If people want to see a real reduction in crimes and murders in the United States then they should be pushing to have harsher sentences on gang members and related crime. But that will never happen, because the police and politicians don’t have the balls to actually confront the problems. Instead they place the blame on a inanimate object, and try to take away good innocent peoples only line of defense against the scum of society.

Bottom line guns defend innocent people who have the guts to own and properly use them.

Maybe one day you anti-gun people will be getting robbed at knife point and one of us good hearted legal gun owners will be there to defend you ungreatful innocent bast@rds. Or perhaps you would just rather wait till the police get there pick up your pieces.

People keep saying how robbers and thieves will have the upper hand in a armed conflict. I beg to differ. As a armed Licensed Concealed weapons carrier you have the element of surprise. Just give the perp your money and Put a couple bullets in his back when he runs off.

There will always be people getting murdered. It’s been that way forever and always will be. I personally would rather take a quick shot to the vitals than be hacked up with a knife or have my head crushed with a hammer.

You people across the pond I understand. You have always been a bunch of spineless sheeple and I expect such. Your government has stripped you of the right to defend yourselves, but you Americans on here saying how guns are evil need to be banned seriously need to go learn some appreciation for the effort our fore fathers put into our Constitution.

What happened to that kid was an absolute trajedy and is fully the fault of the people operating the shooting range. There should definitely be a age requirement to shoot fully automatic weapons.

Actually, let me retract my statement of badassness, it was a bit premature. I just got all pumped about this story.

Now what would’ve been badass if the zombie kid turned to the crowd with the trigger pegged, mowing down people and it caused this huge panic and everyone was grabbing whatever guns were available and returned fire… smoke, explosion, mayhem, people getting trampled… kickass!

Do you really feel safer having them? rather than protecting yourselves you’re more likely to put yourself in danger as the burglar (or whatever) is going to assume you’ve got a gun and take one himself, he’s got the element of surprise on you and will likely shoot first.

As I live in England I’m very very unlikely to be a victim of gun crime or a gun accident. Nearly everyone that is killed by guns here are involved in the shady underground criminal business and unfortunately the odd innocent person gets caught in the crossfire.

“SEOUL, Oct. 21 (UPI) — Six people were killed in a Seoul fire allegedly set by a man on a knifing rampage, police said.”

Zany Koreans, they should ban fire and knives. This one man’s behavior is indicative of the thoughts and beliefs of an entire nation of over 49 million. They are all fire and knife nuts over there because they don’t make laws to ban that which can possibly kill them if in the wrong hands. I can’t believe how stupid they ALL are. Once you put fire or a knife in a Korean’s hand, they just start killing indiscriminately and uncontrollably. Unbelievable.

I think I’ve made my point quite well. My logic is flawless, really. In fact, I think you could apply this line of reasoning to guns as well and it would sound completely sane. No, really.

Thank you for concisely stating the background that I relied on in making my earlier post (Oct. 28, 12:16 am).

It is not the gun, or the fact that it kills easily, that is at issue. The issue is personal responsibility. This sense of civic duty prevents gun owners from shooting their neighbors in precisely the same way that it prevents Little League players from attacking each other with baseball bats.

@those commenters who are unfamiliar with the handling and operation of firearms, why aren’t you frothing at your mouths about bows, arrows and atlatls? Or steak knives?

A question for those who do not live in America but excoriate our freedom to own and use firearms: What is the murder weapon of choice in your country? Why haven’t you done something about that weapon, like making them go away by passing a law?

1. We already had the discussion about what the differences were going to be between the two continents. I recollect, a bit more than 200 years ago. I don’t think you want to rehash it, now or ever.

2. You know nothing about firearms, or anyone you self-righteously call a “gun nut”. Yet, you come here and about spewing your foolishness as though you were some kind of expert on society, firearms, or law.

3. You display an amazing amount of arrogance, but I don’t find that surprising at all.

4. The second amendment is not about hunting, it’s about independence. That is also something most of you know nothing about.

5. Where I live, there are few organized police departments. Both places. Alaska requires no permit to carry a firearm, concealed or in the open. People here understand that criminals, thieves, and murders do not care about laws. Laws are to address crimes. When you take a harmless act, having a gun, and elevate it to a crime to prevent crime, you sink to the lowest level of stupidity.

6. If you’re happy living where you are at the whim and mercy of any hood who decides he doesn’t care about the law, more power to you. Really, that’s your right. You do not have a right to extend that to where I live.

