Titanic wrote:Not really, what he said perfectly proved your point wrong. Bringing in more laws to make different crimes illegal does not increase the crime rate.
To the person who said a criminal would carry a gun, no matter what the sentence is, that’s utter rubbish. The punishment for breaking the law is one of the deciding factors in whether or not a person breaks the law. For example, stealing from a grocery store gives you a warning or temporary police record in the west, whilst in Dubai you lose you fingers (or that the myth anyway). I could pretty much confidently say the crime rate for thieving in Dubai is much lower then the crime rate for stealing in the west.
A great number of predmeditated murders take place in this country (by which I mean the United States) every day, despite the death penalty. People still smoke, buy, and sell marijuana even though it carries a mandatory sentence of 5 years.
If someone wants to commit a crime, they'll do it consequences be damned.
Also, banning guns would have an amazingly positive effect on American society. Firstly, gangs armed with knives are no way near as scary and gangs with guns. This will increase the publics perceived safety and make the streets safer. Secondly, gang wars will be reduced significantly, and even though young people may still hang around in groups or gangs, the negative effect they have on society will be severely reduced.
You act as if the only gun deaths stem from gang violence, which is not the case. Gangs will still fight, and since they're usually involved in illegal trade anyhow, they will still use guns. If a gang has been selling drugs for a while, extra punishments added onto gun possession isn't going to faze them.
Thirdly, fatalities from attacks will be reduced, so the death rate will drop and major crime and fatal attacks will be covered in the media less often, thus created a safer feeling mood among the American public. Fourthly, the age at which most people grow out of the gang culture will reduce. Currently, when people carry around guns, no matter how old they are your gunna feel like you have an advantage over the other guy and that your “big”. With a knife it different, and more people at a slightly younger age will mature up and move away from the gang culture.
Wrong, the American media will not stop covering death and dismemberment. Crime rates are not, nor have ever been, proportional to the coverage that violent crime gets on the evening news. End of story. Haven't you heard the old network news saying: "If it bleeds, it leads?"
We'll have new, bigger, more organized gangs like the 1920s selling guns out of fronts to anyone who wants one.
To the person who said “people will still get guns, just like they get weed now.” Tell me, when was the last time you heard of someone growing a gun in their back garage? Guns are imported, or got from the shops, or gangs, or illegal sources. Make guns illegal, these chains will break down, and getting a gun would so much more difficult as anyone dealing guns would be prosecuted, whilst atm people dealing with guns could cover their back. Also, obviously people will always break the law, but putting a 5 year sentence on possession of a firearm will severely reduce the temptation for people to carry a gun, and will break the gun trade within the USA.
Make gun sales and ownership illegal, and you will create a new industry of organized criminals selling and smuggling guns, much like speakeasies during Prohibition. How do you think major drug dealers in this country get drugs? Smuggling and cartels. I don't know about you, but I don't see the prospect of arms cartels being able to funnel fully automatic assault rifles into our streets as being a better alternative.
In your "utopia," if someone wants a gun all they have to do is drop 100 dollars at some facsimile of a speakeasy and they're off. No waiting periods, no criminal checks, no registrations, no licenses, no way to trace who owned the gun in case a crime is committed. This would not only be ineffective at stopping gun crime, it would hamper the police's ability to investigate crimes.
When you make a business like liquor, drugs, or guns illegal, all you do is
A) make more criminals
B) remove any government regulation in the sale and manufacture of said product(s)
C) make the nation far more dangerous than it was already
and D) drive the practices further underground
How long in this supposedly 'gunless' nation would we have to wait before those with guns outnumbered those without guns. At least with liquor prohibition the violence was restricted to within the gangs (look up the St. Valentine's Day Massacre sometime), but if only the nuts, felons, and fools have guns, we're screwed. The cops won't do anything because they'll be outgunned and outnumbered. It'll be anarchy.
At least the current system, though flawed, does have some modicum of background checks and criminal record screenings. It's better than the nothing that you suggest.
On topic, if Obama pledges to make possession of a firearm illegal then he would immediately have the support of most European imo (obviously depending on his other firearms), and whoever gets to be president after Bush really needs to start cracking down on it, as especially in the ghettos, its probably as dangerous as living in Iraq or other conflict devastated places.
Violent crime among youth has fallen, while crime among whites over 30 has nearly doubled. The ghettos aren't the scene of the majority of crimes, despite what you see on the news.
Initiate discovery! Fire the Machines! Throw the switch Igor! THROW THE F***ING SWITCH!
