Stats say in year ‘02 there were 299 gun deaths in Oz compared to approx. 30000 in the USA.

For a population ratio of 1:15 (Oz v USA) that is more than 6 times more in the USA.

Is the USA’s ‘gun culture’ the problem?

BTW a gun doesn’t know whether it is fired by a responsible person or a nutjob.

Now you’ve gone and started it one_eyed_jack ; )
Yes i think its the culture combined with ignorance and a strong pro gun lobby.
Where does the constitution even say guns, It says “right to bear arms”.Pretty broad term hey. It could mean anything from a batton to a nuclear warhead.
Really banning every thing except .22 rifles is as constitutional as banning m16’s or bazookas

Anyone know how many Americans are anti gun control vs pro gun control?

Anyone seen “Bowling for Columbine”?

u ned too remember thet aboot 60% off r gun deefs are suiside so u can nok abot 18,000 off thos deefs off the list off violet gun crims b-caus thy wil kill themselfs wit or witout a gun

Did you SMS that post through?

I would suggest then that it’s close to the same percentage of suicides in Aust then, so all relative.

If Guns were Banned (in e US)
Do you think Columbine would still have happened

Moot point ….

I thought those two got the guns illegally. Point taken however, its nice to be able to go to school and not have to walk through metal detectors and the rest… (or is that just in the movies).

not just the movies Mr C.

Sadly, I’ve heard that they are installing them in some schools in the UK due to the growing knife culture.

Would the world be a better place without Americans in it?

not just the movies Mr C.

Sadly, I’ve heard that they are installing them in some schools in the UK due to the growing knife culture.

Would the world be a better place without Americans in it?

Huh, YOU’RE in luck, I just started me lunch break and decided to pop in quick.

WWI?
WWII?
Cold War?

Do you think Australia had a sufficent army/navy/air force/other to defeat the Japanese during WWII?

Do you think the world would be better off if the Soviet Union was still around?

Would the world be better off if we didn’t provide aid to millions, if not billions of people all over the world?

Maybe the world would be better off if Australia wouldn’t be around, eh? If memory serves me right, weren’t some of your first colonies settled by deported British criminals (aside from the native of course)?

Maybe the dumb American is just being ignorat again…

I have a blood orange and an apple to enjoy, I’m out for the rest of the day…

Americans i think is too generalized a phrase …..
and as all generalizations go it’s highly unfair and biased

A bit of topic slide going on here chaps. You cannot blame Americans for their Governments foreign policy. Overall I find Americans to be very good people.

Let’s stick to the question….Is the USA’s ‘gun culture’ the problem?

BTW a gun doesn’t know whether it is fired by a responsible person or a nutjob.

A bit of topic slide going on here chaps. You cannot blame Americans for their Governments foreign policy.

We elect our officials, so we are to blame. We are LUCKY to get 50% voter turnout, so we get the government we deserve, which I think is pretty shitty right now.

Well you elect the Government, you don’t make their policy. You can start another thread for that discussion anyway.

.

WWI?
WWII?
Cold War?

Do you think Australia had a sufficent army/navy/air force/other to defeat the Japanese during WWII?

Do you think the world would be better off if the Soviet Union was still around?

Would the world be better off if we didn’t provide aid to millions, if not billions of people all over the world?

Maybe the world would be better off if Australia wouldn’t be around, eh? If memory serves me right, weren’t some of your first colonies settled by deported British criminals (aside from the native of course)?

Maybe the dumb American is just being ignorat again…

WW1? – I suppose better late than never.
WWII? – It took Pearl Harbour to get you involved.
Cold War? – Would have ended anyway, the USSR was always going to split up due to the economics of communism being unsustainable.

In many ways the USA has sustained feelings of hostility between it and the former soviet nations especially Russia by refusing to disarm its nuclear cache.

The USA also engenders feelings of hostility from other nations through its (self appointed) role of World Police.

FYI I don’t live or come from Australia.

