Would you object

[Gronnuck]

Yes, I'd object.

Who needs a gun in their home?

IMHO you should have to give a more substantial reason for your objection.
A national class Target Shooter will in all probability have a very expensive gun which they would not want anyone meddling with if it has been painstakingly zeroed.
A farmer might equally have an expensive shotgun.

[ducati]

Being discussed by who, apart from you?

Another measure is to publish a list of licence holders so you know who, if any, of your neighbours have one. (It won't tell you if they have a gun on the premises just if they hold a licence).

[peedie]

Another measure is to publish a list of licence holders so you know who, if any, of your neighbours have one. (It won't tell you if they have a gun on the premises just if they hold a licence).

now i think that is a bad idea, that just puts legitimate license holders at risk because if anybody decides they would like a gun for illegal shenanigans then they know exactly where to go or at least start looking

[Gronnuck]

Another measure is to publish a list of licence holders so you know who, if any, of your neighbours have one. (It won't tell you if they have a gun on the premises just if they hold a licence).

Another daft idea; It could just as equally make them the targets of any criminals who want to get their hands of their guns

[ducati]

now i think that is a bad idea, that just puts legitimate license holders at risk because if anybody decides they would like a gun for illegal shenanigans then they know exactly where to go or at least start looking

Yes I think that's a bad idea too for the same reason, can you imagine if it had to be part of house search? I wonder if peeps would happily move in next door to a gun owner they don't know?

[northener]

Yes, I'd object.

Who needs a gun in their home?

So, taking out of the discussion the thousands of legitimate 'hobby' gun owners (who have not -or ever will - shoot anyone), how do you propose to administrate the issuing of guns for those involved in vermin control, shooting for profit on estates or stalking for management? Would these people have to report to the local nick to pick up a gun every time they wanted to thin out a few rabbits?

Who 'needs' a car capable of 100mph+? Why can a 17 year old pass their test with no restrictios upon what vehicle they drive afterwards? By a Scooby WRX for £3k, load it up with four dopey mates egging the driver on and let the carnage begin...
There'd be a good case for the banning of certain classes of vehicle (or the prospective owner) based upon the owners 'need' for that type of vehicle. Let's not forget how many people are killed on the road by people deliberately driving outside their own compentence levels...

13,000 killed or seriously injured in 2008 - many of which would have been avoided if the car drivers involved had been competent enough in the first place and not driving outside the parameters of recognised safe and competent driving.

Yet no furore from the great unwashed over car ownership? Would that be because the great unwashed won't back any legislation that might impede their own lives? The slaughter goes on.......

Better control and asessment of gun owners is not a problem IMO, another reactionary 'ban them/they're bad' would not be productive.

[DeHaviLand]

Another measure is to publish a list of licence holders so you know who, if any, of your neighbours have one. (It won't tell you if they have a gun on the premises just if they hold a licence).

What an absolutely idiotic idea. And I'd have told you that yesterday if you'd had balls enough to let your thread run!

[Nacho]

the thousands of legitimate 'hobby' gun owners (who have not -or ever will - shoot anyone),

ummm ... how do you know these gun owners will never shoot anyone ?


i agree with the rest of your post, but not that bit

[northener]

Yes I think that's a bad idea too for the same reason, can you imagine if it had to be part of house search? I wonder if peeps would happily move in next door to a gun owner they don't know?

Depends on your background.

I come from a community where gun ownership was more the norm than the exception. No problems at all - even from those who didn't own a gun.

Isn't this just playing to the gallery on the fear ticket?

'Devil dogs'?

[northener]

ummm ... how do you know these gun owners will never shoot anyone ?


i agree with the rest of your post, but not that bit

By using the same logic that tells me that the vast majority of those who goes out to buy a big sharp knife from Tescos will not stab anyone....

...but someone may. Should we ban the sale of knives completely?



Has a gun = nutter waiting to kill someone.

Owns more than one sharp kitchen knife = nutter waiting to kill someone.

Same crap - different hat.

[northener]

Just a thought.....

We hear reports now and then of some 'sword wielding maniac' having to be decked by the police or being hauled up in court.

I have two swords (C17th rapier and a C17th tuck, plus a duelling dagger from the same period) hung upon my wall at home. I can use them reasonably proficiently.

Am I likely to go off on one purely based upon the facts that I have no 'real use' for them or that my 'fascination' can only lead to Bad Things?

[crayola]

Has a gun = nutter waiting to kill someone.

