4 ms·

How do gun control laws make a country authoritarian? For the rest yes it is not sounding good for UK citizens and residents.

by ta988 3y ago

efitz 3y ago
The first thing authoritarian governments do is take away citizens’ weapons. It doesn’t mean that disarmament means that the government means to turn authoritarian, but in the last century, we have yet to see a case where it didn’t.
- mjbeswick 3y ago
  You can own guns in the UK, but few people do as there is no need. There is a shooting range no far from me, but it's simply not poplar here. I guess that why the US has approximately 160 times the gun death rate of the UK!
  - _dain_ 3y ago
    >there is no need I'll be the judge of that, not you.
    - dukeyukey 3y ago
      To be fair it's not difficult to get a firearms licence in the UK. That people (generally) don't show there are very few people who care about it enough to go through the faff to get one.
    - growse 3y ago
      Nope. You want to live in a society, then you abide by that society's collectively decided rules. You're not the only one impacted by your decisions.
    - dkjaudyeqooe 3y ago
      People think that guns give them protection, or power, but in reality they mostly increase your chances of getting shot. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/apr/07/guns-handguns-safety-homicide-killing-study https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/apr/07/guns-handgun...
    - BobaFloutist 3y ago
      It's too bad it's between you and them, you'd really think the general voting population of the UK would get a say.
ethanbond 3y ago
I’m not a 2nd Amendment zealot in any way but an armed population is, among many many other (mostly bad) things, a real counterweight to government overreach.
- blibble 3y ago
  would a firearm have helped this man?
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- mobiuscog 3y ago
  An armed population would not improve the UK government in any way. I would even suggest that despite the USA having guns, their government is just as bad. I'm not sure that plans to develop a new airport runway would be 'stopped' by civilians turning up armed.
  - ethanbond 3y ago
    The US obviously has much, much, much stronger free speech protections. The extent to which that’s preserved by threat of an armed populace seems pretty tricky to figure out. I agree I wouldn’t propose arming the UK public as a solution here.
    - munksbeer 3y ago
      > The US obviously has much, much, much stronger free speech protections. Does it? I don't know enough about the subject to say one way or another.
      - ethanbond 3y ago
        People are frequently jailed in the UK for saying mean things on the Internet. This does not happen in the US. Even cases of people making specific threats against government officials are incredibly hard to act on.

How do gun control laws make a country authoritarian? For the rest yes it is not sounding good for UK citizens and residents.

by ta988 3y ago

How do gun control laws make a country authoritarian? For the rest yes it is not sounding good for UK citizens and residents.

efitz 3y ago

The first thing authoritarian governments do is take away citizens’ weapons. It doesn’t mean that disarmament means that the government means to turn authoritarian, but in the last century, we have yet to see a case where it didn’t.

mjbeswick 3y ago
You can own guns in the UK, but few people do as there is no need. There is a shooting range no far from me, but it's simply not poplar here. I guess that why the US has approximately 160 times the gun death rate of the UK!
- _dain_ 3y ago
  >there is no need I'll be the judge of that, not you.
  - dukeyukey 3y ago
    To be fair it's not difficult to get a firearms licence in the UK. That people (generally) don't show there are very few people who care about it enough to go through the faff to get one.
  - growse 3y ago
    Nope. You want to live in a society, then you abide by that society's collectively decided rules. You're not the only one impacted by your decisions.
  - dkjaudyeqooe 3y ago
    People think that guns give them protection, or power, but in reality they mostly increase your chances of getting shot. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/apr/07/guns-handguns-safety-homicide-killing-study https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/apr/07/guns-handgun...
  - BobaFloutist 3y ago
    It's too bad it's between you and them, you'd really think the general voting population of the UK would get a say.

ethanbond 3y ago

I’m not a 2nd Amendment zealot in any way but an armed population is, among many many other (mostly bad) things, a real counterweight to government overreach.

blibble 3y ago
would a firearm have helped this man?
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
mobiuscog 3y ago
An armed population would not improve the UK government in any way. I would even suggest that despite the USA having guns, their government is just as bad. I'm not sure that plans to develop a new airport runway would be 'stopped' by civilians turning up armed.
- ethanbond 3y ago
  The US obviously has much, much, much stronger free speech protections. The extent to which that’s preserved by threat of an armed populace seems pretty tricky to figure out. I agree I wouldn’t propose arming the UK public as a solution here.
  - munksbeer 3y ago
    > The US obviously has much, much, much stronger free speech protections. Does it? I don't know enough about the subject to say one way or another.
    - ethanbond 3y ago
      People are frequently jailed in the UK for saying mean things on the Internet. This does not happen in the US. Even cases of people making specific threats against government officials are incredibly hard to act on.