Should guns be banned?
I know this has been asked many time before, but here is my take on it. I live in Australia and we have very tight gun control over here. A lot of people say that "guns do not kill people, people kill people" - yes true, but seeing as we know people kill people, lets restrict deadly guns and reduce the oppurtunities these people have of killing. People also say that countries which ban guns have an increased number of gun related deaths, as criminals still have access to them but most people do not and therefore cannot defend themselves. I ask those people to look at these 2 links: Australian stats on gun related deaths: http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/current%20series/tandi/261-280/tandi269/view%20paper.aspx Mainly this graph, which shows a decrease in the number of firearm deaths even after gun control was introduced in Australia: http://www.aic.gov.au/upload//aic/publications/tandi2/andi269-1.gif The other link is below, from wikipedia, which shows that Australia has 2.94 gun related deaths per 100,000 people (approx 640 deaths per year) compared with the U.S. which has five times the amount of gun related deaths with 15.22 per 100,000 people (approx 47,000 per year). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-related_death_rate In Australia we are always hearing about school shootings in the U.S. These shootings never happen here, why? Because guns are restricted over here. Yes, criminals still have them, which means innocent people get shot, but a lot more innocent people die when everyone is carrying a gun. In the heat of the moment an argument which would normally be a fist fight could turn into a gun shootout. I know my argument will not get through the brick wall a lot of gun supporters have built in their heads because "it is their right to carry a gun to defent themselves" or whatever else, but statistics speak for themselves. Far to many people die from guns and guns make it far too easy to kill someone.
The right to bear arms: does it strictly mean an armed militia only?
Some of you imply that the amendment means that free citizens should be allowed military quality firearms, so they could together fight a possible future tyrannical domestic government, as well as against a foreign invader? (Plus revolvers against bulglars.) Forgive my bafflement, but I think we are getting close.