# They're not serious, right? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 27, 2005, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-serious-right/305827 "2005-05-27T23:25:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Avenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de0a6/32.png) [@Avenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avenger)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2005, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-serious-right/305827/41 "2005-05-28T17:29:59Z")
> [@mks57](#): > > You might find this interesting: > > [Fear and Loathing in Whitehall: > Bolshevism and the Firearms Act of 1920](http://www.claytoncramer.com/firear~1.htm) Yeah, I shouldn’t really have used ‘never’ should I? I meant that the banning of handguns in 1997 did not affect the general populace they were not generally owned to the same extent as in the US. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2005, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-serious-right/305827/42 "2005-05-28T18:18:16Z")
> [@calm kiwi](#): > > Let’s just ban children. Guns are easier to look after. Agreed, _AND_ guns don’t talk back to you… unless you happen to be Inspector Sledge Hammer, that is 😉 [MacTech turns to his .357 and says]this **Calm Kiwi** has some good ideas, don’t you think [co-workers] who are you talking to? [MT] what, uhh…nobody, nevermind, i don’t know where my head is at… ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2005, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-serious-right/305827/43 "2005-05-29T03:30:12Z")
I’d rather take a trip to the emergency room for a knife wound than for a gun shot wound. I would rather fo for A gun shot wound than for having an entire extended clip from an AK-47 put into me. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2005, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-serious-right/305827/44 "2005-05-29T07:55:40Z")
> [@robertliguori](#): > > I myself can put a properly balanced knife into a dartboard at twenty paces, but that’s because I have a father with creative opinions about father/son bonding experiences, and a great deal of practice. I’ve not used a gun, so I cannot compare directly, but there is a sort of point-and-click simplicity to a firearm that there isn’t to a thrown knife. > > If properly trained, an opponent can kill you with a rolled-up newspaper. Luckily, few criminals have this training. Point taken. However, criminals seem to be possessed of the same survival instincts that plague us all. As products of evolution, they tend to adapt. If by some miracle of divine intervention, guns could be eliminated from even private manufacture and sales through underground channels, then it is possible that criminals will throw up their hands and say, “Well, I guess it’s time we got jobs flipping burgers.” But it is also possible that they might stumble upon new tactics for committing their crimes, such as attacking in gangs of three and four, for example, such that whatever direction in which you decide to run, you will be gutted. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2005, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-serious-right/305827/45 "2005-05-30T12:20:26Z")
> [@Airman Doors](#): > > I feel somewhat vindicated. What’s next? Baseball/cricket bats, sporks and Silly Putty? Rolling pins. And cast iron skillets. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2005, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-serious-right/305827/46 "2005-05-30T12:44:45Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Rather face a thug with a knife, I can outrun a knife. Remember: ‘Run from a knife, rush a gun.’ ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2005, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-serious-right/305827/47 "2005-05-30T12:46:22Z")
For real? I thought that, unless you’re **trained** to bring down someone with a gun, you should run, but not in a straight line. You still might get shot, but not fatally. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2005, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-serious-right/305827/48 "2005-05-30T13:32:10Z")
Run from, rush toward, it’s probably safer to just let the jerk with the gun or knife have the money, if that’s what he’s after. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2005, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-serious-right/305827/49 "2005-05-30T13:39:44Z")
People talking about banning knives, clubs, etc. have totally lost sight of the fact that humans have been killing each other with blunt instruments and edged weapons a heckuva lot longer than we’ve been shooting each other. ---
