[Sternjaeger II]

Originally Posted by winny

Ok.. So my opinion less 'informed' because I don't handle guns regularly?
My opinion is informed, you're patronising me and also assuming I'm stupid simply because I disagree with you. Like I said before, bigoted.

ok, so can you tell me off the top of your head what are the procedures and rules in act at the moment to obtain a gun license, what kind of guns you can get and what kind of licenses are out there? I'm afraid that the bigot here is you, who can't think of a suitable solution just cos you have no interest or are afraid of something, so you wipe it off.

Why can't you stick to what we're talking about? LHC ? What? Stop throwing out all these decoys.

decoys? I'm just giving parallel examples that can help you see things without the "bad firearms!" blindfold..

If you relax the laws on gun ownership, at some point in the future someone who shouldn't have a gun will get one legally, not a criminal, a regular person who appears normal, then has a bad day. As far as I can recall, Hungerford, Dunblane and Cumbria were all carried out by people with access to legally held firearms and all, interestingly, in rural areas. Away from the big cities with the gangs and guns, these people were all seen as normal law abiding citizens.

there we go, another example of not actually reading my posts.. I have NEVER said RELAX gun laws, just make them more adequate and you won't need to prohibit only certain guns..

As for the 3 massacres (since WW2) that you mentioned, I think they're a drop in an ocean of murder and violence that we're surrounded by, the firearms became the scapegoat, but the responsibility was in the institutions that deemed that people suitable for gun detention.

You say on one hand that the police/government are incompetent, yet these same people would be, and are responsible for licencing guns, what makes you think that they will get it right. You already showed you have no faith in them. The only way is to make it very, very hard to legally own a gun.

I'm sorry, but what an utterly insane solution!!! So if an institution fails to deliver on a service, you remove it instead of improving the institution itself?!

You know when I mentioned the fact that if you're ignorant on the topic you can't understand? The gun club social reality I was talking about is a perfect example of how a simple thing like attending such clubs can be a solution to spot loonies (like it happens in Switzerland), but you can't understand this obviously unless you ever frequented one.

You're pretty good at name calling and character asassination, but when it comes down to why you think the law is wrong you've got nothing to say.

yeah man and you're pretty touchy yourself, and I already told you what's wrong with the law, if you don't even bother reading my posts then why wasting my and your time?

So come on, what would be your ideal criteria for gun ownership, for regular people? (let me guess... a criteria that includes you?)

oh, for the love of... ok, again..

1) Whoever wants to get a license should have a clean penal record (him and everybody in his close family and/or living in the same household).
2) You need a series of psychological tests to assess whether you are at risk of developing socio-path behaviour. People with childhood traumatic experiences or any other condition shouldn't be allowed to own firearms.
3) There should be different levels of gun holding licenses (according to the firearm possessed), each coming with mandatory training session and responsibility of safe storage
4) You will need to frequent your local gun club and integrate in social activities, i.e. events, competitions, open days etc..
5) the police can come and check at anytime that you have everything stored safely
6) you will do recurrent tests or short visits to local doctors who can check on your psychological status.

I could go on for a while, or simply make a photocopy of the gun regulations in Switzerland. Switzerland is highly unlikely to be invaded anytime soon, still, the male citizens feel invested and understand the responsibility of being part of the civil guard, making them proud and committed citizens. A bit of military or para-military discipline never did any harm to anyone.