Coming up Wednesday
CNNi's Christiane Amanpour on the effectiveness of gun laws around the world
As the U.S. continues to grapple with its gun laws in the wake of the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, Christiane Amanpour, host of CNNi’s “Amanpour,” joins “Starting Point” Wednesday to discuss international gun policies and how changes have been made around the world to decrease gun-related murders.
“Remember in 1996 in Scotland, children the same ages as those in Sandy Hook Elementary School were massacred," Amanpour explains. "In that case, they banned the easy access to handguns. They also put in a buy back scheme. They also then backed that up with penalties and fines for any violations.”
“The fact is that it worked,” she adds.
The ABC Global Affairs anchor also notes that in Japan stricter laws than those in the U.S. have brought the gun-related murder rate down significantly.
“In order to have your basic air rifle [in Japan], you have to have a skills test, you have to have a license, you have to have a drug test, a mental evaluation, and you have to have police background check, file with the police, all sorts of fines,” Amanpour explains. In 2008, there were 11 gun-related deaths in Japan. In the same year, there were 12,000 gun-related deaths in the U.S.
Amanpour argues that the link between tighter gun laws and fewer gun-related deaths is not “brain surgery.” She adds that the United States needs to have a serious discussion about how to get “sensible laws.”
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Australia imports, registers and allows ownership of semi-auto handguns. Semi-auto rifles & handguns are controlled at a higher level than bolt action rifles for example but a few are still allowed to posses them, such as professional pest controllers.
Trust a journalist to get basic facts wrong. Is laziness a universal job requirement to become a journalist?
Peer reviewed research has shown Australia's decline in firearm crime began before 1996 and continued the same trend after 1996.
If Australia's gun laws are so effective why are the leftists clamoring for more laws?
In the last couple of years Sydney has had near weekly shootings of houses, humans and cars with primarily illegal hand guns (which are subject to the highest level of control) nearly all of this crime is related to motor cycle and drug gangs.
Customs workers have recently been arrested for smuggling handguns into the country.
I do not understand why defending the 2nd amendment is considered 'fanatical'. I do not own a weapon but enjoy the freedom to have one if I so desire. Of course there is occasionally gruesome and disgusting violence, but the contract has been forged and we shall abide by it. If you disagree, I don't see why you can't move to a place with fewer freedoms and more 'peace'.
Just what we need, another foreigner telling us how to run our country.
The main problem I see is that the USA does not enforce the laws on the books. Just look at some of our cities where guns are already banned. How has Chicago done with enforcing their gun laws? It is not apples to apples when comparing the USA to other countries.
It's not brain surgery. Exactly! Assault weapons produce NO positives for society - only negatives. There is no logical argument against this simple fact. Ban assault weapons now. .
I understand we are upset about the massacre, which we can all agree it was, but shouldnt we be putting our focus on the debt ceiling and the fiscal cliff which "our" president has led us to. All he needs to do is give us a push and he can watch us all plummit.
Someone might have to remind Ms Amanpour that 2 out of 200 countries do not make a complete data set. The goal is to reduce overall crime and murders, not simply shift the instrument of death to bombs and knives. Journalism is dead in America.
How has it worked in Scotland, murder is up 19% – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-16175439
Disarming this country leaves us open to invasion by foreign governments. Did you not learn in school that the US has not been invaded because so many of us have weapons? Take our guns away and see how long we last before we are invaded by China and Russia. They are just waiting for their chance.
Ok, so gun crime goes down. How about the stats on violent crimes in general, do they change? I doubt it. Evil people exist, and they will do as they will, no matter the tools provided to them. Show me a study that shows violent crimes on the whole are reduced meaningfully by restricting guns and I'll consider your arguments. Until then, I'll view them as what they are; cherry picking stats to make your argument sound better.
Simple fact is, the genie is out of the bottle and can never be put back in. So in absence of the ability to make all the guns in the world simultaneously disappear the next best thing is to educate, train, and arm responsible citizens to provide for their own protection and the protection of others.
If people really want legitimate gun rights there is a process of removing amendments from the constitution. So unless the government follows this proper procedure I am against any kind of legislation. Executive orders, passing bogus laws through congress. All of it is unconstitutional methods to restrict a constitutional right that many people don't seem to comprehend its importance anymore.
wwhy is it that when someone talks about gun laws that work, they talk about countries that are totally differant than here. I said it before we aree spoiled and greedy, we won't more than we need, Criminals want everything you want so they dont have to work hard for those things. I know i used to be one. We use to drink and make fun of the people worried about presidential debates and gun control. We used to say go ahead America, Make it easy for us to enter your front door. The Marines turned my life around, but thanks to my training and personal experience know my daughter and young sons sleep good at night with dad and his Ar-15 assault rifle standing post.
