I'll bet they were glad to have a firearm at home to defend themselves

[gingerjedi]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ted_death_rate

I know the figures are from the 90's but the UK figure is from 2002.

You can't seriously argue that gun ownership is a good thing can you AtW?

[Gonzo]

I thought that this would get AtW going.

I think that wider gun ownership would end up providing more opportunities for domestic disputes to turn into massacres like this one.

In a society where gun ownership is widespread then it is not just the criminals that you need to worry about, it is everyone. That is not the sort of place that I want to be.

[AtW]

You can't seriously argue that gun ownership is a good thing can you AtW?

I certainly can.

A fair few countries that have more liberal gun laws in that list have lower or somewhat higher homicide risk from firearms. That's an acceptable price of having the right to be free from living in fear that you can't defend yourself in case of attack.

[Gonzo]

Thirdly, there are people who were born in this country and agree with me that gun ownership laws put by Nu Liebor is total tulip: pre-1997 system may have been acceptable, that's just over 10 years ago.

I don't know what you think the changes to the law were but IIRC the changes were to make some of the types of gun that were previously legal, such as semi-automatic weapons and handguns, illegal.

I agree that it was a stupid, knee-jerk reaction but I don't think that any of the law changes made a difference to who could, and could not own a gun of some sort.

[Gonzo]

A fair few countries that have more liberal gun laws in that list have lower or somewhat higher homicide risk from firearms. That's an acceptable price of having the right to be free from living in fear that you can't defend yourself in case of attack.

I would disagree - having to carry a weapon is not living free of fear, that is living in constant fear.

[minestrone]

Gun ownership is gone, it has had its day and as a personal friend of many people who went to the school in Dunblane where some freakazoid with a legal gun shot a class of kids, public ownership of guns ended that day. Final, complete, gone, caput, over, never again.

[gingerjedi]

I certainly can.

A fair few countries that have more liberal gun laws in that list have lower or somewhat higher homicide risk from firearms. That's an acceptable price of having the right to be free from living in fear that you can't defend yourself in case of attack.

No they don't, which country has liberal firearm laws and a lower gun death rate compared to the UK?

In my 38 years of life in the UK I can honestly say I've never heard a gunshot other than a shotgun in the countryside, how many people can say that in the USA? A country where you are 25 times more likely to be murdered with a firearm compared to the UK.

If you want the wild west than you should move there, or maybe Honduras or Sierra Leone?

[TykeMerc]

Gun ownership is gone, it has had its day and as a personal friend of many people who went to the school in Dunblane where some freakazoid with a legal gun shot a class of kids, public ownership of guns ended that day. Final, complete, gone, caput, over, never again.

Partially true and the reactions to Hungerford and Dunblane were harsh in some peoples opinions.
As someone who owned a gun and shot competitively from the age of 11 (my Father shot too obviously) it was damn inconvenient, but in context it was the right move.
I'm a damn good shot with many types of firearm, but I don't support public gun ownership.

[AtW]

No they don't, which country has liberal firearm laws and a lower gun death rate compared to the UK?

According to your table Ireland has got 0.03 firearms homicide vs 0.15 UK - that's 5 times less.

[Gonzo]

According to your table Ireland has got 0.03 firearms homicide vs 0.15 UK - that's 5 times less.

How are the Irish gun rules less stringent than the UK's?

OK, I think you can buy without first being registered but all guns need to be registered, handguns and semi-automatics are banned and you even need to get a certificate for an airgun.