If we had similar laws to US would you own a gun?

dulpit

Hey,

I was watching an interview recently and one of the people being interviewed mentioned offhand that he owned a shotgun. This was a bunch of liberal Americans, living in California (I think) and the offhand manner which they mentioned their shotgun for home security, it was like me saying I have a house alarm.

It got me wondering, if for some bizarre reason we adopted some of the US's laws re. gun ownership - would you own one? If so, why?

The Mighty Quinn

No.

I think having a gun can lead to the situation where it's reached for in a moment of anger, hot-headedness and guns can end badly.

I'd guess they would be responsible for more domestic deaths than intruder deaths.

Gruffalux

Yes.
For after the zombie apocalypse. I will shoot first, questions later.
Seriously. Make my day.

Simi

Given how you're statistically more likely to accidentally (or intentionally) harm yourself or others you care about, than to successfully use it to defend yourself or those you care about, no.

ec18

probably...or at least I'd be a gun club member

12gauge dave

I already own a firearm here in Ireland as many do.

Irish law allows firearm possession on may-issue basis. With approximately seven civilian firearms per 100 people, Ireland is the 107th most armed country in the world.

Gruffalux

12gauge dave wrote: »

I already own a firearm here in Ireland as many do.

Irish law allows firearm possession on may-issue basis. With approximately seven civilian firearms per 100 people, Ireland is the 107th most armed country in the world.

We are probably among the few people in our remote area that don't have a gun. Rural farmers often have shotguns. Handy neighbours post apocalypse. That and the herds of cows for eating.
But it is surprising who has guns. Lived outside a seaside village once and was chatting to a neighbour along the remote road and she had a pistol. No fear in her of strangers calling. The same girl would shoot baddies handy enough. Not a bother to her.

Mr. Incognito

If we had similar education system then probably.

Lollipops23

No way. I'm far too clumsy.

ShyMets

Gruffalux wrote: »

We are probably among the few people in our remote area that don't have a gun. Rural farmers often have shotguns. Handy neighbours post apocalypse. That the herds of cows for eating.
But it is surprising who has guns. Lived outside a seaside village once and was chatting to a neighbour along the remote road and she had a pistol. No fear in her of strangers calling. The same girl would shoot baddies handy enough. Not a bother to her.

Was that in Ireland. As handguns are banned

Gruffalux

ShyMets wrote: »

Was that in Ireland. As handguns are banned

Yes. It was an illegal gun. Are you going to take it off her?

ShyMets

Gruffalux wrote: »

Yes. It was an illegal gun. Are you going to take it off her?

Think I'll pass on that suggestion.

jam_mac_jam

If we had a similar amount of crime that they have yes I would have a gun for my own protection.

If a similar amount of crime that we gave in Ireland no.

Wibbs

ShyMets wrote: »

Was that in Ireland. As handguns are banned

I'm probably way off here and no doubt I'll be corrected by expert folks in this, but many years back a Guard told me that pistols aren't technically banned here, but the chances of getting a licence to have one would be minute.

Ash.J.Williams

if we had their laws we would have to have guns

igCorcaigh

The Mighty Quinn wrote: »

No.

I think having a gun can lead to the situation where it's reached for in a moment of anger, hot-headedness and guns can end badly.

I'd guess they would be responsible for more domestic deaths than intruder deaths.

Yes, some tragic deaths of loved ones because of guns and fear.

No, I would not.

Arms are for the army.

CIARAN_BOYLE

Id only ever own a gun if I was an educated gun owner.

I'd want to be comfortable in my ability to use and secure the weapon properly and I'd want to have practiced using it under conditions designed to trigger an adrenal response.

I would never buy a firearm for funsies or store it unsecurely around persons who were not properly educated in its use.

It would most likely be stored in a gunsafe and therefore would not be likely to be useful in defense of the home against intruders.

Effects

ShyMets wrote: »

Was that in Ireland. As handguns are banned

That's not entirely true.

ShyMets

Wibbs wrote: »

I'm probably way off here and no doubt I'll be corrected by expert folks in this, but many years back a Guard told me that pistols aren't technically banned here, but the chances of getting a licence to have one would be minute.

