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Author Topic: US school shootings  (Read 15888 times)

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Offline manchesteruk

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US school shootings
« on: October 02, 2006, 06:04:41 pm »
So i've just heard about the 3rd school shooting in the US in the last week I find it all pretty staggering to be honest.  If that's not a case for much tighter gun control I don't know what is.  Just wanted to see what everyones opinion was on this?  Is it a big debate in the US?
Diagnosed 11/05

"Life is too important to be taken seriously" Oscar Wilde

Offline jack

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  • fomerly the loser known as Jake
Re: US school shootings
« Reply #1 on: October 02, 2006, 06:18:15 pm »
Its Bushs fault. He wants to kill all the Amish Ditchmen as soon as he finishes the gays off. I am still waiting for another Bush Hurricane. Algore says cigs are a primary source of second hand smoke. Insanity.

Offline Life

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #2 on: October 02, 2006, 06:48:16 pm »
makes you sorta wana move here donut?

Offline Moffie65

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #3 on: October 02, 2006, 06:54:23 pm »
What is really shocking Manchester, the answer to your question is more appaling than the shootings. 

No, nobody sees anything wrong with the populace being fully armed, and..... in the Christian Conservative area of Colorado where this happened, it is even a more acute belief. 

Good Cristians those.......
The Bible contains 6 admonishments to homosexuals,
and 362 to heterosexuals.
This doesn't mean that God doesn't love heterosexuals,
It's just that they need more supervision.
Lynn Lavne

Offline Lis

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #4 on: October 02, 2006, 07:24:27 pm »
I don't know which camp this puts me in but.....

I HATE GUNS!!!!

if you don't have em.. you cant use em!!!

 guns are only for killing food.... and HEY... i have the store up the street... and i don't want to take the feathers off a duck or pheasant....

poz 1986....

Offline Cliff

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #5 on: October 02, 2006, 07:25:56 pm »
If that's not a case for much tighter gun control I don't know what is.  Just wanted to see what everyones opinion was on this?  Is it a big debate in the US?
I doubt it will lead to more gun control.  These shootings have been happening more often recently and people don't seem to be taking to the streets to protest for more gun control.  Plus it doesn't help that the Gun lobby in the US are very powerful and generally have a lot of influence over our politicans.

Offline skeebo1969

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #6 on: October 02, 2006, 07:34:14 pm »


   America sucks...  lets all move to Kenya where we can all live peacefully and content... for a little while til our AIDS catches us.

   Man they are killing everywhere... it does not have anything to do with Christians...  the races.. whatever!

  People that feel oppressed always love to point the fingers.   I don't see you guys boarding  any planes!

  Thomas
I despise the song Love is in the Air, you should too.

Offline fearless

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #7 on: October 02, 2006, 08:21:02 pm »
America missed the boat on tighter gun control about 300 years ago.
It's a nice idea and works well in the UK and Aus where guns are not enshrined in our Constitution or widely owned by the general populace. I just don't see how you could ever rid the American populace of their weapons. The right to bear arms is enshrined in the Constitution or Bill of Rights or whatever. It's a cornerstone of American democracy and so many people have them that even if you did enact gun control laws (more chance of me waking up HIV -ve tomorrow than that), I doubt many people would voluntarily give them up, especially the bad guys.
Be forgiving, be grateful, be optimistic

Offline swede_dish

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #8 on: October 02, 2006, 08:48:25 pm »
I just feel a great sadness for everyone effected.
"I married a German. Every night I dress up as Poland and he invades me. "
-Bette Midler

Offline Terry

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  • 7/13/82 Infected
Re: US school shootings
« Reply #9 on: October 02, 2006, 08:55:41 pm »

 >:(
Little Steve,

If America is so dam horrible of a society/people why are so many people wanting (dying in their attempts.) to get into this country? Legally and ill legally. We're now having to put up a 700-mile long
Wall to try and keep tens of millions from coming in from the south.

America! Ya got to hate it! Ya just got to hate those S.O.B’s.  ???

Thomas,

I hope more people move out of this country.  Too many friggin people here anyhow for my comfort.  >:(

I wouldn't want to live in an area of the country where only the criminals have guns.

