How easy it is to buy an assault rifle legally in the US...

[norwaysaint]

background checks? ID?

Nope

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-21712820

 

I see they've pushed though laws in South Dakota to allow the arming of teachers too. Would you like guns in your kids' classroom?

[hypochondriac]

It's just pathetic that the solution to shootings in schools is to give more guns to people. It's pathetic warped logic and TBH I hope the real nuts in the pro gun lobby are victims of gun crime themselves in the future so they know how it feels. Even then they would probably just call for more guns which just sums them up.

[Viking Warrior]

very simple Norway. just go into any wal mart supermarket , show suitable documewnts and hey presto

[Tokyo-Saint]

Where did my post go? I thought it was a good metaphor?

[Dimond Geezer]

background checks? ID?

 

I see they've pushed though laws in South Dakota to allow the arming of teachers too. Would you like guns in your kids' classroom?

 

The answer to a definite NO! Have they thought through what would happen when a teacher decides that he/she wants to be the centre of attention & stage their own massacre, or even just looses their rag one day after constant baiting my the kids & instead of shouting & ranting at them, simply blasts them off the face of the planet, do they then arm the kids?

 

They really are fools over there.

[norwaysaint]

very simple Norway. just go into any wal mart supermarket , show suitable documewnts and hey presto

 

I assume you ignored the link? You don't need to bother with any documents at all. Just hand over the cash and it's yours. No checks.

[Viking Warrior]

I read the story of the father of one of the victims see below. He point s the fingers at specific people not the NRA

 

They were not prepared for what he was to say, nor was it received well. It needs to be heard by every parent, every teacher, every politician, every sociologist, every psychologist, and every so-called expert!

 

These courageous words spoken by Darrell Scott are powerful, penetrating, and deeply personal. There is no doubt that God sent this man as a voice crying in the wilderness.. The following is a portion of the transcript:

 

"Since the dawn of creation there has been both good & evil in the hearts of men and women. We all contain the seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence.

 

The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher, and the other eleven children who died must not be in vain. Their blood cries out for answers.

 

"The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. The villain was not the club he used.. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association.

 

The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain's heart.

 

"In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA. I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter.

 

I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA - because I don't believe that they are responsible for my daughter's death.

 

Therefore I do not believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel's murder I would be their strongest opponent.

 

I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy -- it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies! Much of the blame lies here in this room.

 

Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves. I wrote a poem just four nights ago that expresses my feelings best.

 

Men and women are three-part beings. We all consist of body, mind, and spirit. When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and wreak havoc.

 

Spiritual presences were present within our educational systems for most of our nation's history. Many of our major colleges began as theological seminaries. This is a historical fact. What has happened to us as a nation?

 

We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence.

 

And when something as terrible as Columbine's tragedy occurs -- politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA.

 

They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that contribute to erode away our personal and private liberties.

 

We do not need more restrictive laws. Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our own hearts.

 

"As my son Craig lay under that table in the school library and saw his two friends murdered before his very eyes, he did not hesitate to pray in school. I defy any law or politician to deny him that right!

 

I challenge every young person in America , and around the world, to realize that on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School prayer was brought back to our schools.

 

Do not let the many prayers offered by those students be in vain. Dare to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for legislation that violates your God-given right to communicate with Him.

 

To those of you who would point your finger at the NRA -- I give to you a sincere challenge.. Dare to examine your own heart before casting the first stone!

 

My daughter's death will not be in vain! The young people of this country will not allow that to happen!"

[Viking Warrior]

I forgot to add Daryl Scotts Poem

 

Your laws ignore our deepest needs,

Your words are empty air.

You've stripped away our heritage,

You've outlawed simple prayer.

Now gunshots fill our classrooms,

And precious children die.

You seek for answers everywhere,

And ask the question "Why?"

You regulate restrictive laws,

Through legislative creed.

And yet you fail to understand,

That God is what we need!

[badgerx16]

But is prayer the answer ? The ease of access to guns arms not just sociopaths but also religious extremists who, through prayer, believe that they can best do God's work with a Bible, ( other religious texts are available ), in one hand and a machine gun in the other.

[tony13579]

Teachers having guns is a recipe for disaster.

1: A teacher may become unhinged and rather than throw a board rubber, draw a gun.

2: A pupil might become unhinged and steal the gun from the teachers bag, locked draw.

3: The gun may misfire if in a holster on the teacher.

 

The odds of these senarios happening are far higher than a rouge shooting.

[anothersaintinsouthsea]

Sorry VW, really feel for the guy but those posts contain a serious amount of b0ll0cks. Surely acts such as these are a good reason to doubt the existance of God?

[anothersaintinsouthsea]

Teachers having guns is a recipe for disaster.

