Wal-Mart to bring back guns to hundreds of US stores

[AtW]

If criminals suspect their victims are armed they are more likely to be more violent

If being armed is an exception then yes, but if arms are available to all good citizens then pretty much every crime they commit would bring mortal danger to them - it simply won't be worth it, and those of them who won't get it will end up dead.

[minestrone]

The USA was born out of a frontier culture where the gun was a necessary device for safety. It is their country and they vote for the constitution

Let us not get all high and mighty over this, this country still has laws based on religion.

[d000hg]

If being armed is an exception then yes, but if arms are available to all good citizens then pretty much every crime they commit would bring mortal danger to them - it simply won't be worth it, and those of them who won't get it will end up dead.

Your own argument fails because there are still lots of criminals robbing houses in the USA, where "arms are available to all good citizens"

[Incognito]

Your own argument fails because there are still lots of criminals robbing houses in the USA, where "arms are available to all good citizens"

Where do you get your statistics from? If you compare the State of Texas (nominally known as having a lot of crime due to being a border state) with England and Wales then you get for 2009:

Texas
Violent Crime Total 121,789
Property Crime Total 995,150


England & Wales
Violence against the person offences 833,152
TOTAL PROPERTY CRIME 2,896,512

(Source: http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/directo...on/2009CIT.pdf & http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publica...11?view=Binary)

Texas has approx population of 25m, England and Wales about 54m.

We as the UK are in no place to criticise any other nation about crime figures, we should be learning from them instead.

The most violent country in Europe: Britain is also worse than South Africa and U.S. | Mail Online

[AtW]

Your own argument fails because there are still lots of criminals robbing houses in the USA, where "arms are available to all good citizens"

In states where gun ownership is more liberal (ie: my house is my castle and I can shoot intruders on sight) there are a LOT less robberies.

Robberies can happen when owners are away you know - the important part is if it happens when you are in then you can defend yourself effectively.

[minestrone]

Where do you get your statistics from? If you compare the State of Texas (nominally known as having a lot of crime due to being a border state) with England and Wales then you get for 2009:

Texas
Violent Crime Total 121,789
Property Crime Total 995,150


England & Wales
Violence against the person offences 833,152
TOTAL PROPERTY CRIME 2,896,512

(Source: http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/directo...on/2009CIT.pdf & http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publica...11?view=Binary)

Texas has approx population of 25m, England and Wales about 54m.

We as the UK are in no place to criticise any other nation about crime figures, we should be learning from them instead.

The most violent country in Europe: Britain is also worse than South Africa and U.S. | Mail Online

I tend to agree and disagree, you cannot compare a social tendency towards violence based on the social perception of what a crime is. Smoking the weed is accepted in Holland but not here, so do we have more of a problem with drug abuse?

Places like Detroit are off the European scale on murders.

When they changed the gas so that "sticking your head in the oven" was no longer an option suicides went down dramatically, when the option is taken away the crime reduces.

I was going to mention the police asking if boning knifes could be not sold with knife sets, most stabbings are done with a boning knife and they quite rightly asked if they could not be sold in the set. Then we get the Antony Worrall Thompsons telling us we live in police state.

[TimberWolf]

Yay!

I'll have a phased plasma rifle in the 40 watt range.

A whole 40 joules per second. Are you going to warm someone to death?

[d000hg]

In states where gun ownership is more liberal (ie: my house is my castle and I can shoot intruders on sight) there are a LOT less robberies.

You didn't say LESS you implied NONE because all robbers would either be scared or get shot. Clearly there are still burglaries in those states. And if there are say only 10% as many robberies but 20X as many shootings, that's worse overall.

If I'm going to be robbed, I'd rather it's not by someone with a gun. I don't WANT to get in a firefight.

[PAH]

I mean FFS, how cretinuous system should be to NOT even allow purely self defensive stuff like CS gas??!?! It's classed like a firearm in this country - totally idiotic.

I agree that women should be able to carry/use Mace type products for their own protection but CS gas may be a step too far.

I remember a story where someone bought a CS canister from an ex-army supply shop and let it off in a bar/club. With the binge drink problem in this country many bars even resort to plastic glasses at weekends. So the less opportunity this scum have of getting their hands on proper weapons (and many defensive weapons can be used offensively) the safer we all are.

If you want to protect yourself against burglars learn Krav Maga or some other form of close quarter martial art. You'll be suprised how easy it is to do real damage in a confined space such as a house hallway/stairs with just your body. No need to waste time looking for weapons.

[doodab]

If I was going to own a gun, I would have one of these.