Ireland bans handguns

[Tetro Kornbluth]

I don't know anyone who owns a gun. I can't imagine anyone I know wanting a gun. Apart from the tiny percentage of people who belong(ed) to the military, hunters and a few farmers, who owns a (legal) gun? What gun culture?

I'm just wondering why this is being passed as law now. Great Recession panic?

[Tetro Kornbluth]

I just luuuuv Libertarianz. I apparently live in a hardcore dictatorship, since we have had such gun laws for quite some time.

Denmark bans handguns? I thought that the UK (sans Northern Ireland) and now Ireland were the only European countries to have an absolute ban..

For your information I just checked politics.ie and found very few threads on the topic, most (possibly all) of which were made by someone in the target shooting community, the very definition of a minority pass time. Most people who posted saw this act as political grandstanding which will achieve little but makes the govt look like they were doing something (which is what I think it is). No-one argued that gun ownership was a 'right' or anything like that, only that it was wrong to discriminate against target shooters. No one argued for a liberal gun regime ala the United States - which was usually seen as the model to avoid. In short, no-one cares. No-one's idea of liberty is to be so scared that gun ownership is perceived to necessary for security (which strikes me as the opposite of liberty, but hey, whatever).

FYI I am actually against this legislation.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Why are people ignoring the only actual Irish person to post in this thread?

[Tetro Kornbluth]

You know I don't think it would occur to most Irish people to use a gun in case of self-defense. Trust me, Americans, your thought patterns on this issue are unusual.

And while our crime rates are very high by historic standards, but as Jfern once pointed out here we still have less homicides than many Californian Cities much smaller in size.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Repeat: No-one Cares. No-one considers this a 'rights' issue. Ireland is not America

You must be logged in to read this quote.

LOL@the idea of Ireland being a police state. As Jas pointed out the police here aren't even armed, and there are much stronger restrictions on the usage of personal data in trials than there are in the United States.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

You are an ass clown, you know that?

Also I'm willing to bet alot of money that the government will not lose a single vote over this. FFS it wasn't even a top story on either RTE or The Irish Times (I've checked). Repeat: NO. ONE. CARES.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Comical.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Ireland has a much, more lower crime rate than the United States. Even the tower blocks and forgotten neo-slums of North West and West Inner City Dublin have much lower crime rates than their American equivalents. Though admittely there is a lack of a race factor here among other things. So guns clearly aren't a factor here at all.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Did you ever consider that the reason most people don't want to own a gun is due to the message that it sends out, at least in your own libertarian ideology. That the world is so scary than one needs a gun to protect oneself? Again this is NOT PART OF THE THOUGHT PROCESS OF MOST PEOPLE HERE. THE RIGHT TO BARE ARMS IS PROBABLY LOWER DOWN MOST PEOPLE'S RIGHTS THAN THE RIGHT TO SPIT USED CHEWING GUM ONTO COBBLESTONE STREETS. And that is no exaggeration.

This is a complete non-issue; message to Americans: The world isn't all like America.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Wow how mature of you!

It's clear that this issue brings out the worst in people so I'm going to stop and shut up because it seems like the more I try to plea my case the more hostile people become. For the sake of forum civility, I'll stop trying to change the mind of people who apparently don't give a damn about civil liberties.

Such a shame though, because in a few days I might be agreeing with these people over an issue.

Thanks for ignoring all my other points.

And that was only way of expressing how dumb that post was. I expect such ignorance from BRTD but others...

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Yea Gully, thanks for ignoring all my posts and then complaining no one replies to you.

What precisely do you wish for me to respond to exactly. I have already covered the "previous gun laws prevented the emergence of gun ownership" argument I think.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Did you ever consider that the reason most people don't want to own a gun is due to the message that it sends out, at least in your own libertarian ideology. That the world is so scary than one needs a gun to protect oneself? Again this is NOT PART OF THE THOUGHT PROCESS OF MOST PEOPLE HERE. THE RIGHT TO BARE ARMS IS PROBABLY LOWER DOWN MOST PEOPLE'S RIGHTS THAN THE RIGHT TO SPIT USED CHEWING GUM ONTO COBBLESTONE STREETS. And that is no exaggeration.

Okay you ignore the caps (that was to emphasize the point to Mechaman).

Actually I recall now that I did know someone who owned a gun but it was a long time ago, a 12 year old gun nut and he was not from Ireland and certainly had no interest in protecting himself from crime.

The libertarian individual ideal is scary and actually nullifies individualism. The environment where one feels that one needs a gun to protect one's self is not one I'd like to live, and that is a good thing about the Republic of Ireland (yes, see, I can say good things about this country). People aren't suspicious. So why need a gun? (and to protect oneself from what exactly)

[Tetro Kornbluth]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Did you ever consider that the reason most people don't want to own a gun is due to the message that it sends out, at least in your own libertarian ideology. That the world is so scary than one needs a gun to protect oneself? Again this is NOT PART OF THE THOUGHT PROCESS OF MOST PEOPLE HERE. THE RIGHT TO BARE ARMS IS PROBABLY LOWER DOWN MOST PEOPLE'S RIGHTS THAN THE RIGHT TO SPIT USED CHEWING GUM ONTO COBBLESTONE STREETS. And that is no exaggeration.

Okay you ignore the caps (that was to emphasize the point to Mechaman).

Actually I recall now that I did know someone who owned a gun but it was a long time ago, a 12 year old gun nut and he was not from Ireland and certainly had no interest in protecting himself from crime.

The libertarian individual ideal is scary and actually nullifies individualism. The environment where one feels that one needs a gun to protect one's self is not one I'd like to live, and that is a good thing about the Republic of Ireland (yes, see, I can say good things about this country). People aren't suspicious. So why need a gun? (and to protect oneself from what exactly)

Do you really think that people in the US are all  terrified and live lives of constant daily terror?

Of course not. What I am saying is that there is an atmosphere of distrust which simply does not exist at home. Even today many (well off) people don't even bother to install a security alarm, even though they are easily available and is by far the most common form of home security. And I know a few victims of crime - theft usually; and while their reaction would often express a desire to be better protected that usually means moving to a better area, or that the windows were more secure, or that the alarm system was more effective/existent, or (this is most common) that the police were nearer or more efficient. I've never heard anyone express the sentiment that "I should have kept pepper spray/mace/a gun".

Actually I'm willing to bet if this law went to a referendum the overwhelming majority would support the law.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

That's just typically fussy and incompetent Irish(?) bureaucracy for you.

But this is a smokescreen issue.