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If all firearms disappeared tomorrow would crime go down permanently? Or would the criminals eventually substitute other weapons to commit crimes?

Would the total elimination of firearms reduce crime?


  • Total voters
    67
Many people thinks guns are the main factor in crimes. What if they did not exist? Would criminals just substitute other weapons and commit just as many robberies, murders, rapes, etc, using knives, mace, machetes, cars, their hands and other weapons? Would there be just as many crimes and murders per year using other weapons? Let's hear your input!
How many deer do you think hunters would take every year if they had to rely on spears and knives rather than firearms? There would still be some taken, but not nearly as many because a firearm is a much more efficient tool to kill with.

The biggest mass stabbing ever occurred China inside of an underground subway terminal. I have spent a lot of time in China over the years, and I will tell you that you cannot imagine a better place to conduct a mass stabbing than a subway terminal at rush hour in China. Thousands of people, crowded in a small place with limited exits. Yet despite this, the assailants were only able to kill less than 4 people each. Compare that to the number of people the could have killed with semi automatic handguns or AR's, likely hundreds at least.

My point is, and I am saying this as someone that likely owns more guns than most people on here do (it's what happens when you grown in the South with a family of dedicated hunters and you outlive most of them), we are a society awash in guns, and we have a constitutional right to own them and that won't change, but we should not pretend that there is not a societal cost to that, because there is. If you have a society awash in guns, you will have more murders than you otherwise would because it's just easier to kill people. It is why we have by far the highest homicide rate of any other wealthy nation.
 
Yeh, can see kids wheeling in barrels of fertilizer and kerosene now😃. Do you actually believe this shtuff or do you have 🦊 on in the background?
We are playing "If all firearms disappeared tomorrow would crime go down permanently". It's a hypothetical. You asked, "Don't you think the cops would have saved some of the school kids if crazy dude had a knife instead." I mused a counter hypothetical. In case you missed it, or it was before your time, McVeigh drove the truck load of explosives to the Oklahoma Gov't building. "Crazy dude" drove to the school; hence, "crazy dude" could also drive a box truck to the school. Are you actually ignorant of U.S. history, or do you have CNN on in the background?
This is why I don't like responding to hypotheticals. In the "what if world", a nut driving a truck load of explosives to a school is as plausible as "all guns suddenly disappearing". As a matter of fact, the nut driving a truck load of explosives to a building actually happened. I understand your confusion though. Perhaps it was before your time.
 
Firearms may be the best invention of humankind in that they've enabled society to achieve the level of liberty, peace, and harmony (reduction in crime, oppression, terror, etc.).

Firearms can be lethal and at a distance, which makes them very powerful tools of defense; all that firearms users have to do to make it an effective weapon is learn one basic skill that isn't difficult to learn, which is aiming it at their targets.

Without firearms, criminals, oppressors, etc. are more dangerous with other types of deadly & destructive weapons, such as swords, daggers, clubs, mace, battle axes, battle hammers, etc. Those weapons require the users to have the strength to make them effective, to be highly skilled in using them, to have the quick speed & reflexes against opponents who can match their quick speed & reflexes, or a combination of these qualities.

This is why criminals and the Left hate firearms; it makes it so much more difficult for them to get away with their crimes and to oppress people.
 
Firearms may be the best invention of humankind in that they've enabled society to achieve the level of liberty, peace, and harmony (reduction in crime, oppression, terror, etc.).

Firearms can be lethal and at a distance, which makes them very powerful tools of defense; all that firearms users have to do to make it an effective weapon is learn one basic skill that isn't difficult to learn, which is aiming it at their targets.

Without firearms, criminals, oppressors, etc. are more dangerous with other types of deadly & destructive weapons, such as swords, daggers, clubs, mace, battle axes, battle hammers, etc. Those weapons require the users to have the strength to make them effective, to be highly skilled in using them, to have the quick speed & reflexes against opponents who can match their quick speed & reflexes, or a combination of these qualities.

This is why criminals and the Left hate firearms; it makes it so much more difficult for them to get away with their crimes and to oppress people.
Why are we the most dangerous wealthy nation on earth then? I mean, if a society awash in guns is safer, then why are we not safer?
 