7. “Repeal the second amendment”? Sure, go ahead if you can. It won’t make a lick of difference. The right preceded the constitution, and the supreme court and the writers of the Bill of Rights said so. So what? An illegal law is no more to be obeyed than an illegal order.

8. There are, read this well and I will write slowly, eighty million firearms owners in the United States. Eighty million people armed and safe, but for the rare exceptions.

9. We own, some debate over the number, between 250 and 750 MILLION firearms.

10. Guns were made to fire a bullet out the end of the barrel. Hammers were built to pound nails. Either can be used to kill people. Only an idiot would bring a hammer to a gun fight. Only a suicidal idiot would bring a knife to a gun fight. I’ll take my chances with a gun.

11. I am a former law enforcement officer. Returned to college at 30 to pursue a graduate degree in physical therapy. I’d place my qualifications and intelligence against any of you morons, in any debate anywhere, anytime. And I’d beat you like a drum in front of any audience.

12. Emotional, knee jerk, and irrational arguments might appeal to people who have little self control or brains. It’s better for the world that you people don’t like or own guns. Leave those of us with some brains and self control alone. We’re not like you, obviously.

Quite the luck of the draw.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/3812275.stm

but these have been debunked.

So why the hell are we all running around killing each other?

Turns out we’re not – the glass is half-full after all:

http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/pinker07/pinker07_index.html

I’m going to stop watching the news and spamming forums with off-topic rants.

I’m off to buy a gun and watch some wrestling.

I was going to dig up a load of articles that stated more or less:

“Switzerland has one of the highest gun ownership rates in the world, coupled with one of the lowest rates of gun-related deaths.” (look – I can quote wikipedia!)

But it turns out that recently this has changed:

“in 2005, 48 people were murdered by gunfire in Switzerland – about the same number as in England and Wales, which have a population seven times as large. According to the International Action Network on Small Arms, an anti-gun organisation based in the UK, 6.2 people died of bullet wounds in Switzerland in 2005 per 100,000 of population, second only to the US figure of 9.42″

So I guess it comes down to:

1) Do you believe the mere presence of a gun caused these murders? Or rather – would the absence of a gun have prevented these murders?

2) Does it matter anyway? If a man runs down his wife in a car do we ban all cars? If a youth stabs another do we ban all knives?

Hang ON – what the f*ck am I talking about? Of COURSE we ban knives, or at least carrying them in public.

I apologise – I was about to indulge in reductio ad absurdum but now I’ve changed my mind.

Guns were designed for killing and if you f*ck about with them someone will get hurt.

Geeez you f*cking yank gunnuts are CRAZY

Your state already has some of the most draconian gun regs in the nation. Doesn’t this show that they don’t work?

“Operating fully automatic weapons? Not in my state, gun nuts.”

I wouldn’t set foot in your socialist, gunophobic “utopia” if you paid me.

To all those…
“You’d all be speaking German right now – I didn’t see you complaining when we bailed you out with our guns in the two world wars”
…posters. ahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!

I think we can draw a line between gun laws for civilians and gun laws for the military!

I don’t think anyone is seriously suggesting sending the troops off to Iraq with a few sticks, a handful of rocks and a toothpick.

By the way – most of us are of course thankful for your part in those wars, however I doubt your soldiers died fighting in them so that idiots like you could then rub the fact in the faces of your so-called “friends”.

Morons like you give your country a bad name.

That having been said, this is not the fault of the gun, or the gun’s availability, or even dare I say the gun’s presence in the hand of a child (which I can’t find any justification for, either). It is the responsibility of the adults present, who should have known better.

For example, you can die a painful death if you choose to drink drain cleaner. Yet drain cleaner is perfectly legal and available almost anywhere. But it comes with a warning on it, which very small children would not be able to read, just see the pretty colors. Therefore, it’s up to the ADULT to keep the drain cleaner away from children, not up to lawmakers to make drain cleaner unavailable for everyone because it’s possible to die from drinking it.

Without knowing how many shooting lanes were open at one time I can’t completely blame the Range Master. But there should have been some one at each lane responsible for that particular lane.
The Range Master is the Boss of all lanes then there should be a manager at each lane. Especially when its an Open to the Public shoot.

I don’t know about you but if I was going to loan a piece of equipment, worth 1000s of dollars, of any type to someone I didn’t know. I would be standing there making sure they used it properly and safely.

Notice in the article that none of the people that where supposed to be in charge of the show were talking. The gun ranges Insurance company & Lawyers told them to keep their mouths shut except to official investigation personnel.
You can Bet there is a Lawyer along with the anti-gun crowd bitting at the bit on this one.

