Would widespread CCW use help to curb mass-murders?

[garrett]

You should find the article written last week on this topic by Ted Nugent.

found it.

http://www.ultimateyota.com/index.ph...sg7297#msg7297

[dlbrunner]

Everyone who qualifies (non-felons and non crazies) should be able to open carry, and should. Just the sight of a sidearm on a person keeps people on their best behavior.

On a side note- I don't understand how a permanent resident can get a gun, THAT should be illegal. Only U.S. Citizens should be offered the protections of the second ammendment.

[mkgarrison5]

this is what my grandpa told me and his great grandpa told him.. " an armed society is a peaceful society".. look at texas, their crime rate went down when they passed those easy CCW laws... i am however all for it being hard for peopel to get handguns but when you get them you should have the right to carry CCW. never know when you will need it

[fustercluck]

... i am however all for it being hard for peopel to get handguns but when you get them you should have the right to carry CCW. never know when you will need it

At first this thought made me bristle and I almost wrote a spicy retort. Upon further reflection, I see the wisdom in making the path to gun ownership one of behavior qualification. The thought of such a screed used to curry the qualified from the unqualified, makes me nervous in that how long will it take before the bar is raised so high by the gun opposition, that even normal folks cannot have them? I'm brought to admit that society today is not as gun savvy as it used to be and that the moral culture of society has declined to the point that seemingly normal folks are uninhibited by elevated personal ethics and are driven by selfishness. These factors alone require sifting through the population to discover worthy from unworthy.

I'm just bothered by the camel's nose tendencies of the political animals on whose shoulders these decisions seem to fall. They are less driven by the constitution and the guarantee of personal freedom than they are the pursuit and retention of power at the peril of all else.

[Texas Jim]

... i am however all for it being hard for people to get handguns but when you get them you should have the right to carry CCW. never know when you will need it

At first this thought made me bristle and I almost wrote a spicy retort. Upon further reflection, I see the wisdom in making the path to gun ownership one of behavior qualification. The thought of such a screed used to curry the qualified from the unqualified, makes me nervous in that how long will it take before the bar is raised so high by the gun opposition, that even normal folks cannot have them? I'm brought to admit that society today is not as gun savvy as it used to be and that the moral culture of society has declined to the point that seemingly normal folks are uninhibited by elevated personal ethics and are driven by selfishness. These factors alone require sifting through the population to discover worthy from unworthy.

I'm just bothered by the camel's toes tendencies of the political animals on whose shoulders these decisions seem to fall. They are less driven by the constitution and the guarantee of personal freedom than they are the pursuit and retention of power at the peril of all else.

The power of lobbyist,PAC groups and of course the $$$$ !!!TJ

[MTL_4runner]

What are Canada's law concerning hand guns? I know that they tried a total ban on them at one time. I just don't know if they got it done? TJ

No ban on guns up here ....nope, in fact some areas up here it's downright dangerous to tresspass. Some rural areas that I need to visit I won't go without RCMP (state police) protection. There's no such thing as a CCW up here (AFAIK) nor do you hear about people who have "guns" as their one love in life but there are TONS of hunters up here and they all seem to have a ridiculous number of hunting firearms. So long story short, not as many handguns, but lots of rifles and shotguns.

Hopefully others from up here will chime in as well.

In US you can carry guns and the crime rate is high, and some people say it as a reason against carring guns. But if you look around in the world, you will find countries where people can carry even automatic guns, and the crime rate is low. Crime rate and right to carry guns aren't related. You know that if a criminal wants to murder someone, the added charges for illegally buying a gun won't stop him. The problem if people have guns without proper training, medical and psychological checks. If you can carry a gun, can act responsibly, won't use it quickly when provoked, and well trained in its use even automatic guns are low threat stuff. If some of it is missing (and with illegal guns most of it is missing) there is a problem. So the CCW arguement is really a moot point and the crime is more tied to the societal mentality than the number of guns owned by average joes.

The states of mind in the two countries (US vs Canada) are also completely different. For one the litigious aspect isn't there either (ie someone drowns in my pool in Canada, they can't turn around and sue me for it). When defending yourself, you are allowed to use as much force as is appropriate for the situation (ie if someone comes at you with a samurai sword and you drop him with a hunting rifle, you wouldn't be charged.......but you can't just off someone for burglarizing your home).

So bottom line is that I think the 2nd amendment is not needed in Canada because the conditions are very different here than they are in the US. When bad crime happens in rural areas, often a different form of justice gets served by the locals if they don't feel that the police have done their job.