Why are we the most dangerous wealthy nation on earth then?
Loaded (and ambiguous) question - with many premises I might add. Are we the most wealthy nation or the most dangerous nation, or are you saying we're both the wealthiest and most dangerous of all nations? Dangerous to whom? Firearms/guns are designed to be dangerous, and that danger against our adversaries protects us; those tools of danger underwrite our liberty, which in turn makes us prosperous, which in turn makes us a very wealthy nation. That's a good thing, not a bad thing.

I mean, if a society awash in guns is safer, then why are we not safer?
Safer for whom? Criminals? Oppressors? I want it to be as unsafe for criminals and oppressors as possible; that's the most important purpose for keeping and bearing arms.
 
Loaded (and ambiguous) question - with many premises I might add. Are we the most wealthy nation or the most dangerous nation, or are you saying we're both the wealthiest and most dangerous of all nations? Dangerous to whom? Firearms/guns are designed to be dangerous, and that danger against our adversaries protects us; those tools of danger underwrite our liberty, which in turn makes us prosperous, which in turn makes us a very wealthy nation. That's a good thing, not a bad thing.


Safer for whom? Criminals? Oppressors? I want it to be as unsafe for criminals and oppressors as possible; that's the most important purpose for keeping and bearing arms.
You didn’t answer the question.
 
You didn’t answer the question.
You seem to have a severe lack of basic communication, comprehension, and reasoning skills. I suggest you do something to fix that problem; I'm not going to do that for you.

You didn't ask a single question, and I responded to your questions; when you satisfactorily respond to my questions, then I'll be able to answer your questions.

That's what you need to do first in order to expect me to answer your questions. :rolleyes:
 
Why are we the most dangerous wealthy nation on earth then? I mean, if a society awash in guns is safer, then why are we not safer?

It's a big country, it doesn't consist of a homogeneous society, and the wealthier areas aren't particularly dangerous.
 
You seem to have a severe lack of basic communication, comprehension, and reasoning skills. I suggest you do something to fix that problem; I'm not going to do that for you.

You didn't ask a single question, and I responded to your questions; when you satisfactorily respond to my questions, then I'll be able to answer your questions.

That's what you need to do first in order to expect me to answer your questions. :rolleyes:
Let me make this as plain as I can. When you compare the United States to our wealthy peer nations, nations like Canada, Northern European nations, Western European nations, South Korea, Japan, and Australia, you will find that our homicide rate is several times what the homicide rate is in those other nations.

We have 7.5 times the homicide rate of other high income countries: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30817955/

It is your contention that guns make us a safer society. We have the highest firearm ownership rate on earth, its not even close. We have more guns in private hands in this country than we have citizens. So obviously your contention is wrong. That is the point.
 
Guns are a death multiplier. The body count will go down because you can stab just so many before your hand gets tired. Guns on the other hand with large mags just keep going, so what if you get callouses on your trigger finger.
 
Let me make this as plain as I can. When you compare the United States to our wealthy peer nations, nations like Canada, Northern European nations, Western European nations, South Korea, Japan, and Australia, you will find that our homicide rate is several times what the homicide rate is in those other nations.

We have 7.5 times the homicide rate of other high income countries: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30817955/

It is your contention that guns make us a safer society. We have the highest firearm ownership rate on earth, its not even close. We have more guns in private hands in this country than we have citizens. So obviously your contention is wrong. That is the point.
Oh, you may have me confused with someone else, since I didn't contend anything about guns making us a safer society (not that I agree or disagree with the other individual you apparently have me confused with, though).
 
Loaded question - there's no word salad written in that post. That post is the point, and about the point, to my answer to the thread's poll question.
Then summarize your point. If high rates of firearm ownership doesn't make us a less dangerous society, then what is your point?
 
Would it reduce crime as a whole? Maybe not but it would almost certainly reduce homicide.
 
