US Gun Control

[Nigel]

misterlaffer wrote
Some years back while on holiday in SW Florida ( a regular haunt for my family) I was sat by a guy poolside and struck up a conversation with him, who was from Texas, as evident by his southern drawl and the Texas state outline on his leg. We got onto the subject of 9/11 and he said his first reaction when seeing the TV that day was to quit work and drive home to pre-load each and everyone of his guns in readiness for the invasion. Basically, the general thoughts of most of the U.S. that day was to get immediately tooled up and ready. This I found quite shocking as it seemed to me a reaction one would expect from a Hollywood movie, not sure why I found it so shocking but maybe it just seemed a really uncivilised way to react given the country has the greatest defence budget in the world.[/quote]

While I am in no way saying that 9/11 wasn`t shocking and terrible I am not the only one who said now Americans know what terrorism is, we had to endure years of it, mostly funded by the good ole US of A :whistle:

[misterlaffer]

Again the media and peoples lack of understanding distorts views. I lived in the Usa for a number of years, No one that I knew carried a gun on the streets, at night I would leave the car on the drive with the keys in the ignition and the house door unlocked the bulk of crime seamed limited to the major cities and the criminals stayed concentrated in those areas killing each other at will, gun control is a waste of time as they are so readily available, I remember the first time I went into woolworths I was amazed to see a rack full of high caliber rifles and shotguns it would not be possible to rid the country of guns even if the will was there.The school shootings are a result of peoples mindset and the mass killings could just as easily be carried out in a car.To be truthful I found the country had way more than its fair share of gun ho aggressive men who knew nothing of the world outside of their towns never mind the country.Luckily the place is so big that there is room for all its not the Uk so do not look at it with a UK mindset.h

Oh and yes they do still think that Russia is communist enemy number one.

I spent 3 months travelling round the USA (Greyhound) in 1974 and toured the western states for a month (motorcycle) last year, so my views are not entirely formed through the filter of the U.K. Media. It's a vast, diverse and largely empty country and I'm sure there is a community somewhere there where anyone could feel at home, be they redneck, communist or jehadi. However, as you concede, a large section of the population have a particularly narrow and paranoid perception of the world coupled with almost unlimited firepower. If these people at least could be kept away from firearms their fellows citizens and the world in general would be a safer place.

Some years back while on holiday in SW Florida ( a regular haunt for my family) I was sat by a guy poolside and struck up a conversation with him, who was from Texas, as evident by his southern drawl and the Texas state outline on his leg. We got onto the subject of 9/11 and he said his first reaction when seeing the TV that day was to quit work and drive home to pre-load each and everyone of his guns in readiness for the invasion. Basically, the general thoughts of most of the U.S. that day was to get immediately tooled up and ready. This I found quite shocking as it seemed to me a reaction one would expect from a Hollywood movie, not sure why I found it so shocking but maybe it just seemed a really uncivilised way to react given the country has the greatest defence budget in the world.

[-Ralph-]

The school shootings are a result of peoples mindset

I agree it must be a mindset/psyche issue, but what I don't understand (I don't personally know any Americans), is what exactly is it that's so different about the mindset.

If you can expand on this I'd genuinely be interested to read it.



Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

[misterlaffer]

The school shootings are a result of peoples mindset

I agree it must be a mindset/psyche issue, but what I don't understand (I don't personally know any Americans), is what exactly is it that's so different about the mindset.

If you can expand on this I'd genuinely be interested to read it.



Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

As I have mentioned in earlier posts I have worked with a few Americans, socialised with a few and have holidayed in the US pretty much every year for the last 10 years. I have also ridden motorcycles with a Harley Chapter in Georgia, and rented Motorcycles in South West Florida where once on a ride to the Florida keys from Naples I was told by rental staff a precise route to take that I must take and not deviate from otherwise I would run the risk of getting bike jacked or as they put it 'worse'. Needless to say I lost my way at one point and shit myself when pulling up at every intersection while navigating my way around a place called 'Homestead'.

The impression I have now as part of my (limited) experience is that most Americans are aware of the Gun threat and because of this perceived threat in day to day life fiercely protect their right to bare arms in order to equalise any potential threat they may encounter. This I believe is where their mindset is, and I have heard a response when a shooting comes over the media as usually along the lines of 'my that guy should never have strayed into that neighbourhood', dismissed almost as if it was their fault.

Only last week I was talking to one of our British Directors who now lives near Pittsburgh near our US offices and he tells us of how he is awoken on a Sunday morning by shooting in the woods at the side of his neighbourhood. Shooting is technically banned from this area as people walk their dogs there, and kids play there, but most residents turn a blind eye because it occurs before 9am while most people would be getting ready for church!

