I agree and would add that it is not just guns but a "gun culture" that promotes the idea that guns are the solution to two major threats, the government and criminals. — Fooloso4
Perhaps if guns were banned and a sharp rise in school stabbings was observed, it would get people's heads out of the sand, hm? — Tzeentch
As to owning a gun to defend myself and my family against criminals, it is not as if they are going to wait until I get my gun, load it, and point it at them before they point their loaded gun at me or a family member. Perhaps you sleep cuddling a loaded gun, but I think it far more likely that a gun in the house will do me or my family harm than good. — Fooloso4
The same people who argue for more guns also argue against medicare-for-all and other programs that would help people, so pretending to care about "mental health" is laughable coming from them. — Mikie
All the armaments of the United States armed forces--from ICBMs to pistols–do not contribute to the peaceful relations among our fellow citizens. What maintains peacefulness in society is the collective desire to avoid conflict as one goes about one's life. Internal peacefulness is not maintained by 300,000,000 guns either. — BC
Well, so far you haven't shown a great deal of interest in the iceberg of suffering that underlies these killings either. — Tzeentch
Why do the chosen nobility and their armies get to defend their borders but a single man cannot? — NOS4A2
If fentanyl deaths skyrocketed in country Z, and it turned out country Z was an outlier not in drug use but in the amount of, and ease of access to, fentanyl -- then call me crazy, but my first priority would not be to discuss the prevalence of substance abuse. It would be to restrict the amount of, and ease of access to, fentanyl. — Mikie
How has that approach been working out? — Tzeentch
As the U.S. gun control debate intensifies, some Americans are looking overseas for ideas on how to prevent mass shootings. Japan has one of the lowest rates of gun violence in the world. There were more than four firearm homicides in the U.S. per 100,000 people during 2019, compared to almost zero in Japan.
As CBS News senior foreign correspondent Elizabeth Palmer reports, Japan's strict laws on private gun ownership have surprising origins in the United States. She met Raphael, a well-known Japanese YouTuber who decided to take skeet shooting lessons. Despite being ex-military, he had to jump through all the same hoops that any Japanese civilian must clear to get a gun license.
There's mandatory training. You have to pass a written exam, plus a physical and mental health evaluation. Even then, the police will go and ask your family and friends whether you have any violent tendencies.
All said and done, Raphael told CBS News it took him a year to get his license, during which time the police even interviewed his wife.
Japanese police do carry handguns, but they're the only ones who can have them, and they're rarely drawn.
take them away almost entirely, like a vast majority of the nations in the world. — NOS4A2
Because they are there to benefit society as a whole not you personally. — Baden
no one’s rights should be restricted — NOS4A2
Maybe you can, but I cannot abide by controlling people’s lives and letting them control ours. — NOS4A2
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