Gun Law Views Inlight of Las Vegas Shooting

Yeah, except as an immigrant I won't do anything that could put my status in the country and ability to apply for citizenship in jeopardy if caught. I'll join in the lobbying efforts but that doesn't help me (or others who care about not breaking laws).

You do sound like you're in a bit of a catch-22 for pain relief.  I worry about everybody in your situation whose lives are being impacted by the response to the opioid epidemic.  Meanwhile, I completely understand your strict adherence to the law while you wait for citizenship.  I even watch what I say in social media, for fear of an arguably-inappropriate joke getting blown all out of perspective.

Meanwhile, I've never been a fan of concealed carry, open carry, assault rifles for the masses, or even handguns in family homes.  I don't think more guns equals more safety.  I think the more guns and ammunition that exist means more shots that can be fired.

You do sound like you're in a bit of a catch-22 for pain relief.  I worry about everybody in your situation whose lives are being impacted by the response to the opioid epidemic.  Meanwhile, I completely understand your strict adherence to the law while you wait for citizenship.  I even watch what I say in social media, for fear of an arguably-inappropriate joke getting blown all out of perspective.

Meanwhile, I've never been a fan of concealed carry, open carry, assault rifles for the masses, or even handguns in family homes.  I don't think more guns equals more safety.  I think the more guns and ammunition that exist means more shots that can be fired.

People are dying from both things brought up in this thread ... From lack of pain management there has also been an increase in suicides for people with my condition this year, at least from what we see in support groups. (no idea if it's "statistically significant" but it's awful.)   

And on the "lack of meaningful gun control" tip ... here's all the people offering thoughts and prayers while taking $$ from the NRA. If your senator/rep from your last home in the US happens to be on this list I encourage calling them via skype with your thoughts on gun control. http://splinternews.com/every-member-of-congress-who-took-money-from-the-nra-an-1819059582

Do people feel safer knowing others/your families have guns?

Also, my last two jobs I was/am drug tested. I'm a manufacturing engineer however in the aerospace industry.

Do people feel safer knowing others/your families have guns?

YES. Now....I could go into a long ranging rant on this....but why? There are soooooo many small details......soooo many "in my case" issues. Before anybody starts in on me with their views on guns........I think guns should be seriously restricted. This is coming from a guy that had a couple of .22's in his bedroom growing up. Oh..I didn't mention the .30-.30, and the two shotguns. I think guns should be SERIOUSLY restricted. No handgranades......come on.....although....I really would have loved to have tried them.

Do you feel safer having guns because others have guns - is that why?

Whoa whoa......I didn't say I felt safer. You asked if "people" felt safer.....and the answer is yes. I could go on for paragraphs on why I think they do.....

Do I think people are safer? No

Did you read the part above where I thought guns should be seriously restricted?

Absolutely zero need for an assault rifle.

My views on guns has changed significantly since moving here.

Agreed. (I'm not sure my opinion has necessarily changed since moving here, but I think being in a place where it shows gun violence is down with the absence of guns, even though people claim "but you're just taking guns away from the good guys", just made me more confident in my opinion).

I've fired friends guns before. I'm not going to pretend that it wasn't fun or that I didn't get why he wanted to go to the range, but I definitely think there needs to be more regulations in place if they want to continue to have them and there needs to be more consistency (as in FEDERAL regulations, not just state-by-state). I wouldn't even be against the idea of having them kept at the range vs the home.

I'm not sure I totally understand the idea of having a gun for self defence because I'm not entirely sure you would, in most situations, be able to draw and fire before the "bad guy" has tried to stop you (in scenarios that people give like home invasions, at least). You also have to be prepared to take a life and that is 100% not me, regardless of how bad the person I'm against is. I would only be doing that in absolute self defence, which would mean that person would have to already be attacking me first and I'm not sure that'd give me much chance to even draw/fire....

I don't know..I'm still only half awake at work so I'm not exactly forming my ideas amazingly at the moment (and these are the topics I usually try to stay away from altogether on social media/forums because people usually will not change their mind regardless), but yeah. To me, it's clear that there are better ways it's being done (UK/Austrailia/etc.)...It's all just incredibly sad and at this point I just don't think there's any going back. As somebody on twitter phrased it : "In retrospect, Sandy Hooked marked the end of the US gun control debate. Once America decided killing children was bearable, it was over." I'm not entirely convinced MORE guns will be helpful in stopping gun violence, but that's just my 2p.

Agreed. (I'm not sure my opinion has necessarily changed since moving here, but I think being in a place where it shows gun violence is down with the absence of guns, even though people claim "but you're just taking guns away from the good guys", just made me more confident in my opinion).

