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A buy of the century
- Thread starter sksvlad
- Start date
Vintage weapons -a MG42 for instance- are less lethal?
Most countries ban civilians from having fully auto weapons, so that's not normally an issue, even in the US. It's clear from the many multiple shootings in the US AR15s and their various derivatives are the weapon of choice if you want to shoot up your local school, cinema, church etc etc. Putting a semi auto military weapon in the hands of any citizen who wants one is asking for trouble. And tragic. I love the US but can never understand their relationship with guns (and I'm an ex rifle and pistol shooter).
Slick
Well-Known Member
Actually(factually) handguns are the weapon of choice, by a wide margin. At least per FBI stats. Full auto weapons are much more difficult(and expensive) to obtain legally but are gettable if one is so inclined. I'm more of a bolt action kinda guy, but ARs are at hand. Just in case a boogie man shows up.
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Full auto weapons may be owned in the majority of States, but there are Federal restrictions on top of any that the State may impose. They must be legal weapons registered for civilian ownership prior to 1986. This limits the pool, and as demand goes up, so does the cost - in many cases well into the tens of thousands. If you want a weapon you need to find one for sale, and arrange a transfer through a dealer licensed to transfer full auto weapons, or destructive devices (DD). You pay for the weapon, the dealer takes possession and submits your request for a permit to the ATF, with a $200 transfer fee (tax stamp). Once it is processed and approved by ATF the dealer receives the paperwork and you can take possession of the weapon. ATF is limited like all Federal agencies by personnel and budget, so it is not a fast process. My last transfer took 11 months. All of this drives legal full auto out of the hands of most private citizens.
I'm not sure that there is any way to understand or explain the US relationship with firearms, but there is no denying that it exists. It certainly has its ugly side, but it is so deeply ingrained in our society that the vast majority of our country are willing to accept the large number but tiny percentage (we are a very large country) of problems that occur. Owning a firearm in my region is kind of like owning a car-jack. Everyone has one, don't take it out and use it very often...
I'm not sure that there is any way to understand or explain the US relationship with firearms, but there is no denying that it exists. It certainly has its ugly side, but it is so deeply ingrained in our society that the vast majority of our country are willing to accept the large number but tiny percentage (we are a very large country) of problems that occur. Owning a firearm in my region is kind of like owning a car-jack. Everyone has one, don't take it out and use it very often...
Maybe it's time to make everyone who has an AR15 type rifle join an official State armed militia, spend every weekend in the military and 2 weeklong camps a year (salary paid by State), or rewrite the 2nd amendment?
sksvlad
Well-Known Member
On a serious note, just to explain to the people outside of USA, the 2nd amendment of US Constitution resides in so called Bill of Rights. These are the rights, like freedom of speech and gathering, which are given to the people of the USA, all the people, not firefighters, not police, not National Guard, nurses or lawyers, it really means ALL, regardless of status or occupation. The militia preamble, in the begining of the 2nd Amendment, is there only to explain why the rest of the sentence exists, to give a reason. So one could own a gun and not join the militia. Owning a gun was a requirement to join, you had to bring your own. Joining militia was a voluntary thing. The forced joining is called conscription.
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Well it seems to me that a hell of a lot of people are abusing the right to bear arms, by killing innocent people. With the exception of the odd isolated case this abuse of rights is nearly unique to the USA. If it's broke, fix it.
If it is broke, fix it? Do you have no concept of American politics? We cannot agree on anything: border, abortion, guns, budget, economy, etc. I doubt we will ever fix anything ever again. Additionally, I would like to clearly state that the American fascination with guns can be laid squarely at the feet of the United Kingdom. Your rule over this land made such an impact on our collective soul that we will hold onto our guns no matter the cost in order to prevent such governing ever again.
Bellifortis
Well-Known Member
In Switzerland every soldier, after basic training, would take his rifle home and store it there. I don't know if this still is the case nowadays.
I think that's rubbish.
The British Empire covered 40% of the planet at one stage, and in no other country previously ruled by GB is there such a problem with guns. No other country has nut cases that like to regularly go into schools and shoot innocent children and people. And of course, there is nobody alive in the US who actually experience British rule. This is a home grown problem.
The US developed culture, mainly from the lawless cowboy days in the mid 1800's is responsible for the gun culture of today. It is a fear of crime that makes 44% of US households have a gun, not the British Empire. It's easy to blame everyone else for your own problems but the US is unique in its massive gun ownership and its gun related problems.
The bigger picture.
For those living outside of the US there exists in the US a political faction that has systematically tried, with a great deal of success, to dismantle the system of law and order in this country. In many of the larger cities in the US criminals know the courts will turn them free because the legal system is systematically being gutted, brick by brick. Rapists, child molesters, murders, thieves, robbers, violent gang members are routinely turned loose by the courts so that they can again prey on law-abiding citizens. We have political figures who actively incite rioting and the killing people of apposing political views. People of one race are attacked, beaten and killed by gang members of another race and the police are told to do nothing or if they offenders are arrested the courts turn them loose or the perpetrator accuses the police of some wrong doing. When that happens the political activist machine and supporting media jump into action calling for the complete defunding and dismantling of the police. The black market for stolen guns is rampant which feeds the gangs and criminals with a supply of weapons.
