re: Why are handguns legal?

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What do you think would happen to violent crime if handguns were made illegal with, say, a mandatory 10 year prison sentence?

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Little or nothing.

You really think someone willing to commit murder, armed robbery, or some other serious crime is going to worry about a law against his tool of choice?

If you could magically make them all disappear, there would probably be a short dip in the suicide rate but the thug crowd would just switch to shotguns with sawed off grips and barrels. Such a change would probably tremendously improve their hit% and kill rate. Most can't shoot for shait.

Magically getting rid of ALL guns would certainly lower the murder rate, but the violent crime rate would at best stay the same but most likely increase as the thugs came to realize that their victims lacked any meaningful means of self defense.

You're falling into the trap of blaming a behavior on a tool.

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I don't think telling lawful gun owners they can't bring their guns certain places is punishing them

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It depends on which "certain places" you are talking about. A heavily-secured building with metal detectors and security guards is one thing, but if you are going to disarm people, there should be some mechanism for protection there. If an unlawful citizen can easily walk in and shoot up the place, lawful citizens should be able to defend themselves.

But disarming people because they can't be trusted is a punishment. We do that to the mentally ill and to felons currently, but we selectively do that very thing to otherwise-trustworthy citizens simply because we don't trust them in this place even though we trust them in that place.

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Driving and vehicle ownership is pretty heavily regulated, so it's not a comparable situation. Once gun owners are required to register their gun on an annual basis and pay a tax for that ownership, then we can start comparing the two.

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Yes, they are two different things. One is constitutionally-protected while the other one isn't.

The point of the comparison was to say you shouldn't punish an entire group of people because the small minority abuses the right (RKBA) or privilege (driving a car); you deal with the offenders separately.

And there are thousands of laws on the books about firearm ownership and use. It's already highly regulated. But it's also a right, like speech and religion. It's not like driving a car.

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Vols&Shaft83

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Take a deep breath, unhinge your jaw, and take my nuts out of your mouth.

I just don't want them to be legal in bars. My comment from the other thread.

I could see more people carrying in bars even if the establishment doesn't permit them. People will think "Hey, the law says I can, so I'd rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6."

They will put the law over the establishment's policy.

And don't bother giving some long winded response. You can never convince me that it's good to have lots of drunk people and firearms in one place.

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I just don't want them to be legal in bars. My comment from the other thread.

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The same law applies to any business (or residence). Anyone can be told to leave if they have a firearm, and if they don't leave, they can be charged with trespassing.

If you think it will be like the wild west, you're mistaken. Georgia allowing guns in bars is not new. Currently these states also allow them and bars aren't slaughterhouses with angry, gun-totin' drunks as some people think: Arizona, Tennessee, Virginia, Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, and now Georgia.

There are about 20 other states that have ambiguous laws about guns in bars, which is basically an allowance unless the states allow "No Gun" signs to have the force of law.

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If you think it will be like the wild west, you're mistaken.

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I don't. Gun laws were stricter then.

It already is the wild wild west. Never needed a gun, never will.

Inalienable:

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not alienable; not transferable to another or capable of being repudiated: inalienable rights.

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CANNOT BE REPUDIATED. Especially to people who own firearms by those who do not.


If you don't like being able to own guns,especially handguns, then just move to England, Australia, California, NY, CT, MD, MA, DC, or RI.

Otherwise, Molon Labe, bitch.






Dropping some old school wisdom:

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“A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government.” – George Washington

“The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.” - Thomas Jefferson

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Finally:

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A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity

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Hoplophobe, be gone from my sight!

Now this is more of what I expected from this thread. You are more typical of gun owners and a big reason that I don't care for them.