(02-15-2018, 07:34 PM)HandsomeRob86 Wrote:

(02-15-2018, 07:09 PM)DarloJAG84 Wrote: Just to clarify my opinion:

I'm not suggesting America abolishes the right to have guns, I'm not knocking anyone's reasons for having them. It's all opinion based.

I feel terribly sad that we live in a world where people have to have a gun for protection. I feel relieved that I don't have that headache over here in England.

I do, however, feel as though gun laws in the US have contributed to some of the atrocities that have happened. I'm not so arrogant to ignore the fact that some murders occur within gangs, with untraceable weapons and by suicide and even by accident.

I find it devastating that we even have to broach the subject of armed guards at schools etc.. Or that regular Police Officers have to carry fire arms as a standard part of their PPE.

This is now the way of the world and I my understanding of it isn't in question, my acceptance is, however.

Please understand that my views are from a 33 year old from England who has never held a firearm outside of an Army base. I've never shot a firearm. I've never been in possession of one and I've never seen a handgun that is outside of a display cabinet.

This may make me sounds a bit boring, but I've never been in a position where the situation has been any different.

So let me take this opportunity to explain that there is no offence intended in any of my posts regarding this subject.. I'm just fascinated by it.

In some ways I wish that the US didn't have guns, but at the same time I view that as a fallacy. Every nation has guns, even if its just the government. Thinking that no one else has guns doesn't make you any safer. If a robber broke into my house and he wasn't armed I wouldn't know. But I feel a whole lot better about my odds of coming out of it okay if I have a gun. Just to illustrate I will point out a basic safety plan if you house/apartment is broken in to and  you do have weapons so you can understand what I mean.

If a intruder broke in, I would get all my family in a back room with only one door and preferably a hallway in front, I would have them in the corner and I would stay off to the side loaded and watching. I would call the police, keep the phone on speaker and announce my presence and the fact that I am armed, but I would not move. If anything is going down, they are coming to me. Hopefully a robber would run at this point, but if they came in my line of sight I would open fire. Ideally I would have cover, but reality is that nothing in a house is really cover.

Now if you do that same scenario, without a gun, how helpless are you? You have no chance, better off jumping out your window. Thats how it would be in England or Australia, and you hope your robber doesn't have an 'illegal' weapon or is just in it for money rather than to rape, murder, beat you etc.

Believe me, I totally understand your argument. I'm grateful of the fact that break ins of this nature are few and far between where I live. Maybe I'm sheltered, maybe I'm boring but I hope that never changes.

Edit:

Further to that, a scary fact: Over here, if we have a firearms incident, we have to wait for a special unit from the police to attend as our regular officers do not carry firearms. This is a scenario in which your police have an upper hand on ours.

Unfortunately, as and when these incidents DO occur, the firearms unit may only be there for damage limitation, depending on their response time. Especially if the incident is in a particularly rural patch, or if by chance the local response team is tied up with another incident. Incidents of this nature would require our regular police officers to hang back as they do not have the facility to intervene without disastrous consequences.

Hopefully that last paragraph will show people that I DO understand the argument for firearms, but it doesn't change my stance on it, again because this is an irregular occurrence.

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