I’m not a supporter of the NRA. But I would not want to have my rights’ to own a firearm taken away from me. They recently past a stupid law in San Francisco banning all personal firearms and since then the murder rate has sky rocketed. Shootings and deaths almost daily.

Assuredly, no one will ever be accidentally shot by me. If I ever end up shooting someone it will most likely be intentional on my part. Defiantly in defense of my lily-white ass. And if that ever happened, then the person on the other end most likely deserved it.

Manchester I'm glad you brought this to our attention. I need to have my guns cleaned and serviced and the ammunition spent.  ::)

I’m really tired of people in this forum knocking my country. And Tim, I’m disappointed in you. I would think you, of all people would appreciate what being an American truly means.

Offline whizzer

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #10 on: October 02, 2006, 08:58:29 pm »
I don't own a gun.  I never have.

Does that mean I can't be a good American?

Just wonderin'

Offline alisenjafi

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  • They say HIV comes from monkeys!
Re: US school shootings
« Reply #11 on: October 02, 2006, 09:01:53 pm »
"You shut your mouth
how can you say
I go about things the wrong way
I am human and I need to be loved
just like everybody else does"
The Smiths

Offline Cliff

  • Member
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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #12 on: October 02, 2006, 09:24:00 pm »
Terry,
Quote
I’m really tired of people in this forum knocking my country.

It does get a little old sometimes.  BUT, I don't believe Lil Steve was trashing America.  He was just stating that it would be difficult for the US to ban guns at this point given our history and the fact that the right is bestoyed to us by the Constitution.  Lil Steve has spoken up for the US during forum bashings of the past (particularly on health insurance matters), so I think he would be last person to trash the US simply because it's in vogue.

Offline swede_dish

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #13 on: October 03, 2006, 12:36:12 am »
I agree Cliff.......
"I married a German. Every night I dress up as Poland and he invades me. "
-Bette Midler

Offline Matty the Damned

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #14 on: October 03, 2006, 01:22:54 am »
Matty the Damned disagrees with Steve the Small here.

I think the more Americans who pack heat, the better. It enlivens our dreary evening news reports.

MtD

Offline swede_dish

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    • My blog
Re: US school shootings
« Reply #15 on: October 03, 2006, 01:43:34 am »
MtD. I bow to you. *bows*
"I married a German. Every night I dress up as Poland and he invades me. "
-Bette Midler

Offline manchesteruk

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #16 on: October 03, 2006, 03:23:27 am »
Well I only actually got a handful of replies to my original questions there!  I'm not having a dig at the US at all there was 3 school shootings in a week I would constitute that something worth discussing.  If it had happened in the UK i'd be talking about it then as well.  Michael Moores documentary about guns in the US always stuck in my mind thats all so I wanted to know what peoples opinions were on the gun law, i'll keep my opinions to myself next time hey.  Oh hang on no I won't!
Diagnosed 11/05

"Life is too important to be taken seriously" Oscar Wilde

Offline Matty the Damned

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  • Antipodean in every sense of the word
Re: US school shootings
« Reply #17 on: October 03, 2006, 04:09:58 am »
And what did you expect?

You open a topic on firearms ownership, dead teenagers and the Amish and you thought it would be an intellectual exchange on the finer points of gun law reform?

Oy gevalt!

MtD

Offline RapidRod

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #18 on: October 03, 2006, 04:55:17 am »
I own several guns, I'm an NRA member, that is not the problem. The problem is with society. It's not the guns that kill, it's the people that miss use them. Do you think that by taking away people rights to have guns will stop this? Hell no. Those people that are commenting these acts don't care about laws. They would just get a gun elsewhere. The next thing would be, take away cars, cars kill, take away knives, they kill. Take away the booze, and prescription drugs, they kill. Now this can go on and on.