[-Ralph-]

The school shootings are a result of peoples mindset

I agree it must be a mindset/psyche issue, but what I don't understand (I don't personally know any Americans), is what exactly is it that's so different about the mindset.

If you can expand on this I'd genuinely be interested to read it.



Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

As I have mentioned in earlier posts I have worked with a few Americans, socialised with a few and have holidayed in the US pretty much every year for the last 10 years. I have also ridden motorcycles with a Harley Chapter in Georgia, and rented Motorcycles in South West Florida where once on a ride to the Florida keys from Naples I was told by rental staff a precise route to take that I must take and not deviate from otherwise I would run the risk of getting bike jacked or as they put it 'worse'. Needless to say I lost my way at one point and shit myself when pulling up at every intersection while navigating my way around a place called 'Homestead'.

The impression I have now as part of my (limited) experience is that most Americans are aware of the Gun threat and because of this perceived threat in day to day life fiercely protect their right to bare arms in order to equalise any potential threat they may encounter. This I believe is where their mindset is, and I have heard a response when a shooting comes over the media as usually along the lines of 'my that guy should never have strayed into that neighbourhood', dismissed almost as if it was their fault.

Only last week I was talking to one of our British Directors who now lives near Pittsburgh near our US offices and he tells us of how he is awoken on a Sunday morning by shooting in the woods at the side of his neighbourhood. Shooting is technically banned from this area as people walk their dogs there, and kids play there, but most residents turn a blind eye because it occurs before 9am while most people would be getting ready for church!

Thanks for that, that's what I guessed it was. Essentially fear.

I was once offered a job on the outskirts of Detroit, but the company (a car parts manufacturer) was going to pay all my travel, insurances, apartment, company car, etc, but that was on the agreement that I didn't go within a 9 mile radius of the city centre. If they found I had broken that agreement, I'd be sacked, evicted from the apartment, given a plane ticket home, and driven to the airport.

That's essentially why I didn't take it, it left the impression of "what the hell would I want to go there for?"

It's a sad state of affairs and suggests the country is screwed socially.

[Redmurty]

My brother was out in the States for the world cup, he was walking through a "Bad area" of town when a "black and white" pulled up. He was stopped by the police and told he should not be where he was and he was told it was dangerous, he asked "why" the copper replied "where you from boy" to which our kid replied "Wolverhampton mate, you think this is dangerous" as he looked around and could see no problems, the copper then asked him where he was going he pointed to a bar which now had a group of "gang types" outside of it, one with the top button of their shirts done up.

He was strongly advised not to go anywhere near the place, at which point he was allowed to go he recons he had one of the best nights of his life in that bar. Mindset.....

cheers Spud

[Redmurty]

5 people shot in Brum over the last few days and we don't even have guns :whistle: now that's control (thumbs)

Didn't catch the number of stabbings

cheers Spud

[-Ralph-]

5 people shot in Brum over the last few days and we don't even have guns :whistle: now that's control (thumbs)

Didn't catch the number of stabbings

cheers Spud

LOL, yep, laws only affect the law abiding.

[Beemer Dood]

Sorry to be so late to the party. I discovered this thread several days ago but I was busy at a seminar and could not respond until just now. Due to this, I'll be putting up several posts at once.

I write these responses as a 30 year veteran of law enforcement and as someone who, while off duty, would not be here if not for the fact that I carry a gun. I was assaulted by someone who tried to kill me. Had I not been armed, I'd have been killed. Because I was armed, I survived.

Gun control in the USA ? That will be the day !

As it should be. Laws that control guns affect only honest people. Criminals, by definition, will disobey any laws that inconvenience them. They have no effect on crime, except that they disarm the very people they pretend to protect. BTW there are well OVER 20,000 gun laws in the US.

Areas of the US with the most restrictive gun laws, Wash DC, Chicago, and Detroit have the highest murder rates of anyplace in the country. While states that allow for the highest rates of concealed carry by citizens, have some of the lowest crime rates.

[Beemer Dood]

There is an argument that US citizens don't actually have a right to bear arms!
Only in "An organised militia"!

Yes, that argument has been made, but it's an antique, obsolete line of reasoning, and SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the US) has ruled repeatedly that owning a gun is an "individual right." The most recent case on this is Heller.

HELD. The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.

It's long been the opinion of the court that, per the founders of the country,

The “militia” comprised all males physically capable of acting in concert for the common defense.