Saturday 5 June 2010

Maybe it is time for a ban.

On Question Time this week there was a comment that mass murder may occur even if guns are not available. Personally I think it is a lot easier to kill people when you do have guns. Now YouGov have been asking if guns should be banned and 70% say that they should . At least that's what yesterday's headline in The Sun says. 'Ban gun say 70%'. In the body of The Sun's text you read 'seven out of ten Britons want a complete ban on guns or tougher firearm laws'.

Maybe I should not believe any part of the article, after all the text and headline contradict each other. However I think there is some truth there somewhere and I prefer to believe the text. In the last couple of days I have considered much more thoughtful responses to a ban. My reservations have been that it is not a liberal act to ban anything and secondly I am not sure if we have the ability to carry out a ban. Maybe it is time for a ban. I have received a couple of comments and one supports a ban and the other supports tighter restrictions. The problem with a restriction requiring more frequent checks on gun owners is that it would not have stopped the events of this week.

Change the world

4 comments:

  1. "Magic paper" (legislation) cannot make them go away. It can ensure that only criminals and the state have guns and that the rest of us are put under ever tighter scrutiny by the latter to ensure we do not have them.

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  2. Thanks Jock. This is a big reservation for me. I don't want a more illiberal state in which more people are criminalised for any number of reasons, and then the actual cause doesn't go away. For me this is a much stronger argument than any put forward by the gun lobby.

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  3. One more thought. If "the rest of us" comply with a ban and then decide to go on a killing spree then it will be more difficult to go out with a gun if we have already given them up.

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  4. no amount of legislation will take the illegal firearms away though. I know in this case the firearm was registered, but there are many incidents where the firearm isn't registered. I don't know if it made the local rag, but there was an incident in Morecmbe last week involving a firearm. I don't know any more details though.

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