Enter any firearms related site or convention and you will immediately become aware of a never ending fight for lenient gun laws that apply to all gun owners within that country and around the world. But the question still remains...How much liberty should be given to the general public in regards to firearms. For example having the privileged or right to carry a concealed weapon, having the right to defend one selves and ones property from danger with a firearm, and who should be allowed to posses a firearm in the first place. There is a never ending battle between politicians, the public and firearms related groups (such as the NRA) that has seen bans, restrictions, liberties and fallout from certain rules and implications. Which brings me back to my original question with a different perspective; who is right?

Britain is a great example of what can possibly happen when there they have unbelievably strict legislation on all firearms; this includes hunting and self defense firearms. In Sepetember of 1997 Britain passed a large amount of legislation that made them have some of the strictest gun laws in the world. This was in the wake of several shootings and a steady increase and firearms related violence (Hungerford massacre and the Dunblane massacre). Now in theory one would think that crime in general would lower since the availability of firearms had become severely compromised; wrong. Since 1998 the number of people hurt by firearms in Wales and the UK increased by 110% meaning the 1997 legislation had little to no effect on violent firearms crime. New York City in the US also has similiar laws pertaining to firearms usage and they face almost the same problem.

Now lets go to Vermont which has some of the most relaxed gun laws in the United States. Vermont allows any resident or non-resident to conceal carry a concealed weapon. If one was to look at the homicide stats compared to the UK you would see the UK having 2.4 per 100,000 residents compared to Vermonts 1.6 per 100,000 residents. So that begs the question, with a rate that low has Vermont created a paranoid society? An example of this would be a recent incident that happened somewhere in the states (i'm too lazy to cite it: use google). A friend entered a buddies house late one night to suprise his friend. His friend was in bed and believed that the person inside his house was an intruder, he grabbed his revolver and next thing you know his buddy was in the hospital with critical gunshot wounds. On the flip side with relaxed laws you also see complete and total idiots who have no business operating a dangerous weapon. I came across a story recently of a man who decided to run a satellite wire from the outside of his house to the inside. Instead of using a drill to bore a hole like any normal person the idiot decides to shoot a hole through the side of his house with a firearm; neat idea in theory but he killed his wife in the process.

If gun laws are too strict though I believe you end up with a large problem such as the one that the UK is facing right now. If there was an outright ban on guns there will still be guns in the hands of criminals regardless. These criminals now know that the chances of them running into another gun during a home invasion or mugging attempt would be incredibly small because the populous as a whole has been disarmed. Another thing to note, violent knife crimes have skyrocketed in the UK since the strict gun laws were imposed. If people are going to fight, going to kill or going to threat they will still find a means of doing so with a weapon; guns aren't the only things on this earth that kill.

This is just a small blurp of a few collective rants, I have barely scratched the surface in the neverending gun debate but the purpose of this blog is to not convey information as much as collect it. I want you to give me a yes or no answer to the following questions as I would like to see a side to the gun control debate from a site that is more liberally oriented. Feel free to add any comments below your answers as I always like to see different views on this hot topic.

Please copy and paste these questions into your post.

Do you believe an individual has the right to defend themselves?:

Do you believe they should be able to enact this right by the means of using a firearm?:

Do you believe current gun laws (in you're country) should be relaxed?: (country of residence)

Do you believe current gun laws (in you're country) should be tightened?: (country of residence)

Do you believe a person should have the right to carry a concealed weapon?:

Should pistols be banned?:

Should automatic firearms be banned?:

Do you believe a student should have the right to carry a concealed weapon in a University or College if strict background checks are enforced?:

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