back to article Tell Santa to bring more assault rifles

It's guns and ammo for the holiday season if you read the news following Black Friday, the time annually reserved for the great annual shopping spasm in the US. "Panic at Gunfire in Toy Store," blared the November 29th frontpage headline in the Los Angeles Times, reporting a uniquely American muzzle flash. "Instead of the …

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  1. Joe
    Coat

    Guns don't kill people...

    rappers do!

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    A wall?

    I propose that the rest of the world unite and build a great big wall around the US to keep in all the crazy before it leaks too much into the real world.

  3. Simon C

    America is a fabricated place

    Where fabricated people go about making fabricated stories.

    All in the name of entertaining the good folks of normal countries.

    Why else would you get such a collection of ignorant, bullish and downright stupid comments and stories about these Merkins.

    I raise my merry glass to those who created the "America" program for providing such entertainment in these dark and cold times.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Well, but

    If Americans didn't hate taxes and love guns, this would be Baja Canada.

    The anxiety is amusing, given the recent ruling by the Supremes, affirming the 2nd Amendment.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Makes perfect sense

    The finally get rid of the group of people responsible for eroding their constitutional rights, then they start to get up in arms about it. (Literally).

  6. Paul

    What?

    "People are buying guns because they have seen too many constitutionally guaranteed rights taken away, as with wiretapping phones under the premise of searching for terrorists"

    So the Republicans take away rights, the democrats want to give them back and this makes the democrats a threat how?

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Rusty Shackleford say's

    If we here in the UK had as heavily armed a populace as in the UK. Maybe just maybe that pie faced facist Jackboots Smiff would think twice before trampling over our liberties. Stick that in your uber database and I hope the corners hurt!

    Papers Citizen or go to Jail !

    Election NOW!

  8. Scott

    Always confused

    I am always confused by the need to own enough hardware to take down the next town, who are the enemy that are taking over the good old US of A?

    I can accept a gun or 2 for hunting and at a push as the "baddies" have guns maybe having a home protection gun? but what does anyone need an assult rifle for?

    Don't get me wrong i'm sure if all the UK owned guns wacki jacki would have to think twice before locking us all up in interment camps but i'm sure it would only be a split second hesitation as here starzy style police are happy to shoot unarmed electricians no questions asked.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    (a ways) down the road from me...

    "St. Louis Alderman Quincy Troupe calls on residents to carry handguns for safety"

    http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/emaf.nsf/Popup?ReadForm&db=stltoday\news\stories.nsf&docid=29150EE3A06EA92C862575130014DD3A

  10. Daniel Wilkie
    Stop

    *sigh*

    An Assault Rifle has selectable fully automatic fire. Unless I'm mistaken there won't be a rush to buy these as I believe even in America their ownership is tightly controlled.

    Presumably they are infact referring to Semi Automatic Rifles or Carbines...

    I'm a pedant, I know.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Pirate

    Santa Baby !

    Santa baby, just slip a semi' under the tree, for me

    So I can get me a "squirrel"

    Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight

    Santa baby, a '45 ACP too, light blue

    I'll wait up for you dear Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight

    Think of all the fun I've missed

    Think of all the fellas that I can "desist"

    Next year I could be just as good

    If you'd check off my Christmas list

    Boo doo bee doo

    .

    Ah God bless the land of the free . . .to fear everyone and arm yourself better than your neighbour.

  12. Scotty
    Boffin

    Its odd, sad, but...

    "An Assault Rifle has selectable fully automatic fire. Unless I'm mistaken there won't be a rush to buy these as I believe even in America their ownership is tightly controlled."

    I think that is part of the rush. The definition of what is an Assault rifle is not well enough defined, and the 'fear' is that weapons controlled under 'rifle' laws will be re-classified to be under far more control 'assault rifle' definition.

    Guns scare the crap out of me, but I do concede that no one would help the American people take out there own government which is nominally what that right is for.

  13. Seán

    What about the Belgians?

    Those yanks have made the Belgians redundant. The phrase "As stupid as an uhmerican" has replaced the need for Belgians as the butt of jokes. 30,000 dead every year from gunshots and they think more guns will make them safer, how can the Belgians compete with that?