 I don't see a problem with a fence. Now if you can come up with better solution, lets hear it. I live in Ohio, the only border that we have is the Canadian border, but yet we have an on slot of Mexican illegals right here. Why should the TAX PAYER, foot the bills on illegal aliens? The government does not get taxes from illegals, yet (most) use our medical system, our schools and don't pay a dime. There are ways, for anyone to immigrate to the US, follow the laws. Why should we support illegal aliens, when there are thousands that go through the legal process to enter the US? Don't bad mouth the government for trying to slow down the illegal aliens from coming through our borders, come up with a better solution, if you can. Think about it the next time, your state cuts the Ryan White Act, the food stamp program, ADAP and other social programs. Think about all the pissing and moaning you are doing when it comes to cuts. Should we as tax payers, pay for illegal aliens who don't pay taxes, send most of their money home to their families and put a burden on our programs? Before you complain, COME UP WITH A SOLUTION. Maybe you should have more taxes taken out of your check each payday, is that what you want? Now, if you say yes to that, there is nothing stopping you from paying extra taxes each year. Don't use the Ryan White Act, don't use ADAP and don't go to the clinics and don't be complaining when funding is being cut. You need think before you speak.

Offline DanielMark

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #19 on: October 03, 2006, 05:35:43 am »
Manchester,

Where there are guns in the hands of psychopaths there will be death, and make no mistake, these are psychopaths. And I'm not talking only in the US. It's happening right here in my hometown of Ottawa Canada lately. Just a little too close for comfort.

All the preventive measures in the world won't stop someone hell bent on killing.

Daniel
MEDS: REYATAZ & KIVEXA (SINCE AUG 2008)

MAY 2000 LAB RESULTS: CD4 678
VL STILL UNDETECTABLE

DIAGNOSED IN 1988

Offline Razorbill

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #20 on: October 03, 2006, 06:23:27 am »
Rapid.
   
    On slot of Mexicans? 

Razorbill

Offline RapidRod

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #21 on: October 03, 2006, 06:34:46 am »
Yeah, that's the only illegals this way. The Russians, the Chinese and Japanese all have great jobs and that's because they own them.  ;)  I don't knock the legal Mexicans, I've had a couple of lovers that were Mexicans, but they didn't live here illegally either.

Offline David_CA

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #22 on: October 03, 2006, 09:29:43 am »

I’m really tired of people in this forum knocking my country. And Tim, I’m disappointed in you. I would think you, of all people would appreciate what being an American truly means.


Terry,
Isn't bitching and complaining about things that are wrong with this country a right ... free speech, you know?  I think being an American, among other things, means being able to do this.  We're not nit-picking the finer points of American culture, we're talking about major things, things that effect peoples lives.  After all, that's 'what being an American truly means.'

David
Black Friday 03-03-2006
03-23-06 CD4 359 @27.4% VL 75,938
06-01-06 CD4 462 @24.3% VL > 100,000
08-15-06 CD4 388 @22.8% VL >  "
10-21-06 CD4 285 @21.9% VL >  "
  Atripla started 12-01-2006
01-08-07 CD4 429 @26.8% VL 1872!
05-08-07 CD4 478 @28.1% VL 740
08-03-07 CD4 509 @31.8% VL 370
11-06-07 CD4 570 @30.0% VL 140
02-21-08 CD4 648 @32.4% VL 600
05-19-08 CD4 695 @33.1% VL < 48 undetectable!
08-21-08 CD4 725 @34.5%
11-11-08 CD4 672 @39.5%
02-11-09 CD4 773 @36.8%
05-11-09 CD4 615 @36.2%
08-19-09 CD4 770 @38.5%
11-19-09 CD4 944 @33.7%
02-17-10 CD4 678 @39.9%  
06-03-10 CD4 768 @34.9%
09-21-10 CD4 685 @40.3%
01-10-11 CD4 908 @36.3%
05-23-11 CD4 846 @36.8% VL 80
02-13-12 CD4 911 @41.4% VL<20
You must be the change you want to see in the world.  Mahatma Gandhi

Offline Moffie65

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  • Living POZ since 1983
Re: US school shootings
« Reply #23 on: October 03, 2006, 09:54:59 am »

I’m really tired of people in this forum knocking my country. And Tim, I’m disappointed in you. I would think you, of all people would appreciate what being an American truly means.


