Should Every Semi-Automatic Firearm be Banned?

[atomic]

If you feel unsafe, why don't move to another nation.

Another way to look at it is US has many locations with a concentration of violence. How many gun related crimes in Baltimore City vs Baltimore County.

plenty of shootings in baltimore county. I am sure a lot more than most industrial nations. shooting in towson yesterday.

And it isn't easy to move to other safer countries. Other nations don't have the anybody who wants to come in can come like the US.

[soulflower]

If you feel unsafe, why don't move to another nation.

Another way to look at it is US has many locations with a concentration of violence. How many gun related crimes in Baltimore City vs Baltimore County.

I don't feel unsafe.

I'm just pointing out that the US is significantly more violent than most other countries. The availability of guns is part of the problem, not the solution.

[MDvet]

I am claiming BS on this. I have been to the UK. It is obviously safer. You don't hear the constant police sirens and gun shots that you hear in the US.

Where do you live?

Where I l work (Baltimore City) I hear a lot of sirens but don't hear any gun shots.

Where I live (Baltimore County) neither

[bullmikey]

Why, is it preferable to be killed by a bolt action firearm or a handgun that has to be cocked each time it's fired? Are you somehow less dead or better dead because of that?

[Wild Eyed Southern Boy]

Violence exists everywhere in the world but it's more difficult to kill a bunch of people without guns. It can be done, but no domestic weapon makes it easier to kill en mass...

yes, and no domestic weapon makes it easier to defend yourself, en mass.

[Wild Eyed Southern Boy]

Any gun or magazine or whatever the nomenclature is that allows for a shooter to fire lots of bullets at one time; meaning I guess permit guns that are one squeeze/one round fired and only up to a certain number--6?--without reloading.

Put a 6 round magazine in it and you just described an AR15. One squeeze, one round fired.

Even Nancy Pelosi & Feinstein are listing 10 round magazines allowed in the AWB to be introduced.

[Wild Eyed Southern Boy]

I think you went the wrong way here. A lot of people believe more rounds in shorter time is more rounds on target faster, but this isn't generally true. I'd rather have someone unload a 30-round magazine on auto in my direction instead of single-fired rounds that were aimed decently. Full auto is such a waste unless you're putting down a field of fire for suppression (unless, of course you're firing a Mk 19 then it's total mayhem).

I couldn't fire the 750 as fast and hit targets as well as the AR-15 platform because of recoil management and target re-acquisition time.

You could in .243.

[soulflower]

yes, and no domestic weapon makes it easier to defend yourself, en mass.

"Easy"? It all depends on the situation. Lots of armed police officers get shot/killed every year.

My issue with the pro-gun crowd is the knee-jerk response that, any attempt at making it more difficult to buy or sell certain types of guns will lead to a ban on all guns.

Just as grenades and tanks aren't domestic weapons, certain types of firearms have no place outside of combat.

[Wild Eyed Southern Boy]

I am claiming BS on this. I have been to the UK. It is obviously safer. You don't hear the constant police sirens and gun shots that you hear in the US.

The UK has a population of around 50,000,000 in a land mass slightly smaller than the state of Oregon..
The US, as of last census, has 356,000,000.

According to Mike Huckabee on his talk show this morning, gun crime, per capita in thee UK is actually slightly higher than in the US as well as violent crime per capita. That surprised me me, I'm not sure I'll believe that til I check a little further.

[soulflower]

The UK has a population of around 50,000,000 in a land mass slightly smaller than the state of Oregon..
The US, as of last census, has 356,000,000.

According to Mike Huckabee on his talk show this morning, gun crime, per capita in thee UK is actually slightly higher than in the US as well as violent crime per capita. That surprised me me, I'm not sure I'll believe that til I check a little further.

From the WaPo:

The dubious distinction of having the most gun violence goes to Honduras, at 68.43 homicides by firearm per 100,000 people, even though it only has 6.2 firearms per 100 people. Other parts of South America and South Africa also rank highly, while the United States is somewhere near the mid-range. Still, America sees far more gun violence than countries in Europe, and Canada, India and Australia, which is perhaps how it gets its bloody reputation among comparatively peaceful nations.