1: A teacher may become unhinged and rather than throw a board rubber, draw a gun.

2: A pupil might become unhinged and steal the gun from the teachers bag, locked draw.

3: The gun may misfire if in a holster on the teacher.

 

The odds of these senarios happening are far higher than a rouge shooting.

 

Exactly - similarly more people in the US get shot by their own weapon than by a weapon owned by someone else.

[hypochondriac]

God has nothing to do with this and regardless of anyone's faith should be left out of the discussion. Talking about arming more people as they solution to gun crime is absolutely mental.

[Micky]

NRA's CEO Wayne LaPierre put the blame for mass shootings on violent media, rejected new gun control measures, and called for more security in the nation's schools.

 

'The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is with a good guy with a gun,' LaPierre said as he addressed a room of press.

 

 

 

Sadly, they're ****ed.

[Andre]

Stupid American morons. Just outlaw guns, it's obvious.

[hypochondriac]

NRA's CEO Wayne LaPierre put the blame for mass shootings on violent media, rejected new gun control measures, and called for more security in the nation's schools.

 

'The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is with a good guy with a gun,' LaPierre said as he addressed a room of press.

 

 

 

Sadly, they're ****ed.

 

That entire speech was moronic. People like that should be locked up or at the very least deprived of publicity to air their hateful views.

[Goalie66]

Having lived in America gun culture is ingrained as part of Americam life. Constitutional rights and so on. Half of my staff owned guns nornally kept in the glove box of a car. Very scary. Most never use them but feel safer because of them.

 

However, the red necks and latter day cowboys often have semi and full automatics that are sold as hunting weapons.Yeh right. Very sporting to offload 60 rounds at some poor Bambi and call that sport!! Politicians are just too afraid to make federal legislation that bans automatics and so called hunting weapons beacuse the NRA is powerful. Yet we get massacres, spontaneous outrage and righteous indignation. In the meantime thousands die each year from shootings that are not sensational but just mundane. Only un the US are drive by shootings commonplace.

 

Having said that I was at Disneyland Paris and at the entrance were at 5 Police officers with submachine guns. Whjat a welcome.Even in Florida and LA you would nt see such an agressively armed Police.

 

The only answer is is gun control to eliminate the majority of killings by the gun. The Hungefords the Norways and the Nutters will never be eliminited but it could be made dam difficult for them

[LVSaint]

Piers Morgan does serve some kind of purpose in the world, he's been vociferously laying into gun nonces on tv here since the school shooting.

 

Did anyone pick up on some redneck ****ehole village in the South trying to push legislation making gun ownership mandatory? Woo-hoo, right on!

[CB Saint]

Well the dip sh1ts have voted down extension to backgrounds checks and assault weapon sales.

 

So still a severely mentally ill person can go into a shop and buy an AK47. They really deserve to reap what they sow.

[alpine_saint]

Anyone else seen the picture on the net showing a boy stood over a table with hands cupped around a Kinder Surprise egg, and a girl stood at the table holding a Bushmaster assault rifle and the caption says :

"One child is holding something banned in the US to protect them - guess which one ?"

[Sheaf Saint]

Anyone else seen the picture on the net showing a boy stood over a table with hands cupped around a Kinder Surprise egg, and a girl stood at the table holding a Bushmaster assault rifle and the caption says :

"One child is holding something banned in the US to protect them - guess which one ?"

 

Similar to this...

 

[LVSaint]

Well the dip sh1ts have voted down extension to backgrounds checks and assault weapon sales.

 

So still a severely mentally ill person can go into a shop and buy an AK47. They really deserve to reap what they sow.

 

The idiot Senators claiming an infringement on privacy or some such ********, yet they were probably all happy for the Patriot Act ten years ago.

[anothersaintinsouthsea]

Well the dip sh1ts have voted down extension to backgrounds checks and assault weapon sales.

 

So still a severely mentally ill person can go into a shop and buy an AK47. They really deserve to reap what they sow.

 

Apparently all but 3 who voted it down were in receipt of "donations" from the gun lobby. One Republican senator registered a donation as little as 3 weeks prior to the vote. Yay for democracy!

[BlakeySFC]

It really is ludicrous how Americans just turn a blind eye to the thousands of people that get killed with guns every year in their country.

 

As soon as any politician tries to change a gun law or adapt a gun law to make the citizens a bit safer the gun w*nkers come out and go *2nd amendment, 2nd amendment* and claim self-defence when theyve got like 14 assault rifles/shotguns/magnums sitting at home, which they apparently need for protection.

 

Ludicrous country

[Toadhall Saint]

Bowling for Columbine - just watch the first bit. New bank account Sir? Do I get the freebie for opening the account? Of course you do Sir. Now which hunting rifle would you like?

