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

kildare lad

I'd probably buy one , Ive been to a shooting range in America before and had lots of fun shooting an ak 47 , m 16 and a handgun. If I did buy them I'd probably just leave them on the range just for target practice though as I have a child and wouldn't want them in the house , if I was living at home on my own with no kids around id keep one at home for protection. People think guns are illegal in Ireland , they're not , I know a few lads that have legally held shotguns and rifles , it just takes a lot of time and effort to get a licence

Pronto63

Spent nearly 40 years in the the FCA/RDF many of them as a weapons instructor so know how about safety, trigger discipline etc.

Would I want to live in a gun toting society like the US? Absolutely not.

Would I like the feeling that I had to “tool up” so as to protect my family? No

If I could would I own guns? Yes Yes Yes

Why?

I love them!

I loved handling them, firing them, striping and cleaning them.

They are potentially weapons of death but there is something beautiful about the engineering and even craftsmanship that has gone into something like a Bren gun.
My interest would be mostly old guns. I would be the gun version of that old geezer constantly tinkering with an old Jag or Triumph motorbike!

Graces7

JustAThought wrote: »

s. & 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.

I have lived in rural isolation for decades and never felt afraid. Not once. And actually safer out here!

I am terrified of guns. The first time I ever saw real live guns was in Westport here in Mayo. I had driven someone to the bank and was waiting in the car for her. It was in the days when armed soldiers accompanied cash deliveries.. And yep; they arrived and a soldier was all but leaning on the car bonnet, gun close to me. Yukk even typing this. I had never in my long life seen a real gun close up before.

I fought the desperate temptation to leave the car and run. Thankfully..

My passenger came back to find me shaking! She was from Canada so it was nothing new to her and I think she had no idea how I felt. Just the memory of it. Part is due to a nightmare long ago

Hyperbollix

If we had those mad US laws here, I would own one because I would probably feel it necessary for personally safety, and that's the slippery slope that America has fallen down, with terrible results.

We're extremely lucky to have the stringent gun ownership laws we have in Ireland. To be able to go about your business safe in the knowledge that almost no one you deal with is in possession of a gun, that the Gards can operate unarmed and unlike the US, are not trigger happy because every encounter they run into will not almost certainly devolve into a gun battle. A heavily armed society is a sick society.

Nomis21

40 years ago, backpacking around America I got a job in a burger bar in New Orleans. I was the only white guy in the restaurant apart from the very nasty fascist manager. All the other workers lived in the ghetto and were mostly on parole from prison.

One day one of the workers got sacked by the manager. He went home, got a gun and came back and shot the manager dead before robbing about 100 dollars in cash and locking the staff up in the freezer.

Such a regular occurance in New Orleans that it didn't even get covered by the TV news.

If I was allowed a gun in Ireland, for sure the crims would have them too...

kippy

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.

What came first, the crime or the guns?

No, would have no reason to own a gun here even if they were freely and easily available.
As other posters have said you are more likely injure yourself or a family member with it (or vice versa)

biko

I have gun training and am pro gun for adults, particularly for women. Like Ida B. Wells said; "a Winchester rifle should have a place of honour in every black home, and it should be used for that protection which the law refuses to give".

Dual wheels

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?

Definitely- if I resided in a country where everyone carried guns I wouldn’t want to be the one without

punisher5112

I would surely....

If everyone else is then I am....

AlejGuzman68

AlejGuzman68 wrote: »

Have you read of the laws the US still have on the books from the 1800's?I know generally they are not enforced but some over enthusiastic officer could enforce them. An example is in Missouri, you cannot, under any circumstances, drive with an uncaged bear in your car.lol.I wonder are there ridiculous laws still on the books here now that I think of it.I must google it.

It is illegal for a Trinity student to walk the grounds without their sword.

biko

About 25% – 30% (depending on how you count) of Swiss citizens own guns but hasn't had a mass shooting since 2001, when a man stormed the local parliament in Zug, killing 14 people and then himself.

The country has about 2 million privately owned guns in a nation of 8.3 million people. In 2016, the country had 47 attempted homicides with firearms. The country's overall murder rate is near zero.

NeuralNetwork

NeuralNetwork wrote: »

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.

Yeah but they're legal and there is already an arms race then I wouldn't be choosing to get left behind.

kildare lad

Dual wheels wrote: »

Definitely- if I resided in a country where everyone carried guns I wouldn’t want to be the one without

It's better to have it and not need it , than it is to need it and not have it

joeguevara

Switzerland is a good example of high gun ownership but literally zero fatalities from them.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.businessinsider.com/switzerland-gun-laws-rates-of-gun-deaths-2018-2%3famp

Just to be clear, I'm against a Liberal gun ownership policy.

jill_valentine

I grew up on a farm around lots of lads with guns and was in the army reserve for a time and came to the conclusion that the people most eager to have guns are the last people on earth who should have them.

