The Coming Dark Times

Tez3

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Really? Then why hasn't that worked in Iraq? Because the enemy is "joe everyman" and that is too hard to distinguish from the local populace. Same same if it were to take place here.

Lets face it, An armed populace has a MUCH better chance of fighting off tryanny than an unarmed peasants would.

Maybe its me... but Id rather snipe at invading enemy troops with a high powered hunting rifle, than charge their machine gun emplacement with a pointy stick.

Weapons are obviously needed if you are invaded by a foreign force but tryanny has a habit of sneaking up on you. The more likely scenario is that would have your rights under law eroded away but it would be done in such a way that you would agree with this action, ie "we need everyone to do this because we need to beat the terrorists, anyone that disagrees is unpatriotic" so you would end up with curfews, holding people in detention camps, banning unions,neighbours and family would spy on each other, torture would be allowed in police interrogations and hundreds of other "laws" put in place and before you know it you are in Nazi Germany/Iraq/Zimbabwe/ Soviet Russia and so on. Your freedom would be gone and you wouldn't realise it until it was too late. Over dramatic? Have a think about it!
 

OUMoose

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That's why as soon as my bank account permits it, I'm leaving.
Hate to tell you, my feline friend, but it's not that much better in other parts of the world. Also, you can leave as long as the gov't allows you too... Papers please? :p
 

Andy Moynihan

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Oh, i was never under the illusion that it was, just I'm not sure if I can stand to watch too much more of my country dissolving before my eyes.

Maybe I can find a place where it'll be quiet and I can be left in relative solitude to train, maybe it'll be here, possibly not. But for the most part, excepting friends/family, to quote Frankenstein's Monster, "I am done with man."
 

Cryozombie

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Weapons are obviously needed if you are invaded by a foreign force but tryanny has a habit of sneaking up on you. The more likely scenario is that would have your rights under law eroded away but it would be done in such a way that you would agree with this action, ie "we need everyone to do this because we need to beat the terrorists, anyone that disagrees is unpatriotic" so you would end up with curfews, holding people in detention camps, banning unions,neighbours and family would spy on each other, torture would be allowed in police interrogations and hundreds of other "laws" put in place and before you know it you are in Nazi Germany/Iraq/Zimbabwe/ Soviet Russia and so on. Your freedom would be gone and you wouldn't realise it until it was too late. Over dramatic? Have a think about it!

Nope. Thats a completely different circumstance, that one weapons wont help against...
 

Tez3

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It's the one that more likely to happen though. Over here Blair wants us to have ID cards with all the information on it they can get, trying to persuade us that it will help in the war against terror. We manage very well without ID cards, why do we need them now? The police have been given the right to hold people under suspicion of terrorism longer than ever before,we have people who have been in prison for 2 years without even being charged with an offence, the government wants to get rid of the "right to silence" too. Our liberties and rights are being slowly eroded away under the guise of it being "for our own good" and "part of the war on terror", really?
 

Lisa

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When I said adoration of guns I mean precisely that, not the use of guns as tools or as weapons. I mean the people who have cabinets full of varying guns, rifles, shotguns etc enough for a small army which they fact seem to think they are. I certainly am a martial artist, doing TMA and MMA I'm also one of the few armed police officers in this country.

hmmm...my household resembles that remark! :lol2: However, I honestly don't consider myself a small army and don't appreciate being painted with the same brush. My husband's family has had a love for firearms for generations and a few are gun collectors and admirers.

Some people only use their firearms for shooting competitions, some use the for hunting/warding off predators on their land, and, yes, some for personal protection, but not all.

If I had a choice in my country to carry a concealed weapon or not, I can't honestly say at this point that I would. I would, however, like the opportunity to make that decision for myself and not have some politician jump on the "guns are bad" bandwagon and pass more useless laws, after ever tragic senseless death by an illegal firearm which all too often is fired by someone with a pre-existing record.

It is obvious that you have a difference of opinion then myself and some of the other members of this board and I can respect that. I think we can all agree on the need for mandatory sentences for those that USE weapons in crime and governments that don't blame the law abiding gun owner but the criminal, is what is needed in this day and age.
 

Tez3

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hmmm...my household resembles that remark! :lol2: However, I honestly don't consider myself a small army and don't appreciate being painted with the same brush. My husband's family has had a love for firearms for generations and a few are gun collectors and admirers.

Some people only use their firearms for shooting competitions, some use the for hunting/warding off predators on their land, and, yes, some for personal protection, but not all.

If I had a choice in my country to carry a concealed weapon or not, I can't honestly say at this point that I would. I would, however, like the opportunity to make that decision for myself and not have some politician jump on the "guns are bad" bandwagon and pass more useless laws, after ever tragic senseless death by an illegal firearm which all too often is fired by someone with a pre-existing record.

It is obvious that you have a difference of opinion then myself and some of the other members of this board and I can respect that. I think we can all agree on the need for mandatory sentences for those that USE weapons in crime and governments that don't blame the law abiding gun owner but the criminal, is what is needed in this day and age.