Would it reduce crime as a whole? Maybe not but it would almost certainly reduce homicide.
That is only if all firearms disappeared. What's the chance of that happening? Just because the government makes a law doesn't mean the people will obey it. It's against the law to speed, park illegally, do illegal drugs, jaywalk, and a whole slew of other things that are routinely ignored. I want to see career criminals line up to turn in their guns. No matter what the left will do, it will not cause almost half a billion guns to magically disappear or never get used again. Anyway, to me this whole anti-gun stuff is aimed at weakening the NRA's campaign financing capability, but as with so many other things the left does, it will backfire if there is ever a ban on firearms and cause a ton of money to pour into the NRA and that money will be used to get rid of anti-gun politicians whenever possible. Maybe the left should stick to the transgender rights fight instead.
 
Then summarize your point.
My post is already a summary-sized write-up, but if you want me to summarize the "summary" (to something rather abstract), then it's this: I'm a libertarian.

If high rates of firearm ownership doesn't make us a less dangerous society, then what is your point?
Strawman - I never made any assertions regarding high rates of firearm ownership. A society that's free to keep and bear arms doesn't need to high rates of firearm ownership in order to preserve liberty & prosperity. The awareness & understanding by wannabe criminals & oppressors that such a free society is capable of arming itself to the teeth, or that they don't know whether or not their potential victims are armed to the teeth, can be enough to keep them in check.

I'd be most confident that I'm in the safest & most secure as possible place, by living in a community where every member in it is armed & dangerous, even if I myself am not armed at all (but no one knew it); the reason for this is because that's where criminals and oppressors are least likely to bother anyone in such a community - including me.
 
That is only if all firearms disappeared. What's the chance of that happening? Just because the government makes a law doesn't mean the people will obey it. It's against the law to speed, park illegally, do illegal drugs, jaywalk, and a whole slew of other things that are routinely ignored. I want to see career criminals line up to turn in their guns. No matter what the left will do, it will not cause almost half a billion guns to magically disappear or never get used again. Anyway, to me this whole anti-gun stuff is aimed at weakening the NRA's campaign financing capability, but as with so many other things the left does, it will backfire if there is ever a ban on firearms and cause a ton of money to pour into the NRA and that money will be used to get rid of anti-gun politicians whenever possible. Maybe the left should stick to the transgender rights fight instead.

The thread literally asked "if all firearms disappeared tomorrow".
 
It's pretty stupid to believe that a tool doesn't facilitate a task, because that's basically the definition of a tool.
 
Thank you for that and it makes some sense. However remember my poll question posed whether or not determined criminals would find another weapon to commit their crimes if their guns were taken away. How would gang members protect their turf of get revenge on other gangs without guns?
Baseball bats, axe handles, knives and other stuff that don't do what guns do. That's the experience outside the US at least. The trouble in taking the guns away is that generations of easy access to lethal weapons has probably created a psyche that might be harder to remove than the guns. US definitely has a much more blase attitude to homicides than most similar countries.
 
That is only if all firearms disappeared. What's the chance of that happening? Just because the government makes a law doesn't mean the people will obey it. It's against the law to speed, park illegally, do illegal drugs, jaywalk, and a whole slew of other things that are routinely ignored. I want to see career criminals line up to turn in their guns. No matter what the left will do, it will not cause almost half a billion guns to magically disappear or never get used again. Anyway, to me this whole anti-gun stuff is aimed at weakening the NRA's campaign financing capability, but as with so many other things the left does, it will backfire if there is ever a ban on firearms and cause a ton of money to pour into the NRA and that money will be used to get rid of anti-gun politicians whenever possible. Maybe the left should stick to the transgender rights fight instead.
The whole point of this exercise is that guns magically disappear & I guess the memory of them. How long before someone invents them?
 
Of course crime will always exist. Even countries with low gun ownership have other violent crimes. Depending on their socio-economic circumstances, some shockingly so.

But gun crime will go down. The lethality and finality of being shot will be drastically reduced. Mass murder will be much harder and less frequent. Robberies will less likely result in death. Gun accidents at home or domestic violence-related gun deaths will drop too because guns make easier to kill someone on the spur of the moment. Police shooting of suspects will go down too because they'll be less paranoid he "might have a gun."

The fact is guns simply make it too damn easy to kill and to kill in multiples. Less of them means less of that and the stats bear this out in industrialized, wealthy nations otherwise comparable to America.
 
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