Do you own a firearm?

[bitbaby]

No, I don't own any firearms yet but would like to get a shotgun and a nice looking revolver one day.

[Acidyo]

Only thing close to a firearm I own is a slingshot.

[koshgel]

Not yet but definitely will in the future

[ABitNut]

I don't own any.

Where I am from knives are regulated too.

[LostDutchman]

I don't own any.

Where I am from knives are regulated too.

UK?

[IamCANADIAN013]

I don't own any.

Where I am from knives are regulated too.

Regulated how exactly?

In Canada these knives are considered prohibited:

    automatic knives such as switchblades
    centrifugal knives such as flick knives or butterfly knives;
    gravity knives;
    Constant Companion (belt-buckle knife)
    finger rings with blades or other sharp objects projecting from the surface;
    push daggers;
    spiked wristbands;

Do any of those fit into your "regulated" category?

[Lethn]

I can tell you from personal experience knife regulation does absolutely fuck all and this is personal experience, guns are one thing, but knives are incredibly easy to get and hide, hell you could forge your own knives no problem if you had the knowledge.

[ABitNut]

I don't own any.

Where I am from knives are regulated too.

Regulated how exactly?

In Canada these knives are considered prohibited:

    automatic knives such as switchblades
    centrifugal knives such as flick knives or butterfly knives;
    gravity knives;
    Constant Companion (belt-buckle knife)
    finger rings with blades or other sharp objects projecting from the surface;
    push daggers;
    spiked wristbands;

Do any of those fit into your "regulated" category?

Category 1 weapons - completely prohibited
Weapons in this category are, without exemption, entirely prohibited: both its possession and trade in it. This category includes, among others:

Stilettos (spring blades) blades with lateral projecting blade
Flick knives: knives with protruding blade (with or without spring)
Butterfly knives: knives with a handle that consists of two parts, which can be lifted to the blade back (see note below)
Foldable blades with a total unfolded length above 28 cm
Foldable knife with a blade over a cutting edge has
throwing Stars
Vilmessen and ballistic knives
Bladed weapons which looks similar to an object other than a weapon
Arrows and arrowheads, intended to be fired, which feature cutting parts with the obvious intent thereby to cause serious injury.

Category 4 weapons - possession allowed, not allowed to carry in public
Knives in this category may be in the possession or trafficking. These weapons are not worn. That is, they must be so packed properly during transport that they can not be used for immediate use.

From our range fall under Category 4:

Edged weapons (knives) with a blade more than one cutting edge, provided they do not fall under Category 1.
Notes: * A closed folding knife with a blade over a cutting edge has falls under Category 1 - and is completely forbidden. Note: A zaagtanding is hereby considered cutting edge!
* A knife with fixed blade and more than one cutting edge (eg zaagtanding in the back) falls under Category 4.
Cutlasses, swords, sabers and bayonets.
Objects which, given their nature or context in which they are found, it can be reasonably assumed that they are intended for no other purpose than to bring harm to persons or to threaten - and not covered by any of the other three categories.
NOTE: It is very important that you carrying such a weapon is always well packaged.

Sorry for the poor translation, I am not familiar with all the specific knive related terms in English so I resorted to google translate. Do note the catch-all.

[sana8410]

I think some of the misunderstanding about guns comes from where you grew up in America. Outside of the cities gun ownership is extremely common. As a kid I seriously did not know anyone who did not own a gun. When I moved to a city later on I had no neighbors who owned a gun. Most of them were very intimidated by the thought of guns. They related them to violence, which makes sense. The only time they heard about guns is when there was a shooting of a person.

People who know about guns relate them to good times with friends. They relate them to competition and personal challenge. For example, this weekend I was a target puller at the state PALMA and F class shooting championship. It was about as violent as a round of golf.

The problem is that those people who know nothing about guns want to address their problems of violence by making rules for people who have nothing to do with the problem. I fail to see how another rule is the solution for gun violence in a place like Chicago. Criminals do not obey rules. That means that gun control laws only further disadvantage law abiding citizens by leaving them unarmed.

Gun control is to the left what abortion is to the right. An emotional issue about those who want to make rules for other people to obey. An effort to control the perceived misbehavior of people and force them to accept your beliefs.  

