Postby Neil » Thu May 26, 2022 2:24 pm
"There was a guy that took all the guns a while back. His name was Hitler."
Totally irrelevant. In response to mass murders, the United Kingdom, Australia and Norway made it extremely difficult to obtain weapons unless you met stringent requirements. They have not seen democracy disappear, but murders with firearms have been vanishingly rare. The same is true of Canada, and weapons leak across the border. There are just as many evil or crazy people in these countries, they just don't have access to weapons of mass murder, which have no social utility whatever.
"PS: How many criminals/gang members/nut cases are going to voluntarily turn in their guns?"
That's what police are for. And laws that make life imprisonment a consequence of illegally possessing a weapon that is not permitted by law, or committing a crime using a weapon.
"Then there is the number of people killed by automobiles....we would all be walking using your thought processes."
Totally irrelevant. While reducing this number is an important goal, automobiles, unlike firearms not used for the common defense or hunting by carefully screened owners, have a social purpose of importance. There is no social utility in allowing mentally deranged people or people with a history of violent behavior to purchase weapons without screening as is possible in most states. This is pure and simple a problem of stupidity, stubborn adherence to political dogma and right wing radical sociopathy. No one is advocating taking away weapons from hunters and members of state militia. No one is advocating removing automatic weapons from the US Army, just from the political radicals who think they need such weapons of mass destruction in their homes.
Neil