When a person kills another in the United States, though, he or she generally uses a gun: 60 percent of U.S. homicides occur using a firearm, which is the 26th-highest rate in the world. (In other gun-permeated countries, such as Finland (45.3 guns per 100 people), only about 19 percent of homicides involve a firearm.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...-of-the-world/

[veritas]

The US wins the most violent nation award by A LOT

http://www.kieranhealy.org/blog/arch...olent-country/

That's deaths and, although death is surely the worst result of a violent attack, it does not mean that we have more violent attacks, only more deaths. The per capita instances of violent crimes in the US are not the highest in the world by any means.

A breakdown of the statistics, which were compiled into league tables by the Conservatives, revealed that violent crime in the UK had increased from 652,974 offences in 1998 to more than 1.15 million crimes in 2007.

It means there are over 2,000 crimes recorded per 100,000 population in the UK, making it the most violent place in Europe.

By comparison, America has an estimated rate of 466 violent crimes per 100,000 population.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...of-Europe.html

[soulflower]

That's deaths and, although death is surely the worst result of a violent attack, it does not mean that we have more violent attacks, only more deaths. The per capita instances of violent crimes in the US are not the highest in the world by any means.

A breakdown of the statistics, which were compiled into league tables by the Conservatives, revealed that violent crime in the UK had increased from 652,974 offences in 1998 to more than 1.15 million crimes in 2007.

It means there are over 2,000 crimes recorded per 100,000 population in the UK, making it the most violent place in Europe.

By comparison, America has an estimated rate of 466 violent crimes per 100,000 population.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...of-Europe.html

The US still has far more more deaths from violent crimes than any country in Europe

http://www.kieranhealy.org/blog/arch...olent-country/

[Wild Eyed Southern Boy]

From the WaPo:

The dubious distinction of having the most gun violence goes to Honduras, at 68.43 homicides by firearm per 100,000 people, even though it only has 6.2 firearms per 100 people. Other parts of South America and South Africa also rank highly, while the United States is somewhere near the mid-range. Still, America sees far more gun violence than countries in Europe, and Canada, India and Australia, which is perhaps how it gets its bloody reputation among comparatively peaceful nations.

When a person kills another in the United States, though, he or she generally uses a gun: 60 percent of U.S. homicides occur using a firearm, which is the 26th-highest rate in the world. (In other gun-permeated countries, such as Finland (45.3 guns per 100 people), only about 19 percent of homicides involve a firearm.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...-of-the-world/

Is that per capita? OR a cumulative number? Except for India, which is right out.

[Wild Eyed Southern Boy]

The US still has far more more deaths from violent crimes than any country in Europe

http://www.kieranhealy.org/blog/arch...olent-country/

With more people would that not be expected?

[soulflower]

Is that per capita? OR a cumulative number? Except for India, which is right out.

"Per 100,000 people"

We are worse for gun violence than all other wealthy countries but in the company of some pretty rough countries in Central and South America...

[soulflower]

With more people would that not be expected?

No. It shouldn't be.

The good news in that graph is that violent crime seems to be declining in the US...

[skeemer]

The ones you are suggesting certainly are a form of punishment.

Wrong. Taxes are an economic device.

The more you know.

[skeemer]

"Easy"? It all depends on the situation. Lots of armed police officers get shot/killed every year.

Yes, and thousands of armed police officers survive another year (or another day) because they are armed.

[soulflower]

Yes, and thousands of armed police officers survive another year (or another day) because they are armed.

Because they are armed? Not always.

I mean lots of unarmed people survive shootings too.

[songfourone]

Mandatory abortion of the barrio/ghetto/trailer park dwellers = fewer future violent criminals.

Fewer violent criminals = Less violent crime.

It is a very easy formula to understand.

Perhaps we should look at software developers while we are at it.

http://www.latimes.com/business/tech...,5318612.story