# POLL: Which Americans believe that citizens should not be allowed to own handguns? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 23, 2005, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-which-americans-believe-that-citizens-should-not-be-allowed-to-own-handguns/295861 "2005-03-23T07:06:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-which-americans-believe-that-citizens-should-not-be-allowed-to-own-handguns/295861/41 "2005-03-24T06:00:34Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > The ‘small penis’ insult is practically one of **DMark** ’s trademarks. He seems to use it in every gun thread. > > Methinks he protests too much. Clever retort. Just not true. Maybe you are thinking of someone else. I normally avoid futile discussions with gun nuts, which I should have done this time as well. So in answer to the OP again - handguns no. Hunting rifles, don’t care one way or the other. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-which-americans-believe-that-citizens-should-not-be-allowed-to-own-handguns/295861/42 "2005-03-24T06:02:40Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > 1.)Banning won’t work. Satellite piracy hardware and software are banned from the US, yet there are an awful lot of people that have them. Both are banned in HK, as far as I know, but we have lots of the former and very little of the latter. Apples and oranges, I would suggest. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-which-americans-believe-that-citizens-should-not-be-allowed-to-own-handguns/295861/43 "2005-03-24T06:12:46Z")
!. Read title of thread. 2. Respond if you are an American _and_ you believe that citizens should not be allowed to own handguns. If you disagree with, or have trouble following these simple instructions, you can either: 1. E-mail me and I’ll try to explain it in even simpler terms, or 2. You can start a thread in The BBQ Pit. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-which-americans-believe-that-citizens-should-not-be-allowed-to-own-handguns/295861/44 "2005-03-24T06:19:51Z")
Without wishing to get caught in the crossfire of a mod shootout, I think \*\*Veb \*\* (above) has already established the parameters for this thread, viz: > [@](#): > > Mod note: > > * * * > > There isn’t any such thing as a thread on the SDMB where only X are allowed to participate, X being any artitificially defined group. Any thread is open to any Doper who has an opinion on the subject under discussion. I understand what you’re trying to get at, Roger, but that isn’t even a poll. > > You can express a yea or nay opinion, without going into long screeds about why you vote that way, but no limitions on who can express an opinion at all. > > TVeblen I appreciate your input, but could we run with that. It seems to be working well, given the incendiary nature of the topic. And I repeat - I want a poll + pleasant chat here, rather than an OK Corral type situation in the Pit! ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-which-americans-believe-that-citizens-should-not-be-allowed-to-own-handguns/295861/45 "2005-03-24T06:29:37Z")
> [@DesertGeezer](#): > > Personally, I don’t want a handgun. I believe that there should be limitations on the kind of handguns available to individuals. I think there should be some oversight as to which people are qualified to own guns (mentally unsound or criminal types should be barred). Happy Birthday! Your wish has been granted! In 1968. :dubious: > [@Eureka](#): > > And some of the pro-gun people are really scary. **BOO!** Did I scare you? :rolleyes: > [@Lasceles](#): > > hi im not american but i wanted to post my view on this anyway. > > 1. why do u need to practice shotting a gun? they were designed to kill! > > 2. if the gun is for protection in your house, surely getting rid of all guns would mean there being no need for then at all. if you want protection the learn self defense, and if need be then house hold object can be used as your defense. > > on the point of using guns for hunting, thats another debate on top of this, but surely we dont need to hunt anymore, as we have all our food processed for us and we dont need to hunt our food, therefor we are just unneccessarily killing animals. 1. You parctice _ **shooting** _ a gun so that when you _want_ to kill someone, you can do it fairly efficiently; emptying your gun at your target, hitting nothing but air (or worse, the people behind your target), then having to chase him down and bludgeon him to death with your clumsy metal-and-wood club is tiresome. And slightly sick. Much better to practice so you can kill your target, and _just_ your target, with one, maybe two shots. 