Her stat is misleading. What we need to see when comparing countries like GB and Japan is how many murders per capita there are. Doesn't matter if they are gun related or not. Show me that stat. Remember, PER CAPITA.
Everyone is quick to point out how the gun violence falls in these countries that have stricter gun laws than the US. But they never mention the other violent crimes and how those rates skyrocket once the criminals find out that the common person is defenseless. As for the uneducated, paranoid gun lovers of the US. Stand tall carry on! The US government will never dare take our guns by force, they know they will lose.
Japan would be an appropriate comparison if the US was homogeneous, had no border countries and had lived in a feudal state for centuries where the only real punishment was beheading.... maybe not such an appropriate comparison.
People always use these statistics and numbers to show why OTHER countries deal with the problem so well. In these instances, try to remember that Japan has a very different Culture and treat each other very well. They do not have an "inner city" with really poor people who live their lives in gangs and doing illegal activities. To take our country as a whole and then compare it to Japan for gun crimes, is very misleading. They could allow Japanese to own guns with no paperwork or process and they would still be very very low crime rate compared to America. Just silly.
Wow, she almost had me, but then reality set in.
First, not all 'gun related' deaths are bad. If a woman shoots a man trying to rape her, that's good.
A cop shoots a bank robber, that too is gun violence but that also is good.
As 'gun violence' goes down, and that goes down because law abiding citizens are unable to defend themselves, the overall violent crime rate goes up because the thugs know that their prey is unarmed and unwilling to defend themselves.
She's right, this isn't brain surgery, but to blame the acts of a person on an object is simply stupid. The gun does nothing, it doesn't come to life and start shooting, it's controlled by a person.
There are over 30,000 deaths each year in the United States because of cars. Nobody says that we should ban cars because that would be stupid. It's just as stupid to say that if we ban guns 'gun crime' will go down. In China today, a man ran over a dozen school kids. http://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/Chinese-man-drives-car-into-students-injuring-13-4144574.php
I'm not even sure how she speaks without laughing because she knows what she is saying is all garbage. She's probably laughing right thinking that there are actually people out there that are stupid enough to believe her.
CNN keeps wasting their money on fools that claim to be journalists. At least she isn't as vile of a person as Piers Morgan is although she is just as stupid, ignorant and bigoted.
The Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution reads: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Notice the justification given in the text of the amendment itself: “necessary to the security of a FREE State” (emphasis added). The right to own firearms has more to do with maintaining freedom than preventing crime. If the people are not armed then they are at the mercy of their government and can easily lose their freedoms. When the people are armed they can resist against their government if their government pushes too far and takes away too many of their freedoms. This gives rise to the saying: “The Second Amendment ensures all of the other amendments.” In other words, the only way to guarantee freedom is to have the ability to resist against those that would take it away from you. Martin Luther King and Ghandi would have been useless against someone like Hitler or Stalin. Power-hungry maniacs like that can only be stopped by force. Many European countries that tried to deal with Nazi Germany peacefully found that out the hard way. The occasional shooting is preferable to genocide at a national level. The media should be focused more on the psychotropic drugs these shooters were on.
I would love to see a politician undergo a mental health exam. Because let's face it. Political power is much more dangerous then any gun
What you failed to say was that other crimes in these areas INCREASED ! Home invasions murders Japan in fact is the ONLY country that it really worked ! due to Cultural differences ! The fact is if you have more gun control the crime rates will go up 30% its just they use a different method to commit a crime ! Why should I have to use a method of home Defense because others don't want to purchase a gun to defend themselves !
I LOVE how Piers Morgan and CNN constantly compares the United States to "other" countries as if we are in a never ending struggle to maintain both economic/military superiority AND moral superiority. GUESS WHAT! NO ONE GIVES A SHIT WHAT CNN THINKS THE UNITED STATES SHOULD BE! I am pretty sure we didn't become the most powerful, giving, aspired nation in the world by doing things like "other countries"....
if gun owners get frug tested and mental health evaulations then any one getting a handout from the government either should be drug tested or forbidden from voting since your pockets are lined with government dole.