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    *sigh as well*

    @Scott - they are not assault-rifles; in other words, not capable of fully-automatic (ie. machine-gun) fire. It might look identical to a military rifle but it fires only a single round per pull of the trigger.

    Second point - it's not a "need" issue at all; I mean, after all, why would anyone possibly "need" a Porsche capable of a speed more than triple the current speed-limit anyway, right? I have the freedom to own one (well, I have 3 currently) and I don't misuse them - they're a lot of fun, actually.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    People are generally idiots...

    Most people killed while attempting to defend themselves at home are killed with their own firearm.

    Most murders are committed by people who know or are related to the victim.

    Most guns in the hands of criminals have been stolen from private citizens during home burglaries.

    The departing Repubs are still trying to complete their goal of eviscerating the Bill of Rights and yet these slack-jawed mouth breathers are terrified that the hated "liberals" are going to usurp their 2nd Amendment rights.

    Mencken was right...

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @AC 13:34

    "given the recent ruling by the Supremes, affirming the 2nd Amendment."

    I think you'll find it was Martha and the Vandellas.

  17. Scott

    @sighs

    But you can still buy assult rifles or semi-automatic assult rifles (which fire 3 bullets at one pull of the trigger i think)? i will point back to my first question why are these needed? home prtection? hunting? russkys? squirrels? and i don't think you can compare a car to a gun as one is designed to kill people and the other is for transport might as well compare chalk with say cheese. You're better off asking why by a gun that can hold 20 bullets when a clip (think thats right) with 10 will quite as happyly kill you loved one?

  18. Matt Bryant Silver badge
    Boffin

    RE: Paul

    Actually, Nancy Pelosi has been Speaker of the House of Reps for over two years now, which means the Democrats have had just as much say in all the "reductions in rights" passed by Congress if not more. To blame the Republicans alone id just blinkered groupthought.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Wow. Are you brits completely disengaged

    One. While we had a Repub President, we had a DEM congress, and guess who makes all of the laws??? NOT the President. Oh, and we have more of them now AND a Dem President.

    Two. Dems ALWAYS have wanted to revoke the 2nd amendment.

    Three. Now that we have a Dem Pres that will probably have the opportunity to replace at least 2 supreme court justices, that ruling they just made could have a very short lifespan.

    Four. Assault rifles are popular in the US because they are some of the best made weaponry in the world. However, they have to be changed to semi-automatic. You have to have a special license (that is EXTREMELY hard to get) to legally have fully automatic weaponry. Technically, an old WWII M1-Carbine or M1-Garand (both super shooting weapons fully appropriate for deer hunting) would be considered "Assault Rifles"

    Five. The vast majority of gun owners in this nation are completely legit and usually some of the finest citizens that we have. Your statistics only show a very tiny part of our populace that would probably try to kill others even if all they had were sporks at their disposal. This country was founded on our right to "bear arms" and is the primary reason why our government hasn't run slipshod over us and why no foreign nation would try to take us in a land war.

    Six. Don't forget, it was a lot of these good 'ol boys who had grown up around guns all of their life and were crack shots before they were drafted that ended up taking care that little mess we had in Europe called WWII :)

  20. Joe
    Thumb Up

    @ AC 14:58

    " I think you'll find it was Martha and the Vandellas."

    ZING!

  21. Michael
    Stop

    Why own an Assault Rifle?

    Cause not everyone in teh US can aim and get the shot with one attempt! look at the friendly fire incidents in WW2, Iraq etc.

    Why only shoot one when a couple of mags will totally do the job?

    (I see it all the time playing paintball! "My Angel can shoot 25 balls a second!!" LMAO)

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    @AC 15:42

    "Six. Don't forget, it was a lot of these good 'ol boys who had grown up around guns all of their life and were crack shots before they were drafted that ended up taking care that little mess we had in Europe called WWII :)"

    Maybe if they'd got off their butts and arrived earlier a damn sight fewer people would have died? :)

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Yankee AC

    @Yankee AC: "why no foreign nation would try to take us in a land war."

    Why would they? You didn't make such a good job of it when you tried it yourselves.

