Gun Control Topic

[Smaland]

Quotations from the video:

Starting at 0:44: At the time this video was posted, Pat Toomey was a serving U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania. In the video, Toomey says that "... the vast majority of 18, 19 and 20-year-olds in Pennsylvania who have a rifle or a shotgun, they're not a threat to anyone. They're law-abiding citizens."

Starting at 1:05: Referring to people who own firearms, U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) says that "these are people who by and large ... are helping us stop crimes; these are people who are well trained, who actually go out there and help prevent crimes"

Starting at 2:25: According to CBS news correspondent Nancy Cordes, "As for banning bump stocks, Mr. Trump said today that he is going to write up an executive order shortly to do it himself, no legislation required."

[Smaland]

This video is part of the content at the YouTube channel Inside Russia; at the time this video was created, the channel was named Letters to King. The video was recorded shortly after the Kazan school shooting of May 11, 2021.

[eastern]

As a European it's a crazy concept for me to comprehend that in some places, anyone can buy a gun.

[Todesritter]

As a European it's a crazy concept for me to comprehend that in some places, anyone can buy a gun.

Why is it crazy? Do you think guns are that much more dangerous than a knife, hammer, axe, or car? Or that most guns used for the perpetration of crime come from legal sources? That black market trade doesn't exist wherever you are, or that people can't simply steal? That some lunatic won't come up with home-made explosives, acid, or drive a truck into a crowd just because guns are banned?

I am not fundamentally anti-gun for a very simple reason, and that is demographics. I feel safe where I live because it is a semi-rural white area with no immigrants or extra-european minorities with a good standard of living, and as such violent crime is low. Not because it's hard to get guns. Many of my friends and some family members own guns, some carry; nothing has ever happened because they're not deranged or idiots. You can see it proven in the crime statistics of many major european cities that banning guns doesn't make a place safe, because it's ultimately less so a matter of whether one has access to weapons, but what kind of people live in a certain place. And the kind of person who shouldn't be permitted to carry a gun, whether due to low intellect or mental instability or a violent culture, is not the person I want in the local society I inhabit regardless of access to weapons. That goes even beside the fact that normal, upstanding people have a right to defend themselves.

France, Belgium and Sweden have a murder rate twice that of Switzerland and Czech Republic, two countries with lax gun laws in comparison to the rest of Europe. Switzerland has the second lowest crime index in Europe; Sweden, France, Belgium and the UK, all countries with a high level of immigration, are within the top 10. In fact, the highest intentional homicide rate is exclusively among countries of Africa, South and Central America and the Carribean, and Mexico. Middle Eastern countries and the US are just behind.

The answer to violent crime is controlling demographics, poverty and social cohesion.

[eastern]

Why is it crazy? Do you think guns are that much more dangerous than a knife, hammer, axe, or car? Or that most guns used for the perpetration of crime come from legal sources? That black market trade doesn't exist wherever you are, or that people can't simply steal? That some lunatic won't come up with home-made explosives, acid, or drive a truck into a crowd just because guns are banned?

I am not fundamentally anti-gun for a very simple reason, and that is demographics. I feel safe where I live because it is a semi-rural white area with no immigrants or extra-european minorities with a good standard of living, and as such violent crime is low. Not because it's hard to get guns. Many of my friends and some family members own guns, some carry; nothing has ever happened because they're not deranged or idiots. You can see it proven in the crime statistics of many major european cities that banning guns doesn't make a place safe, because it's ultimately less so a matter of whether one has access to weapons, but what kind of people live in a certain place. And the kind of person who shouldn't be permitted to carry a gun, whether due to low intellect or mental instability or a violent culture, is not the person I want in the local society I inhabit regardless of access to weapons. That goes even beside the fact that normal, upstanding people have a right to defend themselves.

France, Belgium and Sweden have a murder rate twice that of Switzerland and Czech Republic, two countries with lax gun laws in comparison to the rest of Europe. Switzerland has the second lowest crime index in Europe; Sweden, France, Belgium and the UK, all countries with a high level of immigration, are within the top 10. In fact, the highest intentional homicide rate is exclusively among countries of Africa, South and Central America and the Carribean, and Mexico. Middle Eastern countries and the US are just behind.

The answer to violent crime is controlling demographics, poverty and social cohesion.

Its just a crazy concept to me. I dont need to be lectured about why we all need guns. I just think its a crazy concept i cant fully comprehend as a European because its not familiar to many of us.

[Todesritter]

Its just a crazy concept to me. I dont need to be lectured about why we all need guns. I just think its a crazy concept i cant fully comprehend as a European because its not familiar to many of us.

I'm also European, I've lived most of my life in central Europe, but I'm not a total urbanite so it's not like I've never shot a rifle before. Maybe in the total west like Britain it's weird.