Santa Barbara Massacre: To Hell With Facts

[Pristine20]

Justagamer said:
My heart goes out to the families of the individuals murdered by this coward. I am not a gun owner, but I am not against people owning guns. I think gun registries are a good thing, in theory, because we should know where guns are and who owns them. But the thing is, guns are still going to be in the wild unregistered and available illegally for those that want them. I've been looking into picking up a .40 cal handgun, just for home protection. I have no problem going through a comprehensive background check and have no problem waiting 10 days, or 30 days if need be.

But, here is the thing. If someone can't get one legally, they can get one illegally. This crackpot could have got his hands on a gun regardless of the law. I won't look for one illegally, ever. But the "bad guys" will. The gov can ban guns outright, and people would still have them, it's just that the wrong people would be the only ones with them, not you and me.

I was talking with a work friend, mentioned my desire to get a pistol, and someone overheard my conversation. He comes up to me later and says to me, I can get you a gun if you need one.... To which I declined, but my point stands: those who wish to improperly use weapons, will get them regardless of the law. It's the law abiding citizens that would be left at the disadvantage here.

I don't have any statistics,but, I'm willing to bet that most gun crimes are committed by people using illegally obtained guns, than crimes committed by those who obtained them legally.

Just my two cents, really don't want to get into the middle of some of the arguments going on here....

I'd take the opposite bet with "spree" killers such as this case. Most are usually not recognized as criminals till the deed is done so they fit into the definition of "legal gun owners" till then. This wasn't some ex-con who would've had trouble buying a gun legally. Ironically, it's also the reason why stricter law are unlikely to do squat.