    Plus the fact that you're 3000+ miles from anything that could possibly pose a danger to you helps considerably.

    Still, however, with the prevalence of armed wackjobs over there, I reckon President Obama's greatest achievement will undoubtedly be staying alive. If I were in his shoes I'd try to cut down on guns, too.

  24. Hollerith

    their voice

    Small towns felt that their voice had not been heard on 4 November. Well, if everybody in town voted, yes, it was heard. It just didn't carry much volume.

  25. Danny
    Thumb Down

    @*sigh*

    You aren't being a pedant but you point out exactly why people here in the US are stocking up. The fact is most people, including this article's authors, don't know what an "Assault weapon" IS.

    By definition a military assault weapon is fully or selectively automatic and; fires a high or medium velocity rifle round. A 3 round burst is still automatic fire.

    ALL automatic weapons regardless of round or burst are controlled in the US and have been since the 40s. In order to legally own an automatic weapon you must hold a federal firearms license that requires a fairly extensive background check to obtain and isn't particularly cheap to maintain.

    The last "Assault Weapons" ban in the 1990s didn't actually ban ANY automatic weapons of any type. It was a cosmetics bill that banned large round clips and bayonets and a couple of semi-automatic rifle stock types. All it did was make a lot of formerly legal weapons a lot cheaper for thugs who don't care what the laws say to obtain. Way to go there.

    And a shooting in L.A. by a couple of thugs isn't really news any more than a bear taking one in the woods is.

  26. Bob
    Stop

    @Wow. Are you brits completely disengaged

    Nope, we aren't disengaged, we are just too polite to get to the point:

    The entire mentality of gun ownership in America is completely and utterly stupid and we just can't understand how the (apparantly) premiere nation in the world can be so collectively idiotic.

    As mentioned previously, must gun crime is an act of passion, or accident. Husbands shooting wives, kids accidentally shooting parents, robbers without guns taking guns off home owners and shooting them.

    Normal citizens need guns like penguins need pet polar bears.

    I can understand having gun clubs which are tightly monitored and allow people the delights of firing guns, but I can't understand allowing you to take the gun home afterwards.

    And finally, your country doesn't get invaded by land because apart from Canada which politically isn't going to think about invading you for a very, very long time you are surrounded by two huge oceans and only a tiny, tiny strip of desert to mexico. America is quite safe as far as a land attack by a standing army is concerned, you really should stop worrying.

    Really, really finally: You waited as long as you possibly could with WWII, then you came over and shot all the allies whilst charging us billions of dollars for the privaledge. Looking back, I think we shouldn't have bothered asking for help.

  27. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Re: Wow. Are you brits completely disengaged

    > our right to "bear arms" and is the primary reason why our government hasn't run slipshod over us

    Please tell me you're joking.

  28. Mike

    Rights, laws, parties

    Scattershot here.

    As others have noted, the Democrats (particularly DiFi) have been _more_ than willing participants in gutting the bill of rights. The Bush admin has, however, broken new ground in placing the executive branch above even what few tattered remnants remain.

    As some have missed, the Dems and GOP switched in the South. Remember when the GOP was the "Party of Lincoln" and the Grand Dragon was the local Dem leader? How soon we forget. GOP was also the party of small government. And the Dems were guns and bubba and huge slabs of pork. Just swap the labels and you have today.

    While one cannot legally purchase a full-auto rifle, anyone who can't find a conversion kit just isn't trying. I'd bet you-all even go to the one honest smog-check station in your county, instead of paying the "extra handling fee" to get old-smokey to pass.

  29. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Bob

    That's the beauty of living in the US, Bob - you might not see the need for it and you'd be perfectly entitled to live your way. However, your choice is yours and yours alone and as such should never trump *my* right to choose for myself.

    As for "most gun crime is a crime of passion" - I'd love to see where you go those stats from. Most "gun-crime", as you call it, is caused by career criminals - gangsters, drug-dealers and the like.

    To answer Scott's question yet again about "need" (because he's very slow and just doesn't get it) - need has nothing to do with it. Zero - zip - nada - zilch. How much of those foods in your fridge should you have to prove that you *need*, Scott? "Uh oh - out with that ice-cream and pizza, tubby...." - in truth, there's not a whole lot that any human really *needs*, see?