**Author:** ![Long\_Time\_First\_Time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@Long\_Time\_First\_Time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Long_Time_First_Time)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2005, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-serious-right/305827/50 "2005-05-30T14:56:46Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Sure- but dead is still dead…if the murder rate _from guns_ decreases but the overall rate stays the same, nothing has really been gained, has it? I have to completely disagree on this one. How many toddlers are killed in their beds because of an errant knife in a drive-by kniving went through their apartment wall? How many kids are beaten to death with clubs by mistake because they were believed to be somebody else from a distance? To the intended victim here might not be too much difference(although I would guess the chance of being merely injured when attacked with a sharp or blunt weapon is greater than being attacked by a gun). To the innocent bystanders there’s an enormous difference between guns and any other weapon. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2005, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-serious-right/305827/51 "2005-05-30T18:07:40Z")
> [@Long Time First Time](#): > > I have to completely disagree on this one. How many toddlers are killed in their beds because of an errant knife in a drive-by kniving went through their apartment wall? How many kids are beaten to death with clubs by mistake because they were believed to be somebody else from a distance? So we have to ban them _for the children_, huh? That toddler you’re talking about is 100 times more likely to drown in a backyard swimming pool than be killed accidentally or intentionally by a handgun. Yet this is a risk we seem to tolerate as a free society. Far better, I think, to ban backyard swimming pools. This would save far more children, and infringe on nobody’s constitutional rights. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2005, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-serious-right/305827/52 "2005-05-30T18:22:57Z")
> [@Long Time First Time](#): > > I have to completely disagree on this one. How many toddlers are killed in their beds because of an errant knife in a drive-by kniving went through their apartment wall? > To the intended victim here might not be too much difference To the innocent bystanders there’s an enormous difference between guns and any other weapon. How about Bombs? :rolleyes: Tobacco kills 10 times as many dudes a year than guns do. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2005, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-serious-right/305827/53 "2005-05-30T21:16:22Z")
Plus, how many of the guns used in the toddler-killing drive-bys are legally registered? ---
**Author:** ![Fuji\_Kitakyusho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@Fuji\_Kitakyusho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuji_Kitakyusho)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-serious-right/305827/54 "2005-05-31T00:01:18Z")
If banning worked, why not simply ban crime? Oh, right… ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-serious-right/305827/55 "2005-05-31T02:09:39Z")
> [@Fuji Kitakyusho](#): > > If banning worked, why not simply ban crime? Oh, right… Now that was a great one. Simple and elegant, with just a dash of sarcasm. Mind if I borrow it occasionally? ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-serious-right/305827/56 "2005-05-31T18:33:16Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > Rolling pins. And cast iron skillets. What about pointed sticks or fresh fruit? ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-serious-right/305827/57 "2005-05-31T19:20:07Z")
I have a Japanese style chef’s knife (santuko?), but I don’t use it much. It’s not pointy, so it’s really awkward for taking apart a green bell pepper. I can think of half a dozen other food tasks that just can’t be done without a pointy knife. The doctors are wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-serious-right/305827/58 "2005-05-31T23:46:52Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > A lot of people can’t hit the broad side of a barn with a hand gun. Some people shoot themselves fiddling with it. So what? Was that final question aimed at yourself? It should have been. > [@](#): > > Point taken. However, criminals seem to be possessed of the same survival instincts that plague us all. As products of evolution, they tend to adapt. If by some miracle of divine intervention, guns could be eliminated from even private manufacture and sales through underground channels, then it is possible that criminals will throw up their hands and say, “Well, I guess it’s time we got jobs flipping burgers.” But it is also possible that they might stumble upon new tactics for committing their crimes, such as attacking in gangs of three and four, for example, such that whatever direction in which you decide to run, you will be gutted. Your point, in summary, would appear to be that there is no point in making crimes more difficult to carry out. It’s not a very good point, for pretty obvious reasons. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2005, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-serious-right/305827/59 "2005-05-31T23:55:57Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Your point, in summary, would appear to be that there is no point in making crimes more difficult to carry out. It’s not a very good point, for pretty obvious reasons. What are these obvious reasons? ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2005, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-serious-right/305827/60 "2005-06-01T11:32:08Z")
Things that are more difficult to do don’t tend to happen as much. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-serious-right/305827.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theyre-not-serious-right/305827.md?page=4)