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Originally Posted by warrenly
Abe, there are 200-240 million guns in private hands in the United States, probably many times more than in the hands of the military and police of the country, which I would estimate have no more than 10-15 million guns at the most, including their ready arsenal. The percentage of households that own at least one gun is at least 38%, with at least 23% of households owning at least one handgun, far higher numbers than South Africa. We Americans are very well armed, I don't think there is any country with a higher percentage of gun ownership except maybe Iraq. Now, I'm only talking only light firearms, but I suspect so is the article about South Africa.
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Good call, warrenly, you got me there. I live in a part of the country where firearm ownership is low, so I underestimated the percentage of households who have guns.
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Originally Posted by Adora
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Originally Posted by ApostateAbe
Often, the power and the authority is abused for the purpose gaining more power or to inflict harm or injustice on the public.
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And whose fault is that? If you elect someone you know is corrupt, then you must take responsibility for that action. |
Certainly, it would be the fault of the people, but I think I would rather safeguard my life and freedom, and I would rather correct the mistake than take responsibility for it by allowing oppressive tyranny.
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Originally Posted by Lone Ranger
Somehow, I doubt that handguns, shotguns, and deer rifles are going to be all that effective against helicopter gunships, fighter-bombers, and tanks.
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You're right. I guess it's time to cut the military.
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Originally Posted by Lone Ranger
That's the problem in a nutshell: we get the government we deserve. If American citizens weren't so consistently uninformed and jingoistic, we'd have better leaders. The fact of the matter is that you can (and do) win elections in this country by appealing to people's worst instincts, pandering to them, and flat-out lying.
This needs to change!
I'm not saying I know how to do that, by the way, but I do think that we could and should be doing a much better job in this country of educating people and teaching them how to think. Critical thinking skills should be a mandatory part of the curriculum from 1st grade onward.
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I'll drink to that!