  30. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    @Bob

    "The entire mentality of gun ownership in America is completely and utterly stupid and we just can't understand how the (apparantly) premiere nation in the world can be so collectively idiotic."

    Correction, a large portion of the UK population has never touched a gun, or met a US gun owner (at least knowingly). Thus all their views are taken from Hazel Blears-esq anti-gun nutters and hollywood films.

    Those of us who have actually travelled to the US, and been taken to a range by some locals, (some even with concealed carry licences) find them to be perfectly normal well-adjusted people who enjoy a social and interesting hobby.

    the "Assault Rifle" ban in the US was almost completely ineffective, most crimes being carried out with .22 pistols. Criminals being smart enough to understand slipping an M16 under your jacket will be a little conspicious...

  31. Nic

    @AC - 17:10

    "To answer Scott's question yet again about "need" (because he's very slow and just doesn't get it) - need has nothing to do with it. Zero - zip - nada - zilch. How much of those foods in your fridge should you have to prove that you *need*, Scott? "Uh oh - out with that ice-cream and pizza, tubby...." - in truth, there's not a whole lot that any human really *needs*, see?"

    That's the scary bit AC. The want to keep guns it what bothers me. Why not collect nooses electric chairs too?

    Don't get me wrong, I am all for hunting for food (I am in the process of getting a shotgun for exactly that purpose here in the uk) but are you honestly telling me that's why you keep your guns? It seems to me to be more a weird obsession.

  32. Phil
    Stop

    @Bob: yeah, bobbo, we wish we hadn't helped you, too.

    In answer to Bob's stupid comment "Really, really finally: You waited as long as you possibly could with WWII, then you came over and shot all the allies whilst charging us billions of dollars for the privaledge. Looking back, I think we shouldn't have bothered asking for help."

    All I have to say is this:

    We Americans supported you Brits materially for years. If it wasn't for shipments from the U.S. Britain would have folded VERY quickly. It was OUR merchant marine that kept trade with England open and kept you supplied, and without us the Nazis would have wiped their asses with you in 1939 or 1940.

    Try and remember that until WE entered the war and landed on the beach at Normandy, you Brits were LOSING. All of Europe had already LOST. You were already LOSERS in the war and without us you would have been DOOMED.

    After we won the war for you, AFTER we saved France and Belgium and Britain and Italy and all the other weaklings who couldn't defend themselves, WE REBUILT EUROPE. We provided the support that made that happen. WE did. Not you. Not your useless grandparents. It was US. The U.S.

    There's a famous joke here in the U.S, and it goes like this: Why do British and European men dislike Americans so much? Because they'll never forgive us for saving them in WWII.

    On behalf of my grandparents, who saved yours, I would like to say, Bob, that if it weren't for us you'd be speaking German right now, so you can go soak your head in that rotten black beer you people like so much.

    Cordially,

    An American

  33. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    One little thing...

    Something which needs to be pointed out - here in the US, the Supreme Court has decreed - a number of times - that police are not obligated to come to any person's aid. See ”Castle Rock v. Gonzales” as just one example.

    So where does that leave someone who wants to make sure his/her family is protected?

  34. Mike Moyle

    @ Bob

    First off, I'm not a gun-owner -- I haven't fired a shot since I used to go target shooting with my father and brother better than 40 years ago.

    So; no rabid gun-nut, here.

    That said:

    "The entire mentality of gun ownership in America is completely and utterly stupid and we just can't understand how the (apparantly) premiere nation in the world can be so collectively idiotic."

    The fact that something that you don't understand must therefore be "completely and utterly stupid" is -- well -- completely and utterly stupid. (And WE don't have train-spotters' clubs so... you know... <gr>)

    The fact that needs to be remembered apropos the American fascination with guns is that the national mythos centers around the explorer, the adventurer, the wanderer going off alone into the lawless wild -- generally with gun in hand. This is our history within, at the very least, our grandparents' memories, if not our own.

