Does Owning a Gun Make You Safer?

Does Owning a Gun Make You Safer?

The second amendment of the constitution guarantees the right to keep and bear arms. As the specter of gun violence continues in our workplaces, roads and schools, the question keeps arising: do guns keep you safe, or just increase the level of violence?

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Safer, let us see.

an eastern perspective

It's 3am. You're done going out for the night, and say goodbye to your friends. You start walking home from the bar/restaurant with your wife. A group of men is approaching you on the dark street. You have your hands. Do you feel safe?

Then you remember, you moved to China, you live in Shanghai, a cosmopolitan city with millions of people and no guns. Not even the police have guns. You are safe, you're perfectly safe. You smile at the men, who are friendly and also walking home. You're glad you're no longer paranoid about personal safety as you were when you lived in the US.

In a violent society like the US, whose violence is in part perpetrated by a prevalent gun culture, perhaps it is safer to own a gun. But we should work towards living in a society where the risks of owning a gun outweigh the benefits. It's nice to wander down a dark city street in the middle of the night and not think twice about getting shot.

- shanghai October 1, 2008 8:28AM

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- Oh Yes, China
  
  One of the BIGGEST violators of civil rights. Why? No guns. They don't have too much to worry about their people fighting back. Do you really want that here?
  
  - Ironman October 1, 2008 9:29AM
  
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- lol
  
  this is the most ridiculous argument i have ever heard. drugs are illegal in the US. I can find someone selling drugs in maybe 10 minutes. those men in Shanghai? they can kill you in plenty of ways without a gun. unless knives are also banned in China, they can probably kill you with one of those.
  
  Also I'm curious, are you posting from China?
  
  - arrw October 24, 2008 5:29AM
  
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- A Western Rebuttal
  
  I am sorry but the 30 million plus victims of Mao Zedong's regime disagree with you. I am sure if it was possible to ask them they would wish that they had been armed.
  
  - Douglas November 13, 2008 8:06PM
  
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  - Culture and Indentity
    
    You're confusing y/our very "American" idea of personal and cultural identity to those that are held in "Eastern" regions... which are very, very different.
    
    Second... if you can't even spell Tse Tung correctly there's actually some question that you know little about what you're actually trying to rebut.
    
    People do not have to be armed to bring about either cultural or political change..... nor do they need arms to prevent it.
    
    - SocialistBetty March 27, 2009 7:12PM
    
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    - Thank you Betty
      
      Since you are using the Roman alphabet and not Chinese calligraphy, then you too are spelling it wrong. Since you are translating from one alphabet to another, there is no "correct" spelling, only "accepted" ones. And both Zedong and Tse Tung are acceptable ones.
      
      And as far as "needing" arms to prevent cultural or political change, it depends on which side you're on. If you're the unarmed populace facing a heavily armed and oppressive government regime, you're not going to get the change you want just by wishing it. Even if you say, "Pretty please with sugar on top."
      
      - LagerHead July 7, 2009 3:52PM
      
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    - unlesss
      
      Unless that political change is being promulgated from the barrel of the gun.... as the very same man who's name you bicker about a non-native spelling of.
      
      "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun." - Mao Tse-tung
      
      Or Zedong. Or a few other ways....
      
      - camosoul77 August 27, 2009 7:00PM
      
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    - Chairman's name
      
      That's "Mousy Tongue". ANY serviceman can tell you that!!
      
      - Nightowl22 September 7, 2009 6:28PM
      
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- an eastern myth
  
  "You start walking home from the bar/restaurant with your wife. A group of men is approaching you on the dark street. You have your hands. Do you feel safe? Then you remember, you moved to China, you live in Shanghai, a cosmopolitan city with millions of people and no guns. ... You are safe, you're perfectly safe."
  
  And how, exactly, does the absence of guns prevent the men from stabbing you, smashing your head in, or threatening to do so unless you give them whatever they demand? If you are safe walking in China, it is only because violent criminals are rarer there.
  
  And if criminals in China don't have guns, it is not because China outlaws them -- after all, we outlaw marijuana. No, it's because if a criminal is ever caught with a gun he is swiftly put to death. (That's probably why you are safer in China -- if they're caught using _anything_ to commit robberies, criminals are swiftly put to death.)
  
