for the record - i've no problems with people in the states having all sorts of guns, it makes total sense to me. i've fired some and can say it's not my bag. but i'm not into watching football or driving cars either, so whatever floats your boat as far as hobbies go.
as for protection, i'd probably have a gun if i lived in the states. every other cunt has one so you may aswell make it a level playing field. of course i'm more happy to not own one, but neither do 99% of the uk.
but my honest question to all you lot is - have you ever had to shoot someone? you all bang on about how you need them, what with crime being so bad and all the outlaws being tooled up. but has anyone been in the situation where you've needed that gun?
or do you think it's more like mutually assured destruction? where no one fucks with you in case you have a gun? so you end up with a type of unspoken stand off where crime is kept low due to everyone being able to shoot each other?
or is it something else like the need for security, paranoia, whatever?
As a response to the statement that "every other cunt in the states has one," that is as much a generalization as saying that everyone in the UK has horrible teeth or something like that. The only people on the board that have strong views about firearms are the ones that own them.
Just because your country is different and all uptight about their crime rate, which has gone up a significant amount in the past 15 years, does not mean that it is a correct way to live or better than any other way.
Crime here isn't so bad, I would bet that I live in a safer area than you do. I don't need a gun, I have never needed a gun, but I like to have them just in case I ever do. I cannot carry concealed weapons in my state. America isn't like the fucking wild west.
Security has something to do with owning a gun, but paranoia? C'mon, maybe some people, but not most.
I don't like to argue about guns because I feel like its the same as abortion and just keeps getting thrown about.
There is nothing wrong with guns, there is something wrong with people that use them for evil purposes, and by the way, most of those are unregistered, illegal and people with felonies already.