Should I resign from my shooting club

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In the light of recent shootings:

Should I resign from my shooting club and sell off all my weapons.

i will buy weaponry if you need to sell
i am looking for a pistol or small revolver.

No, unless you're planning to go and kill someone.

I think guns in general are stupid. You can b***h and argue all you want that America has the right to defend itself and that if the VT victims had guns the casualties wouldn't be nearly what they were...but if you actually know how to read a newspaper the amount of gun-related violence is INSANE. It seems there have been more shootings (that have been publicized at least) since Virginia Tech. Compare our statistics to those of countries where guns are illegal (New Zealand - 6 gun related deaths last year) to ours (innumerable) and the arguments of red staters who feel like big men with guns just seem idiotic. Also, the statistics of people assaulted with their own weapon is STAGGERING compared to the statistics of those who are actually able to protect themselves from assault with them.

Guns are a bad idea, period, and the argument that "if you outlaw guns only outlaws will have guns" is ret*d. As a nation we need to get real.

Assuming you're American? Then it depends on the gun ethic where you are. New York is one thing, Texas is another. I don't like guns but we're stuck with them. Also, if you don't know whether you're a danger, get rid of the guns and knives and rubber bands and ropes and duck tape.

I'd love to hear what your shooting club has to say about all this. Have you discussed it?

The OP's from Britain, where the gun laws are much tighter, mostly since the 1996 Dunblane shootings. All assault rifles, pistols, revolvers and things of that nature are illegal to own. Some shotguns are allowed on licence. Unless you plan to kill someone, why give up something you enjoy?

NO

I know how you feel. In the 1980's there was a mass shooting of people in Melbourne (Hoddle Street). Afterwards I felt ashamed to tell people I liked to shoot and I gave up shooting for years, but I kept my guns. As a result of this shooting, military style rifles were banned.

In 1995 (or 1996?) there was a mass shooting at Port Arthur in Tasmania, not long after I took up shooting again. This time, instead of feeling bad about shooting, I was angry that the "anti gun people" were getting air time on tv saying that people like me were homocidal maniacs and a threat to public safety.

You are the thin red line. Don't give up. After guns, what next? And why the hell should you give up something you like just because some nutter (who the authorities either were aware of or should have been aware of) went off?

Don't be ashamed. Shooting is a very safe and responsible sport. Tell everyone you target shoot. Its safe and its fun. Its a sport you can compete in until you are old (not many other sports like that). Its great for kids - it teaches them responsibility.



And don't call them weapons. You don't intend to attack anyone do you? They are firearms, guns or rifles.

After Hoddle Street, we had a UK Chief Constable talk to our gun club. He said he would rather bad guys carry guns than iron bars. He said if they carry a gun, they rarely use it. If they carry an iron bar, the first thing they do to show they mean business is to hit you with it. Iron bars are a weapon and are much more dangerous than firearms.

In post war Germany, there were a lot of murders with fence palings. People couldn't get guns and victims were bashed to death with fence palings. There was a high murder rate with fence palings, but these weren't banned. Fence palings cn be a weapon. Guns are guns.

My guns are on my short list of things to grab if my house catches on fire.

1. Money 2. Guns 3 Dogs 4 Cat

If you wish to make a principled stand on the logic that comprehensive gun control would reduce crime (including murder) I am not sure.

On the one hand, you could say that having any person own any gun is by itself so dangerous that you should turn them in (by this logic you should not sell them but turn them into police or destroy them).

On the other hand, if you believe that without comprehensive gun control legislation giving up your guns will merely leave yourself less safe then you should keep your weapons until such time until such legislation is passed.

I personally believe that such legislation would not reduce the rate of violent crimes, and only permanently strip weapons away from those who already follow the law (I believe this has been demonstrated repeatedly as well). I feel that gun control proponents are very strong in their feelings that guns are horrible because they kill people but have repeatedly shown they are unwilling to confront the rising crime rates that result from the implementation of those policies except with more gun control.

I am not against reasonable regulations that do not violate the Second Amendment of the United States (such as keeping guns out of the hands of criminals and psychotics)

Ok its an old thread and all, but I had to chime in.

Keep shooting if that is your only question. I shoot and even teach shooting.

Shooting will always make some people uneasy. Tough.

If I can live in their world, they can put up with my hobby.

Guns for sport - that's about it for the general public as far as I'm concerned.

Robyn

The reason people say that is simple: It's true. If you take away our guns, what does a thief have to fear when he considers breaking in your house to kidnap your children or rob you? Additionally, the outlaws themselves will still have their guns. What makes you think they won't? Besides, if you take away guns, we'll use knives. Take away knives, we'll use fists. Remove our limbs and we'll spit and hiss at eachother. You're not going to stop violence by revoking gun rights. In fact, you'd probably spur a shedload of riots. You've been brainwashed by liberal bull which enjoys constantly exagerating the depth of every problem. You don't like the right to bear firearms? Go to New Zealand then. Quit trying to force your ideals on the rest of us.

check your facts. NZ is a hunters paradise. No bag limit on mallards or canada geese. Red deer are culled by NPWS from hellicopter because there are so many they are a pest.

After rugby, cricket and possibly trout fishing (world's best) hunting is one of the most popular past times.

Have you checked yours? I researched NZ and other countries comparative gun related casualties extensively when doing a report for school not long ago. I am not talking about hunting weapons, I'm talking about handguns. England allows hunting weapons as well (every farmer I knew when I lived there owned one), but barely a fraction of the casualties we, as a handgun carrying nation, suffer.

^^^ If you meant handguns, why didn't you say so.

And it doesn't take much brain power to work out that in a society with very few handguns, there are very few handgun deaths.

Have you compared overall murder rates?

Making a comparison, have you looked at US White murder rates as a comparison to UK/NZ/Aus? (this is not a racist comment. The FBI publish white, black and other murder rates and they are vastly different. There is a cultural difference).

I recall seeing stats a few years ago that New York has less violent crime (as a rate per 100,000 people) than London. How do you rationalise that with your gun statistics?