No I think you might be right. My Father was a Guard and can recall him mentioning a grey area between a pistol and a handgun.

But a rule licenses are not given

Tabnabs

Pistols are licenced and legal, like other firearms in Ireland.

http://nasrpc.ie/pistol/

Wibbs

If we could have firearms other than shotguns and small calibre hunting rifles I'd probably have a couple, but from the historic/collecting side of things. I'd definitely have one of these.



Mauser C96, one of the earliest semi automatic pistols, from the turn of the 20th century(design wise). Has been the basis for many science fiction pistols, including the ones in Star Wars. I shot one many moons ago in the US and for some reason it was the only pistol I tried that I could actually hit the target with. With the rest you'd probably be safer standing in front of me.

NeuralNetwork

In Ireland in general, if you're unfortunate enough to be broken into, other than in what are pretty unusual aggravated burglaries, there's very, very little chance of a gun being pulled. In the vast majority of cases you're dealing with opportunists.

If you're in the US and someone breaks into your house, you pretty much need to take for granted that they're probably armed with a gun. If a police officer pulls someone over, they have to assume they're armed too.

It just ends up as an arms race. Criminals get guns, the general public get bigger guns, the police get bigger guns, then criminals get even bigger guns and the cycle just goes on and on until, as you have now, there are more guns than people and little old ladies thinking they need automatic weapons.

ShyMets

Tabnabs wrote: »

Pistols are licenced and legal, like other firearms in Ireland.

http://nasrpc.ie/pistol/

Thanks. That's what my Father meant shooting pistols are legal.

Gruffalux

jam_mac_jam wrote: »

If we had a similar amount of crime that they have yes I would have a gun for my own protection.

If a similar amount of crime that we gave in Ireland no.

I have lady friends who live in very remote out of the way places and seriously the amount of bother they get from people turning up drunk at night or just chancing their arm Some have spray cans or big sticks near the door. Big dogs. There is always that subconscious awareness. Sometimes himself works away and I would be alone on a dark hill. Personally I think a lady in that situation should be able to fire off a few rounds up high out the window if needs be and sleep easy in her bed.

Wibbs

ShyMets wrote: »

a grey area between a pistol and a handgun.

A pistol is a handgun. Just another name for the type. Though I suppose there are "machine pistols", but generally speaking pistol = handgun.

JustAThought

With our countries suicide rates it would be madness to facilitate guns.

Was googling face transplants last night (! quiet year!) and its shocking to see how many attempted gun suicides end in shocking facial disfigurements . Shocking number of the face transplants in the US are young people whose gun aim did not match their intentions. Not fir the faint hearted.

Their Dept of Defence funds many of them as they are experimental and match the kinds of injuries soldiers are coming home from Afghanistan with :0 Another reason not to change our gun laws. & I’d like to think I wouldn’t get one, but if I lived up a laneway isolated in the middle of nowhere with our approach to crime & rotating door policy I might be extremely tempted.

jam_mac_jam

Gruffalux wrote: »

I have lady friends who live in very remote out of the way places and seriously the amount of bother they get from people turning up drunk at night or just chancing their arm Some have spray cans or big sticks near the door. Big dogs. There is always that subconscious awareness. Sometimes himself works away and I would be alone on a dark hill. Personally I think a lady in that situation should be able to fire off a few rounds up high out the window if needs be and sleep easy in her bed.

Yeah I can see why you would have a gun in that situation. It's a different situation from living ten minutes away from a Garda station in the middle of an estate.

If I was living in a remote area I could see the need for one.

I fired a handgun at a gun range is the states years ago. It was weird how easy it was to walk in off the street and then be on a live range with little to no instruction about 10 mins later.

I found the whole experience a little unnerving, knowing there were people to the left and right of me firing away and, if I wanted to, I could "go postal."

Plus, it didn't help that I'm left handed and didn't ask for a suitable pistol. Cue cases being ejected at my face.

Funny overall, because it was really something I was looking forward to as a "tick the box of things I've done" but I didn't enjoy it at all.

And I'm a really crap shot, it seems.

Eh, so no.

Sam Quentin

Yes I would and I'd have no hesitation using it if anyone came at me in my home or was taking my property without my consent.

whisky_galore

Gruffalux wrote: »

We are probably among the few people in our remote area that don't have a gun. Rural farmers often have shotguns. Handy neighbours post apocalypse. That and the herds of cows for eating.