And yes, you are being dumb and ignorant again ;)

Its better to stay silent and look a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt

- Mark Twain

No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an unchartered land,or opened a new heaven to the human spirit

- Helen Keller

give credit where credit is due
yes, i think there are some good some Americans have done thru his-story

it’s not all dooom and gloom for sure

take science and medicine for eg heaps and leaps

Racinfarmer

Who is giving ‘the gun’ to that chick in your avatar? She looks real strong?

Could it be a double barrel?

Stats say in year ‘02 there were 299 gun deaths in Oz compared to approx. 30000 in the USA.

For a population ratio of 1:15 (Oz v USA) that is more than 6 times more in the USA.

Is the USA’s ‘gun culture’ the problem?

BTW a gun doesn’t know whether it is fired by a responsible person or a nutjob.

oej, it’s difficult to define the “gun culture” here. if it is the national rifle association, then the answer is no. the nra supports programs that curb gun violence. they are, however, the most powerful lobby in the country in the fight to keep the right to bear arms in place.

if it is the “hip-hop culture” that has become so prominent here and abroad, then the answer is yes, it is the problem. the movement romanticizes handguns and portrays the thug lifestyle. we also have this video game culture among kids that seems to impact their callousness towards handgun shootings.

some stats to clarify your original post:

In 2004 (the most recent year for which data is available), there were 29,569 gun deaths in the U.S:

16,750 suicides (56% of all U.S gun deaths),
11,624 homicides (40% of all U.S gun deaths),
649 unintentional shootings, 311 from legal intervention and 235 from undetermined intent (4% of all U.S gun deaths combined).
-Numbers obtained from CDC National Center for Health Statistics mortality report online, 2007.

so, more than half of those deaths were not criminally intentioned. it’s not an excuse and certainly nothing to brag about, but with over 300 million people, 12,000 criminal gun deaths isn’t a statistically significant number.

i am not a gun owner currently, but the way our government is quickly moving towards fascism, i am intending to purchase before that right is removed. our constitution included the right to bear in order for the people to maintain some checks and balances on the government. watching the fall of britain and canada to the muslims even further encourages ownership.

and styles, “bowling for columbine” was a propaganda piece, just as all michael moore films are. he hates george bush and is deceptive in his representations in order to influence those that are easily taken. you will find that our media outlets here are liberally biased in the hopes of one day living in a fascist utopia. even though it’s never worked in history, it’s just because the u.s.a. hasn’t tried it yet. that’s the arrogance of our liberal elite…the ones that are trying so hard to make everybody like us.

Not only another American, someone else who “gets it”!

more than half of those deaths were not criminally intentioned. it’s not an excuse and certainly nothing to brag about, but with over 300 million people, 12,000 criminal gun deaths isn’t a statistically significant number.

Of the 299 Australian deaths, 223 were also “not criminally intentioned” i.e. suicide. So that makes the criminal rate (USA: 11,624 for 300 million, Australia 76 for 21 million) about 11 times worse in the USA.

Only someone from a society where guns were endemic would say 12,000 deaths is not “statistically significant”.

the ones that are trying so hard to make everybody like us.

Is making everyone hate you working any better? :-)

geezz publish you are one smart cookie
and i mean it honestly
you make very sensible statements and I am with you here

Stats Significance meaning what ? you brains tell me pleazzze
to me this is really just bollocks
simply a play with nos.

Do you fellas realize there is a practical and a real diff between what’s Stats Significance and ‘real life’ Significance (or in my field, we call it CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE)
and mr publish is right
11 x worse in the USA
and 12K deaths = Plenty of deaths
are RED nos. my fellow Forumers.
btw has any of you have anyone closed to you gottten maimed or worse by a firearm intentionally
so that you can and will imagine how those poor folks feel with hteirs massacred by Loonies going loopy
Bill Oreilly is 100% correct
and he’s an american too

More people in the US die from:

drunk driving
teenage accidents
cancer
heart disease
heart attacks
Britney Spears music and news stories

then they do from gun violence in a year.

really, SO what ?

does that serves to justify making using a gun haphazardly all the more acceptable ?

We are talking about preventable Deaths

Since your GF is going to be a Registered Nurse
and if she is going to ever work in an inner city (USA) hospital ER/ED
i bet my bottom $ her eyes will be open wide to this scourge