So, gun banning freedom-haters should get an amendment passed. Easy enough?
This is the real world, and The NRA members times 1000 could never stop the US military.
You haven't thought this one out too far, have you?
I think the NRA uses this fear of the big bad government to protect their billion dollar industry lobby.
The NRA has nearly 4 million members and receives very little industry support, other than advertising dollars. The firearms and sporting goods industry has its own lobbying organization. The NRA represents its individual members.
Also, in practically every country where guns are tightly controlled, the crime and murder rates are significantly less per capita. Is this not a true fact. I'd like to see some opposing information.
Well, "practically every country" sure leaves you a bit of wiggle room, doesn't it? I'll bet I can come up with quite a few violent hell-holes where legal gun ownership is all but forbidden. More important than that is the fact that, compared to the utopias I'm sure you have in mind, the US has higher rates of non-gun violent crime. So, using your logic, the low crime rate of some European countries must be due to their tight regulation of bricks, knives, baseball bats, human hands, etc.
More important, however, is the general crime rate of those countries you have in mind. Most people will not be the victim of murder, by firearm or other means. One is far more likely to be a victim of a property crime. Check the rates of home invasion burglaries (particularly "hot" break-ins, where the perp knows the home owner is present) in England, for example, and if you're really daring, see how those rates are trending vs. the US.
Suffice it to say, I don't think you really have a grasp on the relationship between restrictions on legal gun ownership and crime. The good thing is, it's never too late to educate yourself, much like I did when, in my early 20's, I went from being a supporter of "common sense gun control" to a "gun nut."
I'll get you started: there is no data anywhere which even suggests that laws which restrict legal gun ownership in the US do anything to reduce crime. Your quaint suppositions, notwithstanding.
How about Uganda?
Like most African leaders of his generation, Obote led an independence movement premised on democratic self-rule, but installed himself as dictator for life. In 1966, he suspended the constitution. On December 19, 1969, Obote used a failed assassination attempt to justify imposing a nationwide ban on the lawful possession of firearms and ammunition. Of course, government officials and other favored individuals were exempt. Accompanying the ban on non-government guns was a ban on all political parties, except Obote's government party, the Uganda Peoples Congress.In 1970, a new Firearms Act replaced the 1955 British Firearms Ordinance. The law imposed national firearm registration and gun-owner licensing under exceedingly stringent requirements. In practice, the law was used to make it illegal for anyone to have a firearm, except persons deemed politically correct by the Obote dictatorship.
A year later, army chief of staff Idi Amin wrested control of the country in a military coup. The ensuing genocide of the Amin regime was perpetrated against a populace whose primitive armaments did not approach the effectiveness of the murderous government. By the time the genocide ended in 1979, the estimated toll was 300,000 slaughtered Ugandans
Anyone know the homicide rate in Uganda vs. the U.S. rate?
Here's a nice little table. It's from the "Jews for the Preservation of Gun Ownership" web site. Death by "Gun Control" looks like a good book.
| Government | Dates | Targets | Civiliams Killed | "Gun Control" Laws | Features of Over-all "Gun Control" scheme |
| Ottoman Turkey | 1915-1917 | Armenians (mostly Christians) |
1-1.5 million | Art. 166, Pen. Code, 1866 & 1911 Proclamation, 1915 |
• Permits required •Government list of owners •Ban on possession |
| Soviet Union | 1929-1945 | Political opponents; farming communities |
20 million | Resolutions, 1918 Decree, July 12, 1920 Art. 59 & 182, Pen. code, 1926 |
•Licensing of owners •Ban on possession •Severe penalties |
| Nazi Germany & Occupied Europe |
1933-1945 | Political opponents; Jews; Gypsies; critics; "examples" |
20 million | Law on Firearms & Ammun., 1928 Weapon Law, March 18, 1938 Regulations against Jews, 1938 |
•Registration & Licensing •Stricter handgun laws •Ban on possession |
| China, Nationalist | 1927-1949 | Political opponents; army conscripts; others |
10 million | Art. 205, Crim. Code, 1914 Art. 186-87, Crim. Code, 1935 |
•Government permit system •Ban on private ownership |
| China, Red | 1949-1952 1957-1960 1966-1976 |
Political opponents; Rural populations Enemies of the state |
20-35 million | Act of Feb. 20, 1951 Act of Oct. 22, 1957 |
•Prison or death to "counter-revolutionary criminals" and anyone resisting any government program •Death penalty for supply guns to such "criminals" |
| Guatemala | 1960-1981 | Mayans & other Indians; political enemies |
100,000- 200,000 |
Decree 36, Nov 25 •Act of 1932 Decree 386, 1947 Decree 283, 1964 |
•Register guns & owners •Licensing with high fees •Prohibit carrying guns •Bans on guns, sharp tools •Confiscation powers |
| Uganda | 1971-1979 | Christians Political enemies |
300,000 | Firearms Ordinance, 1955 Firearms Act, 1970 |
•Register all guns & owners •Licenses for transactions •Warrentless searches •Confiscation powers |
| Cambodia (Khmer Rouge) |
1975-1979 | Educated Persons; Political enemies |
2 million | Art. 322-328, Penal Code Royal Ordinance 55, 1938 |
•Licenses for guns, owners, ammunition & transactions •Photo ID with fingerprints •License inspected quarterly |
| Rwanda | 1994 | Tutsi people | 800,000 | Decree-Law No. 12, 1979 | •Register guns, owners, ammunition •Owners must justify need •Concealable guns illegal •Confiscating powers |