Farming background, never had a gun on the household in my lifetime.
There were bits of war of independence guns lying around, all the complete ones were handed up to be destroyed maybe 50 or more years ago.

As a nation, don't have the hard-on for guns and their ownership that Yanks have and that can only be a good thing.

Gruffalux

Sam Quentin wrote: »

Yes I would and I'd have no hesitation using it if anyone came at me in my home or was taking my property without my consent.

I wouldn't shoot someone taking my stuff. Would just hide or escape. But if someone tried to rape me I would shoot them. If I had a gun.

seamus

No.

All of the statistics from the US show that one way or another, owning a gun makes you or a family member more likely to be killed by a gun.

Ireland is not dangerous enough in any respect to justify owning one. We don't have high rates of violent crime outside of specific pockets of gangland crime and we don't have any wild predators that pose a danger to humans.

The DayDream

No. And if we did change the laws I would consider moving away. I grew up in a large US city as the son of Irish immigrants in a rough area. Had a gun pulled on me on the train in a stick up. I was 15. I had nothing on me but a train token and my skateboard. Which the robber didnt believe, and after checking my pockets cracked me with the butt of the pistol on the top of the head several times in frustration. Having a gun wouldn't have helped me, he had the drop on me from the getgo. Lucky I wasn't capped (I've often wondered if the gun was loaded or not).

Kid I went to high school with went to college near a super dangerous part of the city. He was robbed for the price of a six pack of beer he was on his way to the corner pub to buy. Gave the cash and ran off and they still shot him in the back. He crawled into the pub and died just as his twin brother who heard the commotion and sirens came into the pub looking for him. He was on the phone to his gf when it happened, the last thing she heard him say was, 'What? I don't have any money. Here, that's all I have.'

It was a 17 year old and 15 year old kid that robbed him. They only caught them bc the 15 yr old, who wasn't the shooter, recognized John. He used to go into the pizza place John worked at and say he was hungry and had no money and John would give him a free slice of pizza. He felt guilty and rang the cops and confessed.

The funeral was so incredibly sad. A 19 year old boy from a single parent family with a twin brother cut down in his first year at college. And I know people always say this when someone dies, but he really was a nice guy who never had a bad word to say about anyone, true gent.

These kind of stories are common place in America where guns are legal, not to mention the mass shootings that are becoming more frequent. I love not having to worry about gun violence here. Having a gun might make you feel safer but none of the situations me or my classmate were in would have been saved by having one. You're very unlikely to ever be able to get your gun and point it at the bad guy and shoot them before they shoot you, they will catch you by surprise and have it pointed at you first. So what's the point? Guns being plentiful and easy to access just makes life so much more dangerous. Anyone who thinks that having a gun makes them safer is a pure idiot who is ignoring statistics and watching too many Hollywood films.

JustAThought

seamus wrote: »

No.

All of the statistics from the US show that one way or another, owning a gun makes you or a family member more likely to be killed by a gun.

Ireland is not dangerous enough in any respect to justify owning one. We don't have high rates of violent crime outside of specific pockets of gangland crime and we don't have any wild predators that pose a danger to humans.

oh yes we do. problem is, they’re the two legged kind.

Fr Tod Umptious

I live in the US for a number of years.

I did not own a gun, none of my friends owned guns.

I know more gun owners here in Ireland than I ever knew in the US.

Effects

jam_mac_jam wrote: »

Yeah I can see why you would have a gun in that situation. It's a different situation from living ten minutes away from a Garda station in the middle of an estate.

That's not really how it works. Even living ten minutes from a Garda station doesn't mean there's Gardaí available when you need them.

I'm two minutes from a Garda station and it can take them an hour to respond to calls sometimes.

Harry Palmr

Given how (by reputation) coked up much of middle class Ireland seems to be I think we'd be wise to say no to guns in the hands of weekend warriors post pub and clubland either fractious cos they are high or suicidal cos they are low. Not to mention the disfunctioning alcoholics, abused children now grown up carrying demons with them, and then there's "Anto" who is always looking for a fight but might have no police record.

