Who shouldn't be allowed to have guns?

All those people protecting the US Constitutional rights.

I think a better question is who should be allowed to have guns. Seems to me they do a lot more harm than good.

Anybody who is liable to shoot someone else for what the rest of us would consider no good reason.

People who aren’t mentally stable, for starters.

Those who should not have guns are the ones most likely to have them.

Any gun purchased for any other purpose other than protection/ self defense or hunting by anyone other than law enforcement is likely going to a person who should not have it.

My ideal answer is that no one should have a gun – they shouldn’t exist.

But since that’s extremely unrealistic, I’m going with @Dog‘s answer.

Children, and felons. But felons are already good at getting a hold of weapons anyways so it doesn’t much matter.

Convicted felons for sure. It is a harder question for the mentally ill. I would hate to think that the government would keep a data base of mentally ill people. That would deter people from getting treatment out of fear that they would be put on the “list.”
I do believe in the 2nd amendment to the Constitution, I just wish it had a little more clarification, instead of leaving it open to such interpretation.

I would argue that even law enforcement officers should not carry lethal guns. There are plenty of nonlethal weapons at their disposal already… taser excluded. DON’T TASE ME BRO!

Anyone who believes they need guns for protection should not have them.
Anyone who owns a gun should forfeit the gun.
Anyone caught with a gun should go to a maximum security prison. [The punishment needs to be harsh to deter would-be gun owners.]
Hunting guns need to be rented at the license office, and have GPS devices embedded in them.

Guns need to be outlawed. Guns need to be melted down.

If the criminal doesn’t have a gun, the homeowner doesn’t need anything but his wits and muscle or 911 to protect his home. If the homeowner doesn’t have a gun, he can’t get shot when he cheats on his wife. If the homeowner doesn’t have a gun, Junior won’t shoot his head off by accident, or suicidally. If the homeowner doesn’t have a gun, Junior can’t sneak the gun to school and decimate his classmates and teachers. If the law enforcement officer doesn’t have a gun, there won’t be anymore wrongful deaths, except by taser. DON’T TASE ME BRO!

But of course, this is all ideal and won’t happen in a million years. /sigh

watch both links

“Anyone who believes they need guns for protection should not have them.
Anyone who owns a gun should forfeit the gun.
Anyone caught with a gun should go to a maximum security prison. [The punishment needs to be harsh to deter would-be gun owners.]”

@squirbel ZIEG HAIL!!!

I’m with @bob_ and @LKidKyle1985

Mentally unstable people should be allowed to have guns. Convicted felons shouldn’t either. Nor should children.

Everyone with a gun should be taught proper gun care and usage.

@squirbel Yeah tasers need to go away.

@boots Erm, you mean mentally unstable people shouldn’t, right?

Also, it’s in very poor taste to use Nazi references like that.

@bob_ Yes, that’s what I meant… typo on my part.

And possibly, yes i t was in poor taste. It was a bit tongue in cheek.

I was really thrown off by such extremist viewpoints. That’s what it reminded me of.

People. In general.

@squirbel I suppose we might as well just chunk out that old Constitution and start some new country where the right to bear arms and the right to freedom of assembly and the right to free speech and the right to participate in the religion of one’s choice are just memories.

I own a handgun. I own it for my own protection. It was purchased for me by my husband following what I can only call a close encounter with bad people who would have had me dead. I will not find myself in that situation again. I adhere to the adage that I would rather be tried by twelve than carried by six. I hope that I will never need to use my gun for anything other than target practice, but if I do, I know it’s there and I feel less vulnerable for it. Until you have found yourself in imminent danger from violent people with no means of self-protection, you have no idea how comforting having a gun is.

Anyone convicted of a violent crime or been interred for mental reasons. Maybe a psych evaluation should be a requirement as well as a background check.

@Russell_D_SpacePoet ; so you think the government should bypass all the confidentiality laws in regards to mental health treatment to keep a database of anyone who has gone to marriage therapy, or taken an anti- anxiety drug? Where is the line?

@VS: I was a chair at a college with an inner city population for seven years. I’ve had my life threatened, chairs tossed, and a knife pulled on me.

My wife worked in a prison, was a social worker who removed babies from crack houses, and was a probation officer for ten years in one of the worst cities near Boston.

We’ve both been in very bad situations with very bad people. We’ve never even held a gun.

If you think your gun will protect you from violent crime, you’re kidding yourself.

Having a gun simply escalates the situation and makes us more like them.

@cprevite Dude. That’s badass.

The right to bear arms is not only for protection from evil doers in the street, but in the goverment as well. I am not advocating rebellion that has been wispered by disastified conservatives but the founding fathers put that in the constitution for a very good reason. They know one day the goverment will fail its original intentions and wanted to make rebellion easy. It isn’t because they really liked their guns. Some people think that automatic weapons are out of hand but I think if you asked the founding fathers, they would want people to own these weapons as well (probably not common street thugs, but some people should still have access to them). I am not a crazy hill billy or a red neck but I am not so short sited to look at our situation today, and not think about tomorrow. This country was founded on being responsible for your self, and owning a gun and being responsible for your own property and liberty and rights is just one of those responsibilities.

