Since we seem to have developed a culture in this Country that loves nothing more than to see yet more things get banned - and a government that seems only to happy to go along with it - shall we just get it over with and ban everything?

Hell, let's have a tax on breathing air while we're at it. Nah sod it, ban breathing too.

A ban on banning things??

If we could stop Parliament from making new laws for say, 5 years, the Country would be so much better for it. I swear sometimes that the [LIFTED] coming out of Westminster is just MPs trying to justify their existence. Sort of "Hey look at me! I helped make 500 laws today! I'm important!".

I'm not sure that stopping the creation of new laws in necessarily a good thing, but if all laws had to pass through some sort of "common sense panel" then I think that would work...Of course the next question is, how would the panel members be allocated?

They just need to stop making up crimes.

+1

The way to go about this is to actually have a governement that is representative of the people it governs and therefore should only create legislation that said people agree on. Of course, that's pie in the sky.

I just wish that the Government would see that banning legitimate activities and procedures only hurts the innocent while the criminals and other law-breakers carry on and even get worse.

One of my favourite examples is handguns. The Dunblane massacre was APPALLING and Thomas Hamilton should NEVER have been allowed to have firearms, but he was. Following the incident the Government banned handguns in this country. Well, that worked didn't it because there hasn't been a single criminal incident involving handguns since.

Yes, I have an interest in firearms and if it was permitted, I would probably have a couple of handguns for target shooting, whether you agree that is a worthwhile activity or not is not the point. Preventing me from owning a pistol has done nothing to prevent or reduce armed crime.

If you want to know how bad things still are- a friend of mine says that another friend of his has a firearms license and is permitted to own rifles for vermin control. Apparently the person who approved what he is allowed to have was clueless and he is now approved to own a .50 calibre rifle to shoot rats and rabbits. A tall story? It sounds like it, but my friend is not a liar and I honestly believe him and believe that this kind of thing can (and does) still happen.

Handguns should be legal. Or rather should I say "normal" handguns should be legal. UK-legal handguns are ridiculous.



As the saying goes, guns don't kill people, people kill people. When guns aren't available they either get one illegally or use sharp pointy things.

It bothers me a lot that we seem to be becomming a society which requires our elected government to legislate for every move we make. I can't see it stopping, and I certainly can't see it back-pedalling to a time when Common Sense had any purchase on behaviour at all.

Natural selection is supposed to take care of the people who are too stupid/criminal/incapable of keeping themselves alive, I would much prefer reverting to a society where people take some responsibility for their own actions and those of their children to live their lives, dispense justice on a local level, and build communities to work together again.

Pipe-Dreams anyone??

Handguns are designed to maim or kill at close quarters. That's all. There is no justification for their legality, as far as I'm concerned. They ruin lives.
My family has been touched by the fallout of legal handgun ownership, and it's still an emotional subject for me after all this time.
I can't see any justification for their legality, and I'm sorry, but 'I quite like them' isn't one.

[LIFTED], better ban kitchen knives too then.

Oh and cars, and ashtrays, and every other item that's been used to kill someone.

Why? Kitchen knives are pretty handy to have in the kitchen, cars are great at moving people from A to B, ashtrays stop smokers ashing everywhere.
Handguns, on the other hand, are just meant to maim and kill.

So are bows and arrows but I don't see archery on the ban list. Normal people like to shoot guns, at targets. This county is riddled with gun clubs where people like to get together to shoot targets/clay pigeons or go hunting. I expect the rest of the country is too.

And TBH I really have no problem with guns being used in self-defence. I certainly wouldn't shed tears for a burglar who got shot in the face.

Yeah, bow and arrows are used so often in violent crime, aren't they?
I used to enjoy pistol and rifle shooting. Got pretty good at it too, and then I stopped. The pistol section of the club were... different. And there is something very seductive about pistol shooting over rifle shooting, it's undeniable. Rifle shooting and archery require more focus and effort, in my experience because of the distances.
When was the last time you saw someone shooting clays with a pistol? Shots have a legitimate use in the countryside for population control with the wildlife. So do rifles.

So where's the need for handguns in all this?



Yeah, sounds simple on the face of it, but it's certainly not the case in the US. Weapons kept in the home more frequently end up harming a family member rather than the Big Bad Man creeping in the window.