Strumms

biko wrote: »

About 25% – 30% (depending on how you count) of Swiss citizens own guns but hasn't had a mass shooting since 2001, when a man stormed the local parliament in Zug, killing 14 people and then himself.

The country has about 2 million privately owned guns in a nation of 8.3 million people. In 2016, the country had 47 attempted homicides with firearms. The country's overall murder rate is near zero.

Switzerland has a seriously low overall crime rate, tenth lowest on the planet I’m reading...its citizens average the tenth most wealthy on average too...I have friends living there currently, a Canadian girl who married a Swiss dude and she’s happy as a pig in.... living just outside Geneva, pics on fb look stunning... wages are great, she’s earning about 65,000 a year as a manager of what is a mid sized child care facility..

begbysback

biko wrote: »

About 25% – 30% (depending on how you count) of Swiss citizens own guns but hasn't had a mass shooting since 2001, when a man stormed the local parliament in Zug, killing 14 people and then himself.

The country has about 2 million privately owned guns in a nation of 8.3 million people. In 2016, the country had 47 attempted homicides with firearms. The country's overall murder rate is near zero.

That’s only because they are neutral, and too busy making watches

jill_valentine

joeguevara wrote: »

Switzerland is a good example of high gun ownership but literally zero fatalities from them.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.businessinsider.com/switzerland-gun-laws-rates-of-gun-deaths-2018-2%3famp

Just to be clear, I'm against a Liberal gun ownership policy.

Switzerland is generally considered to have a very liberal gun policy, but I'd say it has what I'd call the "Chris Rock" strategy - the ammunition is as carefully regulated as the weapons themselves. Up until recently the national service stuff was issued in a can you were only meant to open under Judgement Day conditions.

It's a weird country, the road tunnels through the mountains have explosives built into them so they can try to seal themselves off if war breaks out. Very pretty, but it feels like Logan's Run or something, just a little bit surreal and sterile.

punisher5112

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGJxhMMvjYU

joeguevara

If I was in the states I'd be lobbying for the legalisation of kinder eggs. We are so lucky to have the god given right to be able to purchase them so easily.

https://metro.co.uk/2017/10/04/why-are-kinder-eggs-banned-in-the-usa-6976543/

Arthur45

joeguevara wrote: »

If I was in the states I'd be lobbying for the legalisation of kinder eggs. We are so lucky to have the god given right to be able to purchase them so easily.

https://metro.co.uk/2017/10/04/why-are-kinder-eggs-banned-in-the-usa-6976543/

Is it still true in 2021 ? I won't understand US, their country are so ****ed up for everything... :eek:

biko

Still true.
Kinder Joy are legal as they don't contain a toy inside the chocolate egg and thus aren't a choke hazard for dummies.
Kinder Surprise are also banned in Chile.

joeguevara

Arthur45 wrote: »

Is it still true in 2021 ? I won't understand US, their country are so ****ed up for everything... :eek:

Like Eddie Murphy I think that they are coming to America
https://www.npr.org/2017/05/26/530257536/after-being-banned-kinder-eggs-are-coming-to-america#:~:text=Transcript-,Kinder%20Eggs%20are%20coming%20to%20the%20U.S.%20%E2%80%94%20legally.,have%20previously%20smuggled%20them%20in.

Arthur45

Anyway they can live without it
We'll eat Kinder Surprise for them

OneEightSeven

Nah because then I would be part of the problem.

If you were allowed to use it to protect your home and family then absolutely. Pointless otherwise.

joeguevara

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

If you were allowed to use it to protect your home and family then absolutely. Pointless otherwise.

We have the law to protect your family and to a lesser extent property so that isn't the issue.

Today I have CCTV, a Ring doorbell, a security alarm, and a panic button.
I think I would also keep several guns for home defense if it were allowed.

I return to this essay by Sam Harris quite often. It is written with the American context in mind, but still gives me a lot of points to consider: The Riddle of the Gun.

Ash.J.Williams

joeguevara wrote: »

We have the law to protect your family and to a lesser extent property so that isn't the issue.

if the law was extended to legalise guns, then the law to protect your family is obsolete and you will need guns.

Graces7

Nomis21 wrote: »

40 years ago, backpacking around America I got a job in a burger bar in New Orleans. I was the only white guy in the restaurant apart from the very nasty fascist manager. All the other workers lived in the ghetto and were mostly on parole from prison.

One day one of the workers got sacked by the manager. He went home, got a gun and came back and shot the manager dead before robbing about 100 dollars in cash and locking the staff up in the freezer.

Such a regular occurance in New Orleans that it didn't even get covered by the TV news.

If I was allowed a gun in Ireland, for sure the crims would have them too...

And if the Gardaí here had guns so would the crims.... and then so would many of the public... It is a contagion.

I am not sure if it has been mentioned but the number of accidental deaths to small children in the US who find a gun in their mother's purse is horrific.