I can understand appreciation of good workmanship and the use of a weapon as a good, useful tool. We've been hunting in this country for a very long time. Respect for weapons is one thing, unholy glee in a killing machine is something else. The people I'm speaking of are the ones that are brought most to our attention in this country by your media, the ones with their 5 year old kids using machine guns firing them at cans in the countryside, the ones who gloat how they can blast holes the size of dinnerplates out of someone unlucky enough to get in their way, they boast ever bigger weapons whooping with glee when they've blasted some poor tree stump into oblivion. These are always the people that are shown when the subject of gun control comes up,usually after a high school shooting, they are shown demanding the right to bear arms and frankly look like they shouldn't be trusted with a pea shooter.
I'm not sure if you realise how gun ownership in America is presented to the rest of the world.
 

OUMoose

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I can understand appreciation of good workmanship and the use of a weapon as a good, useful tool. We've been hunting in this country for a very long time. Respect for weapons is one thing, unholy glee in a killing machine is something else. The people I'm speaking of are the ones that are brought most to our attention in this country by your media, the ones with their 5 year old kids using machine guns firing them at cans in the countryside, the ones who gloat how they can blast holes the size of dinnerplates out of someone unlucky enough to get in their way, they boast ever bigger weapons whooping with glee when they've blasted some poor tree stump into oblivion. These are always the people that are shown when the subject of gun control comes up,usually after a high school shooting, they are shown demanding the right to bear arms and frankly look like they shouldn't be trusted with a pea shooter.
I'm not sure if you realise how gun ownership in America is presented to the rest of the world.

Ever seen someone not in a mobile home interviewed after the tornado? :D

Sorry, had to interject a little humor. /sarcasm off
 

Cryozombie

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I'm not sure if you realise how gun ownership in America is presented to the rest of the world.

So what you are saying is you have ****** media showing the "worst of what we got" scenario and claiming it is the norm... and the sheep fall for it.

Gotcha.
 

Don Roley

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So what you are saying is you have ****** media showing the "worst of what we got" scenario and claiming it is the norm... and the sheep fall for it.

Gotcha.

It makes better ratings no matter what country you are from and what subject to go for the more interesting, if rarer, aspects than in the dull, boring everyday life.

Hell John, you have seen some of the stuff said about Japan. If you ever get here you are going to find a lot of it is just boring, everyday stuff. But that is not the stuff that gets on TV.
 

Carol

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I can understand appreciation of good workmanship and the use of a weapon as a good, useful tool. We've been hunting in this country for a very long time. Respect for weapons is one thing, unholy glee in a killing machine is something else. The people I'm speaking of are the ones that are brought most to our attention in this country by your media, the ones with their 5 year old kids using machine guns firing them at cans in the countryside, the ones who gloat how they can blast holes the size of dinnerplates out of someone unlucky enough to get in their way, they boast ever bigger weapons whooping with glee when they've blasted some poor tree stump into oblivion. These are always the people that are shown when the subject of gun control comes up,usually after a high school shooting, they are shown demanding the right to bear arms and frankly look like they shouldn't be trusted with a pea shooter.
I'm not sure if you realise how gun ownership in America is presented to the rest of the world.

Women get portrayed in the media as clueless bobbleheads, among other things. It doesn't mean we are.

Negative stereotypes are nothing new, nor are they going away anytime soon...especially when there is money to be made by purporting them.

It's up to the individual to decide whether they want to think for themselves or be "immune, where fact is fiction and TV reality" :)
 

Tez3

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This is your media showing these people, they may not be the norm but they certainly exist don't they? When your politicians ( your representatives) are interviewed on our media they become very defensive about guns and guns laws giving the impression you either live in such a wild place you need weapons with you all the time or you just love the things. Not helpful. Of course we take everything with a pinch of salt, but even the reliable balanced media get a little hysterical when guns are mentioned.
 

Lisa

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I'm not sure if you realise how gun ownership in America is presented to the rest of the world.

Actually, I am quite aware being I am Canadian and not American. However, realising that the media ALWAYS inflates issues because it is a better sell makes me well aware that what is shown is far from the truth. Anyone is capable of seeing that.

Not sure if you have ever been to the US. If you ever do visit, you will be pleasantly surprised at how level headed and law abiding the citizens are, especially the ones with gun permits. I have yet to meet on that is like you describe.
 

Monadnock

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When your politicians ( your representatives) are interviewed on our media they become very defensive about guns and guns laws giving the impression you either live in such a wild place you need weapons with you all the time or you just love the things.

Maybe it is because other countries should have NO say on OUR gun laws.

Legal gun ownership is not a problem here.
 

Tez3

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Maybe it is because other countries should have NO say on OUR gun laws.

Legal gun ownership is not a problem here.

As far as I know no other country is interested in having a say in your laws. What there is in Europe is a healthy interest in what goes on in the world. Interest in America is especially keen as so much of what goes on there flows out to the rest of the world. In our case though this is Blair's fault for blindly following Bush against our wishes but that's a whole different argument. It's one I'm feeling raw about at the moment http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/D...erations/KingsmanJamieHancockKilledInIraq.htm

This was a young lad in one of the Regiments I work with, they'd only been there 2 weeks.
Anyway sorry for being off topic. It's not that I agree or disagree with people having guns, I just find it fascinating how passionate both sides are on this point.
 

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