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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?

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murpho999

Feisar wrote: »

Does the OP think guns are illegal in Ireland?

You know what the OP meant.

It's illegal for most of the population to walk the streets carrying a weapon and it's tightly regulated unlike in America.

Sharpyshoot

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.

Have you taken all the unlicensed firearms into that statistic?

rossie1977

Only between 30-40% of Americans actually own guns.

The vast majority of the weapons are in the hands of 3% of the population

Yurt2

Ireland would be a disaster zone if guns were more widely available or we had 2nd amendment like rights. We are a hot-headed people, and we know how to hold grudges as a culture very well.

Signore Fancy Pants

Yes I would have a few....but ONLY because other gobshytes would also have them.

corner of hells

I used have a fire arms licence and the Fish and Chip Army allowed me fire pistols and SMGs back in the day.

Id like to own a mortar now and let a few shells off every so often at the M50.

I Am The Law

Go ahead punk, make the tae!

Antares35

Without a doubt. Given the way people behaved over fúckin bread and hand sanitiser when the pandemic hit, I'd prefer to be able to fend for myself and my family if something worse were to happen and lawlessness ensued.

Also, I'm confident that if there was an intruder in my house, the Gardaí would tell me they "don't have a car" to send out, so any which way we can strengthen our defences without relying on the motor tax police would be a good thing.

[Deleted User]

Remember listening to a triathlon podcast and the hosts were chit chatting about Christmas presents, one guy had bought a gun for his wife.
But what shocked me was how casual they were about it.

GreeBo

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.

How often is a gun successfully used to protect anything versus someone getting accidentally shot? How often does a gun stop a crime in the US versus facilitate one?

Ignoring the obvious issues of someone shooting you with your own gun, its just asking for lots of "I shot them before they shot me....I didnt realise they didn't have a gun and instead were holding a potato though"

And thats before you bring alcohol into the equation.

Signore Fancy Pants

corner of hells wrote: »

I used have a fire arms licence and the Fish and Chip Army allowed me fire pistols and SMGs back in the day.

Id like to own a mortar now and let a few shells off every so often at the M50.

Don't get a 60, get an M89 knee mortar, more.
portable.

BrianD3

Would be happy with a little .22 like this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcpUSf7EZ8Y

AFAIK stuff like this costs upwards of 20 grand in the US as there are limited numbers of them. Civilians can't own full auto firearms manufactured after 1986.

America clearly has some issues with firearms but other countries also have far more liberal laws than Ireland and seem to do ok. For example, Germany's firearms death rate is 1.04 per 100k people, ours is 0.87. Yet, Germany has 32 firearms per 100 people whereas we have 7. There is an acknowledgement in Germany that adults can be trusted and can enjoy using and owning guns.

Even Northern Ireland with its history of issues with violence has more liberal laws than the Republic in terms of black powder firearms, crossbows, and air rifles. We have some of the strictest laws in the world.

Junkyard Tom

Phased plasma rifle in the 40 watt range.

[Deleted User]

Antares35 wrote: »

Without a doubt. Given the way people behaved over fúckin bread and hand sanitiser when the pandemic hit, I'd prefer to be able to fend for myself and my family if something worse were to happen and lawlessness ensued.............

Owning a gun would facilitate you being able to fend for yourself and your family if something worse were to happen and lawlessness ensued?
Very simplistic view, guns would be widespread of folk with your views were able to get one....... once guns are widespread it's easy to get one illegally. It's already not too difficult to get a gun illegally over here.

rossie1977

Augeo wrote: »

Owning a gun would facilitate you being able to fend for yourself and your family if something worse were to happen and lawlessness ensued?
Very simplistic view, guns would be widespread of folk with your views were able to get one....... once guns are widespread it's easy to get one illegally. It's already not too difficult to get a gun illegally over here.

Not really. The American system is just a diaster and NRA and others take alot of blame for that.

Switzerland has one of the highest gun ownerships in the world and yet everyone isn't killing each other.

Comedy piece but highlights how to properly govern a society with guns

AlejGuzman68

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.

Feisar

murpho999 wrote: »

You know what the OP meant.

It's illegal for most of the population to walk the streets carrying a weapon and it's tightly regulated unlike in America.

