Britain's Firearms Act

[Blind groper]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7056245.stm

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23897090

We hear a lot from Seth and his fellow gun lovers about the need for firearms to prevent a totalitarian regime taking over and destroying freedom. It is kind of ironic, then, that the primary motivation for the Firearms Act 1920 in Britain was to prevent that happening. Britain observed what had happened in Russia with the Bolshevik revolution, and the way guns in private hands contributed to that revolution, and the reduction in personal freedom that followed.

Other British Commonwealth (then empire) nations followed suit, and there have been further laws since, tightening up gun control. No loss of freedom through totalitarian take-overs has happened in any of those nations, and the murder rate has also kept falling till it is now way below that of the USA, with all its readily available guns.

If you look at the wealthiest 24 nations, you will see that all (except the USA) have tight gun control, and none have been taken over by dictatorial government. There is also, within that 24, a clear cut correlation between relative gun availability and murder rate. USA has highest of both, by far. Japan as lowest of both, by far. Other nations fall in between Finland has second highest murder rate and second highest private gun ownership. Only Switzerland falls outside the clear correlation, and even there, a tightening of gun laws has been required (to cut suicide rates among soldiers on leave). Second reference above.

[pErvinalia]

As loathe as I am to comment on yet another gun thread, this is actually a reasonable point. If the teabaggers and rednecks managed to overthrow the US gubmint it would be almost certainly a pretty totalitarian result. Anyone not a moralising Christian conservative would be in a lot of trouble in the US with a teabagger overthrow.

[piscator]

Don't kid yourselves - the Canadians would attack instantly at the first sign of a weakening US government.

[JimC]

As loathe as I am to comment on yet another gun thread, this is actually a reasonable point. If the teabaggers and rednecks managed to overthrow the US gubmint it would be almost certainly a pretty totalitarian result. Anyone not a moralising Christian conservative would be in a lot of trouble in the US with a teabagger overthrow.

The crazy end of the gun lobby seems to be mainly concerned with defending themselves against what they perceive as a federal government that has a secret plan to create a totalitarian state itself...

Their mantra is that only an armed citizenry can prevent that happening...

[Pappa]

As loathe as I am to comment on yet another gun thread, this is actually a reasonable point. If the teabaggers and rednecks managed to overthrow the US gubmint it would be almost certainly a pretty totalitarian result. Anyone not a moralising Christian conservative would be in a lot of trouble in the US with a teabagger overthrow.

The crazy end of the gun lobby seems to be mainly concerned with defending themselves against what they perceive as a federal government that has a secret plan to create a totalitarian state itself...

Their mantra is that only an armed citizenry can prevent that happening...

I'd like to see an armed citizenry defend itself against drone attacks.

[Hermit]

We hear a lot from Seth and his fellow gun lovers about the need for firearms to prevent a totalitarian regime taking over and destroying freedom. It is kind of ironic, then, that the primary motivation for the Firearms Act 1920 in Britain was to prevent that happening. Britain observed what had happened in Russia with the Bolshevik revolution, and the way guns in private hands contributed to that revolution, and the reduction in personal freedom that followed.

Good point. Also worth a mention is that Hitler's rise to dictatorship was largely assisted by the ability to develop his private militias, the Sturmabteilung since 1919 and the Schutzstaffel since 1920.

There is also, within that 24, a clear cut correlation between relative gun availability and murder rate. USA has highest of both, by far. Japan as lowest of both, by far. Other nations fall in between Finland has second highest murder rate and second highest private gun ownership. Only Switzerland falls outside the clear correlation, and even there, a tightening of gun laws has been required (to cut suicide rates among soldiers on leave).

Nice cherry picking there. Until you provide data regarding the correlation between firearms ownership and murder rates of all the unnamed 24 countries. I call bullshit. Mentioning two data points among 24 as typical and one as the sole statistical outlier does not qualify as a valid argument.

[JimC]

As loathe as I am to comment on yet another gun thread, this is actually a reasonable point. If the teabaggers and rednecks managed to overthrow the US gubmint it would be almost certainly a pretty totalitarian result. Anyone not a moralising Christian conservative would be in a lot of trouble in the US with a teabagger overthrow.

The crazy end of the gun lobby seems to be mainly concerned with defending themselves against what they perceive as a federal government that has a secret plan to create a totalitarian state itself...

Their mantra is that only an armed citizenry can prevent that happening...

I'd like to see an armed citizenry defend itself against drone attacks.

I'd pay good money to see it!

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

As loathe as I am to comment on yet another gun thread, this is actually a reasonable point. If the teabaggers and rednecks managed to overthrow the US gubmint it would be almost certainly a pretty totalitarian result. Anyone not a moralising Christian conservative would be in a lot of trouble in the US with a teabagger overthrow.

The crazy end of the gun lobby seems to be mainly concerned with defending themselves against what they perceive as a federal government that has a secret plan to create a totalitarian state itself...

Their mantra is that only an armed citizenry can prevent that happening...

I'd like to see an armed citizenry defend itself against drone attacks.

No amount of assault rifles and camo clothing will stop a Hellfire missile from coming down someone's chimney or through the roof of their pickup.


Thought...I wonder how Waco/the-Davidian-thing would play out if it took place these days.

Edit- Second Thought...
Come to think of it...Prolly the exact same outcome but with smaller pieces left over.