Cumbrian gunman runs amok

[Moscow Mule]

An eye witness said on the news yesterday that the gun looked too big and heavy for him to carry properly and that the scope was huge. Not that eye witnesses make very good, err, witnesses.

As for someone who takes pleasure in hunting and killing, they are nutter material IMO.

Gun types were on the news last night & on the BBC website today.

Not sure I 100% agree with your last statement. Taking and killing animals from the wild with respect does not make you a nutter.

Also, just because you go out and shoot rabbits for pest control (lots of farmers don't have the time and will let you keep what you kill) doesn't make you a nutter.

Obviously, going over the edge and killing a lot of people DOES make you a nutter. It will be a terrible shame if this leads to another draconian clampdown on the types of firearms you are able to hold.

[TimberWolf]

Gun types were on the news last night & on the BBC website today.

Not sure I 100% agree with your last statement. Taking and killing animals from the wild with respect does not make you a nutter.

Also, just because you go out and shoot rabbits for pest control (lots of farmers don't have the time and will let you keep what you kill) doesn't make you a nutter.

Obviously, going over the edge and killing a lot of people DOES make you a nutter. It will be a terrible shame if this leads to another draconian clampdown on the types of firearms you are able to hold.

People come out with all sorts of excuses to justify killing. Spending all day hunting rabbits is hardly an efficient way of obtaining food in this day and age. Let's be honest, people that kill do it mainly for fun.

I would not be unhappy with a total gun ban, not that that will happen.

[Moscow Mule]

People come out with all sorts of excuses to justify killing. Spending all day hunting rabbits is hardly an efficient way of obtaining food in this day and age. Let's be honest, people that kill do it mainly for fun.

I would not be unhappy with a total gun ban, not that that will happen.

Indeed, some of the reasons are valid too. I don't doubt that some people kill for fun (or more politely put, sport), but the fact is rabbits are vermin and a .22 rifle is a perfectly legal vermin control method. Better than myxomatosis that's for sure.

A total gun ban is not going to happen - farmers need guns, it's often the most humane way to dispatch livestock in the field.

[Lockhouse]

People come out with all sorts of excuses to justify killing. Spending all day hunting rabbits is hardly an efficient way of obtaining food in this day and age. Let's be honest, people that kill do it mainly for fun.

I would not be unhappy with a total gun ban, not that that will happen.

There's no difference between a butcher killing an animal for you to animal to eat and you doing it yourself IMHO. Except one's easier. Pretending there's any difference is fooling yourself. You obviously don't live in a rural area (like I do) where killing animals for both food and sport is no big deal.

I think the gun laws in this country are reasonably OK.

[TimberWolf]

... but the fact is rabbits are vermin and a .22 rifle is a perfectly legal vermin control method. Better than myxomatosis that's for sure.

I don't think the average person has a desire to kill anything for fun, even when the law doesn't forbid it.

[TimberWolf]

You obviously don't live in a rural area (like I do) where killing animals for both food and sport is no big deal.

There's a huge difference between killing for fun and killing for food.

[Moscow Mule]

I don't think the average person has a desire to kill anything for fun, even when the law doesn't forbid it.

In that the average person lives in suburbia, living an supermarket fed existence, then yes I think you are correct.

People who live in rural communities who work & live on the land have a very different viewpoint. The fact you don't see it doesn't make it invalid.

[Lockhouse]

There's a huge difference between killing for fun and killing for food.

Sorry, clarification; sport = food but in a sporty way.

[OwlHoot]

In that the average person lives in suburbia, living an supermarket fed existence, then yes I think you are correct.

People who live in rural communities who work & live on the land have a very different viewpoint. The fact you don't see it doesn't make it invalid.

It won't be long before registered guns for civvie use must have an electronic lock incorporating a miniature mobile phone that broadcasts the weapon's location and can be remotely disabled by a phone call or if detected outside an authorized area.

Also, an electronic gadget could limit the rate of fire. I mean how many rabbits does one need to kill in an hour?

(Obviously that wouldn't stop crims using unregistered firearms. But it would hamper people who go postal with registered guns, and would reduce the incidence of registered firearm theft.)

[xoggoth]

Yes, but is does seem, both here and in the US, that criminals use guns very sensibly. If they use them in robberies they do not generally shoot people, it's a business, so why up the consequences unecessarily? If gangs use them in the streets they mostly shoot each other so who cares?

The cases where umpteen innocent people are shot seem mostly to involve previously apparently harmless sorts with legal firearms.