Terry,

I was taught by the Republican Party and their stalwarts, that gun ownership was an American Right.  I campaigned for the Republican Party and Barry Goldwater.  I was raised in a country where guns were strictly controlled, and yes there were killings and murders, but not so much by gunshots.  Now I am old and living in a country that hates my ass  because I love another man, have HIV in my veins, and am not fucking like a bunny to make more nasty children to go to school to learn about shootings. 

I love America, hate the lies I learned about our history in school, hate the way our government has absolutely nullified the way voting is done, hate the high cost of being single, even though I have been in a relationship for 18 years, I still have to live and pay taxes as though I was single and that adds up to a 53% take on my income. 

Yes, I love America, I just don't like most Americans, and now I am being fried from an old queen from the Russian River who doesn't have a clue about the liberties of free speech that I am exerciising in my accusations of stupidity on a national scale that make our historical record look like DAY CARE???  Sorry Terry, I won't take it from you and I won't take it from anyone else either.  I exercise my right to free speech and if you don't like it, stuff it.

Confused.
The Bible contains 6 admonishments to homosexuals,
and 362 to heterosexuals.
This doesn't mean that God doesn't love heterosexuals,
It's just that they need more supervision.
Lynn Lavne

Offline Cliff

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  • Posts: 2,645
Re: US school shootings
« Reply #24 on: October 03, 2006, 10:40:09 am »
I was listening to local talk radio this morning.  They were asking callers what can we do to make sure our kids have a safe environment in the classroom.  One guy calls up and says that he's giving his kid a gun when he turns 17 to take with him.  He claims that in Texas you can register for the militia as early as 17 and that will allow you to legally carry a gun.  While I think he's got his information wrong, the last thing we need to do is give children weapons (whether it be guns, knives, mace or anything) to protect themselves.  These acts are too random and you can't do anything about it.  The kids will just use those weapons to fight each other with.  The schools should beef up security (but for the most part they already have) and the public will just have to accept that bad stuff will continue to happen on campuses in the future.  It's just the world we live in.

That guy (the fool on the radio) also talked about how dangerous America was becoming because of the illegal aliens (another justification for giving his son a gun).  Maybe I missed something but wasn't the shooter a legal citizen?  What does illegal aliens have to do with this issue?  In fact, haven't all these shooters been legal citizens (by birth even)?  Perhaps the problem isn't with Mexican immigration, it's with home grown Americans.

Offline AlanBama

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #25 on: October 03, 2006, 10:40:23 am »
Next, I suppose they'll want to arm all the teachers.....let's fight the 'gun problem' by involving MORE GUNS !!!     brilliant isn't it?

When I was in school, the biggest "worry" was that someone would "streak" by the school (running naked, for those who are too young to remember).....now they have to worry about some fool bringing a gun to school.   I just don't get it.

 ???
"Remember my sentimental friend that a heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others." - The Wizard of Oz

Offline Terry

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  • 7/13/82 Infected
Re: US school shootings
« Reply #26 on: October 03, 2006, 12:14:06 pm »
We're not nit-picking the finer points of American culture, we're talking about major things, things that effect peoples lives.  After all, that's 'what being an American truly means.'

David

David,
You’re right. I guess I should have said I’m tired of just hearing how bad we are.
Thanks. :-[

Tim, LMAO.    Too funny,  ::)  ::)  ::)  ::)
« Last Edit: October 03, 2006, 12:19:39 pm by Terry »

Offline Razorbill

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #27 on: October 03, 2006, 04:41:49 pm »
Alan,
Thanks for the suggestion of arming teachers.  I'll pass though as a sharp tongue seems to work fine for now. 

Also, Rapid, my post may have gone over your head - the word is onslaught, not "on slot" (of Mexicans).  Nice Anglo-Saxon word, don't you think?

