General Chat

Gwynne, Thats the trouble, it is up to the owners to take care of their own security.a gun locked in its safe, with the action elsewhere, cannot harm anyone.but a moments carelessness can cause a lifetime of regret... hamilton, as far as I understand was not stable, and also had been reported to the local police authority, but no action was taken.(allegedly). I used photography purely as an example......... like most things in life, if you have no interest in a pastime, then its of no consequence..there are many pastimes that annoy me, but I give to the enthusiasts, their right, of participation. There ARE too many guns already in the public domain, Mostly held by criminals. THESE are the ones to be got rid of. Bob

Hi Bob, I totally agree that there are far too many guns around - legal and illegal. I don't think the pusuit of a hobby is a 'right' and should have a higher priority than public safety. I'm sorry that some people can no longer pursue an interest but it isn't that important in the scale of things. I've had lots of interests and hobbies over the years but none were so important to me that I'd put them above the safety of others. Gwynne

Another interesting debate! :-) I added a comment earlier about police/the public being armed and see that the conversation has taken a different and interesting turn. The idea that no-one has a 'right' to a particular hobby may be true in certain circumstances, but it seems to me odd that target shooting, a perfectly legitimate hobby, has been outlawed because of the perceived dangers when there are many other hobbies and pastimes that have the potential to kill people, far too many to list here. There seems to be the idea that guns are inherantly dangerous and it is up to the government to protect people from themeselves, ie from the wish to own a potentially harmful item. This thinking is fundamentally flawed. They might as well try to legislate against car ownership on that basis. America's constitution was based on the right to bear arms for very sound reasons and I come full circle - if only the police in a country are allowed to bear arms it is the beginning of a police state and that is very dangerous. No goverment should have the right to forbid normally law-abiding citizens to own pretty much anything if there is no intention to hurt another person, and society needs laws in place to deal with things when things go wrong. We have that and that is why the knee-jerk reaction that effectively outlawed the sport of target shooting in Britian was, to my mind, such a mistake.

Felicity, I understand your reasoning, Personally as I said before I had always been against anyone owning guns, but it seems to me that in this society with so many criminals owning illegal arms, we have to fight fire with fire, its a shame its come to this but unless the police can get illegal fire arms off the streets I see no other option. Roxanne

Grampa Jim is correct and it’s been proven in many Countries such as Germany & Portugal and to a lesser extent Spain the Police presence makes a great difference in fighting crime Ireally do NOT believe the guns they carry have the biggest affect on crime rates. An example of this is nearly every major road and junction in City Centres there’s a very visible Police presence, the sheer numbers make people feel a lot safer & makes criminals less likely to try it on. If issuing guns to all the Police worked then America wouldn’t have the highest gun crime in the World also South America & many parts of Africa & also parts of the Caribbean would be crimeless rather than crime ridden. In South America and many Caribbean Countries the Army is employed as well as the armed Police. The more police with guns the more criminals with guns and the bigger the guns the criminals use. New Zealand has a Police Force that do not carry guns & they have a low crime rate, lower than many other Countries where Police force carry guns. In Ireland the Police do not carry guns just the special force, they too are fighting criminals heavily armed with all sorts of guns many of these terrifying armour it was stated over the weeked can be rented nightly!!! there is an escalation of gun crime everywhere it is worth checking all approaches that are made by other Countries rather than another knee jerk reaction to hand in guns and making it illegal to own one. There would be no turning back once Police are gun carriers it will stay that way :-( I also heard a Policemen state that at least half the police force would not be able to gain a certificate for gun use, so where would all the new recruits come from? No I believe Police with Guns is not the answer, a higher Police presence and community liaison is. Pat x

Thank you Pat. I was in Soho one night when two Policemen in a new Panda car drove by. Meanwhile across the road a Burglar Alarm was going off and being ignored. This would be in the late 60's I think. That was when I knew that the Police would lose control of the streets. Unfortunately there are always those who must find a new way of doing something and insist on changes even though the old system is tried and tested, and WORKS.