowed" to have guns? And let's be honest, no matter how many laws are passed to prevent it, criminals are going to have guns. And if you have a situation in which ONLY the criminals have guns...well chaps, that is just insane.