[MalPearce]

Example:

Even the most profoundly pro-God, pro-life, pro-family, pro-defense people in the United Kingdom have real issues engaging fully with the American Right in the gun control debate. It’s not ideological; it’s environmental.

Very few Brits grow up in an environment where guns and the right to keep and bear them and use them RESPONSIBLY are part and parcel of everyday life.

If asked to name three famous British gun owners, the average Brit would say Derrick Bird, Michael Ryan and Thomas Hamilton - all three of them are spree killing nutjobs.

Which is a terrible shame because we used to have some really good Olympic shooters as well...

I’m 35 years old, and I’ve never seen an active firearm outside of Police Headquarters (I work for the cops).

It’s not as simple as saying that this lack of exposure to legal firearms is down entirely to leftist policy or left-wing ideology.

Both my grandads had service revolvers from the war and definitely used them to kill. One served in the Far East and the other was at Arnhem.

One of them stoved in the barrel of his revolver, and removed the firing pin so it couldn’t be used, and then put it in a box which went straight into the attic. We didn’t know he had it until he passed on. He’d never talk about it.

The other was a farmer. He had a shotgun which was kept in a locker in a secure room in an outhouse on his farm, purely for pest control - but he wouldn’t allow anyone else near it, and he wouldn’t ever take it into the house. He put the revolver beyond use. With a saw. He said something like, “The shotgun has a purpose. The revolver served its purpose.”

Both of my grandfathers were ready to fight for their families and their country, but both would’ve been utterly appalled if anyone in the family had come home saying “Hey, I’ve got myself a handgun”.

To be honest, even the most hardline right-wing God-fearing pro-life pro-family fiscal conservative in Britain would probably fail to qualify to be a Freeper if being *enthusiastically* pro-gun ownership was one of Jim Robinson’s “three line whips”.

[DJ MacWoW]

Self defense is a right. It isn’t open to negotiation.

[Lmo56]

We Yanks promote responsible gun ownership - but in our society [in areas where guns were banned], violent crime actually went UP.

After our Supreme Court ruled in District of Columbia v. Heller for the homeowner, DC's ban on handguns was overturned and violent crime went DOWN ...

[workerbee]

Your gun experience makes you (sadly) no different than a lot of Americans.

Answer me this, Mr. Devil’s Advocate — what do you think of the recent happenings in Tower Hamlet?

[NEMDF]

Think for a minute about the position many of us here in the States are facing with the government takeover of so many aspects of our lives. If the elections next week turn out to be so corrupt and abusive, and we are left with no defense through the Justice Department, and then 0bama gets his civilian army going.... all sounds far-fetched... but now plausible. If we did not have guns... we could be at the complete mercy of a corrupt government. Not to mention that many people keep them just for self-defense, so they do not rely only on the “police” to protect them. It is not just about hunting or sport.

[RegulatorCountry]

From this vantage point, it appears that you take much for granted in expecting the continuance of civil society in your country. Social cohesion is unraveling. You’re becoming much more like the United States so far as friction between dissimilar groups. In the United States, the knowledge that any given citizen might well be armed serves as a deterrent. You have no such deterrent.

[Lazamataz]

Very few Brits grow up in an environment where guns and the right to keep and bear them and use them RESPONSIBLY are part and parcel of everyday life.

That is so sad.....

I’m 35 years old, and I’ve never seen an active firearm outside of Police Headquarters (I work for the cops).

OMG THAT IS TRAGIC!!!!

One of them stoved in the barrel of his revolver, and removed the firing pin so it couldn’t be used, and then put it in a box which went straight into the attic. We didn’t know he had it until he passed on. He’d never talk about it.

The other was a farmer. He had a shotgun which was kept in a locker in a secure room in an outhouse on his farm, purely for pest control - but he wouldn’t allow anyone else near it, and he wouldn’t ever take it into the house. He put the revolver beyond use. With a saw. He said something like, “The shotgun has a purpose. The revolver served its purpose.”

[November 2010]

We had a loaded .22 rifle near the back door to shoot pests. Once the pests were the city council and local ranchers . . . my grandmother got a double barrelled 10 guage for that situation . . .

[KC Burke]

Thanks for your example.

Russell Kirk used to say that the U. S. Constitution “was not for export.” He meant that what was sensible for the conservatives of one nation might not be a sensible government position in another nation with a different heritage.

Recognizing what we have inherited and working to carefully preserve in through thoughtful change and careful reform is what Edmund Burke created as the basis of conservatism in general.

In the US we have inherited a Constitution with a Second Amendment and preserving it takes careful reform action against government and social presures to limit and change it.

In the UK that similar right was also thought to be a “right of englishmen” but in the 19th century it appears to have been carefully dampened and stolen from the unwritten British Constitution.

Arguing the “logic” of its utility in either nation is an exercise in utilitarianism, not conservatism. Citing how it works or doesn’t is mearly adding to discussion and is not unconservative in and of itself.

