And another one...

[Hobosapien]

Stop rolling your eyes.

No, it's the only exercise I get.

I don't carry a knife but I have bat handy in case anyone breaks into my house.

Wrap it in barbed wire and say it's a prop from The Walking Dead if the fuzz ask why the perps head is now just a splodge on your hallway floor.

[SueEllen]

Stop rolling your eyes. I don't carry a knife but I have bat handy in case anyone breaks into my house.

Now, if someone breaking into my house was likely to have a gun (for example in the US) then my baseball bat would be pretty useless. I would feel safer with a gun.

There as other people have dogs who act as an early warning alarm - if you are in this works. If you are out then the dog will probably shut up.

[woohoo]

So in the UK where crims tend to be packing knives do you too carry a concealed knife when popping into town, or sleep with one under the bed/pillow just in case?

Fortunately in the UK they currently have enough sense to handle gun control properly, and if the majority of the Police don't feel the need (or want the trauma/paperwork/hassle after blowing away a perp) to be armed then the public certainly shouldn't.

Stop rolling your eyes. I don't carry a knife but I have bat handy in case anyone breaks into my house.

Now, if someone breaking into my house was likely to have a gun (for example in the US) then my baseball bat would be pretty useless. I would feel safer with a gun.

[SueEllen]

Yes, but do people with mental health problems really need to have a gun, as the NRA is pushing for, whilst coming out with hypocritical statements to the contrary.

The second amendment doesn't give any American a blanket right to own guns so mentally ill people do not have the right to own or even have access to a gun simply because they would fail the "well-regulated" part of the amendment. Other people who aren't part of clubs or organisations also fail, and the NRA fails as an organisation as they can't regulate their members properly.

[BlasterBates]

Yes, but do people with mental health problems really need to have a gun, as the NRA is pushing for, whilst coming out with hypocritical statements to the contrary.

[northernladuk]

Guns are just too ingrained in to the American culture. Controls just won't work as a quick fix. It's going to take decades of changing hearts and minds and changing culture. It's easy for us to go on about it but try talking to a group of Americans about it. They are so passionate about it, it's just alien to us.

It's like telling Yorkshire they are putting controls on mucky fat sandwiches on health grounds. It's just not gonna happen in most of our lifetimes.

[WTFH]

Whilst I am not defending this at all - here are some stats

Average Guns per 100 households in America - 101 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estima...ita_by_country)

Number of people in America - 300,000,000 (assume therefore approx 150,000,000 households) there for total number of guns in America - 15,150,000,000

If there are 101 guns per 100 houses in America, then the figure is not 15,150,000,000 guns, but 150,000,000*1.01 = 151,500,000

But your link is not to guns per household, but guns per 100 residents (not residence), which would tie in with the normally quoted figure of approx 300,000,000 guns.

[Hobosapien]

I'm all for gun control, I don't know how you can't be.

But if you lived in a country where criminals generally had guns would you want to give up your right to have a gun? And I know more people are killed by their own gun etc.... but really if I knew the average scrot had a gun I think I would want one to.

So in the UK where crims tend to be packing knives do you too carry a concealed knife when popping into town, or sleep with one under the bed/pillow just in case?

As quoted above, the death rate by gun per population in USA is tiny, so nothing to worry about. It's only kids getting blown away due to poor control over access at home or to teenagers (who aren't the most stable minded at the best of times) that sensationalises it.

Fortunately in the UK they currently have enough sense to handle gun control properly, and if the majority of the Police don't feel the need (or want the trauma/paperwork/hassle after blowing away a perp) to be armed then the public certainly shouldn't.

[original PM]

Whilst I am not defending this at all - here are some stats

Average Guns per 100 households in America - 101 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estima...ita_by_country)

Number of people in America - 300,000,000 (assume therefore approx 150,000,000 households) there for total number of guns in America - 15,150,000,000

Number of people killed by guns in America 33,000 in 2012

Number of deaths per gun per year 0.0000022

More interesting info here

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_vi..._United_States

[woohoo]

I'm all for gun control, I don't know how you can't be.

But if you lived in a country where criminals generally had guns would you want to give up your right to have a gun? And I know more people are killed by their own gun etc.... but really if I knew the average scrot had a gun I think I would want one to.

[Hobosapien]

Just the almost daily occurrence.

Mass Shootings | Gun Violence Archive

Stupid yanks with their gun obsession continue to get their kids killed. What a price for 'freedom'.

Video console death: US boy, 9, 'kills sister, 13, over controller' - BBC News

[scooterscot]

"Two people have been shot and injured at a high school in the US state of Maryland by a gunman who was then shot by an armed guard"

Oh no, Trump was right.

NRA will be all over this. Teachers with automatic riffles now!

[original PM]

It would appear everyone walking out of class had no appreciable affect.

Who knew!

[SueEllen]

linky

Only 3 shot this time.