    To expect a complete 180-degree turn-around in attitudes within a couple of generations is foolishly naive, at best. This is also, unfortunately, a good part of the reason that the race issue has been so intractable for so long in this country. Presumably, having never had much in the way of slavery in the UK in the first place and having legally abolished what there was more than 200 years ago, you folks on that side of the pond are blessedly beyond racial prejudice. Otherwise, one might have to assume that societal attitudes take more than a generation or two to change. ;-)

    "As mentioned previously, must gun crime is an act of passion, or accident. Husbands shooting wives, kids accidentally shooting parents, robbers without guns taking guns off home owners and shooting them."

    You seem to be trying to make one of two points:

    1 - If an otherwise legal and legally-owned implement can be used as a weapon in a moment of passion, it should therefore NOT be legal (and the implied assumption is that all of these cited ARE legally-owned. Unregistered firearms or guns in the possession of unlicensed owners are already illegal, so in terms of the "good people wouldn't do bad things if the couldn't own guns" argument, these shouldn't even be on the table -- they're a whole 'nother issue.) or;

    2 - If something was designed to be a weapon, it should not be legal for private individuals to own.

    In regard to either of those arguments, I can only reply: *Huh?*

    Any other argument that I can see from you post would be reducible to "I don't like/understand guns, therefore i don't want anyone to own them." I really can't see any choice other than those three.

    ...Well... unless you are saying that stupid people shouldn't own guns, which is a stance with which I happen to agree. OTOH, I also believe that stupid people shouldn't be allowed to drive, vote, get on the internet, or breed; so, there you go.

    "...you are surrounded by two huge oceans and only a tiny, tiny strip of desert to mexico."

    Ummm... since when is almost 3,200 km a "tiny, tiny strip of desert..."? I'm not sure what map you were looking at, but that's a border roughly the same length as the Russian border from St. Petersburg on the Baltic to Rostov on the Black Sea.

    I'm just sayin', is all...

  35. Charles Manning

    I call their bluff

    The "we need guns for liberty" argument is just nonsense. GWB has been the least popular president in history and has eroded more liberties than any other president and gun owners did nothing. How far do things have to go before they actually do rise up?

    No, the only liberty that the NRA care about is preserving the current lawless gun ownership.

    I'm all for gun ownership, but within a proper framework of training and oversight - something like the Swiss. Give Americans all the guns they want, so long as they can show that they have suitable training.and are fit to own and operate guns.

    What is really wrong with gun licensing? Not licensing individual fire arms, but licensing the owners to ensure that they have correct training and are mentally fit.

  36. Anonymous Coward
    Pirate

    I see the same old tired cliches..

    What our "cold dead hand" colonial friends cannot grasp is the difference between a gun and a weapon. Also the use of the word "NEED."

    Need means "require" certainly but the British are asking the other meaning of need which is DESIRE.

    It doesn't matter if you have a .22 rimfire, an AK47 or a Steyr .50. All that matters is why YOU, PERSONALLY need (desire) to have it. If you want it for target shooting or hunting then good for you. If you want it as a WEAPON because you are scared then sooner or later something very, very bad will happen.

    In the UK we can have assault rifles but they are de-rated to manual load and cock. We have to convince our county police HQ that we do not DESIRE it for a weapon. Only then do we get permission to buy one.

    If you measure your freedom by the ability possess weapons to kill your fellow countrymen, should the unlikely need arise, then you will never know true peace and freedom. Freedom from fear as well as oppression. American owners of WEAPONS wear chains they can never see or remove.

  37. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    meh

    meh

  38. Chris G

    Paintball

    Has NO similarities to real shooting, if you wasted ammo the way paint ballers do,you would in a real shooting war soon be out of ammo and out of luck ( and in a body bag).

    When you know the stuff being fired at you can only sting (and make you pink and orange at worst) you can't take it as seriously as when the rounds being fired at you can with a hit in the arm stop your heart with hydraulic shock as it rips your arm off.

    As for the States many keen shooters there who enjoy all kinds of weapons and hunting, target shooting etc are not tobacco chewing banjo players who are called Bubba, they just have respect for the fact that they still have some rights and would like to keep them, after all in the name of `The war against terror´ haven't all of us already lost enough rights?

