@ orathaic
"that is not a fact."
Yes it is. What else stops a bad guy with a gun?
"that is likewise not true."
Okay, how about Mexico, then? Among the tightest gun laws in the world and the cartels have RPGs, belt-fed machine guns, and enough Kalashnikovs to take over a medium-sized country.
"You're the one cherry-picking"
You started it. Compare the population density and other factors between Canada and the US. We both know that gun statistics do not exist in a vacuum. If Canada decided to restore the basic human rights of its citizens and legalized automatic and selective-fire weapons for all law-abiding citizens, the crime rate would not move.
"And no, i'm not blaming the inanimate object; where did you get that idea. I am blaming the culture."
You can't out-legislate a culture, ESPECIALLY the American "gun culture". Besides, why would you want to? This country was literally built on guns. We didn't exactly use speech to defeat the British. We didn't use due process to win the West.
"Tha(t) is my basic premise - your country allows gun deaths to happen and China does not."
Well, go ahead to move to China, where you are much less likely to be killed by a gun, but much more likely to be killed by an oppressive regime.
I'm not saying that the freedom to keep and bear arms doesn't have some consequences. *My* premise is that these negative consequences are FAR outweighed by the benefits of having weapons available to the public. But the system as it stands is in need of repair.
For starters, why do we not have any firearm safety taught in schools? We teach just about every other kind of safety to kids. Two hours' instruction in basic weapon handling and trigger discipline (using inexpensive and safe dummy weapons) would save countless lives. You cited an example where an 18-year-old shot his buddy? Shit like that wouldn't happen if kids knew how to respect and properly handle firearms.
I'm also not saying that the most important freedom is unlimited. As I've said before, I strongly support harsh penalties for irresponsible gun owners and I also strongly support the idea of a graduated licensing program (in which progressively more advanced classes of firearms require more training to own and carry). I also support a "secure weapons" law, in which gun owners can be punished for leaving firearms unsecured.
The answer is NOT banning weapons by type or banning them altogether. The answer is NOT banning specialist ammunition, such as incendiary or armor-piercing. The answer is NOT banning high-capacity magazines or certain cosmetic features. Furthermore, the answer is NOT "gun-free zones" or otherwise making it difficult/impossible for law-abiding gun owners to carry in certain places. The only place where firearms should be banned is a pressurized airplane, because mixing firearms and people who could potentially be unaware of the dangers of having full-charge, full metal jacket ammunition on board is just a bad idea. Other than that, law-abiding and trained carriers should not have to worry about disarming themselves before going anywhere.
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Constitutional dictatorship
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