The fact is that less gun related deaths does not equal less homicide. Read the data on Scotland's murder rate over the last 30 years. Unaffected by the banishment of firearms.
The data is available here: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Crime-Justice/PubHomicide/
Even though the ban was enacted in 1997, murders shot way up afterwards and have continued to remain on the same levels as before the ban.
Number of homicide victims per million population
Series of years:
1984-93 Avg 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Series of homicide victims, per million population:
19 22 26 26 18 19 23 21 22 25 21 27 19 23 22 19 16 19 17
The Firearms Act went into effect in 1997, which is represented as 18, the 5th in the series.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firearms_(Amendment)_Act_1997
I would like to see what data supports that the Firearms Act of 1997 actually "worked".
The United States Supreme Court has already determined that the right to keep and bear arms is an individual right. It is settled law. We are not going to be one of those countries where gun ownership is prohibited to the common citizen. Now deal with it or head for the exit.
The 2nd amendment says you can have a gun, but it also says, in so many words that with it comes responsibility. If tighter gun laws work in other countries, why do you think they will not work here?
so you condone this perpetuation of gun violence in the U.S. good for you. maybe you will become a statistic
Soooo, it's hard to own a gun in Japan? Well of course, who do you think implemented that policy? Japan was pacified by the United States following WW2........ Think about it.
I don't live in the UK. I don't live in Australia. I don't live in Japan. Stop comparing a republic to countries with constitutional monarchies that do not afford their citizens the same type of freedoms as citizens of the United States. The best description of a U.S. citizen is self reliant. That self reliance includes the ability to individually defend yourself as illustrated in the Bill of Rights and affirmed by the Supreme Court. For anyone that believes life is better somewhere else, I encourage you to move.
All the while they conveniently ignore countries like Jamaica that have had guns banned since 1974 but have a murder rate 10x's that of the USA. While GUN deaths may be down in the UK 7 Japan...what about OTHER means of homicide?..please disclose THOSE numbers as represented per 100,000 in population
Since there is always going to be crime there always needs to be a deterrent. 99.9% of everyone in America goes about their day with out a incident. Thats pretty good in my book. You are never going to have a perfect world. But cops in schools and get the mental people on a watch list.
The first guy is a dummy. The health care professionals failed to inform the court? This Sandy Hook guy was not even in a mental hospital or clinic. How the hell a health care professional failed to report? This guy is retarded.
In Japan, after the tsunami disaster, people turned in lost valuable properties (safe, cash, etc.) to the police so they could be returned to the owners. In the U.S.A. after a natural disaster, people go looting. Tthe key difference is culture.
Also most gun homicides in the U.S. are committed by minorities trapped for generations by the welfare state in housing projects broken families, etc. The Democratic party has a vested interest in this kind of 21st century slavery for votes.
Does Amanpour want our country to be like Iran, Mexico or China where there are strict gun laws? If she wants that kind of society, she can go back where she comes from.
She needs to cite some studies or point to some reputable sources. Those are some heavy claims to be taken on faith.
If we get rid of candy, we can rid cavities. If we get rid of cars, we can stop auto theft. If we get rid of camping, we can stop forest fires. If we all look alike, we can stop hate. If we take away more freedoms, we can get rid of the need to be held accountable and responsible and the need to learn from mistakes. Hearts are in the right place, the idea is not. The kids that lost their lives deserve to be remembered as having progressed American thinking. I'm no NRA, but when you go to court, ride a plane, protest, parades, etc....you see armed services(police, army, etc). Some businesses have armed security. Why not schools? You don't see the guy on he plane with a gun, you don't have to see the guy at a school,with one either. Who says it has to be some guy wearing army gear and marching and pacing....
I agree with Kaleb. You can't compare the U.S. to any other country. Japanese are sheep, mindless followers of authority. Just read the report on the Nuclear reactor that was hit by the Tsunami.
You can't compare us to the British either. It's a dying empire and a melting pot of civilizations. And we should deport Piers Morgan for trying to force his views, by mostly yelling, upon Americans.
The only country you can compare America to is Australia and they're still in their infancy. They can try gun laws because their government can get things done. Ours is bought and paid for and can't even balance a checkbook.
Kaleb, you are full of it. There are no stats and facts against what she is providing. Your just selfish and don't want to give up your toys. People are not talking about gun crime. They are talking about mass killings. You need to learn how to understand a topic and issue.