Razorbill is sittin' on a rock,
Thinkin' 'bout Iraq.
Marveling with the other auks,
All about congressional hawks.    ;D

Offline Just John

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #28 on: October 03, 2006, 07:24:34 pm »
So ok Mr. Manchester; we had the same problems in Hungerford and other places in the UK a few years ago which resulted in the banning of handguns, "to make the country a safer place". Well Ha Ha fucking HA! what a terrific joke the government played on us, thousands of people had to surrender their weapons, mainly used for sport and recreation and what has happenned since? Tell us if you can how the government got rid of all the illegally held weapons? How many people were shot with handguns in Manchester over the past twelve months??; and how many of them were school or teenage??; (different causes to the American situation for sure but the numbers are similar) and how exactly do you relate those answers to your question about gun control??.

To all those of you who have the right to defend yourselves, guard that right well; believe me you'll never know what you've lost 'til it's gone then when the gangsters and robbers have control it'll be too late.

John
Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.

Offline alisenjafi

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  • They say HIV comes from monkeys!
Re: US school shootings
« Reply #29 on: October 03, 2006, 08:19:02 pm »
Canada I would think has a different set of laws and yet that dude went ballistic. I At some point America's pro lifers are going to have to wrestle with their constitutional right to bear guns (which was written with the memory of the revolutionary war), with the lives of their children.
By the way  this guy was also a christian and the nra goes hand in hand with them- rosey should note!
"You shut your mouth
how can you say
I go about things the wrong way
I am human and I need to be loved
just like everybody else does"
The Smiths

Offline cjc

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  • Sweet Girl
Re: US school shootings
« Reply #30 on: October 03, 2006, 11:35:59 pm »
I realize i am  chiming in late here but this caught my eye. guns are not the problem, people are the problem. I have lived in a household with all manner of firearms my whole life and we have never had any problems with our guns. I would not give up my weapons and leave my family defenseless because as someone said, the criminals will always be able to acquire a gun. i really feel bad for the people that lost loved ones recently but having law-abiding citizen give up their guns is not going to solve the problem.     Cristy

Offline fearless

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #31 on: October 03, 2006, 11:54:15 pm »
Steady on Terry,
Why are you attacking me?
I was not having a go at America at all. I was merely trying to give a reason as to why you can't or will not be able to have the same sort of gun controls that we have in Australia. I have no problem with your gun control laws at all or America in general. Perhaps you should read my post before having a go at me.
Do you have some sort of beef with me?
Little Steve

ps Thanks for defending me Cliff.
« Last Edit: October 04, 2006, 12:57:00 am by fearless »
Be forgiving, be grateful, be optimistic

Offline manchesteruk

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #32 on: October 04, 2006, 02:28:12 am »
So ok Mr. Manchester; we had the same problems in Hungerford and other places in the UK a few years ago which resulted in the banning of handguns, "to make the country a safer place". Well Ha Ha fucking HA! what a terrific joke the government played on us, thousands of people had to surrender their weapons, mainly used for sport and recreation and what has happenned since? Tell us if you can how the government got rid of all the illegally held weapons? How many people were shot with handguns in Manchester over the past twelve months??; and how many of them were school or teenage??; (different causes to the American situation for sure but the numbers are similar) and how exactly do you relate those answers to your question about gun control??.

To all those of you who have the right to defend yourselves, guard that right well; believe me you'll never know what you've lost 'til it's gone then when the gangsters and robbers have control it'll be too late.

John

The hungerford shootings were 20 years ago!  Even Dunblane was 16 years ago I can't recall another school shooting since.  It's these kind of crimes that disgust me, let the gangs shoot themselves they'll find guns from somewhere anyway.  The western world is becoming violent enough without allowing the general public access to guns.  That's just my opinion anyway
Diagnosed 11/05

"Life is too important to be taken seriously" Oscar Wilde

Offline RapidRod

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #33 on: October 04, 2006, 03:31:43 am »
Canada I would think has a different set of laws and yet that dude went ballistic. I At some point America's pro lifers are going to have to wrestle with their constitutional right to bear guns (which was written with the memory of the revolutionary war), with the lives of their children.
By the way  this guy was also a christian and the nra goes hand in hand with them- rosey should note!

Now wasn't that an asinine remark?