In the past few years political factions, at the state level, have passed new abortion rights laws allowing a women to terminate her pregnancy up to and including the full term (9 months). These same factions would like this to become national law.
Many mental hospitals and mental health institutions have been shut down so our country is run amuck with people afflicted with severe mental issues. Some of these people in turn prey on law abiding citizens. When such an incident occurs the offender is typically set free or incarcerated for treatment for a short period of time and then turned loose to prey upon society again. The mentally disturbed have more rights than I do. If people or learning institutions see that an individual has severe mental issues they do not report it to authorities for fear of being sued or being singled out for ridicule, verbal or physical assault and/or lawsuits by politicial activists.
Then we have in the US an ‘entertainment’ industry that floods prime television with gratuitous sex, violence and killing. Add to this those computer games that are all about extreme violence and the killing of people.
So crime and lawlessness in many large metropolitan areas is at an all time high as police, mental health institutions and the legal system are being decimated by political factions and sympathetic major media outlets. Add to this a good dose of hatred for your fellow man being espoused by some politicians and activists and a substantial portion of the entertainment industry that promotes violence, killing and stupidity. Almost to the point of being a “perfect storm”.
For those living outside of the US there exists in the US a political faction that has systematically tried, with a great deal of success, to dismantle the system of law and order in this country. In many of the larger cities in the US criminals know the courts will turn them free because the legal system is systematically being gutted, brick by brick. Rapists, child molesters, murders, thieves, robbers, violent gang members are routinely turned loose by the courts so that they can again prey on law-abiding citizens. We have political figures who actively incite rioting and the killing people of apposing political views. People of one race are attacked, beaten and killed by gang members of another race and the police are told to do nothing or if they offenders are arrested the courts turn them loose or the perpetrator accuses the police of some wrong doing. When that happens the political activist machine and supporting media jump into action calling for the complete defunding and dismantling of the police. The black market for stolen guns is rampant which feeds the gangs and criminals with a supply of weapons.
In the past few years political factions, at the state level, have passed new abortion rights laws allowing a women to terminate her pregnancy up to and including the full term (9 months). These same factions would like this to become national law.
Many mental hospitals and mental health institutions have been shut down so our country is run amuck with people afflicted with severe mental issues. Some of these people in turn prey on law abiding citizens. When such an incident occurs the offender is typically set free or incarcerated for treatment for a short period of time and then turned loose to prey upon society again. The mentally disturbed have more rights than I do. If people or learning institutions see that an individual has severe mental issues they do not report it to authorities for fear of being sued or being singled out for ridicule, verbal or physical assault and/or lawsuits by politicial activists.
Then we have in the US an ‘entertainment’ industry that floods prime television with gratuitous sex, violence and killing. Add to this those computer games that are all about extreme violence and the killing of people.
So crime and lawlessness in many large metropolitan areas is at an all time high as police, mental health institutions and the legal system are being decimated by political factions and sympathetic major media outlets. Add to this a good dose of hatred for your fellow man being espoused by some politicians and activists and a substantial portion of the entertainment industry that promotes violence, killing and stupidity. Almost to the point of being a “perfect storm”.
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Well said, it seems there is an agenda to disable and destroy society, decimating the family group, morals going out of the window, western culture and values that looked after people and cared destroyed by the vicious left, cancel culture, turning people into groups and then being hated and labeled as worthless. Look at the past few years theres bound to be more disturbed people especially the young who are confused, frightened, uncertain and angry about the future. What hope is there when the globalists elites and their puppet governments scare the younger generation with diseases lockdowns into a corner to push their agenda for total control. There is bound to be causalities on all sides and consequences. As for the gun and the knife its the easy way out to point the finger of blame for government fu ups and for the righteousness media who are lazy to tackle the deep cause. Politicians don't want to admit they bugger up society supporting loon leftwing idealism and basic failure, look at what their policies do when they save money by closing mental institutions and mental health help. Why did we have big institutions that helped people in the first place because it was important to the care of society, did we have mass shootings back then, but to government saving money it was easy to close down such places.
It wasn't that long ago in the UK when the police took away the shotgun of a mental health patient a young lad of near the same age as the recent massacre in the US who was a danger to everyone and himself, yet the police handed it back to him and he shot a load of people, a brushed under the carpet job with the media diverting attention to the killer as a monster but not pointing out he had sever mental health problems and the fact the powers to be in the police was beyond incompetent, same incompetence with the police at Hungerford and Dunblane, massacres that could been avoided. Society now has big problems to come, pointing the finger at the weapon is the lazy way out.
It wasn't that long ago in the UK when the police took away the shotgun of a mental health patient a young lad of near the same age as the recent massacre in the US who was a danger to everyone and himself, yet the police handed it back to him and he shot a load of people, a brushed under the carpet job with the media diverting attention to the killer as a monster but not pointing out he had sever mental health problems and the fact the powers to be in the police was beyond incompetent, same incompetence with the police at Hungerford and Dunblane, massacres that could been avoided. Society now has big problems to come, pointing the finger at the weapon is the lazy way out.
Slick
Well-Known Member
This thread is beginning to sound like a FESTIVUS! I need to put up my aluminum pole.
https://nypost.com/article/what-is-festivus-how-to-celebrate/
https://nypost.com/article/what-is-festivus-how-to-celebrate/
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