Women carry full-auto in Israel:
Israeli Girls Go for window shopping with a gun - Travel Forum - Traveler Mania
It's an interesting litmus test; wonder what the crime rates are.
It's not everyday crime that they're concerned about - it's terrorist attacks that they have to be prepared for. And, I think they have a
legitimate fear. I'm glad I don't live in a society where one has enough fear of attack that it justifies carrying a weapon around in public.
deterring tyrannical government
Do you truly believe that there is a "clear and present danger" of your government becoming tyranical? There are so many checks and balances, that it's practically impossible for that to happen from within. As for "creeping tyranny", the constitution and courts are there to prevent that. A tyranical government would have to be imposed from without. I don't think there's any danger of that. Even if there was, that's what the military is there for.
All the gun controls in the world won't stop criminals, or wanna be criminals, from getting all the guns they want. They will just have to pay a little more and since when has price ever stopped a criminal?
You're right. However, is that a reason not to have any controls whatsoever? They don't catch every criminal for every crime, but that's not a reason to say "well, we can't catch every drunk driver or bank robber, so we might as well have no drunk driving or theft laws."
I have no problem with private firearms ownership. Any restrictions that are imposed should be justified, based on reason and not on knee-jerk emotion. Maybe my perspective stems from living in a different place, but I can not imagine feeling safe in a place where every other person is armed in public. It just generates more fear that the boogey-man is lurking around every corner, than making one feel safer.
I realize that not every other person in the USA is armed, but in order for there to be a reasonable chance of somebody being present and able to counter somebody like Holmes, a very high proportion of the general public must be armed. Whether it's reasonable or not, that would cause me more unease than the remote possibility of somebody like Holmes popping up.
Has anyone thought about the possibility of a "blue on blue" situation cropping up, if a high proportion of the general populace is armed in public? Picture this: A nutjob draws a pistol in a crowd and starts shooting. A "good guy" in the crowd draws his own weapon to shoot back. Then,
I draw my weapon. Who do I shoot at? At the first guy, sure. What about the second guy? Is he a partner of the first guy? Will he shoot at me, if he sees me with a gun?
You can say, "Well, how likely is that?". I say, if enough people are armed in public, it's quite plausible. I'm just glad that I live in a place where nobody has that level of fear. As I stated before, a society that feels it must be armed in public, is a society that is afraid of itself.
Perhaps there should be more emphasis placed on determining the causes of of crime and instituting measures to reduce it, rather than just waiting for it to happen, shooting the criminals or throwing them in jail. Don't get me wrong - I'm not a "hug a thug" type. I'd just rather try to stop it from happening first.
