news.yahoo.com — In written comments, Henry Statkowski said homeowners have a right and a responsibility to defend against intruders rather than calling police and waiting for help to arrive. Believe it or not, this would not be the first town where every person is required to own a gun. Kennesaw, GA enacted a similar law in 1982.
Dec 8, 2006 View in Crawl 4
mynameissimpsonDec 9, 2006
@treelovinhippie"I'm just saying that Australian gun laws etc seem to be working very well. So well in fact that in my almost 20 years living here (my entire life, in both country towns and cities) I have never even seen a gun, let alone used one.That's gotta be good for crime rates."Why? You are assumimg guns=crime, this is not true. Guns don't turn people into criminals; unless you make it a crime to own one, guns are tools used by criminals. If a country was somehow successful in eliminating all the guns within its borders then gun crimes would disappear, thats a no brainer but would murders go down.Australia still has murders, do you really care if the perpetrator is using a gun or a knife. In Canada, our former government brought in tougher gun laws a few years ago and special interest groups that support them like to look at statistical blips showing gun crimes going down to claim they are working. They totally ignore the fact that the murder rate has remained relatively consistant for decades with a few minor fluctuations. If you want to make your country safer from criminals you need to get to the root causes of this problem not the tools of the trade, and be honest enough to admit that some murders are going to happen no matter what."Sure we still have some crimes with guns, but nowhere near the amount the US does. Getting a gun illegally here is difficult and expensive."Less guns means less crimes commited with guns it does not necessarily mean less crime. Again you are assuming that guns are at the root of the problem when it is merely a tool. A big factor in America is that much of the crime revolves around the governments zealous war on drugs. A large percentage of the murders in the U.S are directly related to the drug trade, gangs settling scores and fighting over turf, addicts robbing and killing clerks at stores to get money to support their expensive habits. If they were to relax these laws or abolish them eventually, they would eliminate most of the murders and crime associated with this black market activity.
siroracleDec 9, 2006
How can a society who needs weapons to defend their home, be based on anything but fear? Respect has nothing to do with who has the biggest gun.
Closed AccountDec 9, 2006
now just which of those 400 hicks doesn't already own a gun?
glitch82Dec 9, 2006
Well, if you knew that everyone living in a certain town had a gun, and you were a criminal, I think you would think twice before trying to burglarize someone's house.Most criminals don't want to have to shoot you, they're just after money. If a criminal knows for sure that you aren't armed, and they are, you're much more vulnerable.
hukedonfonixDec 9, 2006
And you make it sound like your neighborhood is a utopia where everyone's safe and nothing can go wrong. Take a look at your own crime statistics, yeah you have less people shot and killed with firearms, but tell me how many are beaten with bats, are stabbed or have a tire iron swung at their heads.If all the guns just disapered off of this planet everyone would not become a model citizen you know. Who's living in the fantasy world now? And it seems you're pretty much a criminal yourself. "I would not like to live in a place where I allways need to think of not doing a minor crime, because it could be the last thing I ever do." No wonder you want the public disarmed, after all petty theft is just a minor crime...for which you can get shot if the victim was armed.
zaphod2000Dec 9, 2006
No, I do not think a homeowner should have a gun. I do not for a second believe that arming the country will create a more peaceful and safe society. You are absolutely right that I don't think that weapons is a good idea. " Equating nuclear weapons to a gun is just silly and inflated. "I live in a country where the thought of recommending that a normal family have a gun in their house is inflated and sounds totally insane. Handguns are only in the hands of police, and when a shot is fired - either by a criminal, or by a police officer, it is frontpage news even if the shot didn't hurt anyone, because it happens about 3 or 4 times a year. How can anybody WANT to live in an area where they feel safer with a gun under their pillow than without it? Would you feel safer with 2 guns? with 5? Would you prefer to have soldiers posted around your house? How much firepower adds to your quality of life - and when does it start to degrade?
lancehardenburgDec 10, 2006
I may get dugg down for this but honestly, what a small world. I never would have thought that more than even one person on digg also lived in Kennesaw.
zaphod2000Dec 10, 2006
"Do you ever see a situation where guns in the hands of private citizens can be beneficial or protect people? "In a democracy, no. In a society that calls itself civilized and educated, no. Comparing the US with a country like Sudan is hardly reasonable - you accused me of too much hyperbole, so let's look at the actual argument : Does arming America to the teeth reduce crime, create a safer and more peaceful society and provide people with a higher quality of life. I say no - and I don't understand how anybody that sits down and thinks about the bigger picture can think otherwise. Instead of focusing on specific events like someone invading your backyard and your right to shoot him dead in that case, you need to be able to look at this from a higher perspective - it is a mistake to think you are safe because you own a gun.
Closed AccountDec 11, 2006
@Zaphod2000You imposter! Everyone knows *I* am the one true Zaphod, and that I support private gun ownership. Please get a clue, or at the very least, pick a new sn, if you are going to spout nonsense. For a clue, click here: <a class="user" href="http://www.gunsandcrime.org/crvsgraf.html">http://www.gunsandcrime.org/crvsgraf.html</a>
alivenumber5Dec 11, 2006
I saw a special on the history or discovery channel talking about old western movies depicted in Hollywood. You know when a train robber rides his horse up to the trains caboose, jumps on, runs to the front and sticks up the train engineer? One of the guys on the special was talking about how this never happened in real life because the guy would have been so full of lead by the time he reached the second train car. Hell yea.(bombs on bridges are another story)
monk3yboyDec 12, 2006
@4wheelanother reason for the decline in in crime rates was abortion. The guy in freakanomics explained it. When abortion was allowed in general it decreased the births to parents who where more likely to raise kids that would become criminals. At least nationally, yeah the other affects such as police and etc helped too. But the biggest cause for the decline in violent crime rates was abortion...
Closed AccountDec 19, 2006
i didn't say hick because they own guns I said hicks because they live in a town of 400. I live in a city of 5.1 million people and I own a gun.