+1

[zolace]

Again, most gun deaths are the suicides you liberals support. Most of the rest are inner-city gangs killing each other, so if you are not suicidal, not a gang member, don't deal in drugs, and you are not a cop, your chances of being shot in America are near zero.

The gun 'crisis', like so many other 'emergencies', is liberal hogwash being used as an excuse to further limit the rights of We, the People. There is no gun crisis, and if you are as smart as you claim you are, then you damn know it.

That's bullshit and has always been bullshit. Unless you live in Chicago you are more likely to be shot by your lover or spouse or someone who knows you. Its the "lawful gun owner' who generally kills his wife and children in their beds....not gang members or criminals.

How many people a year are killed by a "lawful gun owner' who generally kills his wife and children in their beds"? I'll make it easier...what percentage of Americans will not be killed by the " 'lawful gun owner' who generally kills his wife and children in their beds"? 
Show us the stats and prove that there's a 'crisis'!You run your big mouth all the time with wild accusations and hyperbole, but you never prove it. 

Well, I don't want to be hyperbolic or anything:

Houston Crime
4 children, 2 adults shot dead in Spring; prompts hours-long

http://www.khou.com/news/crime

Related:

    Neighbors react to mass shooting in north Harris Countyadd to reading list

 http://www.khou.com/news/crime/Neighbors-react-to-mass-shooting-in-north-Harris-County-266535081.html

SPRING, Texas – Six people were shot dead, including four children, Wednesday afternoon in north Harris County, according to Harris County Pct. 4 deputies.

The incident happened at a home in the 700 block of Leaflet in the Enchanted Oaks subdivision.

Deputies responded to a shooting and found the victims. The sole survivor, a 15-year-old female, told authorities the gunman was on his way to another home to kill more relatives. The deputies beat him to that home.

A three-hour long standoff took place in a cul-de-sac on Countrymeadows near Country Canyon. Neighbors were forced out of their homes as the situation unfolded.

“The sheriff’s hostage negotiators have successfully resolved this,” said Constable Ron Hickman. “He’s removed from the vehicle without incident.”

The victims were ages five to 40. Four children and two adults died. According to authorities, it was a domestic dispute between a man and his estranged wife.

Authorities did not release the victims' identities and did not say how they might be related to each other or the suspect.

“Our hearts go out to the families involved in this tragedy,” said Hickman.

[TheButterZone]

If only she could have shot his fucking UNLAWFUL GUN OWNER aka PSYCHOPATHIC VIOLENT CRIMINAL ass.

[Rigon]

Again, most gun deaths are the suicides you liberals support. Most of the rest are inner-city gangs killing each other, so if you are not suicidal, not a gang member, don't deal in drugs, and you are not a cop, your chances of being shot in America are near zero.

The gun 'crisis', like so many other 'emergencies', is liberal hogwash being used as an excuse to further limit the rights of We, the People. There is no gun crisis, and if you are as smart as you claim you are, then you damn know it.

That's bullshit and has always been bullshit. Unless you live in Chicago you are more likely to be shot by your lover or spouse or someone who knows you. Its the "lawful gun owner' who generally kills his wife and children in their beds....not gang members or criminals.

How many people a year are killed by a "lawful gun owner' who generally kills his wife and children in their beds"? I'll make it easier...what percentage of Americans will not be killed by the " 'lawful gun owner' who generally kills his wife and children in their beds"? 
Show us the stats and prove that there's a 'crisis'!You run your big mouth all the time with wild accusations and hyperbole, but you never prove it. 

Well, I don't want to be hyperbolic or anything:

Houston Crime
4 children, 2 adults shot dead in Spring; prompts hours-long

http://www.khou.com/news/crime

Related:

    Neighbors react to mass shooting in north Harris Countyadd to reading list

 http://www.khou.com/news/crime/Neighbors-react-to-mass-shooting-in-north-Harris-County-266535081.html

SPRING, Texas – Six people were shot dead, including four children, Wednesday afternoon in north Harris County, according to Harris County Pct. 4 deputies.

The incident happened at a home in the 700 block of Leaflet in the Enchanted Oaks subdivision.