@squirbel “If the criminal doesn’t have a gun, the homeowner doesn’t need anything but his wits and muscle or 911 to protect his home”

I’ve been in more fights than I can even think to count. One of the first lessons you learn is that you can’t look at someone and tell how strong or smart they are. I’m only 5’ 6” and 130lbs. I’m a small guy but I’ve beat and been beat by people smaller than me and people over double my size. Most normal fights end when someone gets hurt because they find out that whatever the problem is, it’s not worth getting extremely injured over. Someone trying to get into your home to do you harm or take your things knows that it’s a huge risk and are usually willing to take some pain to achieve their goal.

Have you ever had to call 911? They are great but it’s not like they instantly show up when you dial the number. Growing up my family lived out in a very unpopulated area. There were two general stores, a fire “house”, which was really just a storage building for the truck and ambulance, and about 6 churches. One day as my mom was tanning by the pool, she started to tense up go into a seizure. My sister called 911 and it took them about 10 minutes to get there. Now, if someone were breaking into a house you would need law enforcement. In that town, you’ll occasionally see a state trooper or a county cop roll through. Unless your extremely lucky, the burglar could kill/take your stuff/hurt your family and or escape in the time it would take for the officer to arrive.

Guns are something that will NEVER go away. they are to effective as a hurting tool. They give the “little guy” an advantage. Think of this, most criminals have illegal weapons right now. Do you think that taking them away from everyone will make them think that they don’t need them anymore? No. Look at drugs. They are illegal and have a hefty penalty but people still buy, sell and manufacture them every day. Guns are also a high money business and if they were to “disappear” then the price would go up and there would be more money in the pockets of the gun manufacturers that are still brave enough to continue trying to make a living doing what they have for many years.

Do I think there are alternatives to protection? YES!
Do I think our guns need to be taken? NO!

@LKidKyle1985 makes a really good point as well!

anyone intending on using it.

@Randy: If you target shoot or hunt then guns are needed – but if there are alternative means of protection then they should be employed.

@cprevite I can agree to that. I’m not at all against restrictions and safety measures. I am 100% for those because they need to be there. I am however against taking them or making them unavailable to people who want them.

@Judi What would be wrong with having a psych evaluation if you wanted to carry a gun?
Also, if you were ever put into state mental care that is a public record. I don’t believe I said that anyone taking a antidepressant should be disqualified. I own guns and believe in the right to bear arms.

state mental care is NOT a public record! Mental health records have levels of privacy even stricter than HIPPA. Who gets to decide the psych evaluation? Some random mental health worker? A licensed therapist? (my opinion of most mental health professionals is that they went in to that business because they were trying to figure out whey they themselves were so messed up, but that’s another question.) Mental health diagnosis is not an exact science. You would probably have no one passing the evaluation in California while everyone passed in Texas.

@Judi I live in Texas thank you. No I don’t own a cowboy hat or cowboy boots or country music. Not everyone in Texas would pass a psych test nor would everyone in California fail it. There needs to be some sort of screening process.

@Judi If the person was committed by the state, wouldn’t the state know this?

@Russell_D_SpacePoet How ‘bout them Cowboys?

@bob_ Thank God they got rid of TO.. I couldn’t stand him. Maybe they will do better this year.

@squirbel That’s the deal. Criminals won’t give up their guns. You can pass a law banning guns, but all that would do is leave the cops and the criminals with guns. No thanks. I’ll keep my gun,.call 911 when needed , but I will protect myself while waiting for 911.

@russell ; I live in California and here even the state keeps psych stuff private.

Nobody should be allowed to have guns. Even the most responsible person may have an accident, lose their temper or get drunk. A couple of days ago a Russian policeman went into a supermarket and shot 2 people. He recalls nothing. He was off duty, had gotten drunk and had a row with his wife. He should not have been allowed to carry a weapon off duty.

Personally I don’t think cops should even be allowed weapons when on duty. But this implies that we have to disarm all of the criminals first.

@Jack79 I have been drunk before and lost my temper. I own guns and amazingly I didn’t kill anyone. Didn’t even think about the guns. I think your Russian cop had mental problems to begin with.

@cprevite – I am not deluding myself by thinking that my gun will PROTECT me from violent crime. I do believe that if someone comes into my house at 2 a.m. and is wearing a mask, he is not there to invite me out to dinner. 9–1-1 is great when you can get them on the phone but as Randy pointed out, they are not there instantly. I do not drink alcohol, so the idea that I might get drunk and shoot up the place is highly unlikely. I keep my weapon in a safe place where it is accessible to me, there are no little kids in my household, and I target shoot regularly. While my gun will not PROTECT me from violent crime, it WILL protect me from rape, torture, or murder while I patiently await the arrival of the guys in blue uniforms.