1. _ **Criminals** _, who are known to have a certain _disdain_ for such niceties as “laws,” would not necessarily surrender their _illegal_ firearms when all of the legal gun owners surrender their guns. 2. Millions of Americans supplement their meat pantry every year with the _tens of millions_ of deer, elk, squirrel, duck, geese, etc., etc., that proliferate in our woodlands becuase _there are damned few natural predators remaining to keep their population in check._ Besides, do you really think the hamburger or steak you eat was donated by a cow that was simply tired of living? Or that it magically appeared courtesy of the Magic-Meat Fairy? Morally, what’s the difference between “shoot-it-yourself-and-eat-it” and “kill-it-in-a-slaughterhouse-wrap-it-in-plastic-and ship-it-to-the-grocery-store?” > [@LifeOnWry](#): > > Put me in the anti-handgun camp, too, please. > > If guns are outlawed, then only outlaws will have guns. Which will certainly make it easier to tell the good guys from the bad guys. It sure will! The bad guys will be the ones sticking their illegal guns in your face while they rape you. Then your family. And then shoot you in the head. When that happens, I’m sure you’ll be ever so happy (while you’re being anally raped by an AIDS-infested crack addict) there are no guns around except for those in the hands of the outlaws. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-which-americans-believe-that-citizens-should-not-be-allowed-to-own-handguns/295861/46 "2005-03-24T06:43:04Z")
Oh, gee, and it was going so swimmingly. **ExTank** , I appreciate your input (especially in the other gun thread in the Pit), but could I ask you as OP please to tone it down here. If people are ignorant, there are other ways to fight it rather than just a bludgeon. And, as far as I could tell, **DesertGeezer** wasn’t actually saying that such limitattions/restriuctions didn’t exist. He was saying that they should. Now, I could say that McDonald’s should have tight regulations for this and that, but I don’t mean to suggest they don’t currently have them, just to stress that they should continue to apply them. And please be aware that some people may post here to wind you up a bit. So, if you get a funny old post that seems really whacky, bbear in mind it could be a decoy, count to 10, and then post. Just suggesting and all. If you want to diss me, please open a thread in the you know where. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-which-americans-believe-that-citizens-should-not-be-allowed-to-own-handguns/295861/47 "2005-03-24T06:48:51Z")
My responses weren’t directed at you; if they were, they’d have started something like this: **roger thornhill:** \ As for the rest, well, I have a slightly dark and screwy sense of humor on occasion. Apologies all around, and all that. ---
**Author:** ![jimpatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9e5f3/32.png) [@jimpatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimpatro)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-which-americans-believe-that-citizens-should-not-be-allowed-to-own-handguns/295861/48 "2005-03-24T07:01:29Z")
It’s just too late for a ban in the U.S. Doing it now would be dangerous. The time to do it would have been in the late 19th century. As stated before, obviously only criminals would be left possessing guns. Since we were granted carry permits in Texas, violent crime has decreased. The bad guys know we’re ready for 'em. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-which-americans-believe-that-citizens-should-not-be-allowed-to-own-handguns/295861/49 "2005-03-24T07:07:25Z")
> [@jimpatro](#): > > Since we were granted carry permits in Texas, violent crime has decreased. The bad guys know we’re ready for 'em. But this doesn’t surprise me a jot. The Amendment talks of the right to own _and bear_ arms, as I recall. One without the other is indeed like horse and carriage, or love and marriage. You can’t have one without the other. What I and I think some others are advocating is that the aspiration, goal, aim, whatever, should be to have no private citizen _owning_ handguns. And, frankly, the “it’s too late now” argument is one of the weakest. Things change. Wrongs are righted. The USA is a living testimony to this. ---
**Author:** ![Large\_Marge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/50afbb/32.png) [@Large\_Marge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Large_Marge)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-which-americans-believe-that-citizens-should-not-be-allowed-to-own-handguns/295861/50 "2005-03-24T07:23:49Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > Men with little dicks seem to think a hand gun makes them a man and thus it is going to take generations before hand guns are banned. I don’t have a dick. I do own a handgun. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-which-americans-believe-that-citizens-should-not-be-allowed-to-own-handguns/295861/51 "2005-03-24T07:24:10Z")
It occurs to me that folks who are opposed to handguns have never held one. Never shot one. It’s a _tool_, people. Just as dangerous as a car or chain saw. Since I don’t fit the category of the OP, I will step aside now. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-which-americans-believe-that-citizens-should-not-be-allowed-to-own-handguns/295861/52 "2005-03-24T07:34:49Z")
