Should guns be outlawed in America?

[Marks]

Hell no!! Taking guns away from lawful citizens just empowers criminals, it doesn't get rid of crime.

I read a great article (written in 2002) a week or so ago on the topic: http://www.fff.org/freedom/fd0210e.asp

Key points:

- Law abiding citizens use guns to LEGALLY defend themselves 2.5 million times per year
- Firearms are used 60x more often for self defence than criminal purposes
- 200,000 of those 2.5 million are women defending themselves from sexual abuse (rape, etc.)
- Citzens kill 2,819 criminals per year, police kill 303.
- Police have an error rate of 11% when it comes to accidental shootings of civilians, the rate for citizens is 2%
- 98% of the time when guns are used defensively, just showing the gun is enough to deter the criminal (no shooting is necessary)
- In 1968 when the gun control act was passed, robberies jumped from 138k in 1968 to 376k in 1972...murders committed with guns jumped from about 5k to over 10k in the same period. Cases when a firearm was used in a murder jumped from 57% to 65%
- In 1976 when Washington DC instituted one of the strictest gun control laws in the country, the murder rate jumped 134%, in the same period nationwide the murder rate dropped 2%
- Vermont has the least gun restrictions in the country. Its crime rate is 49th in the country, and its murder rate is 47th in the country.
- States which passed conceal/carry laws have seen murder rates drop 8.5%, rapes drop 5%, assaults drop 7% and robbery drop 3%
- In 1990 Texas' crime rate was 38% above the national average, after it passed conceal-carry laws in 1994 crime in Texas is dropping 50% faster than the national average.
- A year after Australia passed new gun restrictions in 1996, homocides jumped 3.2% and armed robberies by 44%
- Estimates run as high as 56 million people that have been exterminated in the 20th century because gun control left them defenceless! (this one amazes me)
- According to BATF, 93% of guns used in crimes were not obtained through legal purchase.

This is a quote by Darrel Scott, father of Rachel Scott (Columbine victim):

“When something as terrible as Columbine’s tragedy occurs, politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA. They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that erode away our personal and private liberties. We do not need more restrictive laws. Eric and Dylan [perpetrators of the Columbine massacre] would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre.... Political posturing and restrictive legislation are not the answers.”


Conclusion: Gun restrictions don't make people safer, it leaves us defenceless. Honest gun owners do a better job than Policemen of taking out criminals and defending ourselves. Crime goes up when guns go away from law abiding citizens.

Its amazing when facts are brought into an argument instead of just saying, "guns kill people, so lets take them away".