dc0de wrote:

adam wrote:

people go crazy + guns = this

i'm not suggesting recinding the 2nd amendment -- i think that would be a great but it's never gonna happen and even in the unlikely event of it being done too many Americans will never disarm

Well, if we disarm all of the populous, then we'll be just like Britain.

The police don't have weapons, and the criminals do.

The reason I'm never going to disarm, is that it's my right to bear arms, just as it's my right to free speech.

I don't think that the issue here is one of Guns, it is one of a twisted individual, making it his last stand, and taking too many people with him.

Would you say that we should stop using fertilizer and diesel fuel if he had done the same with a bomb?

I realize that this is a tragedy, and my thoughts and prayers go out to those who have lost loved ones. But a knee jerk reaction to remove my right to bear arms is not the answer.

you're missing the minor point I was making

if we disarm all of the populous, then we'll be just like Britain.

things like this virtually don't happen here because people aren't allowed guns
Dunblane happened and we had a law banning hand guns
when people go crazy here they do it with knives or swords
which obviously lessens the body count

the main point I was making however is that disarming America just isn't a viable option whatever the law says because as of now there are just too many guns in circulation and too many people who will never surrender their guns -- it would be more like Prohibition if such legislation was passed

passing legislation restricting guns in the UK is a lot easier because we start from a very different position than u in America

but your point about freedom is spurious
no freedom is absolute
free speech isn't absolute
your right to bear arms isn't absolute

what about nuclear weapons
your government has nuclear weapons
the founding fathers argument was that the population should be armed so it can overthrow the government
but that argument is politely and reasonably ignored now with reference to nuclear weapons

there's a SF novel by Charles Stross called Iron Sunrise in which they have replicator/nano technology and in one of the opening scenes one of the central characters has to go in and negiotiate with a nutter who has a home grown nuclear weapon

re fertilizer apart from Oklahoma u don't have a history of fertilizer bombs
Britain does via the IRA so here if someone buys chemicals in sufficient quantities that could be used to build bombs then flags will go up

when u have more experience of domestic terrorism u might do the same

RE: Virginia Tech Newsrolls