I'm pretty impressed by my guess . At time of writing, it's almost exactly 80/20 20/80 US/Elsewhere.

I think BigMike's opinion is interesting, as an Ex-pat American. Would in LA but not necessary in Taiwan because no-one else has one. I wonder how many Americans carry because "everyone else has one", or just because they can?

Very difficult to put the genie back in the bottle

Anyway - thanks for the responses so far!

 

Voted "no" from Europe.

I drive about 80miles per day and when I see what some people do on the road... this would really qualify few of them to get shot, right on the spot....
On the other hand: less traffic jams... Hmmm...

Can I vote again..?

 

I voted Yes.

Outlawing guns would not stop the people that want to do harm to others, from getting them.

I mean really do you even need a gun to kill someone. Hell my E60 could be a deadly weapon.

Of course not. But there are many who use guns to hunt and for many hunting it is great source of food. Yes there are still people in rural areas that do supplement some of their diet with hunting, especially now with the ever rising food prices.

 

And when you're carrying a loaded firearm, you can decide other people's destinies as well.

A friend of mine asked me if carrying a gun made me less tolerant of people giving me crap. I told him it's exactly the opposite: you can take a whole lot of grief from someone when you control his off button.

That being said, I'll state a few of my Very Strong Opinions for my gun owning brothers:

1) If a child finds it and uses it, it's your fault and you should go to jail. No exceptions.

2) Never show your weapon in hopes of scaring someone into doing what you want (i.e. "leave me alone, I have a gun"). Only point your gun at someone you're willing to kill.

3) You're not as good a shot as you think you are. Practice more.

4) When you go to the range, take your targets home with you (the bad ones as well as the good ones). Put the date on them, along with the distance, type of gun, and cartridge. You may need them as evidence of your skill some day. If you're there with someone else, have them sign it as well. This will be helpful not only in a criminal trial, but a civil one as well. Even if their former relative was a criminal and was trying to do you harm, families like to sue. Be ready for it.

5) Use the same cartridge type (bullet type and load) for practice as you do for carry/protection. Not doing so could be used as evidence against you.

6) Clear through your target. Kill the bad guy - not the two people behind him.

Sorry if this came off as preachy - these are just things I've felt Very Strongly about for many years.

 

Along with Steve Harris being the best bass guitarist ever, presumably?

Up the Maiden!

duddly-duddly-duddly-duddly-duddly-duddly-dum-dum

Love the avatar. Now, where's the Eddie smilie?

 

Voted NO! Why? Because i agree with our Greek friend Nickey, in terms that allowing people to carry guns can only led to more disasters. Notice i did say "more" since it's obvious a gun isn't really needed to kill somebody but it sure helps so. The reason we see in US alot of cases in which some psycho kid steals the gun from his father and goes to school and kills 10-20 students and teachers is that US has one of the highest tolerances to gun proprietorship all over the world (compared to similar developed countries).

Although i sometimes wished for a gun, i settle down and think that owning a gun brings ALOT of responability as it's a quick way to harm someone or something really bad, even kill. Unmarked ammo and even unmarked guns can most of the times be untraceable, if the gun is fired on a dark corner in some back alley without witnesses. Most of the people are not that responsible when carrying a firearm, they feel strong and in control, even cocky i guess which makes them unpredictable. Plus it's less likely for example that when you stab someone to stab along with the target 2-3 other innocent people Everybody can squeeze a trigger but not everybody has the balls to face the threat single handed, and beat the crap out of that guy. Evening the battle? I would really not trust handing a gun to that other guy.

IMHO the world would really be a safer place without firearms.

 

The question was should you be allowed to own a gun, not carry one around everywhere.

So you don't think someone should be able to own a rifle or shotgun to hunt?

 

Well....this is a tricky question, because you see you're trying to show in a way (true) the innocent side of owning a gun...for hunting. The thing is that from owning a gun to hunt to using it to hunt is obviously a quick and natural step (as that's the purpose). But once the man that posses that gun gets the right to use it only in hunting, it's a small step to using it in other scenarios.

For example: we had a murder case that explains perfectly my point. A man and his wife were sleeping in their home here in Bucharest, and the man has several hunting guns. One night a thief (apparently), unarmed broke into their garden probably wanting to get in the house. Husband hears the noise, takes the gun and shots the guy killing him instantly. Now the law here is not as permissive as in some of the States (US) but the case went on for months if the man rightfully defended his family by killing an unarmed thief in the middle of the night who in truth trespassed their property. I don't know how it turned up, but i assume the guy got away with it since he was a public person and a rich one indeed, but that's not the point.
The point is that in a circumstance the purpose of the gun changed (forbidden by law) from hunting only to self defense. The thief's actions were not clarified since he only got into their garden but that's it, and i repeat had no weapon on him.

As i mentioned earlier owning a firearm, not mattering what kind it is, makes people unpredictable. Since the system has never worked correctly, meaning that it has never been able to keep unstable people away from owning firearms, then the system is flawed, case in which there is only logical answer to your question: NO, it's better for people not to own guns. Noticed i stressed people since i agree with the saying that "Not guns kill people. People kill people." but heck the guns make the job a lot easier. If we then address the subject of the potential homicide it's better to leave the subject only with the necessary means for defense purposes only (gas guns, rubber bullet guns, electric shockers and so on).