Does owning weapons make one more likely to be a killer? Does having a McDonald's next door make one more likely to be obese?
The answer, of course, is yes. Not that everyone who owns guns will have violent urges, but those who do will give in to those urges far more quickly when the means to do so are within arm's reach.
edited 6th Apr '12 5:30:46 AM by MidnightRambler
Mache dich, mein Herze, rein...You may have a weapon, but do you know math?
edited 6th Apr '12 5:37:58 AM by inane242
The 5 geek social fallacies. Know them well.You don't need a gun to kill someone, though. To a crazy person a gun is just a tool, like a knife or a car or any variety of Noodle Implements.
I will say though that in a place where gun ownership is not a common cultural thing, a person with a gun is fairly likely to be a dangerous person.
And let us pray that come it may (As come it will for a' that)I agree with this. A sudden liberalisation of gun laws in the United Kingdom would be catastrophic.
With cannon shot and gun blast smash the alien. With laser beam and searing plasma scatter the alien to the stars.I don't think banning guns would really stop a lot of premeditated murder.
However, it might stop some crimes of passion, and a lot of I Just Shot Marvin in the Face incidents.
When the OP says 'weapons', what does that include?
A killer can kill with anything, including bare hands. My method of choice, for example, would be an axe or a hammer. Are you going to ban axes and hammers?
EDIT: Bat Pencil apparently doesn't go into the Highlands very often. Owning a gun out in the sticks isn't the norm, but it isn't all that rare, either. Generally speaking teuchters are not dangerous.
edited 6th Apr '12 10:21:16 AM by InverurieJones
'All he needs is for somebody to throw handgrenades at him for the rest of his life...'You just reminded me, even a pencil can be considered a weapon if it's sharp enough or if it's used the right wrong way.
Who needs pencils? The human body provides enough lethal weapons as standard fitting. I used to do Shotokan Karate back when I was a lot younger, slimmer and fitter (though still as fugly to be honest) and I was trained in many ways to kill someone. Some of which I still remember. The biggest lesson I learned though is that the primary thing you need to kill is the intent to do it.
If you don't have the intent to kill, you could be carrying a fricking Gatling Gun and use it and you would still fail.
To answer the question, no, it does not make you more likely to be a killer if you have weapons. If anything, owning them and knowing more about them would make you respect the capability that you already have.
x4 No, but when your community consists of a pub, three houses and a sheep called Morag the chances of someone being a mass murderer are much lower!
I dunno, man, that sheep seems mighty suspicious.
Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.Regarding the OP; I say no.
If somebody decides that they're going to kill some people, they're going to go out and attempt to follow through with it; gun, knife, bomb...they're all means to an end.
When you have an individual who is dead set on taking lives, the manner of tool he uses is almost irrelevant.
They don't even need a weapon. Their bare hands might be good enough if they're that enraged.
Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.Bah. Derrick Bird would still have been a killer without access to firearms. Even with knives or his bare hands he would have killed at least his twin brother. When he snapped, went loopy, went postal, whatever you want to call his bloody stupidity, he had not just intent to kill but in his mind at least, reason to do it.

Yes. while there are may be reasonable political arguments for armed populace. I think we shouldn't be so quick to dismiss gun control as a option for stoping firearm related crimes on practical grounds.
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