Yeah, and they didn't have the freedom to become absolute degenerates. Making life comfortable and the survival of the group relatively easy may reduce violence overall but the cost is sociopaths who can afford to survive with no moral compass. Random (occasional) insanity may be the cost of Western 'progressive' thought and hyperspecialized lifestyles.
Where do we stop though? I bet we could sure control a shitload more than guns in the name of peace, but we probably shouldn't. I say focus on the source, the people who cause the problems.
yes, one cost of many if you're not going to shoot up your classmates you're probably going to be a horrible, antisocial waste of breath in one of the million other ways that modern western life affords you, instead
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/jan/10/gun-crime-us-state Came across this interesting set of stats earlier. My hasty interpretation of this data is that it doesn't matter what the state gun laws are really, it matters what kind of people you have in that state. I can think of big cities (overpopulated hellholes) that represent the problem for each one of the triple digit states.
I like the arguments presented here. Its been fun reading while Im supposed to be working. Americans seem to be obsessed with guns and Ive never figured out why. I own a gun but I have absolutely no compulsion to even fire it. Ive even considered purchasing what I perceive to be a "safer" more "reliable" weapon but when I see how much they cost....fucking forget it. So, I end up with the same nagging questions: who are these people who fucking loooooove guns and who the hell enjoys spending 4 figures on something they cant even use? And if I examine my peers my questions are answered with..."everyone". Its like the worlds largest cult here. I feel like the *only* person who doesnt give two shits about guns.
Furthermore, it bothers me that other industrialized nations like UK, Sweden, Japan...they dont have mass shootings. They also dont have access to guns. Do they have crazy fuckers living in their moms basement? Definitely. What if the Japanese could get guns anytime they wanted? Would they kill each other off? Who knows.
They don't already have millions and millions of guns. Also; comparing ourselves to other countries is never going to work. If it was that easy we could just look to Switzerland and the argument would be over.
the "crazy fuckers" can and do get guns if they want to but you're right, we barely ever have mass shootings of any kind ever
@Tully: the RCer from Switz already established that the idea that 50% of switzerlands population has guns routine is bunk @ Erik:
I did not know that about the picture; read more about it. Pretty damn interesting. Also, I can't tell if those womangs are hot. I suspect no, but I don't know.
Wasnt it Refraction who said swiss are provided with a firearm for their compulsory military service and so the data is horribly skewed?
Figured, but you know the saying, "hot from far, but far from hot." I feel like that is happening now. Also, typing Swiss is really hard; I keep typing Swizz.
according to wikipedia it's more like 25% and most of them are issued by the military for emergency/wartime use only, and cannot be carried anywhere outside the home without a permit, and permits are not generally issued to people unless they have really good reasons i guess i learned something about switzerland today