    What is the problem with assault rifles? If one soft nosed round from something like a Wetherby 308 magnum hunting rifle hits you, the others in the mag won't matter, and it's still assault!

  39. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    I'll never understand Americans

    I once got a lift from an American after a conference over there and we discussed the differences between America and Britain. He couldn't understand why I couldn't see a problem with people having sex at 16, drink alcohol at 18 and the "extreme amount" of sex and nudity we supposedly have in Britain. On the other hand he also couldn't understand why I found it strange that almost anyone who wanted one could buy a gun in America. As far as he was concerned sex being legal at 16 and drinking legal at 18 was a much bigger anger to society than everyone owning guns.

  40. Martin
    Flame

    'Liberals'

    Please, please please can everybody stop using the word 'liberal' to refer to left-wingers, without regard to whether they are actually liberal or not.

    Thank you.

  41. Steen Hive
    Coat

    @disengaged?

    "Six. Don't forget, it was a lot of these good 'ol boys who had grown up around guns all of their life and were crack shots before they were drafted that ended up taking care that little mess we had in Europe called WWII :)"

    Fuck off.. "Sharpshooting" merkin good old boys are about the only things a soldier can have around that are more dangerous to his life than the enemy..

  42. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    RE: Needs

    You're doing it again A.C. with the false arguments.

    <QUOTE>

    "To answer Scott's question yet again about "need" (because he's very slow and just doesn't get it) - need has nothing to do with it. Zero - zip - nada - zilch. How much of those foods in your fridge should you have to prove that you *need*, Scott? "Uh oh - out with that ice-cream and pizza, tubby...." - in truth, there's not a whole lot that any human really *needs*, see?"

    <END QUOTE>

    You cant compare guns with food. Let me turn it the other way for you. I don't need a nuclear bomb but why shouldn't I have one if I want one? In the same way that people get a kick out of fireworks going bang and boom, imagine how much fun that nuclear device could be, and boy is it a deterrent to m neighbours.

  43. william henderson

    @ phil again

    "Try and remember that until WE entered the war and landed on the beach at Normandy, you Brits were LOSING. All of Europe had already LOST. You were already LOSERS in the war and without us you would have been DOOMED."

    did you forget Russia?

    also, half the troops landed on D-day were British and commonwealth.

  44. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    2nd Amendment

    The 2nd Amendment is not about hunting or sporting. It is about personal protection. It is about protecting the population from a tyrannical government. The mass media would like us to believe otherwise.

    As for the store shooting... First of all, it happened in California which is a 'may issue' state. That means regular law abiding citizens cannot carry weapons concealed without a reason good enough for their local law enforcement. Bad guys know this. That is why crime is so high in places like LA, Chicago, and NY - all may issue states.

    'Shall issue' states are required to issue concealed carry permits to law abiding citizen who request them. The bad guys know that too. Not surprisingly, these states have much lower crime rates. Would the bad guys at the store have drawn guns if they thought a legally armed citizen might be right next to them?

    The UK is a great example of this. The population is disarmed and crime is rampant. Guns are banned. Certain knives are banned. Coming in 2010, rolled up newspapers will be deemed hazardous and banned as well. I guess that is the problem with being a subject rather than a citizen.

    As for Obama.... At the recent local gun show, a number of us agreed that he is responsible for selling more guns than anyone else in history. Clinton learned his lesson the hard way about banning guns - it cost him the majority in congress. I hope Obama, Reed, and la-la Pelosi remember this.

    And as for me... I bought my first gun the Saturday after September 11th. I carry it daily for personal protection. I hope I never have to use it to save my life or the life of someone else. If possible, I will always first seek to extract myself from a dangerous situation - regardless of the personal inconvenience. However, if given no other options, I am prepared to take responsibility for my own safety.

  45. Anonymous Coward
    Black Helicopters

    Once upon a time...

