They Just Broke In...

[ForeverZer0]

I don't understand either. Are you proposing I should have invited them in, or just making a poor attempt at trolling?

 

[Jason]

I think he means you can scare people away without using guns... I mean, the same thing applies here too, if someone breaks into your house, and you pull a gun out on them, you'll have a longer prison sentence than they will...

It seems most people in the US think it's safer to have a gun, since that's the answer to all of your problems...

 

[Venetia]

That's retarded.
You should NEVER be punished for defending yourself.

Anyway in Britain, guns are illegal. They're not here. If an armed robber has a gun, it wouldn't do you even a lick of good to run at them with a baseball bat.
(Also, you CAN still get guns in Britain. Despite their being illegal. All that means is that only the WRONG people will have the guns.)

And hell, as a woman, I wouldn't feel safe just having a baseball bat, even if the armed burglars didn't have guns. How hard would it be for them to just grab my bat? Maybe I could get a single blow in, but then the other dude's got me. Done.
If I had a .45 pointed at their pretty little faces though, they'd probably think otherwise. I'm a pretty good shot. I'm a hell of a lot better with a gun than a damn bat.

 

[Juan J. Sánchez]

I don't live anywhere near the United Kingdom or the United States, however, I firmly believe if someone is trying to affect the well being of either you or a member of your family, you should be allowed to defend yourself. If I go live in the US, I'm definitely getting myself a gun. Over here it's not worth it, since people will actually shoot you for a petty crime. Seriously, it's getting pretty violent. The best thing you can do to defend yourself over here is basically just let the bad people do whatever they want. Not to imagine what it must be like in the rest of Latin America...

 

[dadevvtsvre]

That's retarded.
You should NEVER be punished for defending yourself.

Anyway in Britain, guns are illegal. They're not here. If an armed robber has a gun, it wouldn't do you even a lick of good to run at them with a baseball bat.
(Also, you CAN still get guns in Britain. Despite their being illegal. All that means is that only the WRONG people will have the guns.)

And hell, as a woman, I wouldn't feel safe just having a baseball bat, even if the armed burglars didn't have guns. How hard would it be for them to just grab my bat? Maybe I could get a single blow in, but then the other dude's got me. Done.
If I had a .45 pointed at their pretty little faces though, they'd probably think otherwise. I'm a pretty good shot. I'm a hell of a lot better with a gun than a damn bat.

The USA is a culture of guns. I actually think this is pretty ridiculous but that's because I'm Canadian and have entirely different sentiments towards firearms.

This is one of the reasons I don't think I'd ever want to live in the US. If you spent a couple months in a country like Canada or Britain you would see just how gun-centric Americans are. Armed robberies just don't happen here. Period. Maybe in a big city like Toronto. But never in my entire life have I ever even remotely feared the possibility of being robbed at gunpoint.

It's just something our two countries will never agree on.

 

[Venetia]

I don't live anywhere near the United Kingdom or the United States, however, I firmly believe if someone is trying to affect the well being of either you or a member of your family, you should be allowed to defend yourself. If I go live in the US, I'm definitely getting myself a gun.

I've gotten by my whole adult life without a gun and have done fine. You don't NEED one. But if you feel unsafe then yeah you should be allowed to defend yourself with one.
In your case Juan, you can't buy a firearm unless you're a citizen (and have no record of violent crime). You have to fill out a test form, verify your naturalized identity, and then wait 3 days for the approval. (If you become a naturalized citizen then you will not have problems.)

Though I've heard that some people have bought guns "under the table" at gunshows or conventions or from random private sellers. You still have to register it to be able to wield it though (by that I mean, wield it without fear of blowback). Even if you shoot someone who is trying to kill you, if you shoot them with an unregistered firearm, you get charges against you for discharging or owning an unregistered firearm. (Which are usually not terribly serious; it's based on the circumstances).

just FYI.

 

[Venetia]

This is one of the reasons I don't think I'd ever want to live in the US. If you spent a couple months in a country like Canada or Britain you would see just how gun-centric Americans are. Armed robberies just don't happen here. Period. Maybe in a big city like Toronto. But never in my entire life have I ever even remotely feared the possibility of being robbed at gunpoint.

It's just something our two countries will never agree on.

