Shooting at US uni

[Captain Seafort]

On the "who decides" issue. If you're using a gun it means you or someone else needs to be in bodily danger. You can't shoot someone for looking at you funny. There are actually a fair number of laws that very state to state on what actually constitutes that. Still I'd imagine if you were in a relevant situation I'd imagine you yourself would make that decision with a knife if it came to it.

Wrong - the law defines the circumstances under which you are permitted to start shooting at people. Whether or not that's what happens in practice depends on the individual in question, which could easily extend to "he was looking at me funny".

What are "plods"

Police - sorry for the local nicknames.

Still besides all this stuff I think the key point in all this is that you seem to believe if gun bans were put in place it would dramatically reduce the amount of guns in the hands of criminals in situations where having a gun vs a knife matters.

It isn't just the hardened criminals we're talking about - its about preventing the sort of situations where the presence of guns turns what would otherwise have been a simple punch-up into a firefight. Unless you can guarantee that everyone who carries a weapon will always resist the temptation to draw if they get into an argument with someone.

Whereas I think it would only have a minor affect on criminals despite the major affect on law abiding citizens. The result being letting the criminals know they don't have to worry about running into a firearm despite having guns themselves. Or even if they don't have a gun they would still know if they outnumber a victim and they have long knives they can get away with it.

You're still coming from the approach of it being an automatic reaction to any and all threats by fighting back, with lethal force, rather than running away.

[sunnyside]

On the first couple points. There is a big difference between having a gun in the home or place of work for defense(very common), vs having managed to get a concealed carry permit (difficult and only maybe 1.3% of the population).

Currently (statistically) people with concealed weapons permits are much less likely to be involved in shooting someone (in an illegal manner) than the general populace, despite the fact they presumably have a gun on them most of the time. Usually by the time you get one of those licenses you're a fairly serious sort. Also gun laws are such that if anybody sees your gun at any point you should probably expect to have to talk to a deputy. And if you even verbally threaten someone with it I do believe you go to jail (if you actually brandish it you definitely go to jail).


I don't know how often someone with access to a firearm doesn't flee/hide/just hand over the money, when they could have. But I think that's still generally what they'd do if that's all the situation requires. At least i believe that's what they're taught.

[Deepcrush]

You're still coming from the approach of it being an automatic reaction to any and all threats by fighting back, with lethal force, rather than running away.

I think a big problem is that few Americans are willing to run from a fight. Two, that Americans place a high value on fighting. To get into a fight of any kind is thought of as a good thing in most places. To win it, no matter the cost is even better. To win against the odds is the best of all. Firearms are a part of US history and life. They can never go away. Ask England to give up water, france to give up fresh food. A weapon is more important for us since it is what founded our country. You can't take away part of what made a country. Thats why we try to control things with gun laws.