[Manuel]

Hunting aside, what would the purpose be to owning a gun in the US? For protection I assume. The right to protect yourself, perhaps from an intruder or a car jacker or an attacker in the street.

 

Presumably then, once they introduce a Star Trek style phaser which will stun your target without killing it, allowing you to escape from danger or secure the attacker with handcuffs or whatever, the need for a gun will be removed. I imagine, if serious money was spent on research and development, they could produce one within a year and nobody would need to own a gun again. How about it?

[Barry Sanchez]

I read the story of the father of one of the victims see below. He point s the fingers at specific people not the NRA

 

They were not prepared for what he was to say, nor was it received well. It needs to be heard by every parent, every teacher, every politician, every sociologist, every psychologist, and every so-called expert!

 

These courageous words spoken by Darrell Scott are powerful, penetrating, and deeply personal. There is no doubt that God sent this man as a voice crying in the wilderness.. The following is a portion of the transcript:

 

"Since the dawn of creation there has been both good & evil in the hearts of men and women. We all contain the seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence.

 

The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher, and the other eleven children who died must not be in vain. Their blood cries out for answers.

 

"The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. The villain was not the club he used.. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association.

 

The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain's heart.

 

"In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA. I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter.

 

I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA - because I don't believe that they are responsible for my daughter's death.

 

Therefore I do not believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel's murder I would be their strongest opponent.

 

I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy -- it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies! Much of the blame lies here in this room.

 

Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves. I wrote a poem just four nights ago that expresses my feelings best.

 

Men and women are three-part beings. We all consist of body, mind, and spirit. When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and wreak havoc.

 

Spiritual presences were present within our educational systems for most of our nation's history. Many of our major colleges began as theological seminaries. This is a historical fact. What has happened to us as a nation?

 

We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence.

 

And when something as terrible as Columbine's tragedy occurs -- politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA.

 

They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that contribute to erode away our personal and private liberties.

 

We do not need more restrictive laws. Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our own hearts.

 

"As my son Craig lay under that table in the school library and saw his two friends murdered before his very eyes, he did not hesitate to pray in school. I defy any law or politician to deny him that right!

 

I challenge every young person in America , and around the world, to realize that on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School prayer was brought back to our schools.

 

Do not let the many prayers offered by those students be in vain. Dare to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for legislation that violates your God-given right to communicate with Him.

 

To those of you who would point your finger at the NRA -- I give to you a sincere challenge.. Dare to examine your own heart before casting the first stone!

 

My daughter's death will not be in vain! The young people of this country will not allow that to happen!"

 

In short to counter that, if people can not be trusted to have guns then the Government sworn to protect the law abiding populace should take them away and ban them.

The NRA use religeous means and the constitution to push assualt weapons on to quite frankly retarded people, its not everywhere in the States but you have to worry about their "need" to have weapons, it sounds very much like our dole claimants as its their right to claim and not work.

[sussexsaint]

To put the deaths of the Boston bombings into perspective 8 kids a day die from gun related injuries in the US. They are fecking nuts over there and there is absolutely no chance that it will ever change.

 

I am very proud of our country sometimes, despite its faults

[buctootim]

The lax control on guns is bad enough but in most states there are no controls at all on ammunition, you dont even need to go to the gun counter and talk to someone, you can just pick up as many boxes as you want put it in your trolley and walk to the checkout. Walking into a Wal Mart in Minnesota last year the first thing I saw was the 'Offer of the Week' , a pallet piled high with shotgun shells, $14.99 for a gross (144).

 

The Boston bombs were almost certainly made by someone spending an hour or two emptying the cordite out of ammunition freely bought, surrounding it with BBs and pellets and packing it into a pressure cooker with a simple battery, timer and percussion cap taken from one of the cartidges. Surely it should be made a little more difficult than that?

[Barry Sanchez]

The lax control on guns is bad enough but in most states there are no controls at all on ammunition, you dont even need to go to the gun counter and talk to someone, you can just pick up as many boxes as you want put it in your trolley and walk to the checkout. Walking into a Wal Mart in Minnesota last year the first thing I saw was the 'Offer of the Week' , a pallet piled high with shotgun shells, $14.99 for a gross (144).

 

The Boston bombs were almost certainly made by someone spending an hour or two emptying the cordite out of ammunition freely bought, surrounding it with BBs and pellets and packing it into a pressure cooker with a simple battery, timer and percussion cap taken from one of the cartidges. Surely it should be made a little more difficult than that?

 

 

This is where the dumb yank name becomes relevant.

[bridge too far]

I've posted this on the 'Boston bomb' thread too

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/21/boston-marathon-bombs-us-gun-law