I can fully respect that POV. I mean, if there are no guns, there will be no gun crimes. It makes sense.

The problem I have (and the problem that many other Americans have) is that I don't want the government to have enough power to say that THEY can have guns, but WE can't.

Our very country was founded on the principle of being able to arm yourself.
That's a tragic sentiment to peaceful people, but it's an undeniable fact.
If the Brits had somehow figured out a way to keep us from ever owning guns, we would have never been able to define ourselves as our own nation.

A government exists to serve, but power breeds power abuse. It is inevitable.
Stripping basic means of self-defense of liberty is the same as stripping liberty.

Like you said, it's something Canucks & Brits will never agree with us on. Our history is ours BECAUSE of private gun ownership.
Unfortunately, that also means that we are subject to all the negatives that comes with that.

If it makes you feel any better, I DO support stricter gun control, in that I feel there should be a stricter rubric for giving out firearm licenses and sales of firearms.
Three days and a simple background check isn't enough. It shouldn't be harder to get a passport than it is to get a gun.

 

[Mega Flare]

I think he means you can scare people away without using guns... I mean, the same thing applies here too, if someone breaks into your house, and you pull a gun out on them, you'll have a longer prison sentence than they will...

It seems most people in the US think it's safer to have a gun, since that's the answer to all of your problems...

This. Thanks jbrist for explainig it :p

 

[MarioSuperStar]

@Juan J. Sanchez: I know how you feel with this. I'm from Latin America too, and the situation is pretty much the same as yours. There was a time where burglars broke in houses around mine. I was pretty scared I was going to be next. Luckily, nothing happened, as the neighbors called the cops to make surveillance around there.
They have also tried to pick my house's lock and break my gate's lock.

 

[Jason]

I think he means you can scare people away without using guns... I mean, the same thing applies here too, if someone breaks into your house, and you pull a gun out on them, you'll have a longer prison sentence than they will...

It seems most people in the US think it's safer to have a gun, since that's the answer to all of your problems...

This. Thanks jbrist for explainig it :p

I've got your back man :thumb:

 

[dadevvtsvre]

This is one of the reasons I don't think I'd ever want to live in the US. If you spent a couple months in a country like Canada or Britain you would see just how gun-centric Americans are. Armed robberies just don't happen here. Period. Maybe in a big city like Toronto. But never in my entire life have I ever even remotely feared the possibility of being robbed at gunpoint.

It's just something our two countries will never agree on.

I can fully respect that POV. I mean, if there are no guns, there will be no gun crimes. It makes sense.

The problem I have (and the problem that many other Americans have) is that I don't want the government to have enough power to say that THEY can have guns, but WE can't.

Our very country was founded on the principle of being able to arm yourself.
That's a tragic sentiment to peaceful people, but it's an undeniable fact.
If the Brits had somehow figured out a way to keep us from ever owning guns, we would have never been able to define ourselves as our own nation.

A government exists to serve, but power breeds power abuse. It is inevitable.
Stripping basic means of self-defense of liberty is the same as stripping liberty.

Like you said, it's something Canucks & Brits will never agree with us on. Our history is ours BECAUSE of private gun ownership.
Unfortunately, that also means that we are subject to all the negatives that comes with that.

If it makes you feel any better, I DO support stricter gun control, in that I feel there should be a stricter rubric for giving out firearm licenses and sales of firearms.
Three days and a simple background check isn't enough. It shouldn't be harder to get a passport than it is to get a gun.

Yeah, I get that. Like I said, it's two completely different cultures when it comes to gun control. Neither is particularly right or wrong. I mean, Canada is a big country just like the US, and for hundreds of years you needed a gun to defend yourself against bears and beavers and rabid squirrels. But for some reason along the way Canadians stopped being infatuated with firearms and Americans didn't.

Anyway this is getting a little off-topic so I'll stop talking about guns in particular. I will say, however, that I think guns give a false illusion of safety - the probability that you accidentally shoot yourself or another innocent person in a dangerous, chaotic situation is incredibly high. Just one example among thousands - in the Jan. 2011 shooting that almost killed Gabrielle Giffords, a bystander almost killed an innocent person, who was in turn trying to shoot the shooter. It's very easy to hurt the wrong people with guns.

 

[karlaa]

uh, itnersting story i must sy that. karla