> [@NinetyWt](#): > > It occurs to me that folks who are opposed to handguns have never held one. > > Never shot one. > > It’s a _tool_, people. Just as dangerous as a car or chain saw. I don’t mind police carrying them, if they must. I have both held and shot a handgun - but very accurately into a compost heap in rural Kentucky. On second thoughts, most of its rural, but you know what I mean. I _did_ hit the compost heap, but missed the target - a piece of paper, as I recall, the first couple of times, from all of 5 yards. ---
**Author:** ![Catalyst](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@Catalyst](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catalyst)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-which-americans-believe-that-citizens-should-not-be-allowed-to-own-handguns/295861/53 "2005-03-24T08:31:46Z")
I’m 5’5’’ and not terribly strong or adept at hand-to-hand combat. If someone like **duffer** breaks into my house with the intent to harm me, firearms are really the only chance I have of not winding up as hamburger meat. I suppose I could brandish a sword, but I wouldn’t want to risk my life trying out my (nonexistent) fencing skills, and a sword doesn’t really help me if my assailant has a gun of his own. I’ve never fired a gun, so someone else will have to comment on the practicality of quickly stopping someone with a rifle (for instance, can it be aimed quickly enough?); I imagine a shotgun would do pretty well, though. That said, I do support restrictions on who can have guns, what they can have, and what they can do with them. Owners should be required to register their guns (they already are, aren’t they?), with stringent enough penalties for failing to do so that it’s taken seriously. Owners should be licensed to even _own_ guns, let alone carry them in public; I know, I know, it’s an “inalienable” right, but only until it’s inalienable until we decide to alienate it with amendment. Presumably, anyone deemed fit to own a gun is fit to carry it, so a concealed weapons permit would probably be unnecessary. I suppose an owner could be licensed to own/carry only what they have training with, similar to how some countries distinguish between licensing to drive manual and automatic cars. Again, I’m not nearly well-versed enough in, um, gunology and gunonomy (nonce words are fun!) to know whether such a measure would be helpful or simply unnecessary complexity. As for waiting periods, the rationale I’ve always heard is that it’s intended to dissuade crimes of passion; if they provide a significant benefit as a deterrent against such crimes, then they’re worth keeping around. Add me to the ranks of those who think that an immediate ban wouldn’t work too well. I think that if they were to be outlawed, the best way to go about it would be to ban the _sale and distribution_ of firearms and ammunition. That way the scenario of helpless citizens and armed criminals is avoided, for the most part. Ignoring for the moment illegal imports, which I doubt are a source of guns for most common criminals, ownership of guns and, more importantly, ammunition, should dwindle on both sides at a comparable rate. Perhaps nonlethal rounds (well, less-lethal) could be made more accessible for sporting purposes. Mind you, I’m not convinced that handguns should be illegal, but this seems like a more plausible way to go about it. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-which-americans-believe-that-citizens-should-not-be-allowed-to-own-handguns/295861/54 "2005-03-24T09:46:15Z")
> [@TVeblen (moderator)](#): > > There isn’t any such thing as a thread on the SDMB where _only_ X are allowed to participate, X being any artitificially defined group. Any thread is open to any Doper who has an opinion on the subject under discussion. I understand what you’re trying to get at, **Roger** , but that isn’t even a poll. > > You can express a yea or nay opinion, without going into long screeds about why you vote that way, but no limitions on who can express an opinion at all. > > TVeblen > [@Czarcasm (moderator)](#): > > !. Read title of thread. > 2. Respond if you are an American and you believe that citizens should not be allowed to own handguns. > > If you disagree with, or have trouble following these simple instructions, you can either: > > 1. E-mail me and I’ll try to explain it in even simpler terms, or > 2. You can start a thread in The BBQ Pit. What we have here is a failure to communicate. Anyway, American citizen here. Have never owned a handgun and have no burning desire to (academic point anyway, since they’re illegal where I’m living now). I have, however, shot rifles competitively and wouldn’t mind taking a handgun for a test drive on a target range. I’d prefer not to keep one in my house, though. I see no need to make handguns illegal, and have no desire to see them made so. However, I believe they should be registered in the same manner that cars are, and that owners should be required to demonstrate basic competence in handling and using them, as they are with cars. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-which-americans-believe-that-citizens-should-not-be-allowed-to-own-handguns/295861/55 "2005-03-24T10:30:44Z")