The stupidest idea was to have live ammo at a gun show, and to allow anyone without a licence to fire that gun.

That said, as long as the Second Amendment stands, I support it entirely. Frankly, I don’t care if firearms are banned or not, but people trying to circumvent the Constitution through dubious “interpretations” really piss me off. As someone posted above, if you can circumvent one Amendment, what stops you from circumventing more at a whim? Like it or not, the Second Amendment says I can go out and buy a gun, and if you want to remove that right from me, you need to amend the Constitution. Period.

BTW, stop blaming the dad in this case. Read more articles than the one Neatorama posted (which is heavily biased): there was a instructor present.

Maybe when the carnage will be over, real grownups without boom/bang fetishes will be able to repopulate your otherwise interesting piece of land.

Privately held machines guns don’t have as much utility for their risk as other, less dangerous guns (which I why I don’t have a problem with the strict laws against them), but they do have some utility.

Swimming pools are useful, and besides, they quite possibly save a considerable number of lives in a year through healthy exercise.
Privately held machine guns serve no useful purpose.

This, of course, isn’t to say that society should ban swimming pools, or that handguns be available to every man, woman, and child. Rather, we need to understand the relative costs associated with everything and separate emotion from understanding.

Society’s misunderstanding of the relative dangers of swimming pools and handguns is a testament to the fragility of freedom. The fact that accidents such as this one, however extremely graphic, seemingly unnecessary, and tragically preventable, automatically sway public opinion toward the banning of guns, and therefore the restriction of libertarian freedom, is the real tragedy.

http://your4state.com/content/fulltext/?cid=36661

…or maybe we should just accept that the price of freedom is that accidents happen, and that when each of us steps off the curb, we’re not guaranteed to make it to the other side of the street?

2) Most guns are made for killing people, which I am typically against. Do you go moose hunting with an uzi?

Were either of my two to do anything when I’m not there I’d be glad if another adult dealt with it. I’m not always there, I don’t follow my kids around slavishly, they’re given considerable freedom but are expected to behave properly.

Your view is that no one should ever deal with a problem because they don’t “own” it. Daft, in my view. What if I see one kid beating up another? You want me to walk past? If one of mine’s getting thumped I’d like someone nearby to at least break it up.

ButI also think it’s a VERY good idea for the law not to allow me to have one, or any other nutcase like me.

When are you ppl gonna allow live handgranates in kindergarten?

not even being that sarcastic there, to me its about the same thing as kids on gunfairs…

BTW, butting into people’s lives as far as parenting is concerned is a good way to get hurt. Kids with issues usually have parents with issues (hell, they might even have a gun!).
Furthermore, Even the best parents can have kids that act up. As in the case with this gun-related incident, when you are seeing a kid throw a tantrum at the store you are seeing a microcosm of that family’s life (this gun incident is a microcosm of American life) and may or may not be indicative of thief lives as a whole. The bottom line is, you don’t know the history and you don’t know what the situation is. For you, a stranger who is completely ignorant and uninformed as to what is going on, to start handing out criticism or advise is unhelpful and completely out of line in my opinion. Yeah, there are just poorly raised children out there, but do you REALLY think that your two cents is going to change that? Don’t be so naïve. The solution is much, MUCH more complex than that. Kind of like the solution that Americans should just “ban guns” is too simplistic for that problem.

Stop telling completely BS already.

I can’t believe the stupidity of anyone that would let children handle guns, why not give them crack cocaine and a pipe too, perhaps they don’t because that would be irresponsible and dangerous.

No doubt these very same people have no qualms about criticizing and generalizing the culture, customs, government, and religion of other countries. Silly double standards.

American culture is based on violence and it is a gun culture sadly. Little children or kids shooting guns is indicative of a greater problem in our society. I don’t care how it’s done, on a range or on the streets.

That is a very disturbing line of thinking. If we start throwing out parts of the Bill of Rights because we find them uncomfortable or distasteful, where we do stop?

“gun fairs” hahaha!
Such a nice family day out…

You zany Americans.

I’m always rather puzzled by people who deny anyone else the right to criticise them. They’re often the same sort who don’t like people telling their kids off, claiming that it’s their job to do it while failing to actually do so.
Personally, if someone sees my kids doing something wrong they’re welcome to tell them off and I’ll generally support them, too.

Operating fully automatic weapons? Not in my state, gun nuts.