News Do Americans Wonder Why The World Makes Fun Of Them? Answer Here!

[anthony]

And if we want to jump to violent countries, then I would NOT say North America, but South America and Africa would be my top continents for violence. Funnily enough... most of the top 50 in the world are countries / cities in those two continents.

 

[Ronin]

@itsKismet like you have a way of knowing how an accident will influence someone's whole life. I have a lot of reserves about handing children guns for personal reasons but teaching people safety, and then that safety not working? That's not the same thing even remotely as training someone for violence. Let's not pretend it is.

& the kind of damage you can do say with a machete? I'd call scary. What's with this evilifying of guns all of the time, specifically? Irresponsible is risky, regardless of what you wield. But that's not limited to weapons.

 

[Friday]

And if we want to jump to violent countries, then I would NOT say North America, but South America and Africa...

Hands down with ya, there. Also the Middle East! Certain parts of SE Asia...

People get all cranky when it's hot out.

Equatorial zones, man. Generally best avoided without air support. :whistling:

 

[greenleaf]

My opinion... recently it's become a tribal-level issue here, not a cognitive-level one. The folks wanting a study to affirm a common sense issue won't make any progress politically no matter how powerful their results...

 

[greenleaf]

p.s. I want a personal tank. The drivers here are scary.

Relevant images:

http://www.tank-girl.com/

 

[Chava]

@ Chava broad generalization "Americans"

I made completely non-broad generalizations. I never said Americans are the most violent (what your stats imply my generalizing was about, though I admit I'm confused). Are Americans more likely to take a gun into a department store (ahem, Wal-Mart) and randomly shoot people? Probably. But dig up the stats if you want.

But, even so, I have somewhat higher standards for America than several of the 3rd world, drug and gang-ridden countries you listed. Totally embarrassing that American cities were listed more than any other single country on this list of mayhem.

 

[Rumors]

Just FYI @anthony
The study precedes legislation. Without the study, there will be no legislation.
@itsKismet
Automatic weapons are banned in the US.
I think we should ban cars too because they kill far more people than guns, drunk or sober.... Oh wait, that would be too inconvenient. Or, let's ban alcohol then there isn't an issue. Or, we could stop trying to legislate bad behavior. How about we require everyone who wants a gun to have a job? That would cut out about 2/3's of gun owners.

 

[The Albatross]

Chava said, "Are Americans more likely to take a gun into a department store (ahem, Wal-Mart) and randomly shoot people? Probably. But dig up the stats if you want."

Disagree, and that is another generalization by the way but hey who needs to have stats or facts for a discussion?

 

[shimmerz]

If it was truly about killing or death or mayhem I would be all for whatever it takes.

Until they solve core problems like hunger, homelessness, child abuse, f*cked up food and water, systemic corruption, I don't believe anything that comes with a tag line of 'too many people die because of ........ (guns for instance), so we must legislate it. Legislate the GMO's in food if you want to save lives. Figure out a safe system for children in the care of the government. Build housing so the homeless CAN work because they have a shower and decent clothes and food.

Puuuuuhhhhhhlease. Call a spade a spade.

How about we require everyone who wants a gun to have a job?

Rumor's , some of the most evil and power trippy people I know have jobs. Job doesn't equal good character.

 

[Lucycat]

So, help me out here. Is the current situation, because it is a constitutional right, that just anybody (in America) can own a gun? Even if you have a previous history of gun-abuse? Even if you openly tell people that you are going to use it to commit a crime? What about the constitutional rights of convicted criminals in prison - are they still allowed a gun? I am guessing not - that there are perhaps already some sensible exceptions. So why does it need a research study to add another - ie alcohol abuse - to the existing exceptions?

 

[Lucycat]

- 130,000 knife crimes in the UK pop 62,641,000

"Of the 26,340 recorded offences involving a knife or sharp instrument, 13,139 (50%) were robbery and 11,372 (43%) were actual or grievous bodily harm offences."

I acknowledge that my data here is 2012/13- I could not find anything official for later than that. Also it only cover England and Wales. I acknowledge that knife crime is higher in Glasgow than elsewhere in the UK, but I cannot image it makes up the remaining 100,000 difference!

ETA: the link you have posted to the UK crime survey, surveyed 50,000 families about unreported crimes. I could not find where you came with the numbers of 130,000 knife crimes within it, nor is is a UK wide statistic - but again England and Wales only.

 

[Friday]

So, help me out here. Is the current situation, because it is a constitutional right, that just anybody (in America) can own a gun? Even if you have a previous history of gun-abuse?

Nope. There are actually a whole helluva lot of restrictions on weapons sales, ownership, & use over here, although the details vary state by state.

Federally/ NationWide : No felon*, or DV conviction, or anyone indicted/charged with either a felony or domestic violence (until they're found guilty/innocent)... Nor anyone with an active domestic violence protection order against them, nor anyone under the influence of or addicted to an illegal substance. These groups are not even allowed to possess a firearm, much less use, or buy one legally. There are also a whole lot of laws about which weapons types are legal to possess.
* Any US Military crime that goes to court martial "counts" as a felony, even if it is a misdemeanor offense outside of the military. Ditto, a bad conduct discharge also always counts as a felony.

State : The variances here are huge. States are allowed to make laws more restrictive (not less). My own state is pretty liberal, but includes things such as : No one who is being prescribed a psychiatric medication, several weeks waiting period between purchase of & take-home of pistols & short barreled long guns, anyone who has ever been charged with DV or has had a DVPO filed against them (not just convicted or an active DV protection order), or has had a DUI (drunk driving) conviction, anyone ever convicted of a firearms charge, amongst others. Then it is also illegal to discharge weapons within any urban area except at a licensed range (including in self defense, although if you're proved justified AND didn't hurt anyone else, they usually don't level those charges on you), any kind of armor piercing (aka sharpened) round is illegal, certain frangible rounds are illegal, no fully automatic rifles (semi-auto is fine... But that's still single shot).... The lists go on. And, again, my state is really liberal.

Thank gawd my state is one that allows suppressers, however. I like my ears, first and foremost. But in addition to that suppressed rounds travel at greatly reduced speeds. Which means they're highly unlikely to pass through walls. Hell, after a certain distance (not far, forget the number, need coffee) a leather jacket is sufficient to stop a suppressed pistol round. People think they're all badass because of movies, which cracks me up.

ETA... I just woke up, will pull up stats if I goofed the link after coffee if I misposted. Although it's important to know the 300k+ firearms charges in the US are similar. The vast majority of them stem from people breaking firearms laws, or using / found in possession of them in commission of another crime (burglary, rape, drug sales, etc.), not actually shooting people with them.