    ... a little island nation ruled over a big colony across the Atlantic. All was well for many years, and both parties profited nicely. But the little island began to experience tough economic times (one war too many?) and increased the revenue demands from the big colony. When the big colony wanted a say in these demands (no taxation without representation?), the little island sent troops...lots of troops...to the big colony to ‘protect its interests’. The little island troops arrived in the big colony with no provisions, no shelter--but lots of guns and ammunition. Naturally, the troops couldn’t live in (or on) their guns and ammunition, so the leaders of the troops in the town of Boston ordered the resident colonists to shelter and feed the troops in their homes--at the colonists expense--and confiscated any arms the colonists possessed. After much ado, the colonists shed the ‘yoke of tyranny’ and formed their own government. To prevent recurrence of similar events, this new government, “extending the ground of public confidence in the Government” granted its citizens some specific INDIVIDUAL rights. Two of the top three were:

    “II. A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” (NOTE: the intent of this right is not to provide FOR a militia, but to provide self-defense FROM a Militia)

    “III. No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.”

    From that time on, the citizens of the (former) big colony hate taxes and love guns.

    ...rightly so!

  46. Mike Weisman

    A new gun-salesman-of-the-year award

    I owe my own activism to Bill Clinton, now comes Obama to spur gun sales beyond all previous levels. My organization is well acquainted with Obama's brand of ban-em, but give the nation a chance to feel the wrath.

    The Obama presidency will give rise to the next generation of 2nd Amendment advocates.

    Mike Weisman,

    1st Vice President,

    Illinois State Rifle Association

  47. Michael Miller

    it's all very simple......

    Guns = freedom.

    Look at history. Every dictator/despot/what ever you want to call them took steps to disarm the populace.

  48. J
    Alert

    Crazy

    @Mike Moyle

    "you folks on that side of the pond are blessedly beyond racial prejudice"

    I deeply doubt that.

    Now, as Mark_T wrote above, it's hard to understand, this cowardice/utter panic and death fixation... I myself enjoy target shooting since I was 10 or so, but if that possibility went away tomorrow that would not be any problem, life would go on as normal. I have no reason to be obsessed about guns; I'm mentally healthy. It's quite sick and should be treated, really. Maybe it's some type of homoerotic thing, I don't know... Some way to express what this "puritanically minded" society works so hard to repress in other areas? Who knows... As long as I (or mine) don't get shot, y'all can send each other to hell really -- the problem is that there are commonly "collaterals".

    And also, to believe that a bunch of overweight couch potatoes from the populace with gunpowder weapons (assault or not) can scare your government structure into submission is a very delusional thing -- tell us one instance of that ever having happened, please, since I'm not very conversant in American history. But I'm sure "they" want you to keep believing it, keeps you quiet.

  49. Anonymous Coward
    Pirate

    @Mark_T

    Wow - you have to "ask permission" - just like children, huh?

    Second - a firearm *is* a weapon, and I make zero apologies for that. The fact that I can also (and, in fact, mainly) use it for sporting purposes is a bonus; that fact that I can use it for defense allows me *not* to be scared - a subtle distinction which I'm sure you wouldn't be able to grasp anyway, your own freedoms having been ripped from you over there with nary a whimper. I honestly can't remember the last time I was scared for my safety - can you say the same?

    Let's see.... guns gone - check. Knives just about gone - check. Naughty pics almost gone - check. Surveillance cameras everywhere - check. No wonder you people go insane over the results a football match, killing, stoning and burning everything in sight.

    Third - we measure our freedom in many ways - just one of which is our ability to be able to defend ourselves should the need arise - not sitting scared and trembling like rabbits while waiting for the police who, may I remind you, are *not* obliged to respond to any particular citizen's request for help.

  50. Chris iverson
    Heart

    I love you guys

    Thank you everyone who has posted. You have brightened my dull Thursday. Anyway as a resident of the states and one who has had training on how to properly shoot a rifle and handgun, I can see what the draw is to them. I do not own one nor do I plan to but I do enjoy going to the range and renting one and squeezing out a few clips. It can be a little therapeutic. That being said living in a city known for its violence and apparently living in one of the worse parts I still see no reason why an individual would need a gun outside of hunting which obviously cant be done within the limits of the city. But since it is in our Bill of Rights allowing for gun ownership I choose not to step on anyone's right to that. Tho it may very well come back to burn me in the future

    Anyway time to go

    Mines the one with the squirt guns in the pocket

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