Quote:
For the point I was making, you can leave Australia out of the picture, or you can consider the issue of types of firearms -- for example, in Australia there are virtually no privately owned semi-auto pistols; compare the gun homicide rates in the U.S. involving semi-auto handguns to the gun homicide rates in Australia with the same type of pistol, then consider percentages measured against the legally owned guns...
My overall point (that some seem to be missing here) is that it is not the gun that is causing anything. It is a people issue; focusing on "guns" isn't a solution to crime problems.
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Yeah the old story... guns don't kill people. People with guns kill people. More freely available guns mean more people with more guns kill more people.
Somehow, more dead people (per head of population) is something you want to use to use to somehow justify your argument (because there are EVEN MORE guns per head of population).
I can't prove this, and believe me I've tried (just search the archives here), but I am strongly suspicious that pretty much the sole reason for the increased gun homicide in the US is due to the availability of handguns.
Which would make intuitive sense, because they are portable and concealable, and make a great weapon in a crime of passion.
In New Zealand, there are very, very few handguns (tons of rifles/shotguns though). I'm pretty sure (from prior research) that we have relatively similar violent crime stats to the US - excepting gun crime - and in fact may be slightly higher up on stabbings and so on. This is because people don't often settle a dispute with a firearm.
And when you settle a dispute with a knife, the person is a lot less likely to die. This is intuitive, and common sense.
The whole "guns are good" premise seems to ride on the necessity of having more guns to deter the baddies with guns.
Should everyone have a gun? A requirement to bear arms?
I dunno. In all seriousness, while I could dream up what I think is an appropriate level of gun control (eg, no handguns except for collectors & sport shooting and transportation to sport shooting, no assault rifles, somewhat restrictive ownership), the crux of the matter is that in the US there is no way you can implement it in a way which accomplishes the goal.
Basically, IMHO, you are screwed. The country is so awash in guns that in a practical sense, no gun amnesty would ever get them in and no prohibition would ever take them out of the hands of criminal elements.
Perhaps an analysis of how you got yourselves into that mess is more appropriate