  Of course, if we put criminals to death with as much fervor as the Chinese do, we could be safe in the streets even _without_ controlling firearm possession.
  
  As an aside, I don't think "Do guns make you safer?" is the relevant question. I don't _want_ to be robbed on the street more safely. I want not to be robbed on the street -- PERIOD! In _our_ society, letting lots of people carry guns and use them to shoot down robbers seems to be more effective in suppressing abductions, muggings, and carjackings than anything we can expect from the police.
  
  - fsilber January 26, 2009 12:00PM
  
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- You're Kidding Right?
  
  You must be kidding. China is the number one violator of human rights in asia ..and that is saying something.. The reason the PEOPLE don't have guns in China is because the government dictates what the people do. The government is AFRAID if the people had the means to defend themselves they WOULD! .. I'll take the USA, problems and all.
  
  - david March 25, 2009 11:21AM
  
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- Seriously?
  
  Uh, unless you're an American tourist there to see your son-in-law in the Olympics, right? Oh wait, that was Beijing, and I guess we're just talking about shooting, not all violent crime . Unless you're a Canadian model, right?
  
  - WCWAJGA March 28, 2009 7:47PM
  
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  - I knews several of the players personally...
    
    And it was good to see someone thought of this too. Please tell Hugh and Liz McCutcheon how safe China is.
    
    - Blappo April 25, 2009 3:18AM
    
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- Interesting Eastern perspective
  
  It's fascinating that the "eastern" perspective points out that you're safer in an authoritarian, human rights abusing country. Sure, you're less likely to get robbed by A-Thug-With-A-Gun, but you're more likely to get killed by your government if you speak out.
  
  - BlackPR March 31, 2009 9:16AM
  
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- Shanghai????
  
  Why do you even ask a question based on this premise?
  I don't live in Shanghai. I would not want to live in Shanghai. If I lived in Shanghai, I would be trying to change their tryannical rules and probably would be part of a rebellion to change it by force.
  
  The US is not a violent society compared to other countries. Thank God the Founders saw the need to guarantee the right to bear arms in the Bill of RIghts.
  
  I have been living in the US for over 60 years now. To this day, I have never worried about getting shot going down the streets in any city. If you are so worried about that, maybe you should move to Shanghi.
  
  I like my " gun culture " just fine. I have not seen anything better yet.
  
  - spatin April 4, 2009 12:24AM
  
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- a true eastern perspective
  
  It's 3am. You're done going out for the night, and say goodbye to your friends. You start walking home from the bar/restaurant with your wife. A group of men is approaching you on the dark street. You have your hands. Do you feel safe?
  
  Then you remember, you moved to China, you live in Shanghai, a cosmopolitan city with millions of people and no guns . Not even the police have guns. Then you realize that the men approaching know you don't have a gun. They rob you and rape your wife, and you were not able to defend yourself. Happens all the time in shanghai, I've been there and witnessesd it. Don't believe the PRC propaganda, it could get you killed.
  
  - cubanfreedomfighter April 4, 2009 2:35PM
  
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- Duh
  
  People can own gun's illegally. As I'm sure the "men in the dark ally' will have. Ha besides it's China who wants to live their when you could have your Freedom in America.
  
  - Dylandts August 15, 2009 8:04PM
  
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- Hahahaha!
  
  Yeah, there are no gangs or violence or organized crime in China. Sure! Keep telling yourself that.
  
  - camosoul77 August 27, 2009 6:56PM
  
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- Criminals dont abide by laws
  
  even if guns were illegal in the US. 99% of the criminals that use them get them illegally and or do not register them. Do you really think if there were gun laws the criminals are just going to go "Oh, i guess i wont use guns anymore" NO. We civil people who get our guns legally and registure them will have our guns taken away while crimnals will walk the streets with there black market guns that have not been registered. so the question is "You start walking home from the bar with your wife. A group of men approach you on a dark street. You have your hands. Do you feel safe?" the answer will always be NO. If you dont like the RIGHT we have to bare arms, then you should start learning chinnese because your best bet is to move to China!
  
  - Crosshead September 15, 2009 12:14PM
  
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