Texas School shooting 19 children and 2 adults murdered

And as the older guns go out of circulation in the next 100 to 200 years, it will be pretty easy to replace them with 3D printed guns.

I suggested it could happen if relevant laws were introduced, I don’t expect it to happen. I also pointed out every time things are suggested people say oh it could’nt work and then got two posts in a row doing just that.

things aren’t changing because there’s no options they aren’t changing because people are comfortable with the price that their society pays.

You don’t live in America so don’t be paranoid it’s clearly not aimed at you.

I don’t think anyone should have a gun unless it’s specifically for hunting or sport and even then should be restricted and tightly licensed.

I didn’t propose a solution because there won’t be one.

when I’m 70 I won’t need to wield either a baseball bat or a sig so I’m comfortable knowing that’s not a worry.

OK. My next question was to ask how much inconvenience to yourself as part of this system to prevent a dodgy person getting a gun.

And the second question was whether you would vote for your representatives if they vote to enact those laws? Bearing in mind that any laws will be portrayed as the worst possible thing to do and a definite step towards totalitarianism, by the right wing media and not far enough by the left wing media.

Would you reward your representatives by voting for them next time they need a vote?

Black powder .22 (now considered .22 short) was developed for self-defence in the 1850s and wouldn't fly all that much faster than the primer-only .22s you would use for rats these days. It can all injure. You need to start considering pellet guns and paintball markers at that stage.

Good luck engaging in deer hunting, vermin control, and self defence with a pellet gun or a paintball marker. 😀

Well, I was trying to have an honest discussion but thanks for that contribution. 😀

The suggestion to make guns illegal if they can kill or injure at range wasn't my suggestion. I think it's a stupid idea as pretty much all guns can injure someone at range and most can kill at range if you are unlucky enough to be hit.

My suggestion is to ban nothing but put in place lots of hoops for potential gun owners to jump through to try and filter out the crazies.

Such a large section of the firearms industry is built on fantasy, driven by fear. That one will face a threatening situation that can only be dealt with a firearm. I find it instructive that there isn't a similar investment in medical training, to help potentially save a life, as there is in arming oneself. It's all nonsense really.

Anything to avoid addressing the root causes of problems.

Yep, agreed.

And Ireland has many examples of ridiculous firearms laws.

Accidental laws such as the laws around restricted short firearms. The way the definition is worded, paintball markers have accidentally been included in that legislation.

The toy crossbows in Ken Black's Toy Shop that shoot foam darts are technically restricted crossbows because no draw weight was written into the legislation.

Zeroing a firearm outside of an authorised range is, according to the wording of the law, illegal although this again was by accident.

My point is you need people who actually know about firearms to actually write the firearms legislation.

I used to live in the US in the 90's back when I had a Green Card. About an hour outside of San Francisco. Never owned a gun while I was over there but I did go to a range a few times. I've been in a couple of houses over there where the owners had over 200 guns each. It was their hobby, collecting guns. Many were well over 100 years old and some were close to 150 years old.

I know I'm in the minority here but I see nothing wrong with collecting guns, using them safely for sport or fun. If I was in the US, I've no doubt that I'd be a supporter of having them for self defence but that's not allowed here. I'm not a member of the NRA but I did do a NRA Range Officers Course here in Ireland about 10 years ago, maybe more. The laws changed (ITAR) and the NRA are no longer allowed to do the Range Officer courses here in Ireland as far as I'm aware. I could well be wrong on that though. While there are some, lets call them 'outspoken' people in the NRA, they actually do a lot of good too. They are one of, if not the largest provider of gun safety training in the world.

Many Americans tend to look at gun control measures as being measures that take away some of their rights. And nobody wants to give away some of their rights.

US gun owners rightfully don't trust their government. I don't even trust the government here in Ireland when it comes to firearms. You know why? Experience. Even here in Ireland we had things like the Temporary Custody Order 1972 where all guns (excluding shotguns) and ammo above .22lr had to be surrendered to the Government for a period of one month. (S.I. No. 187 of 1972) Some of these guns have never been given back to their owners. It took court cases, some as late as the naughties to get some of it back.

Gun owners are continually losing something, and rarely gain anything. In Ireland centrefire pistols were grandfathered in 2008 meaning no new licences can be granted. What did that achieve? Fcukall apart from destroying a sport. It certainly didn't make anybody safer. No legally held centrefire pistol was known to have been used in a crime since the Civil War yet when a criminal stole a firearm from a PSNI Officer in Northern Ireland and used it to kill someone down here, it was used as a reason to get rid of centrefire pistols. You know who can't get a centrefire pistol now - law abiding target shooters. You know who can get a centrefire pistol now - criminals.

Someone I know recently had the licences for two guns refused. The Gardai had no legal justification for refusing the licences. The guy is a very active competition target shooter (both National and International) and had a legitimate reason for getting the two firearms. The guy went to court and won. He was granted the licences on the instructions of the judge. These kinds of things happen quite regularly here unfortunately.

I could go on and on regarding cuts to our sport/hobby etc. but it's actions like those above that have gun owners not wanting to give an inch. Because if they give in and endorse some sensible gun control measures, that won't be the end of the process. The Government will be back looking for more.

The application forms used to get lost pretty regularly too until we got the ability to complain to the Data Commissioner under GDPR rules.