I guess the main difference in the UK compared with the US is that I don't think the 'good guys' ever really had guns in the first place. When the ban came in, it wasn't like millions of private citizens kept guns in their houses and had to hand them all over... because they didn't actually own any.

Even before the 1996 Dunblane shooting and subsequent ban, I don't think I ever met anyone who owned a gun... firearms just seemed to be these abstract things that you mostly only saw on TV and in the movies, and you didn't have any first-hand experience of in real life.

I guess the main difference in the UK compared with the US is that I don't think the 'good guys' ever really had guns in the first place. When the ban came in, it wasn't like millions of private citizens kept guns in their houses and had to hand them all over... because they didn't actually own any.

Even before the 1996 Dunblane shooting and subsequent ban, I don't think I ever met anyone who owned a gun... firearms just seemed to be these abstract things that you mostly only saw on TV and in the movies, and you didn't have any first-hand experience of in real life.

That's a fair point. I can totally appreciate that.

Some random things I think are very interesting about this shooting: 

—Judging by the country music, the victims were most likely Trump fans and most likely pro gun rights.  I’m going to be very curious to see how this impacts the way society deals with the aftermath.

—The Florida night club shooting was judged to be a terrorist  incident and the solution was to blame it on the foreigners even though the guy was an American citizen and no more of a Muslim than I am.  Even less because I don’t pick up men in gay bars.  It’s going to be interesting how the right wing explains this away since it’s going to be tough to find a dark skinned person to blame. 

—Trump’s true political views often come from Alex Jones, a disgusting peddler of ridiculous conspiracy theories.   When it comes to mass shootings, his views are especially bizarre, notably the belief that Sandy Hook was a hoax to allow Obama to confiscate guns.  The parents are actors, paid by the government.  Consequently, the parents cannot even go out in public without having to argue with some conspiracy theoriest that their 6 year old child was actually killed. 
The far right will eventually come up with some bizarre theories and justification for this tragedy as well.  I’ll be watching Trump’s tweets to see when he starts supporting whatever nutty stuff they come up with.  Hopefully, like Sandy Hook it will be so offensive to main stream thinking that it angers the whole nation.

—The Florida night club shooting was judged to be a terrorist  incident and the solution was to blame it on the foreigners even though the guy was an American citizen and no more of a Muslim than I am.  Even less because I don’t pick up men in gay bars.  It’s going to be interesting how the right wing explains this away since it’s going to be tough to find a dark skinned person to blame. 

I find it odd that, as of yet anyways, I've not seen this guy labelled as a terrorist. Why? Is it because we aren't totally sure of is motive as of yet? (at least they weren't sure when I checked yesterday).

I find it odd that, as of yet anyways, I've not seen this guy labelled as a terrorist. Why? Is it because we aren't totally sure of is motive as of yet? (at least they weren't sure when I checked yesterday).

Did you hear that ISIS claimed credit for the attack and said he was one of their footsoldiers? 

I’ve heard some people call it “domestic terrorism”, whatever that means.

Did you hear that ISIS claimed credit for the attack and said he was one of their footsoldiers? 

In fairness though, they'll happily take credit for anything that causes the mass casualties they want to see and will distance themselves from anything that goes wrong and doesn't acheive their end goal.

I guess the main difference in the UK compared with the US is that I don't think the 'good guys' ever really had guns in the first place. When the ban came in, it wasn't like millions of private citizens kept guns in their houses and had to hand them all over... because they didn't actually own any.

Even before the 1996 Dunblane shooting and subsequent ban, I don't think I ever met anyone who owned a gun... firearms just seemed to be these abstract things that you mostly only saw on TV and in the movies, and you didn't have any first-hand experience of in real life.

Australia is a better example where guns were part of their culture before the Port Arthur massacre.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Arthur_massacre_(Australia)

Several politicians lost their jobs when they supported the legislation to bring in strict gun controls immediately afterwards. They expected to lose their seats in parliament but put the good of the country ahead first.

While we lived in Baton Rouge our very good friends suffered a tragedy when their teenage niece broke up with her boyfriend who returned later that day to shoot her and her father to death. Just before I retired a long time friend and colleague at work had a tragedy when his 16 year old son was at a fireworks display with his 14 year old cousin when a fight broke out behind them between 2 guys who drew their guns and started shooting. The girl was hit in the back and paralyzed from the waist down. The boy was hit in the back of the head and suffered massive brain damage but survived and would never walk or be fully functional again.

Guns are inherently cowardly.