This is kind of awkward...but the English want their guns back

[JD Barleycorn]

A recent poll by the Telegraph asked the English what laws they would like to see enacted and they overwhelmingly support REPEALING gun control laws.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/poli...-vote-now.html

[essence]

Interesting.

I have, over time, come to understand why US citizens bear arms.

But, given that the prevalence of arms in the UK is so much lower than in the US, I would be much more wary of opening the Pandora's box in the UK.

Equally, if the US had the low level of gun ownership which exists in the UK, would there still be the justification for gun ownership in the US and greatly extending the level of ownership?

In short, the two situations are entirely different, at present.

[IIFFOFRDB]

Originally Posted by essence

Interesting.

I have, over time, come to understand why US citizens bear arms.

But, given that the prevalence of arms in the UK is so much lower than in the US, I would be much more wary of opening the Pandora's box in the UK.

Equally, if the US had the low level of gun ownership which exists in the UK, would there still be the justification for gun ownership in the US and greatly extending the level of ownership?

In short, the two situations are entirely different, at present.

Are you saying the English are more sheepy than Americans?

[JD Barleycorn]

Essence, you don't quite understand yet. You say you understand the "justification" for owning guns. Owning a gun is a right just like free speech, breathing, and the pursuit of happiness. Do I really need to "justify" myself for any of those three? It is like the current liberal meme about the "need" to own a large magazine or a military style weapon. It is not about "need", it is about the right.

[essence]

JDB, please do not try to teach me how to suck eggs (look it up, it is not an expression familiar to americans!).

The brits were the first to have the right to bear arms, we taught it to the americans, but that right has been eroded over time in Britain.

Whatever the poll says, there is not a chance in hell of any legislation to give the right to bear arms in the UK getting formulated, let alone voted in parliament.

Nobody I have spoken to in the UK has the slightest inclination to bear arms.

So the question is, who were these people who voted in the poll?

Seriously, it is a complete non starter in the UK.

Also, you need to check the wording:

Repeal the ban on hand guns and re-open shooting clubs

This is not about a general right to bear arms, but about shooting clubs. Keeping your personal hand gun under lock and key at the gun club. Being a registered owner, and having to register at local police station. Etc Etc Etc.

The issue of shooting clubs arose after the Dunblane killings, when laws were considerably tightened. But, by Texas standards, laws were very tight prior to Dunblane.

This will help:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunblane_school_massacre

[Iaintliein]

It's not the first time they've wanted them back:

http://www.americanrifleman.org/arti...ifles-story-2/

It's amazing that Englishmen won the codified right to self defense as part of the common law guaranteed in Magna Carta. . . then lost it. Then re-gained it with the English Bill of Rights in 1689. . . and once again let the government take it from them.

Many in America point out that the other rights in our own Bill of Rights will not stand without the 2nd amendment. Today the proof is twofold, in Britain, those who complain about the murderous cult of islam are arrested. . . for speaking their minds, while in the US the press has their phone records snatched and politicians bellow that Americans should not have free speech on the internet.

The requirement that all adult Americans must be measured for facial recogniction software that is or was supposedly buried in the amnesty bill from the senate should send shivers down the spine of every American. No matter what you're political views, if you're caught on film holding a sign critical of the government, they will know exactly who you are.

[LexusLover]

There are Brits who make some of, if not the, best hunting rifles and shot guns in the world. Thank you.

[essence]

Originally Posted by LexusLover

There are Brits who make some of, if not the, best hunting rifles and shot guns in the world. Thank you.

When I was a school, several of my friends went shooting pigeons with shot guns. Farming boys. They hung them outside their rooms for weeks. Life of the English boarding school. Siegried Sassoon went to the same school. Hunting and fishing were in the blood.

As for me, it was more music and mountain climbing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siegfried_Sassoon

I hadn't realised, Dennis Silk was a close friend, he was a beak at my school, almost became my housemaster.

I'm in a funny mood, my lover was with me all last week, now she is back in London and I am alone.

[JD Barleycorn]

Most, if not all, of my criticism was aimed at your understanding of what a "right" is. There is no need for justification as you said. There is no need for "need" as the liberal left has tried to say. There only is. Our right (the United States) to bear arms is a RIGHT. It requires nothing more than a desire and the government to respect that right.