Do you own a gun?

[Torsten]

It's estimated that there are 600 million handguns available worldwide with 200 million of them in one single country: the USA. This means, that statistically speaking every US adult has at least one handgun. The question is what do they need handguns for? Self-defense? Hunting? Favorite pastime?
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[Prezbucky]

For most people it's likely one or more of the following:

- self-defense
- hunting
- target-shooting (for fun or for competition)

There is also the grander scheme of avoiding tyranny (one of the main reasons the framers of the Constitution added the 2nd Amendment). One of the reasons Hitler had such little trouble in taking and holding such complete control of Germany -- even after many Germans doubtless realized he was nuts -- is that he and his troops had no real opposition. Had there been 40 million armed Germans, who knows how the world would have been different.

This is not to say that the Germans would have revolted... but it certainly took away their capacity for revolt.

I hope this isn't politicized (here) into a debate on gun control. Really the only way for those kids to be protected would have been for one of them, or a group of them, to have rushed the gunman and beaten him senseless.

Another way would have been if they'd been armed. They weren't, the cops couldn't get there in time to stop it, and 32 of them were killed before the nutjob gunman took his own life.

There's a somewhat old train of thought here held by many:

If the government outlaws guns, good people will give up their guns. The bad guys won't.
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Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[Che Gevara]

I have a collection of guns, knifes and swards ,My grandfather was a hunter and he was collecting guns ,I think a have a good collection
I don’t like hunting and I don’t need it for defence
Sometimes I shoot on target
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[Jamie (K)]

I believe in gun ownership, but I don't own a gun, because I'm scared to have one. I am trained to fight with knives, but I don't like having a big fighting knife in the house either. This last feeling is irrational, because I don't mind having large knives in the house as tools, even though they can also be used to fight with.

Americans don't absolutely need guns, but many people feel safer having them, considering the amount of street crime there is. Just the knowledge that someone may have a gun in the house, or on his body, deters a lot of crime, because criminals figure the odds, and they won't go somewhere or bother somebody if there's too big a chance of getting hurt. Plus, the police can't be everywhere, and it's helpful for at least some ordinary citizens to be armed.

Then there are unusual situations where guns come in handy. I read recently about a woman whose child had been caught by an alligator. She was losing the tug-of-war with the beast until a man driving by heard her screams, ran from his car and shot the alligator.

Keep in mind, Torsten, that guns don't kill people. It's the person behind the gun who does the killing. When my father was young, there were still a lot of killings, but people mainly stabbed each other.

[Jan]

It is good to remember that somebody from outside American society (not used to freedom to own the gun
) have committed that murder,if in South Korean guns would be available maybe he would start killing much more earlier in his fatherland
Instead he had to go over seas to fulfill his sick dreams.
What ever You say America is country of opportunity even for nuts.
Good help families of victims

Jan

[Jamie (K)]

Here is an Ann Coulter commentary on guns and mass murder that some of you may find interesting:
http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/AnnCoulter/2007/04/18/lets_make_america_a_sad-free_zone!

If you don't read it all, note these comments:

[Jamie (K)]

Here's an interesting editorial from Investors Business Daily on gun control and the Virgina shootings.
http://ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=261873389636988

It mentions that five years ago, at another university in Virginia, a student went on a shooting spree, and other students used guns to stop him. Then last year, the Virginia legislature defeated a proposed law that would have prevented universities from restricting students with legal permits from carrying guns. In other words, even if someone were legally allowed to carry a gun, a university could force him not to. And here's the ironic part of the article:

[Torsten]

[Englishuser]

Hi,

No, I do not own a gun, and I am not going to get one, either. What would I do with a gun?

EU

[Prezbucky]

TD

Nobody I know has ever had to use a gun in self-defense. I actually don't know anyone who's used one other than for hunting or target-shooting.
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Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee.

[Torsten]

Hi Tom,

If so few American use guns in self-defense, why are there more than 200 million guns registered in the US? Are you saying that 200 million US citizen go hunting on a regular basis? What animals do they hunt and where? Also, what about target-shooting, how exactly does that work? Do you shoot at bottles or other items in your backyard?
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Che Gevara]

I saw on Tv another crazy guy shoot people in the US , later policemen killed him..
What is going on there ,may be US Government shouldn't allow so many people possess guns..
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[Prezbucky]

[Prezbucky]

Che
It looks like there might be a move toward psychological background checks (or more aptly put: checks of a person's psychological/psychiatric history).
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[Aleaf]

In fact i think guns are redundant/unnecessary.
But if i have to choose among the three options i think hunting is my first choice because there must be lots of fun in hunting despite i hate killing wild animals.

the second choice to me is for favorite pastime. but i really don't like shooting as my hobby.

The reason why i won't choose self-defense is that it is hardly conceivable what kind of society it is that common people have to use their own guns to defend themselves instead of the police who are reponsible for the safty of people.The more guns the common people have, the more fears people will face.
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