Did anyone notice on how few of the parent's of the murdered children came out against armed classrooms ? I did. Maybe they should sue the school district and the teacher's union for enabling the killer to target their children. If I were one of those parents I would be furious with them. I have 2 small kids....I want armed guards at their schools immediately.
☭ "We don't let them have ideas. Why would we let them have guns?" – Joseph Stalin
Christiane has never been an american back in the gulf war she objectively was biased against our troops fighting for our freedoms including the second amendment. She bias ignores that in the Netherlands anyone can get a machine gun with little paperwork and in Switzerland not only do they give you a rifle but they hand you ammo.
CNN needs to report more objectively and find reports who live in fantasy land.
also, look at the populations. the higher the population, the higher the ratio.
guns have become the object of our society's poor ethics and lack of responsibility. let's stop creating causalty-comparing gun-laws and the number of gun-related deaths-and start talking about the core problem here.
Amanpour's facts are all wrong. She claims UK's hang gun ban has stopped works while ignoring that shooting rampages have continued. Then she cherry picks countries with strict gun laws and low murder rates (Japan) while ignoring countries that contradict her opinion (like Mexico and Switzerland).
She's right. We need to act on the greater good of society not some paranoid delusion fostered by scared gun worshipers.
Most NRA members are in favor of gun control. I'm a life time member and i absolutely support training classes, mental evaluations, drug testing and criminal background checks. But only as long as its not going to cost the average gun buyer $1500 in fees and 6 months to complete, but i feel this is what what you want and will do if i give you an inch! The last thing i want, or this country needs is to create another incompetent Government run, Red Tape bureaucracy. The fact of the matter is 99% of gun owners are law abiding. The system we already have in place works 90% of the time. This country has a long history of gun ownership so much so THEY PUT IT in the constitution! We all want perfection but that isn't found in one civilized nation among us. So dont lie to yourself and make this about guns! This was about some mentally ill kid that was a ticking time bomb, and irresponsible mother that didn't hide the key to the gun safe.
I'm not scared of the fools on this web site but the fools who would follow them. Realize that many of the posters here are denying and warping the statistics. They cite reasons like different culture, fear of "Singaporean dictatorships", there's no murderers in Japan or whatever. They are trying to scare you – keep your guns or the government will take over your lives! In the UK gun violence went up after gun control! Do some basic research please on sites that are not emblazoned with a big eagle and you will find they are lying to you or at best are practicing willful blindness. Civilians don’t need guns in America to preserve freedom. That's B.S. and they know it. They want their guns period, and cry "from my cold dead hands". Yes – maybe that's what it’s going to take in this country to prevent the next Newtown. I predict many more Newtowns before we can even begin to see any effects of reducing the millions and millions of guns already awash in our country because of 220 years of gun culture build up. But we have no choice. We have to start somewhere. Continuing our current direction of arms proliferation among civilians is the wrong direction.
It's not so much a gun problem, it is a cultural problem. The problem is that kids these days grow up thinking violence is the answer, but how can we blame them when every show on tv deals with solving a murder and every video game is black ops related. In the "movies" when someone doesn't get their way, they shoot it out. My father taught me at a young age about firearms and what they can do. Just as I learned the rights and wrongs of living, I learned the rights and wrongs of being a respectful and responsible shooter. But most kids the days don't have fathers, do they? We must learn to solve our problems with out minds and not our fists. I am in favor of gun ownership, and I am in favor of making sure that firearms do not fall into the hands of those who abuse their right to bear arms.
ROMANS RANT...
Please get your facts straight, PLEASE!
There were so many inaccuracies and misgivings in your rant I lost count!
So... do you hold car makers and owners responsible for drunk drivers and automobile accidents too?
If guns are bad and have no use then take a stand and have all the armed guards at CNN Center dismissed and see if your good intentions can stop some criminal armed with a weapon.
Oh, by the way, there were more people murdered by BASEBALL BATS than so-called "assault weapons"... why do you not advocate the banning of assault sports equipment and high capacity blunt objects?
Get the facts and tell the damn truth, will you?
What a load of biased crap this supposed "news" segment is!
Really CNN? Anyone there FAT CHECK any of the lies and misleading statements spewed in this shamefully biased "news"?
Yea, gun violence went down YEARS after the gun bans in England and Australia... no, not "disappeared" as a ban would suggest... and I guess she just forgot to mention violence and crime using other weapons has skyrocketed so high the statisticians can barely keep track!