Oh ok. Tbh I didn’t pick up on that but I didn’t spend to long thinking it over. A good lot of people think they are banned here.

Feisar

BrianD3 wrote: »

Would be happy with a little .22 like this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcpUSf7EZ8Y

AFAIK stuff like this costs upwards of 20 grand in the US as there are limited numbers of them. Civilians can't own full auto firearms manufactured after 1986.

America clearly has some issues with firearms but other countries also have far more liberal laws than Ireland and seem to do ok. For example, Germany's firearms death rate is 1.04 per 100k people, ours is 0.87. Yet, Germany has 32 firearms per 100 people whereas we have 7. There is an acknowledgement in Germany that adults can be trusted and can enjoy using and owning guns.

Even Northern Ireland with its history of issues with violence has more liberal laws than the Republic in terms of black powder firearms, crossbows, and air rifles. We have some of the strictest laws in the world.

And you can own handguns up North.

Antares35

Augeo wrote: »

It's already not too difficult to get a gun illegally over here.

All the more reason to have one then.

JustAThought

rossie1977 wrote: »

Only between 30-40% of Americans actually own guns.

The vast majority of the weapons are in the hands of 3% of the population

I think your maths might he a bit confused there!! Thou I think I know what you possibly mean! Even if you ‘only’ have one gun under your bed, not ten, it can still kill or maim or cause someone who may otherwise not have shot, to shoot you. America’s such a template of how things escalate - With our drink and lads culture I can’t see us ultimately faring much better. The Germans, Canadians and Swiss are law abiding and very obedient - I can’t see them downing ten pints and chasers down the pub and then heading out with their guns for some craic.

breezy1985

BrianD3 wrote: »

. There is an acknowledgement in Germany that adults can be trusted and can enjoy using and owning guns.

Historical evidence would suggest otherwise

Padre_Pio

I probably would get a few.
Guns are fun, rifles especially if you have some land to shoot on.

I've gone to a few ranges with friends and had great craic target shooting.
I understand the fear people have, but shooting can be a very good pastime.

[Deleted User]

Ya.....going to.get new one for the farm,whenever this covid passes

If the laws,were less restrictive,id likely own more then one.....but i understand the rationale for it being so restrictive

Feisar

I have a good few, a lot of people think guns are bad and anyone into shooting sports gets viewed in a bad light. It’s a pretty nerdy pastime, shooting accurately at distance requires a dive into the minutia.

rossie1977

Padre_Pio wrote: »

I probably would get a few.
Guns are fun, rifles especially if you have some land to shoot on.

I've gone to a few ranges with friends and had great craic target shooting.
I understand the fear people have, but shooting can be a very good pastime.

Guns are super fun. Been at a firing range with desert eagle and AK 47.

But making weapons more easily accessible than beer is the problem.

Piollaire

I fancy my odds against an intruder with the crowbar under my mattress rather than a handgun.

- Nice weight
- length suitable for corridor use
- no unlocking gun case
- no loading

But it can't be denied that guns are cool - would love to have one of those World War II soviet submachine guns.

peasant

If i had to have a weapon, I'd rather have a legal taser.

Firearms are just too dangerous and easy to have accidents with.

Strumms

Yurt! wrote: »

Ireland would be a disaster zone if guns were more widely available or we had 2nd amendment like rights. We are a hot-headed people, and we know how to hold grudges as a culture very well.

The alcohol culture too I think makes it pretty much unlikely....

You could have all sorts of training, interviews and hoops to jump through but not until you see an individual and the intricacies of the home life after 7 pints, a hotheaded partner, grudges, a growing psychological problem or other pressures ..l

Ubbquittious

peasant wrote: »

If i had to have a weapon, I'd rather have a legal taser.

Firearms are just too dangerous and easy to have accidents with.

Don't tase me bro!

[Deleted User]

Through a friend I have been able to get a lot of time training and using rifles for me and my 10 year old daughter. We have learned a lot and enjoyed it a lot. Quite proud of her how well she has learned what she was taught too.

But at no point during any of it did I feel the urge to ever want to own a gun. It is enough for me to go occasionally to a place with some professionals and to fire it under their guidance.