Deputies responded to a shooting and found the victims. The sole survivor, a 15-year-old female, told authorities the gunman was on his way to another home to kill more relatives. The deputies beat him to that home.

A three-hour long standoff took place in a cul-de-sac on Countrymeadows near Country Canyon. Neighbors were forced out of their homes as the situation unfolded.

“The sheriff’s hostage negotiators have successfully resolved this,” said Constable Ron Hickman. “He’s removed from the vehicle without incident.”

The victims were ages five to 40. Four children and two adults died. According to authorities, it was a domestic dispute between a man and his estranged wife.

Authorities did not release the victims' identities and did not say how they might be related to each other or the suspect.

“Our hearts go out to the families involved in this tragedy,” said Hickman.

Do 6 deaths out of a population of 330,000,000 represent a crisis? Let's see your 4 kids get shot dead by a guy in a "domestic dispute" (usually is a guy going after an 'estranged' wife and kids or anyone nearby; assorted relatives) and see if you call it a crisis. 

[sana8410]

I feel obligated to support laws that make it harder for criminals and mentally ill people to get their hands on them.

Such as?  I mean, it's already pretty hard to buy a firearm and sometimes mental illness descends upon someone unexpectedly.

I also recognize that some places - some states and cities - have been reactionary in their approach, and always thinking that they have gun laws, but crime is still happening, they've instituted stricter and stricter laws that really only affect the law abiding.

That's true.  The 'law abiding' are, by definition, not the problem and there is this risk;  being made into a criminal when a law is created.  A gun owner hasn't actually done anything wrong and is not about to yet some dweeb in a legislature passes a law and 'poof', the gun owner is a criminal.

You should have read the whole post before starting to pick it apart. I addressed this - the point is that I support a national standard that would supersede all state and local regulation.
Hysterical reaction - the law I'm talking about would not make people who own firearms into criminals. The truth is, neither do the bans - which I don't support. Let's say your state bans all handguns (again - NOT something I'd support). Owning one prior to the ban going into place does not make you a criminal. Even if the law (as it likely would) required citizens to turn in their handguns, or have them permanently disabled, you STILL would not become a criminal unless you made the conscious decision to disregard the law and not do it.

I really do not understand your hostility.  You seem to be suggesting that it's not possible for a government to make criminals with the stroke of a pen.  Governments occasionally make laws 'retroactive'.  Additionally, passing a law that the legislators know is going to be ignored... what is that if not creating criminals out of thin air?  Suppose next year Congress decides that all US citizens must purchase bell bottom jeans.  After all, the bell bottom jeans industry is in crisis!  Literally 100's of jobs are on the line here.  But you DD, you anarchist scofflaw, refuse to buy your bell bottoms and blatantly walk around in your kilt, brazenly not even wearing drawers.  You're a criminal not because of something you did but because of something you didn't do... buy your damned bell bottoms.  :-)

Merely because something is law does not mean it should be obeyed.  In fact, un-just laws should not be.

[umair127]

Geez, not another one.    Sadly, I am afraid that as a society we are becoming desensitized to not only guns, but to the entire issue of violence in our culture.  I realize there are historical reasons , as well as disturbing sociological issues at work.  But it is late and I need to be up early in the morning.  And I am incapable of providing workable solutions to the problems.  And even if I had the answers, no one in either in either Washington D.C. or Des Moines is the least bit interested in addressing the problems - at least not as long as the NRA maintains a stranglehold on the politicians in DC and the various State Houses.  God have mercy on us all.

[Lethn]

Yes, that's right, blame the NRA and the government for something done by violent sociopaths who clearly had mental problems that needed fixing, there's absolutely no way that someone mental is the problem and it has absolutely nothing to do with the pathetic amount of support the mentally challenged in America have and how psychologists are basically trying to solve the problem by drugging up these people leading to them becoming even more violent and depressed than they were.

Bolded so people get my points about this whole stupid gun control argument.

[sana8410]

But the truth is, that is essentially the answer - as you and others have pointed out hundreds of times, a good percentage of the American people own firearms. Even more support the right to own them. No, I DON'T believe that in America, you'd get away with what you describe here.