England, a country with an outright ban on guns and guns for defense, is the most violent country in Europe! ~FACT~
Oh yea, WHY would any gun maker or elected protector of the Constitution waste their time by coming on such a biased network where they will be personally blamed for the tragedy (like that moron Piers Morgan does) or will be silenced as your other guests spew lies and falsehoods as they do on all these hit-pieces you do?
No wonder CNN is in the bottom of the ratings!
Also, if these so-called "assault weapons" and armed guards are so evil and such a bad idea... WHY DOES CNN CENTER HAVE ARMED GUARDS WHO USE THESE VERY WEAPONS YOU SEEK TO BAN? If armed guards aren't good enough to protect our kids then YOU, CNN, ACT AS YOU PREACH AND FIRE ALL YOUR ARMED GUARDS!!!
Your hypocrisy sickens me!
I will be writing your sponsors now!
Gun related murders, maybe. But what about murders in general? If someone wants to commit murder they'll find a way. If there's no access to guns, they'll create a bomb.
What Amanpour is missing, is the cultural differences between the USA and other countries. Culture is a much bigger and determining factor in crime than guns ever will be. Gun laws will not fix a culture that enjoys violence. YES, the USA ENJOYS VIOLENCE! Look at our movies, our video games, our sports. Then look at our high drug use, our major gang problem, our illegal alien problem, our lack of mental health care, our DUI problem, our unemployment. Right now America is feeling guilty for enjoying violence, and for some they conclude that some metal and plastic object is the cause of our violence. Ban the guns, and we can go back to enjoying violence, and not have to feel guilty about it.
The countries Amanpour listed were never big on firearm ownership, Japan has NEVER had guns available to the public. Believe me, the Japanese LOVE GUNS, they come here to shoot them. Japan would be a huge gun market if the govt allowed it. Japan does not even allow their citizens to have swords, even Singapore restricts knife sales. Stabbings in the UK have risen since the gun laws have been enacted. Gun laws have proven to be a failure in Canada and Australia. Switzerland and Israel has armed civilians, even armed teachers in Israel, they have less problems than the US.
There is always more to the story, and Amanpour needs to do more research. If the US only bans guns and does not address other issues causing violence in the US, then all we have done is put a bandaid on a compound fracture.
I noticed she forgot about Mexico. Our illustrious neighbor, who has taken the stance she wants the U.S. to take, has banned "all military weapons" from civilian use. So its good to see gun control working everywhere in the world. What about Sweden? How is that they have a lack of of gun control and low crime? Apparently, journalism integrity is limited to researching only the information that supports ones point. Way to approach the topic unbiased. When are we going to get a news network that isn't slave to one party or another? FOX, CNN, and MSNBC you all be ashamed of yourselves.
Kaleb, could you post links to the statistcs you mentioned?
when addressing this issue only look at mortality rates of various objects. in the west the first thing to be banned should be cars based solely on mortality rates. in the US guns were used in about 8500 murders. car fatalities were at 40000. how can anyone rationalize guns are worse? THIS IS STRAIGHT OUT BSSSS!!
First off, violent homicides have been on the decline for the past 4 years, declining 6% in the last year alone. Any person can access those statistics via the FBI's website or the Office of Justice Programs. Second, what kind of effect does having all these tests have on the average individual? Does this create a gap in the ownership of any airguns in Japan based on the ability to pay for these checks (I'm assuming they aren't free). Third, Timothy McVeigh killed 160+ people in Oklahoma City. He didn't fire one bullet, and bombs have been banned a long time. Fourth, and finally, I'll give up my right to own a firearm when you give up your right to vote or drive your own car. It's in the Constitution for a reason.
Why do someone need 10 to 20 guns anyway, you're trying to start a war?
This article is liberal blindness at its best. In Australia the gun law ban has reduced the number of total gun related incidences but the overall number of crime incidences have actually increased! There are incidences of families being held hostage in their own home. Just like CNN to color the discussion towards an extreme liberalist view.
The only statement worth discussing is that of mental tests for gun owners.
I am in favor of both IQ and mental tests for all gun holders.
Yep... Let's quote an Australia article:
"HOME invasions have swept Sydney with crooks "storming " into houses in the latest crime fad to hit our streets. "
"In the same way car jackings increased when manufacturers made cars harder to steal the criminals evolve and adapt,"
... He helped provide counselling for one family in Prestons, who sold up and moved after a violent home invasion last year.