Offline carousel

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #34 on: October 04, 2006, 05:12:21 am »
.
« Last Edit: February 15, 2007, 12:30:48 pm by carousel »

Offline carousel

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #35 on: October 04, 2006, 05:44:15 am »
.

« Last Edit: February 15, 2007, 12:30:15 pm by carousel »

Offline Just John

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #36 on: October 04, 2006, 09:04:46 am »
Thanks Carousel, I have no reason to doubt the veracity of the Greater Manchester Police figures but; as someone with more eloquence than me once put it, "there are lies, there are damn lies and then there are statistics". Two consecutive figures doesn't constitute a downward trend as my doctor often reminds me, nor do these figures give any indication of the number of people wounded, nearly missed or simply threatened with guns.

As you have already pointed out Carousel, "gun crime is growing"; also the number of "knife crimes" in the U.K. is growing at a frightening rate as the Governments' own statistics prove. This is all in a country where the public carrying of knives and the ownership of handguns was outlawed by the Government many years ago, has this made life any safer for the ordinary citizen? I don't think so.

I have to disagree with your assertion that "gun crime is largely concentrated in large city areas". I am lucky enough to live in a medium sized suburban town some 12 miles to the north of Manchester, I have country walks and green fields on my doorstep and the West Pennine Moors about 30 minutes walk away, hardly large city, here is a link to what my local rag has on its front page today.

www.theboltonnews.co.uk/display.var.950709.0.gangs_raid_po_bank_and_petrol_station.php

Hardly a normal day I know but I bet there has not been a month lately when they haven't reported at least one of these. I also have two acquaintances, one a cab driver the other a filling station manager who have both been robbed at gunpoint, in Bolton, within the past 4 years; sorry Carousel but we are hardly "large city" or the wild west. Such is the rise in these sort of crimes that the Greater Manchester Police, (under whose jurisdiction we fall), have frequently started to shadow cash delivery vans with armed response units.

The real point I was trying to make is that; controlling guns and knives is obviously not the answer to preventing such crimes. I am also aware that it is over 20 years since Hungerford but there is absolutely nothing that the gun control laws have done in that time, to stop any hoodlum or maniac from obtaining one and repeating such horror. Certainly Manchester it has been 16 years since the last time but please believe me, it is sadly, only a matter of time before it happens again here in the U.K.

Clearly this is a complicated and emotive subject and one to which I don't claim to have the answer, if indeed there is one. All I know for sure though, is that 20 years of gun control here in the U.K. has not made life one iota safer for the ordinary citizen. The Police are no protection at all either for me, my family or properly, if anybody threatens me, them or it I will protect and defend with whatever means I have to hand. I would rather though, that I didn't have to wait until they were within striking distance of me but that I was able to use a gun within own property to do so. Is that really so wrong?

John.
Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.

Offline siongi

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #37 on: October 04, 2006, 09:31:52 am »
In kenya the populace have started agitating for abolition of gun control.This happens in the homes but has not reached parliament nor the streets!No not yet. This country borrows heavily from the British system of gun control..but there are alot more illegal guns out there than the police have as a whole! Gun crime is so rampant.. killings happen dailly...But the difference between the american and the kenyan killer is clear.The kenyan gun killer seem,to me, to kill for a living! What is the goal  of the american closing his eyes and openning random fire in a school?..It is not the gun!

Offline carousel

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #38 on: October 04, 2006, 10:10:30 am »
.
« Last Edit: February 15, 2007, 12:29:37 pm by carousel »

Offline Terry

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #39 on: October 04, 2006, 11:22:38 am »
Steady on Terry,

 :-[
Little Steve,

I apologize for jumping on you in my comment. It was unintentional on my part.

No excuse for it. I guess election time is always a stressful period in my house.

I didn’t mean you personally. I think the actions of the Republican Christian Right in our country have made all Americans defensive and somewhat ashamed of our image around the world.