"It couldn't happen here", is your answer?  I wouldn't have thought it could happen in Australia... but it did.  In 1996.  The Australian Constitution forbids confiscation of private property so the government got tricky and put a tax on healthcare.  The revenue from that tax was then used in a mandatory 'buy back' program of small arms.  All "voluntary", of course.  Not confiscation at all 'cause the aussie government gave some money for the guns the citizens were forced to 'volunteer' to surrender.

It would be stopped dead in its tracks at the voting booth. And I accept that that will not be a satisfactory answer to you. I just don't care. I believe it is a satisfactory answer to reasonable Americans in the center.

The suggestion there, of course, is that you are 'in the center'?

[noviapriani]

Our NRA has a stranglehold on our Constitutional Freedoms by the will of our citizens. It is a shame some people  are so willing to murder others, yet that will NEVER justify erasing the freedoms from peaceful people nor even restricting us. That is the government you get in Russia, North Korea, etc.

This is why so many of us have bequeathed so much in revenue generating properties to insure adequate funding far into the future. We fund our NRA with more than $200 million annually to keep fiends from stripping our gun freedoms from us. When these fiends attempt to take our gun freedoms from us, our VERY superior Legal Department helps these Rogue Politicos understand our Laws of the land! Here is another recent example:
City of Chicago Ordered to Pay NRA's Legal Fees - Again

Monday, July 07, 2014
 $1.5 Million and Counting – The Taxpayer’s Burden of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s and the City of Chicago’s Refusal to Recognize Second Amendment Rights 

Fairfax, Va. – The United States District Court in the Northern District of Illinois has ordered the City of Chicago to reimburse $940,000 in legal expenses incurred by the NRA. The NRA had challenged Chicago's ban on gun sales within city limits in Benson v. City of Chicago. The Benson case was consolidated into Illinois Association of Firearm Retailers v. City of Chicago and that case challenged five aspects of Chicago's law: (1) the ban on any form of carriage; (2) the ban on gun stores; (3) the ban on firing ranges; (4) the ban on self-defense in garages, porches, and yards; and (5) the ban on keeping more than one gun in an operable state.

This is the second time that the City of Chicago has been ordered to reimburse legal fees in a suit sponsored by the NRA. The first was following the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark ruling in McDonald v. City of Chicago in which Chicago was ordered to reimburse the NRA more than $600,000.

http://www.nraila.org/news-issues/news-from-nra-ila/2014/7/city-of-chicago-ordered-to-pay-nras-legal-fees-again.aspx

It will be interesting to see if Chicago enjoys helping us fund our Legal Department, OR if they can eventually understand their own laws as well as the laws of our nation.

[sana8410]

Again, most gun deaths are the suicides you liberals support. Most of the rest are inner-city gangs killing each other, so if you are not suicidal, not a gang member, don't deal in drugs, and you are not a cop, your chances of being shot in America are near zero.

The gun 'crisis', like so many other 'emergencies', is liberal hogwash being used as an excuse to further limit the rights of We, the People. There is no gun crisis, and if you are as smart as you claim you are, then you damn know it.

That's bullshit and has always been bullshit. Unless you live in Chicago you are more likely to be shot by your lover or spouse or someone who knows you. Its the "lawful gun owner' who generally kills his wife and children in their beds....not gang members or criminals.

How many people a year are killed by a "lawful gun owner' who generally kills his wife and children in their beds"? I'll make it easier...what percentage of Americans will not be killed by the " 'lawful gun owner' who generally kills his wife and children in their beds"? 
Show us the stats and prove that there's a 'crisis'!You run your big mouth all the time with wild accusations and hyperbole, but you never prove it. 

Well, I don't want to be hyperbolic or anything:

Houston Crime
4 children, 2 adults shot dead in Spring; prompts hours-long

http://www.khou.com/news/crime

Related:

    Neighbors react to mass shooting in north Harris Countyadd to reading list

 http://www.khou.com/news/crime/Neighbors-react-to-mass-shooting-in-north-Harris-County-266535081.html

SPRING, Texas – Six people were shot dead, including four children, Wednesday afternoon in north Harris County, according to Harris County Pct. 4 deputies.

The incident happened at a home in the 700 block of Leaflet in the Enchanted Oaks subdivision.