"The could not live in the house anymore," he said.
"They had no idea who is responsible; they have no idea whether they are going to come back.
"It's completely and utterly destroyed their lives."
Criminals find ways to get their goals... and does it honestly matter if they rob, injury or kill you with a gun or a knife? These mass killing spree's are the abnormality, not the normal violence. Yet those in the media, and those with agenda's will tell you it is.
People are the problem, not the items.
Sorry that article BTW is from the Daily Telegraph in March of THIS year.
Wrong! Those statistics are accurate. I'm pro gun ownership and carry, but anti assault weapons. The faction of US citizen who believe it's their right to obtain assault weapons in case of their tyrannical government tries to take them are complete lunatics.
Unfortunately for Sandy Hook Elementary it is too late to be wise and learn from the mistakes of other nations, but it is not too late to learn from other nations and implement REASONABLE limitations on gun ownership. Forget the politics and let's craft the most intelligent plan we can to prevent as many of these tragedies as we can. My heart is broken for the families in Connecticut.
Did strong gun laws prevent the mass killing of these school children in China, Christiane?
On March 12, 2010, Zheng Minsheng killed 8 children with a knife at a elementary school in Nanping, China.
On May 12, 2010, Wu Huanming killed 7 children and 2 adults with a cleaver at a kindergarten in Hanzhong, China.
In August 2010, Fang Jiantang killed 3 children and 1 teacher with a knife at a kindergarten in Zibo, Shandong province, China.
Check out the gun laws in Korea.
http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeonggi-do/Seongnam/Bundang/blog-125027.html
Do Japan, Australia or Scotland have a constitutionally guaranteed right to bear arms in which their Supreme Courts have ruled that right is an individual right? This argument is apples and oranges.
Also, this entire argument is not about protecting children. The government allows over 3,500 children to be murdered each day in the US through abortions.
Get to the root of the problem and stat with the mentally ill who commit these crimes instead of high health care costs and putting these people on the street. If the Sandy Hook shooter's mother did start proceedings to have in placed into a mental institution, then the fault lies with the government for making the process difficult to have him committed. He should have been picked up immediately, evaluated and treated.
LOL - disarm the biggest army in the world - Not gonna happen.. The right to bear arms is not the issue.. Mental health IS the issue.. The events in Newtown feds into the socialist OBAMA regime's plans to strip Americans of their rights one at a time.. When your grand kids great grand kids can't even leave the house without a permit you will roll over in your graves wondering how the FREE WORLD was lost.. MAKE MORE GUNS, BUY MORE GUNS and if need be fend off those who PLAN on stripping the USA of it's ability to think and act FREELY with those guns.. CARS ( drunks and texters and idiots ) KILL MORE PEOPLE IN THE USA THAN GUNS EVER WILL but no one is going after the auto industry of your drivers licence.. Bunch of do as your told puppets.. Exactly what they want.. Conformity by minipuation.. The begining of the end is upon us.. Buy, shot and and shot somemore.. Carry your gun so when a phyco goes ape you can take his banana ..
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1576406/28-gun-crimes-committed-in-UK-every-day.html
Mexico has some of the most restrictive laws on weapons, no civilian is allowed to have them. So they must have no gun crimes there.
Who cares about "gun deaths?" I'm interested in whether or not total vilolent felonies go up or down. I'm sure few victims care if the weapon is an AK-47 or a baseball bat, dead is dead.
How does she know that the Scottish gun laws worked? The laws could have remained the same as before the shootings and another incident might never have happened anyway. And while these figures claim that gun deaths are down, what about overall deaths? If someone is motivated to kill another, did they use another means? Does a dead person care about how they were killed? They are still dead. And Japan has a totally different culture. Give them guns and they still might not use them. The USA has a people problem, not a gun problem. And what about the culture of death and destruction that is the automobile. Tens of thousands die each year in the US fron car crashes. Cars re used to commit homicide, suicide, sexual assaults, kidnappings, drive by shootings, etc. Why is there not more controls on cars?
LOL
Comparing gun crime in a place with guns to a place without guns?
That's quite logical!
It's not like they would find some other way to kill each other!
No a completely homogenous society like Japan would surely have more gun crime than anywhere else?
I would point of the success of gun laws in Israel but Amanpour would jump up on her desk and urinate all over it screaming something about the Evil Jews.
