[Kissaki]

Originally Posted by jason10mm

The lack of firearms isn't bad until you NEED them, or if you have others providing for your defense. Just ask your neighbors to the South (Finland, for those far from Northern Europe about their feelings for firearms ownership, particularly those around in the first half of the 20th century.

East, you mean. To the south is Denmark.

I think the main point of pro-second amendment/pro-firearms is that your government SHOULD TRUST the law abiding citizens (or subjects, as the case may be). Part of that trust is recognizing the basic human right to self-defense. Firearms are a fundamental component to self-defense. Not tanks, thermonuclear weapons, or anthrax spores, all of which are beyond any rational concept of self-defense (but commonly bandied about as the inevitable outcome of no "gun control" by the leftists).

I agree, the government should be able to trust its law-abiding citizens. But the opposite is also true, the law-abiding citizens should be able to trust the government (fat chance, though). More importantly, however, the law-abiding citizens should be able to trust eachother. And there is an awful lot of trust here in Norway. Anyone acquiring a fire-arm for purposes of self-defense over here is typically viewed as paranoid and anti-social.

The only faction of a population who will abide by gun control laws are the LAW ABIDING! Criminals, by their very nature, BREAK laws! So gun control laws only restrict the most upstanding and honorable members of a society, while allowing the outlaw element free reign since they ignore laws by default.

Very little of Norwegian crime involved firearms of any kind. Gun control laws do more than restrict the law-abiding, because not every criminal has the contacts to obtain guns illegally. And especially in the case of drug-addicts (who are the most likely to use firearms, if they have them), they rarely have the strings to pull to obtain guns. So your point here is only valid in a country like the US where guns already flow like wine. In Norway, however, you can safely bet on a mugger or intruder not having a gun.

In fact, a considerable portion of break-ins (in rural areas, at least) happen pretty much the way it happened to the grandmother of a friend of mine:

She was awakened in the dead of night from the loud crash of a window shattering. Walking downstairs with broom in hand, she found a strange man sleeping on a couch in the livingroom. He stank of alcohol, and as this was a night between Saturday and Sunday, so he had probably come from a party somewhere. She fetched some blankets, tucked him in and went back to sleep.

So it is really pretty simple Free access to firearms in a society means that the government is held in check by the people and criminals have to fear for their lives. No guns means the government can do whatever it wants and armed criminals can break into homes without fear.

Well, like I said... no guns significally reduces the odds that a felon will be armed, too. Sure, it's fully possible to obtain guns illegaly, but why make it easy for them?

I used to be of the opinion that guns were bad, anywhere and everywhere - that gun restriction was a decidedly good thing. After having had talks with Americans from various states, however, I've come to the conclusion that our gun laws would do more harm than good over there - just as their gun laws would do more harm than good over here. Here, there simply is no need. Provide guns where there is no need, and what good will come of it? Conversly, take guns away from where they're needed, and what good will come of that?

In any case, I'm all for gun control, though. This is not to restrict gun ownership of law-abiding citizens, but to map gun ownership, and allowing the state to make an assessment on how many guns there are out there, both legally and illegaly. It's easier to make an estimate of illegal guns when there are clear records from manufacturers, merchants and owners. And then there are people - violent criminals, the mentally unstable - who should not be issued guns.