The Right To Bear Arms (American-style)

[paraffin]

Given that the latest slaughter in America (Alabama) has claimed at least 10 lives, is it right that access to firearms there should be as simple and easy as buying a loaf of bread in the UK?

Or are our firearms laws too strict?

[IggyB]

the right to bear arms is a silly as the right to arm bears!

[Bbbananas]

or to have bare arms in a cold snap.

[Bbbananas]

... seriously - our firearms laws are probably about right, it's the americans who have it wrong.

There should be no 'right' to bear arms, there is however the right to live without the fear of being shot at by some nutcase out on a personal mission.

[VHG]

Funny that when 10 people are killed by a mad gunmen it makes then news.

But here in the UK about 10 people a DAY are killed on our roads, and this rarely makes the news.

I know some individual car crashes do make the news but we rarely question the fact that we accept 10 people a day being killed on our roads.

[R1Geezer]

Guns are only the tools, it's the mental state of the purpetrators that is the problem. Every DIY shop contains all manner of deadly weapons. I don't think it would have made any differemve to the purpetrator if guns where illegal.

If you outlaw guns the only people with guns will be outlaws.

[McMouse]

Our firearms laws are too strict. It is madness that law abiding people who enjoy shooting as a sport have to travel from UK to the continent to practice. Villains ignore the law anyway.

[andy-hughes]

I have no doubt that if President Obama could repeal that line in the Constitution, he would do it tomorrow.

Sadly, it is so deeply enshrined in American history and culture that no politician would remain in office long enough to see such a repeal passed.

[Oneeyedvic]

Well, bear in mind that today another tragedy has happened in Germany - a country which has a similar arms law to our own.

[Julnar]

The American love affair with guns will continue because it is so ingrained in their society. It needs to be remembered that the USA is a vast place and sometimes law enforcement relies on people protecting their own homes and families because response times in rural areas in particular can seem horrendous from our small island viewpoint. I can see gun laws slowly , but surely getting stricter in cities, but for the USA in general, I would imagine things will remain much the same for the forseeable future. As for gun laws in the UK; the stricter the better as far as I'm concerned, but with concessions made for genuine sportsmen and women.

[The Sherman]

R1Geezer they might only be tools but you count the amount of accidents that happen in the US and then you realise that tools of that nature are best kept as safe as possible. and in my eyes there is no need to have them as part of law at all.

also whoever said they are part of law enforcement in rural areas your more likely to have your own gun used against you by a burglar than them actually having one!

[anotheoldgit]

VHG

But here in the UK about 10 people a DAY are killed on our roads, and this rarely makes the news.

No one is saying that we accept the killings on the roads, and plenty of time, laws and money go into preventing some of this carnage.

But there is a big difference between Murder and an accident, how many of these 10 a day deaths on the road, are accidental and how many of them murder?