I am always interested in the perspective of those outside our nation who can say, “Considering myself a conservative in my culture, we don’t place an emphasis on a ‘right to keep and bear arms’ as it disappeared here three generations ago’ and explain why you think it did”

[AFreeBird]

Environmental? I suppose. Our environment was a product of our disagreement with your King George III, and the Founders, in setting up their system of checks and balances, gave the final check to The People in the forms of the soap box, ballot box, and finally, the cartridge box. They understood all too well what the armed general populace did to help push King George’s Redcoats back across the pond.

Audie Murphy, one of our most decorated WWII Soldier’s , didn’t learn to be a crack shot in the Army, he learned as a boy in Texas, putting food on the table for his family.

We’re spread out. Most of our states are bigger than all of Britain. If you need help against a miscreant; best be prepared to take care of it yourself, cause a 911 call can take time for help to arrive.

Yea, I can buy the environment argument, but there’s more to it than that.

Freedom ain’t free - you best be prepared to defend it!

[Hacklehead]

“Very few Brits grow up in an environment where guns and the right to keep and bear them and use them RESPONSIBLY are part and parcel of everyday life.”

Through most of our history Americans were raised as citizens, not subjects. You will find that has had a great impact on our outlook regarding guns. If you don’t like guns, that’s fine, don’t buy one. Just don’t tell us that we can’t have them.

[GladesGuru]

“The revolver served its purpose.”

Given the crime situation in England, arguably, that was not your relatives brightest and most predictive insight.

G*d did not make all Men equal. Gunpowder does.

[Col Freeper]

Both of my grandfathers were ready to fight for their families and their country, but both would’ve been utterly appalled if anyone in the family had come home saying “Hey, I’ve got myself a handgun”.

What would they use for weapons to fight for their families and their country?

Did they think their male children would automatically know how to use firearms?

Did they think that the enemy would wait until the UK Government ramped up weapons availability, trained the citizenry, etc.?

Do you think that all UK enemies are strictly "external" to the UK?

Do you think that those who have immigrated legally and illegally to the UK, and are openly advocating its transition to a Muslim state, are not collecting weapons even as you type away on your computer?

Do you think that the 2nd Amendment rights are about hunting?

Why would your Grandfathers have been appalled because someone in their family had come home saying “Hey, I’ve got myself a handgun”?

Are you and/or your family "afraid" of handguns?

I've read recently that the UK is thinking about banning knives now. Do you think that is a good idea? Why/Why not?

Welcome to FR, suggest you read and heed my tagline - if you really are a Conservative.

[aMorePerfectUnion]

“To be honest, even the most hardline right-wing God-fearing pro-life pro-family fiscal conservative in Britain would probably fail to qualify to be a Freeper if being *enthusiastically* pro-gun ownership was one of Jim Robinson’s “three line whips”.”

yea, well, that explains the condition of your country...

[Publius6961]

Both of my grandfathers were ready to fight for their families and their country...

You are certainly off to a flying start.
However, making nonsensical assertions arouses immediate suspicion. What on earth does "ready to fight for their families" mean when you lump it together with "and their country?"
That implies a disconnect with the real world. Like suggesting that if an armed burglar shows up in the middle of the night you would arrange a declaration of war somehow and deal with him as you would an enemy combatant in a war.

Americans tend to have a more direct approach to threats to their families. Cast iron skillets and cricket bats are not considered adequate means to protect ones family here.

Sorry. You picked a sorry example to showcase British understatement.

[Future Snake Eater]

Very few Brits grow up in an environment where guns and the right to keep and bear them and use them RESPONSIBLY are part and parcel of everyday life.

If asked to name three famous British gun owners, the average Brit would say Derrick Bird, Michael Ryan and Thomas Hamilton - all three of them are spree killing nutjobs.

However, if you gave your average Brit a handgun to carry on their person at all times for self-defense (a God-given right that no man can take away), would that Brit turn into a spree killing nutjob? Of course not, it's a ridiculous assertion.

[Lancey Howard]

Wow, that was an interesting post.

Most people I know here in America think that failing to have firearms handy in the home is an unnecessarily risky gambit. I keep a couple of loaded handguns handy, but out of sight and hidden where only a grown adult can reach them. There’s also some shotguns and rifles in the closet with the ammo hidden high and away nearby, readily available to me in a hurry if I need it.

When each of my kids got to be 10 or so I showed them where I keep the handguns so they wouldn’t discover them accidentally. I also took them out back in our woods where I have a small shooting range excavated and gave them the basic gun safety lecture and then let them fire those guns all they wanted. Interestingly, it didn’t take long for them to hand the guns back and say, “Thanks, Dad, but that’s enough for now.” (I have a feeling the noise was a lot louder than they expected.) Any unsafe curiousity they may have harbored was satisfied.

So everybody in the house knows where the guns are, there is no special curiousity concerning the guns, and I’m the only one in the house who has touched the guns (for occasional practice and cleaning) in at least ten years.

This is a relatively normal situation in America, at least outside of the parasite nests (”cities”), and the government schools. In the government schools a kid can get kicked out for DRAWING a gun. Fortunately, there is a growing trend away from the failing liberal/socialist indoctrination buildings known as government schools.