When Will The U S A Ever Learn Not To Play With Guns

[ChillDoubt]

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-28948946

I wouldn't let a 9 year old loose with felt tip pens let alone a semi automatic machine pistol!!

[mikey4444]

Jomifl...I will come clean here and admit that I have never seen an Uzi ! But if it was fired directly at the head and face of a bear, would it not kill him outright !

[andy-hughes]

gness - "Youngmaf......are you seriously saying that those who live in remote areas of the USA should go around armed? Or have I got that wrong?

I lived near the foothills of The Rockies.....We spent a lot of time in the hills and mountains where bears were common.

I know that my family and I would have posed more of a danger carrying loaded guns on a walk through the woods than any bear would.
We learned how to be as safe as possible in bear country......and that didn't include going armed."

Thank you for bring some rational reasoning based on experience to the debate.

I would entirely agree that the way to avoid incidents with bears is to stay away from them.

That would include not walking in areas where numbers of bears are sited, and moving away when you hear them - they make enough noise moving about.

In the event that standard precuations have not prevailed, and a human / bear interface does take place, there are other options to be considered rather than attempting to shoot the animal dead, which would require a degree of marksmanship, as well as the correct weapon, and alarge dollop of nerve, to achieve.

As far as snakes are concerned - they wil always avoid human contact, which will only occur if the human is careless where they are walking.

In that event, a gun will be no help at all, since a snake is unliekly to rear up and invite a shot at it.

I think may YMB has watched too many westerns?

FYI YMB, you can't suck out the poison from a snakebite and spit - that doesn't work either.

[jomifl]

No guarantee... probably better to shoot it in the foot so that it had to limp after you :o)

[sandyRoe]

If you place the right to bear arms higher than the sanctity of human life you've got to expect the occasional accident. I'm sure incidents like this don't happen very often.

[jomifl]

Not quite often enough for the gun lobby to be naturally selected out of existance, but it is early days and we can hope.

[gness]

Thanks, Andy.....
....and Youngmaf.....Bear spray is proving to be much more effective and safer all round than a gun...if you're thinking of a holiday in North America....and don't forget your bells.....☺

[Hypognosis]

ABC World News (shown 01:30, BBC News Channel) showed a few extra frames of footage before pausing it. The gun twisted to the left almost immediately - by the second or third round.

They also showed an earlier incident where a 5 year old had the stumpy, metal, shoulder rest pressed against his sternum and the recoil killed him.

Of course, they could just as easily do themselves in by doing one to many free climbs in a day, at Yellowstone. :(

http://news.sky.com/story/1321700/yosemite-climber-falls-to-death-after-proposal

(If God exists, what has he got against Americans?)

[ChillDoubt]

(If God exists, what has he got against Americans?)
----------------
Not a lot, just that secretly deep down he's got a penchant for the Darwin theory and he uses them to prove it..

[jomifl]

Incidentally DB, an AK47 shoots a bullet weighing twice as much and at nearly twice the muzzle velocity of an Uzi. It has twice the effective range. (400 metres). Bearing in mind that one swipe from a bears paw can kill, then I would give the bear my sandwiches and run :o)

[jomifl]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/accidental-shootings-in-the-us-kill-100-children-a-year-report-finds-9563675.html

http://historylist.wordpress.com/2008/05/29/human-deaths-in-the-us-caused-by-animals/

So you can see that a child in the US is hundreds of times more likely to be killed in a firearms accident than to be killed by a bear.

[ToraToraTora]

well the right to arm bears is in the constitution....

mikey:"I encountered a huge black bear once, in the Rockies about 20 years ago. Not being an American and therefore not possessing an assault rifle, I escaped unhurt by throwing the rental car in reverse awfully quickly, which seemed to do the trick. " - what no U-turn??

[jomifl]

T3, U-turn! I don't think mikey does those, on the other hand...

[Hypognosis]

@Chilldoubt

//Not a lot, just that secretly deep down he's got a penchant for the Darwin theory and he uses them to prove it..//

If I could do an Angus Deayton accent, I could say
"Controversial"
at this point.
`:-|

[jomifl]

Having had a look at the video of the accident I have to say that the purpose of the Uzi appears to have been misunderstood by the instructor. The purpose of the Uzi is to spray lead around (especially in a confined space) and kill anyone within a 10 metre radius. A target is not necessary.