**Sublight** , if I understand you correctly, handguns are illegal in Japan. Has this created a situation whereby criminals and other undesirables have the advantage over other citizens insofar as they are armed (through their illicit contacts, for example) while law-abiding citizens are not armed? ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-which-americans-believe-that-citizens-should-not-be-allowed-to-own-handguns/295861/56 "2005-03-24T10:56:28Z")
Gun crimes are pretty rare, here. Though to be honest, non-gun crimes ain’t too common, either. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-which-americans-believe-that-citizens-should-not-be-allowed-to-own-handguns/295861/57 "2005-03-24T11:16:15Z")
I didn’t really answer your question, did I? In terms of “they have guns and we don’t,” no, I don’t think criminals have any big advantages over average citizens. There isn’t any place to get legal guns, and illegal ones are relatively difficult to smuggle onto an island (and so tend to be much more expensive than the average haul from a B&E or mugging), so the “average” criminal doesn’t have a gun, either. Most robberies are done with knives. In terms of “the entire society has been raised to be passive, neutered robots that can’t stick up for themselves to save their own lives,” yes I do think criminals have an advantage here, but that’s not a gun issue. Hell, even the police aren’t much use. We had a case a few weeks back of a guy who went berserk in his car and began smashing up the inside with a small bat before climbing out through the side window. The two police officers, who’d had a clear view of all of this and were armed with guns, clubs and pepper spray, [screamed like little girls](http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/waiwai/0503/02cops.html) and [ran away](http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/archive/200502/22/20050222p2a00m0dm006001c.html) when the man approached them, abandoning [their police car](http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=9&id=328597&display=all). Unfortunately, a TV cameraman was with them and taped the whole incident. ---
**Author:** ![Sevastopol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Sevastopol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevastopol)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-which-americans-believe-that-citizens-should-not-be-allowed-to-own-handguns/295861/58 "2005-03-24T11:18:21Z")
Allowed to? Heck, it should be _compulsory_! It’s entertaining enough, watching the goons fire up at each semester’s carnage and announce, straight-faced, that there is **no connection** between the high rate of firearm ownership and the incidence of homicide. See the BBQ Pit for current examples. Imagine the quality of entertainment that will be available, as said goons attempt the same, should armed households and citizenry be made mandatory and the rivers flow red. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-which-americans-believe-that-citizens-should-not-be-allowed-to-own-handguns/295861/59 "2005-03-24T12:59:04Z")
:smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: :smack: I miss _one_ post in a thread… :smack: Totallly missed my compatriot’s post in this thread, so please disregard my previous post. I still insist that people remember that this is just a poll and not a debate. Just post a simple answer to the OP-do not debate the other posters. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-which-americans-believe-that-citizens-should-not-be-allowed-to-own-handguns/295861/60 "2005-03-24T13:16:13Z")
> [@NinetyWt](#): > > It occurs to me that folks who are opposed to handguns have never held one. > > Never shot one. > > It’s a _tool_, people. Just as dangerous as a car or chain saw. > > Since I don’t fit the category of the OP, I will step aside now. You would be wrong. Just like the “pro-gun” folks are wrong that every “gun control” supporter wants to take away ALL their guns. There is a highly populated middle, filled with people who have some sort of relationship with guns, but aren’t comfortable with either a free for all or complete banning of private ownership. I’ve shot all sorts of guns (as have more “rabid” anti gun folks I know). At one time I was actually not a bad shot. And at one time I believed in banning private ownership of handguns. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-which-americans-believe-that-citizens-should-not-be-allowed-to-own-handguns/295861.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-which-americans-believe-that-citizens-should-not-be-allowed-to-own-handguns/295861.md?page=4)