Again you avoided my question :) I fully realize that Guns are a complex issue for a lot of people. And even in this discussion the range of topics have covered Freedom of Speech, Government Control, Federalism etc. There is a huge amount of swirl thrown on top of the topic of Gun control. People make their country, Humans like to conform to social norms. For gun carrying to be allowed it must be socially acceptable; which follows that people (the majority) in that society are happy to put up with the violence around them as long as they get to have a gun. That's whats normal to the group. But what about the individual? What do you think, regardless of the rules? As a poor example, I live in Ireland, renowned throughout the world for its drinking culture. Alcohol is a large part of our society and actually makes up part of our image in a similar way Guns do in the US. Alcohol is killing people everyday here, young and old. I have seen friends lost to it. Like you I see how its almost impossible to change the society; but I also recognize that our relationship with alcohol is out of control and its not good for our country. I don't want to ban it, I enjoy it myself but never to excess, I'd like to change how freely accessible it is. I'd like to change the mindset that you need to have a drink in order to have a good time. We have crossed from a healthy relationship into an abusive one. Personally I think this mirrors the relationship with Guns in the US. As they say in AA, recognising you have a problem is the first step. Do you think you have a problem with guns?Yes, the government doesn't have the right, but the people do. The people overwhelmingly do not favor strict gun control, gun registries, gun confiscation, etc. So it can't happen.
I have answered your questions several times - maybe my American English is bad. No, we don't have a problem with guns, we have a problem with violence. A "glass is half empty" person might say that everyone else is "enjoying" too little violence. But I think the correlation between a violent and a creative society is likely to be very weak. See also Rome. As to your "I'd like to change how freely accessible [alcohol] it is" I would ask you why? Why do you think the answer to any problem is to constrain people? I'm not a Big-L libertarian or an anarchist or anything, but in the course of human history we can see that the things that government gets right when they start to control people are pretty few relative to the amount of control they seek. -XC -XC
A "glass is half empty" person might say that everyone else is "enjoying" too little violence. But I think the correlation between a violent and a creative society is likely to be very weak. See also Rome.
There is a famous Orson Wells quote hidden in there dying to get out. Cuckoo clocks.As to your "I'd like to change how freely accessible [alcohol] it is" I would ask you why? Why do you think the answer to any problem is to constrain people? I'm not a Big-L libertarian or an anarchist or anything, but in the course of human history we can see that the things that government gets right when they start to control people are pretty few relative to the amount of control they seek.
Well I never mentioned Government as the tool to enact change. I mentioned that we have a cultural problem, our society has an unhealthy relationship with alcohol but there is no Government action capable of dealing with that effectively. Over here Governments keep the lights on and the ship on course. They are not as powerful as perhaps their US counterparts are. Any change to our relationship to alcohol has to come from inside the society, a popular movement or such. This is happening slowly because people see that we have a problem.No, we don't have a problem with guns, we have a problem with violence.
So Guns play no part? I could say we don't a problem with alcohol, we have a problem with alcoholism but that's a cop out. One way to improve the society for everyone is to tackle the problem and make it less acceptable (note: less acceptable, its still legal) to be drunk in the street at 1 in the afternoon.