It is also much more difficult to obtain a car in Japan, however a 12 year old boy postitute is easy to find. Do you want this country to turn into Japan so you can molest children?
The reason is because people on either side of ANY debate can always find statistics to back their argument. That is the nature of the beast. It's important to look at who collected the data, how they did so, and how it was analyzed. Who's to say your stats are any more valid and/or reliable than the stats used to back Amapour's argument? Truth is relative. Truth is in the eye of the beholder.
A VERY liberal view point and, as usual, cherry picks the facts to fit her agenda. Look at the laws and the increase in gun violence in Mexico, England, Europe, Middle East...the stricter the laws on law abiding citizens, the greater the increase in gun violence against the citizenry by criminal elements. Facts...they're not just for liberals anymore...never have been.
Fortunately for the United States, we have a constitution that has protected Americans from enemies, foreign and domestic for over 200 years. I realize there are subversive political and social elements, some holding office, that would try to convince Americans that the US Constitution is outdated and obsolete. They would like to see Americans defenseless against despotism.
This type of thinking has been tried before in other countries. Hitler achieved it. So did Stalin and Bonaparte. The governments of many of these nations have changed many times in the past 200 years.
No CNN, the answer doesn't reside in the laws of other nations. It resides in the the abandonment of multiplicity in morals, fracturing of social values, stopping the fostering of injurious diversity, and the and disengaging in the notion that only dictated thought is "politically correct". America needs to revisit its core values and start living them again.
Japan does not have any weapons because we dropped 2 nukes on them and took them over. DDDDDUUUUUUHHHHH That was the stupidest thing I have ever heard someone say. Japan has tight gun laws. Newsflash – Japan can't have guns because when we took the country we told them no guns as we did not want an insurgence to start up after WWII. OMG read the history books. Also it seems law abiding citizens are not the issue here, it is the mentally ill. Lets see, health insurance cost upward of 8000-9000 a year especialy for a diagnosed mental disorder and the meds witout insurance run 1000-2000 a month. NEWSFLASH ILLEGAL DRUGS ARE CHEAPER THAN LEGAL DRUGS. Whats wrong with that picture????????????????
What aspect of our culture you are referring to causes these mass murders in the US? They do drink, date, watch violent movies, listen to pop music..
Note that I am not referring to violence related to gangs, drugs triggered by criminals with illegal weapons. I am talking about an irresponsible/mentally unstable individual involving in mass shootings by getting hold of guns that were legally purchased. There are irresponsible/mentally unstable people everywhere in the world including Japan. It just seems that one of these guys getting hold of a gun in our country is much easier...and this is exactly what needs to be addressed.
All lies. Scotland is rated in the top 5 of the most violent of places in the Western world. According to the U.N., as of 2005, Scotland was the most violent country in the developed world, with people three times more likely to be assaulted than in America. Violent crime there has doubled over the last 20 years. 3% of Scots had been victims of assault compared with 1.2% in America. (Scotland tops list of world's most violent countries, The Times, September 19, 2005)
What ever happened to reporting the Truth?
Kaleb, thats a pointless statement. I have lived in UK for years and i can assure you never was i worried about my kids being shot at school or anywhere. Gun related crime is EXTREMELY low in UK. Even most cops dont carry guns.
Point is everywhere in the world gun crimes are low simply because general public dont have access to it. In U.S. anyone can buy guns and walk in and start killing people. Wow ! U.S needs to update its ancient laws.
The comments this morning regarding the 2nd Amendment were not well informed. I know rational law-abiding farmers, who are rightly concerned about loss of livestock (the destruction of livestock due to the questionable FMD outbreak in the UK occurred after guns had been confiscated), people who have discussed their use of non-standard medical treatments on the web, and have been attacked by swat teams in their homes, pc's and legally prescribed medications confiscated while they were held for hours without access to legal counsel, and people running members-only food buying cooperatives, who have been attacked and had their goods removed by swat teams, and others like them, who fear the government and want to be armed against it.
Kaleb- you find all those websites that fly in the face of the "statistics" she's providing because the "statistics" are mediafied (pending trademark on that 🙂 )
The media loves to state 'facts' about UK. Japan. Australia. I've lived in Japan. Spent considerable time in the UK. I'd hardly call either to be low in violent crime, nor any lower than before their strict laws went in place.
Horrible one-sided article to fit the one-sided CNN agenda. Shame on you CNN.
JBB.