Hmmm. Hard to know where to start with the irony of The Guardian publishing a piece

[Peter]

It's a house full of ****s is what it is, p.

The really staggering idiocy on gun control in America is to imagine it's still possible. That horse has not merely bolted, it fúcked off decades ago and lived a long, happy and fulfilling new life before eventually dying at a ripe old age.

Yes and no. Yes if you are looking to ensure that nobody owns a gun. There are plenty of other restrictions one could consider to try and minimise the impact. For instance, at a stroke you could remove the right to carry a concealed weapon, or indeed to carry any weapon. By all means have a gun but leave it at home.

You can also restrict the guns people buy.

I always find it rather funny when the gun lobby say that making something illegal doesnt stop people doing it. What a logic that is!

[Burney]

Yes and no. Yes if you are looking to ensure that nobody owns a gun. There are plenty of other restrictions one could consider to try and minimise the impact. For instance, at a stroke you could remove the right to carry a concealed weapon, or indeed to carry any weapon. By all means have a gun but leave it at home.

You can also restrict the guns people buy.

I always find it rather funny when the gun lobby say that making something illegal doesnt stop people doing it. What a logic that is!

Yes, but what do you do about all the guns that are going to continue to be in people's hands? Because if you think people will simply hand them back (assuming you can get past the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution - which you can't) you're wrong.

You then have the prospect of a country absolutely packed with illegal guns and a large part of the otherwise law-abiding population criminalised overnight.

[Peter]

Yes, but what do you do about all the guns that are going to continue to be in people's hands? Because if you think people will simply hand them back (assuming you can get past the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution - which you can't) you're wrong.

You then have the prospect of a country absolutely packed with illegal guns and a large part of the otherwise law-abiding population criminalised overnight.

You cant take the guns but you can make it illegal to carry them.

[Ash]

You cant take the guns but you can make it illegal to carry them.

First 9 months of 2017:
-11,572 gun deaths
-23,365 gun injuries
-271 mass shootings (more than four victims)
-1,508 unintentional shootings
-2,971 kids/teens shot

The country that believes it has the moral right to rule the world.

[Burney]

You cant take the guns but you can make it illegal to carry them.

Which will do absolutely nothing to stop someone who wants to kill large numbers of people, of course.

[Peter]

Which will do absolutely nothing to stop someone who wants to kill large numbers of people, of course.

Of course not. Just as making drugs illegal doesnt stop people taking them; just as making murder illegal doesnt stop it happening.

It would, however, mean the individual is breaking the law the moment he leaves the house with the weapons. It would also prevent many of the shootings that are accidental or circumstantial and that arise simply because people have guns on them when an incident occurs.

In the broader sense, it means people would not be routinely walking round with concealed weapons. I think that would be a good thing.

[Burney]

Of course not. Just as making drugs illegal doesnt stop people taking them; just as making murder illegal doesnt stop it happening.

It would, however, mean the individual is breaking the law the moment he leaves the house with the weapons. It would also prevent many of the shootings that are accidental or circumstantial and that arise simply because people have guns on them when an incident occurs.

In the broader sense, it means people would not be routinely walking round with concealed weapons. I think that would be a good thing.

I don’t disagree, but the fact remains that legally-held and concealed firearms really aren’t a very big problem. Most of America’s gun deaths involve domestics, street crime using illegal firearms, mass killings such as this one or accidents on private land. None of them would be notably affected by what you propose.

[Peter]

I don’t disagree, but the fact remains that legally-held and concealed firearms really aren’t a very big problem. Most of America’s gun deaths involve domestics, street crime using illegal firearms, mass killings such as this one or accidents on private land. None of them would be notably affected by what you propose.

It may not. The point would be to try and move away from this 'gun culture', if you can call it that.

If you look at it another way, they only kill each other with guns because everyone has got one. If they didnt have guns they would use something else. Either way, they are still going to kill each other.

We may be rightly proud of how few gun deaths we have here but people do still get killed. A ban on guns is good news for your knife salesman.....