Gruffalux

The DayDream wrote: »

Anyone who thinks that having a gun makes them safer is a pure idiot who is ignoring statistics and watching too many Hollywood films.

Reading this makes me revise my opinion. I would now accept a secret gun that only I know about.

murpho999

Sam Quentin wrote: »

Yes I would and I'd have no hesitation using it if anyone came at me in my home or was taking my property without my consent.

So where would you keep this weapon so that it's out of reach of children but also quickly accessible for use against the intruder in your house?

ELM327

Yes, I would own several.

murpho999

Outside of work related reasons ranging from farming ,security forces or sport I just cannot think of one valid and logical reason to own a firearm.

Just totally not necessary for anyone and does not offer any extra protection and levels of serious crime in Ireland is at a very low level so chances of actually every needing to use it to protect yourself, family or property is very low.

Feisar

Does the OP think guns are illegal in Ireland?

Panthro

I wouldn't own a gun..


I'd own loads!

Pew pew mother puckers!

Mad_maxx

dulpit wrote: »

Hey,

I was watching an interview recently and one of the people being interviewed mentioned offhand that he owned a shotgun. This was a bunch of liberal Americans, living in California (I think) and the offhand manner which they mentioned their shotgun for home security, it was like me saying I have a house alarm.

It got me wondering, if for some bizarre reason we adopted some of the US's laws re. gun ownership - would you own one? If so, why?

id absolutely own a gun if the laws here were more similar to the U.S

Deise Vu

whisky_galore wrote: »

Farming background, never had a gun on the household in my lifetime.
There were bits of war of independence guns lying around, all the complete ones were handed up to be destroyed maybe 50 or more years ago.

As a nation, don't have the hard-on for guns and their ownership that Yanks have and that can only be a good thing.

There was an amnesty to hand in unlicensed guns in the early 70’s alright. My dad was a guard and he brought home the gun register one time which I immediately devoured.

It included a list of the amnesty guns as well as the registered ones. Two things I recall was someone from Tramore handed in a Schmeisser machine pistol (!!!) and Stanley Kubrick got a shotgun license when he was filming Barry Lyndon. Didn’t think they would give an Irish license to a foreigner but I read it myself. So much for the difficulty of getting a license.

Sandor Clegane

Yes.

I believe in the idea of being able to defend yourself/family/home/possessions from potential threats, you can't rely on the law in this country, all you have to do is look at the free ride travellers, scumbags and drug addicts get in this country.

ThewhiteJesus

i would 100% own a gun, probably a rifle to do some hunting

kal7

No, Too dangerous for all involved to have guns around, in any country, and especially in US with the attitude of some people.

They should make bullets really expensive too.

I have shot all sorts of guns at ranges and in uk army cadets as secondary school teenager. So they can be stored safely, but not in every house.

Although there is I believe a high gun ownership in Switzerland and very little issue with that.

Nobody needs an assault rifle for hunting, if you do you are a crap hunter.

RobbingBandit

Nope all I need is my trusty murder of crowbars

YellowLead

I’d be more likely to consider leaving the country.
I’d be worried about not having a gun in a country where they were freely allowed for fear of them being used on me. On the other hand I don’t think I’d want to be pointing one at any intruder for fear I would shoot them dead (yes I know they shouldn’t be in my home trying to steal my car etc but I still wouldn’t want to live with the guilt of shooting a human and depriving somebody of their father/son.)
So if gun ownership became widespread here (outside of the farming community) I might move. Though interesting to hear on this thread that Switzerland have a high level of ownership if that’s true, and they don’t have an issue. We might be less disciplined however...

Gruffalux

America has a lot of guns, undoubtedly. But they like to go hog on everything. Too many pancakes. Cars too big. Etc. There are lots of ordinary quiet countries where there are a fair amount of guns, eg Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Canada, Cyprus, Austria, Malta. All of those countries have about 1 gun per 3 people. That is a reasonable amount of firearms and they are not savaging each other.

On a lighter note I have worked out the scenarios. You can have windmills, polytunnels, goats, acres of permaculture forest, and you can know how to knit your own shoes, but if there is ever a serious crises guns are your only key to self sufficiency. ps I don't have a gun.