Owns more than one sharp kitchen knife = nutter waiting to kill someone.

Same crap - different hat.

No.

Sharp kitchen knives are for cutting food in the kitchen. Guns are for shooting and killing.

As Leanne reminded us earlier today, some analogies are better than others and yours is poor.

[crayola]

Just a thought.....

We hear reports now and then of some 'sword wielding maniac' having to be decked by the police or being hauled up in court.

I have two swords (C17th rapier and a C17th tuck, plus a duelling dagger from the same period) hung upon my wall at home. I can use them reasonably proficiently.

Am I likely to go off on one purely based upon the facts that I have no 'real use' for them or that my 'fascination' can only lead to Bad Things?

May I suggest that the weakness of your previous analogy prompted this post?

[Phill]

To cut this to the chase.
Can we ban reproduction unless you have been suitably accessed and psychometrically tested, and credit scored??

[crayola]

To cut this to the chase.
Can we ban reproduction unless you have been suitably accessed and psychometrically tested, and credit scored??

Oh dear the bad analogies are getting worse by the hour.

See my two previous posts for the gist of the demolition of that silliness.

[northener]

May I suggest that the weakness of your previous analogy prompted this post?

You've lost me here Crayola.

What weakness prompted what?

[sandyr1]

She has a point

What a bliddy daft idea.

Who am I to decide if one of my neighbours is fit to have a gun?

If I don't object, and they go out and shoot someone, am I then to blame for not doing so.

Nah don't like this idea at all, the police should do the policing, its their job not mines.

In Canada for approx 10 years this does occur. When a person applies for a Gun Licence(Called different things in different Countries), neighbours are contacted confidentially. Seems to work/ who knows people better than their neighbours. And of course a Criminal records check is also done/ and all 'legal' gun owners are in a data base that is available to the Police if a call is received to that residence, or to that person.
Not perfect but what is?
Remember Sir Robert Peel said..The Police are the Public and the Public are the Police! One cannot abdicate the World's woes to the Polis!

[Boozeburglar]

I remember seeing a few things about Canada and guns, basically you guys have as high or higher ownership than the US, but you have a fraction of their gun crime.

We should be looking at your system, even if our situation is different historically.

The US should be taking directions from the Canadians on this for sure.

[sandyr1]

I remember seeing a few things about Canada and guns, basically you guys have as high or higher ownership than the US, but you have a fraction of their gun crime.

We should be looking at your system, even if our situation is different historically.

The US should be taking directions from the Canadians on this for sure.

You are correct. I feel that Obama was heading our way a bit but the US has such a 'gun culture'. The right to bear arms and of course people like the late Charlton Heston being the spokesperson for the National Rifle Association.. NRA. And Obama has other problems.
And of course George W. Bush....he wants to 'smoke em'!
Our Gun Crime is miniscule compared with the United States.
FYI. Was in Casper, Wyoming some years ago at a meeting/ saw a man with a pickup truck....two rifles and a shotgun in the back window/ six shot revolver and approx 30 shells on a belt 'outside' his harris tweed jacket.....Offence to conceal it...not so to have it in view.
Went to a Country Bar....kinda like Lybster..joke....and the men took their 'gunbelts' off and hung them on hooks outside the door.
Took your own bottle of booze in/ waitress..scantilly clad...unlike Lybster....she sold the mix and a 'corking charge'.
Stayed at the Hilton/ nice spot/ and was chatting with the female Restaurant Manager/ freindly girl/ who produce a 2 shot derringer from her cowboy boot.....aghhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[rockchick]

An interesting question, especially in light of the recent tragic occurrences in Cumbria.

I have known many handgun and rifle owners that I would have no problem with owning a weapon in the house next door to me. People who have legitimate purpose, such as hunting or target practice, and who take the responsibility of their weapons seriously, are no more dangerous than folk who drive automobiles (another lethal weapon, if used incorrectly!).

Yet...my little sister's best friend in grade school, at the age of five, was playing at her house with another friend, when they got her dad's handgun and somehow got some ammo, and the inevitable happened and the poor girl is parapalegic for the rest of her life. Very nice family, salt of the earth, the last people you'd expect to be careless...and boom! Their world is destroyed, and for what? Target practice???

So, I answered yes to the poll. I'd like the option to disagree with my neighbours bearing arms...not saying I'd necessarily take up the option, depending on the neighbour, but it would be comforting to know that it's there.