Deputies responded to a shooting and found the victims. The sole survivor, a 15-year-old female, told authorities the gunman was on his way to another home to kill more relatives. The deputies beat him to that home.

A three-hour long standoff took place in a cul-de-sac on Countrymeadows near Country Canyon. Neighbors were forced out of their homes as the situation unfolded.

“The sheriff’s hostage negotiators have successfully resolved this,” said Constable Ron Hickman. “He’s removed from the vehicle without incident.”

The victims were ages five to 40. Four children and two adults died. According to authorities, it was a domestic dispute between a man and his estranged wife.

Authorities did not release the victims' identities and did not say how they might be related to each other or the suspect.

“Our hearts go out to the families involved in this tragedy,” said Hickman.

Do 6 deaths out of a population of 330,000,000 represent a crisis? Let's see your 4 kids get shot dead by a guy in a "domestic dispute" (usually is a guy going after an 'estranged' wife and kids or anyone nearby; assorted relatives) and see if you call it a crisis. 

If that's a crisis then certainly 12 dead and 60 wounded in Chicago is a crisis. And that crisis happens just about every weekend. Do you think those gang members care about gun laws or getting their guns legally registered?

[noviapriani]

The Facts on Women, Children and Gun Violence

presence of a firearm in a home with domestic violence can transform an argument into homicide in a fraction of a second. Firearms and domestic violence are a lethal combination - injuring and killing women, children, and bystanders every day in the United States. In one study of 25 high-income countries, the United States represented just 32% of the female population but accounted for 84% of all female firearm homicides.i A gun is the weapon most commonly used in domestic homicides. In fact, more than six times as many women are murdered by guns used by their current or former intimate partners than are killed by male strangers’ guns, knives or other weapons combined.

332,014 people died from guns between 2000 and 2010. That number is greater than the populations of U.S. cities such as St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati.

31,328 people died from gun violence in 2010, or roughly 1 every 17 minutes.

A gun in the home makes homicide three times more likely, suicide up to five times as likely, and accidental death four times higher than in non-gun owning homes.

Access to firearms increases the risk of intimate partner homicide more than five times than in instances where there are no weapons, according to a recent study. In addition, abusers who possess guns tend to inflict the most severe abuse on their partners.

Over 40 percent of guns sold in the U.S. are done so without a background check.

Gun Violence & Women

94% of female murder victims killed by men are killed by a man they knew. In other words, females are 16 times as likely to be killed by a male acquaintance than by a male stranger. In 2010, 1,017 women, almost three a day, were killed by their intimate partners. viii

Of females killed by men with a firearm, more than two-thirds were killed by their intimate partners.

In 2010, 52 percent of female homicide victims killed by men were shot and killed with a gun. Female intimate partners are more likely to be murdered with a firearm than all other means combined.

Women suffering from domestic violence are eight times more likely to be killed if there are firearms in the home

[sana8410]

What I'm saying is that a national policy will help in two major ways - first, it will reduce availability (notice I said reduce, not eliminate) of black market guns by shutting down at least PART of the flow source by making unregistered sales illegal everywhere.

What's your source for making that claim?

It's called an opinion - and one based in sound logic. The problem you and I have is that you seem to think I'm calling this a magic bullet - which I'm not, and without a magic bullet, you're unwilling to consider ANY  measures.

Where do you citizens of Jersey go to get your Free Speech permits?  What the fuck about "shall not be infringed" do you not understand?

Having people go through background checks to make sure they are not criminals is not infringing on their right to own a gun, you twit.  When they pass the check, they get their permit, and they get their gun. No infringement. There's nothing in the second amendment that says that it cannot be regulated, and the Supreme Court has already long since upheld that principle. The only way there would be infringement on the right to keep and bear arms is if they were refused the permit or the firearms ID card in spite of the fact that the check comes back clean. So you tell me, what part of "shall not be infringed" do YOU not understand?

According to lefties getting a free photo ID is racist and nothing but an attempt to keep blacks and the poor from voting. So by the same logic isn't your attempt to infringe upon the right to bear arms just as racist and designed to keep guns from blacks and the poor? And given the number of poor and black that live in violent cities like Chicago shouldn't the poor and the black be allowed to defend their lives just like everyone else?