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Positive points for gun ownership with the accompanying Negative point.
- Easy form of defence. Little physical strength required, allowing almost anyone who has hands to use them. Handy for people with less physical build.
- The fact that it is an "easy" form of defence can discourage people from building up their muscles, and encourages laziness to an extent. Encouraging people to take up a martial art for self defence instead of buying a firearm would do wonders for public health and obesity.
- Used for sport.
- I have nothing against people who shoot for sport, however they will only be able to practice this sport at special military/police run gun ranges where all firearms used are stored either very securely on-site or externally in a place such as a police armoury, and at designated times the police would transfer these firearms to the sporting range for the duration of the event. After this they will be locked back up, with the ammunition stored in a seperate location.
- "As with prohibition, it will lead to further underground gun trading".
- To an extent, yes, however please remember that you cannot brew a gun in your basement, nor can you grow the metal in your backyard to make the gun with. With proper surveillance of licensed firearms and complete confiscation of all handguns the effect will be minimal.
- "Banning guns will just lead to murders with other weapons".
- True, however it is far easier to kill a person with a firearm than with a knife or a baseball bat. Not to mention that both a knife and a baseball bat have real uses outside of harming people, whereas guns purely exist to cause injury/kill.
- What about farmers who need to protect their livestock/land against vermin?
- This is one point where I accept that people will need a gun, however they need to go through a strict licensing process including complete mental evaluation. A farmer does not need a handgun to protect his land, therefore he will be fine with an unconcealable shotgun, which when taken to a location outside his property (all guns will be fitted with a GPS tracking system) will be confiscated and locked away for an undetermined amount of time, along with any other guns he owns.
Discuss.
Edited by Dauth, 18 October 2008 - 22:54.