Scandinavian countries are great if you don't mind paying 50% tax and having a ridiculously high cost of living.

I guess the high standard of living is why you have such low suicide rates?

Incidentally, the US scores higher than two of the three Scandinavian countries according to commonly used Human Devlopment Index, even though said index doesn't take the US's greatest strengths into account. The only Scandinavian  country that does score extremely well just happens to be an oil state, and its two biggest flaws are, conveniently, not measured.

I think gun ownership is idiotic, a practice done only by hunters and paranoid nut jobs.

I also think people should have a right to be hunters, or paranoid nut jobs.

Gun ownership is a lot like drug use (which is funny because people advocating for personal freedom in one usual are against personal freedom in the other) The VAST majority of gun owners will never shoot a person, and the vast majority of those who do will do so in self defense, just like the VAST majority of drug users will never have their choices impact a single other person negatively.  You can't use the "possibilty of damage" to justify stripping people of personal liberties.

What Americans REALLY need to learn is that we should not be telling people what we think they should and should not be doing in the privacy of their own home.

Also, 2 side notes.

1.) An armed militia will NEVER be able to overthrow the government. I can't believe people compare it to Iraq. Even if you get 1000 people with AK 47s, a squadron of tanks could easily roll in and squash them. The 2nd amendment was really only applicable when both sides (government and citizens) had access to the same arms. Republicans bloating of the defense budget has ensured that those days are gone forever

2.) I grew up with a Swedish step mother and Scandanavian socialism will NEVER work here. We have a much more achievement oriented society, where we are willing to sacrifice a standard of living for potential gain through ingenuity and hard work. What is unfortunate, is that the "American Dream" seems to be disappearing as the insane balance of wealth shift that has occurred over the last 3 decades has made it increasingly difficult for the average man to get these achievements.

FTFY

Not all of us are bound to thinking in terms of a two party system

I tried but I can't see how gun ownership is anything like drug use but, okay?   Also, you can bury your head in the sand all you want about paranoia, these are your opinions and you are welcome to them.  The hogwash about a squadron of tanks crushing a thousand people is simply laughable, though.  If that were true America would have been in and out of Iraq, Afghanistan and Vietnam in a matter of weeks.  I myself can go down the street to my local sporting goods store and make anti tank mines and many other types of explosives.  Plus, 1000 people would only be the beginning. 

People like you have underestimated the power of a people's will to be free throughout history and been proven wrong perpetually.

Well they must be doing something right in scandinavian countries since they tend to have some of the lowest crime rates, best healthcare, best education, highest quality of life, and be among the most peaceful and least corrupt. 

http://nationranking.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/2011-qli2.png

And about the suicide rates...

This is from the Edinburgh university library online resources:

"The myth of Swedish suicide” has its roots in the late-1950s when the American President Dwight D. Eisenhower referred to it in a speech which had been based on an inaccurate briefing. The President had tried to paint a negative picture of Sweden, a nation which - with its cradle-to-grave socialism - had set itself on a post-war neutral stance outside the then embryonic-NATO and American influence. Ever since many people have accepted the picture as fact and perpetuate the myth."

Norway actually ranks lower than USA and Canada among male suicides.

Keep in mind that these countries have very long dark winters, this also atributes to suicides.

Guns should always be legal. Removing that right is simply taking away one's ability for self-defense. In the US, there is no correlation between crime and gun ownership. According to the Brady campaign (the largest anti-gun lobby group in America), there is a direct correlation between fewer murders and more lax gun laws.

Additionally, every time a new law comes on the books which promotes gun ownership in a given state, such as the concealed carry permit, crime goes down. When they allowed CCW holders to go to establishments like bars, crime went down. Again, there are no negatives in regards to having an armed populace in the US.

Guns should be allowed in America.
The problem is more to do with the actual lobbied laws.

Here are a couple that make no sense.

Many states do not require waiting period to purchase guns at a gun show. These guns can be picked up completely anonymously, without regulation.
Private gun sale circumvents federal requirements. This means that if you went to a gun show and bought a thousand guns, you could say, sell them to whomever you wanted as long as you avow that you "had no idea" they were criminals.
So, with those two loopholes combined, criminals can easily acquire guns for use in crime, without any kind of regulation.

it's not the guns, it's the people who own guns thats the problem. don't blame guns for man kinds stupidity.

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".

Good quote! I'm gonna use that haha.