PS. It’s been awhile that I heard someone say “Steady on Terry.” And yes, it was during lovemaking.  ::)

PPS.
I should have got the message when Tim called me an “Old Queen”

Old yes! Queen???  >:(

« Last Edit: October 04, 2006, 11:38:25 am by Terry »

Offline Just John

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #40 on: October 04, 2006, 12:44:10 pm »
Sorry to be boring folks, but scaremongering? me? ::)

So look at the facts Carousel. I think that most people would accept as a fact that crimes of any description are more likely to occur in an urban area, and even more so in an inner city area. The three areas of England that you mention also contain her three largest cities, they are also home to approximately 35% of the population of England; hardly a major surprise therefore to find 50% of the gun crime there.

I don't see that media coverage of these events is scaremongering, it is the events themselves and their ever growing prevalence that are scary.

Quote
The fact that has not been a massacre for so many years, it could be asserted, was as a result of gun regulation. Luckily, these are irregular occurrences in this country.

The fact that there had not been such a massacre in England in the hundred years before Hungerford, when handguns could be owned by anybody who could convince the local magistrates that they were sane enough to own one, and when general gun crime was only a minuscule proportion of todays, could, using your logic be a very good reason for repealing the gun control laws.

As you say Siongi, the gun is not the problem.

Yes the events at these schools are tragic and my heart goes out to all the children and the families involved, but restricting gun ownership will not prevent a recurrence.

John.
Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.

Offline fearless

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #41 on: October 04, 2006, 08:17:29 pm »
No worries Terry.
Be forgiving, be grateful, be optimistic

Offline Terry

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #42 on: October 04, 2006, 08:34:49 pm »

 ;D

Oh now Little Steve I’m all fuzzy inside.  :-X  :-X  :-X

I’m not worried, just very, very sorry that I had offended you or hurt your feelings. I say that publicly because it’s that important to me. Also, for me to unintentionally hurt or offend someone has to be addressed openly.  :-*









Offline fearless

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #43 on: October 04, 2006, 11:09:18 pm »
Sorry, Terry.
No worries, is a common Australian saying. I forget sometimes.
What I should have said, was thank you for the apology. It was warmly accepted and appreciated.
Little Steve
Be forgiving, be grateful, be optimistic

Offline Ann

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #44 on: October 05, 2006, 07:35:11 am »
All I know for sure though, is that 20 years of gun control here in the U.K. has not made life one iota safer for the ordinary citizen.

John.

I'm not so sure about that John. Who's to say that we wouldn't be seeing an even greater increase in gun crime if guns were still legal? I have a feeling we would.

Ann
Condoms are a girl's best friend

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"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

Offline Just John

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #45 on: October 05, 2006, 10:06:50 am »
Ann you could well be right about that but as we can't compare we'll never know for sure.

All I can be certain of is that gun control will never stop some maniac from preventing mass murder if he or she chooses, if you remove guns from the equation they will always find another way.

John.
Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.

Offline Ann

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #46 on: October 05, 2006, 10:18:55 am »
John,

Yes, it's very true that no amount of legislation will stop someone determined to get a gun. However, having lived in both the States and the UK, I feel MUCH safer in a society where the local nutter can't just pop down to ASDA/Walmart and buy a gun whenever the fancy takes them. They have to be very determined and they have to have connections. The more obstacles we can put in the way, the better as far as I'm concerned.

Ann
Condoms are a girl's best friend

Condom and Lube Info  

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

Offline alisenjafi

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #47 on: October 05, 2006, 10:38:52 am »
Quote
Now wasn't that an asinine remark?
As much as saying that I love teen boys because I am a drunk gay guy , molested by a priest 45 years ago.
"You shut your mouth
how can you say
I go about things the wrong way
I am human and I need to be loved
just like everybody else does"
The Smiths

Offline RapidRod

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #48 on: October 05, 2006, 11:34:41 am »
No, by this remark you made. By the way this guy was also a christian and the nra goes hand in hand with them- rosey should note! That was your asinine remark.

Offline Curious1958

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Re: US school shootings
« Reply #49 on: October 05, 2006, 12:48:49 pm »
I don't know what to say other then the way the school shootings are becoming common place in this country is scary big time.  It sickens me in my heart when I hear of children being killed by some idiot with a gun, because he was a child molester or any other mental issue they have.  I am glad my children are adults now and out of school.  Oh well.

 


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