Guns- Educate Me.

Ameriscot said:
I believe there have been 4 mass shootings in the UK since 1987. One was in 1996 at a primary school in Scotland. Gun laws are very strict here, as they should be.
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Hear hear.
Gun laws are VERY strict, so GOOD!

How many mass shootings have there been in the USA during that period ?
(O.K. I know the good old US of A is a little bit bigger than the U.K.).:playful:
I wonder how many people get shot to death every day, in the USA ?
 

oldman said:
I have to be stupid on this question, but do other countries allow hunting for animals? If so, what weapons do they hunt with?
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Most Australian native animals are protected and may not be hunted. Kangaroos are the exception and sometimes need to be culled.

Feral species also need culling from time to time too. Licenced shooters, with the permission of property owners, can shoot problem animals using whatever firearms they have that are legal. It's not exactly hunting as other countries would know it.

In some states there is a duck shooting season. What is a suitable gun for shooting a duck? Whatever it is, that's what they would be using.
 
boozercruiser said:
Hear hear.
Gun laws are VERY strict, so GOOD!

How many mass shootings have there been in the USA during that period ?
(O.K. I know the good old US of A is a little bit bigger than the U.K.).:playful:
I wonder how many people get shot to death every day, in the USA ?
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4? Oh that's the amount just about every month in the US! Not over nearly 30 years.
 

In Canada we have a hunting season during which you can hunt ducks, geese, deer etc. I believe rifles are the approved weapon. BC has implemented a controversial wolf cull which has many people including me up in arms. Some creatures such as the Bald Eagle are protected.
 
boozercruiser said:
Well surely Ameriscot, that is cast iron proof NOT to allow a society.
Any society.
To have easy and unfetered access to GUNS!
It is a no brainer!:D
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It's crazy! They distort the 2nd amendment by leaving off half of it. I don't see any way the US can fix this. They could make it more difficult to get guns, but what about the 88% of population who already own guns? As far as I know no one in my family owns a gun.

If the reaction to the murder of 20 5 and 6 year olds and 6 staff is to buy even more guns, then I see no hope.
 
Last, we have no bill of rights that can be used to justify a universal right to own a firearm.
People need to apply for a licence and have a very good reason for needing one.
Self defence is not a sufficient reason for firearm ownership.
A gun register is maintained so that police know when they are called to a property whether they are likely or not to be confronted with an angry armed man.
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Ditto here too.
When I heard about the latest massacre, because it has become commonplace, my first thought was, here they go again. To have a law that everyone is entitled to own a gun, or words to that effect, is totally ludicrous.
Geez talk about living in the wild West.
 
We broke down the School Shooting List and it average two incidents a week over a period of two years. As someone said they should build a single monument in Washington. It could have ongoing names added to it. Every victim of a mass shooting in the US after the time the memorial is erected. A visible reminder of a problem that will be ongoing. Something like the 9/11 site with a reflecting pool, somewhere for people to sit and mourn together all the lives lost.
 
It Is Not! (off-thread)

Warrigal said:
Most Australian native animals are protected and may not be hunted. Kangaroos are the exception and sometimes need to be culled.

Feral species also need culling from time to time too. Licenced shooters, with the permission of property owners, can shoot problem animals using whatever firearms they have that are legal. It's not exactly hunting as other countries would know it.

In some states there is a duck shooting season. What is a suitable gun for shooting a duck? Whatever it is, that's what they would be using.
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Warri, when I was a kid, the Old Man occasionally got a taste for rabbit stew. This would have been 1950-ish. Our butcher shop had a good supply of huge, whole (though skinned), frozen rabbits. They were being brought in, if I recall correctly, all the way from Australia, my Mother said. Was there some kind of gross overpopulation of rabbits back then, or was their origin fabled?

BTW, birds in flight are rarely shot at with single-projectile firearms. Shotguns are used, which throw an expanding "ball' of multiple tiny projectiles called "shot" (surprise!).

Only Henry Bowman shot at aerial objects using single-projectile firearms. imp
 
Incredible Feats, Gun Skills

A "revolver", type of handgun, has a rotary cylinder which contains it's ammunition. Compared to the other distinct type of handgun, the semi-automatic "pistol", which contains it's ammunition within a "magazine", and requires very little effort to use, the revolver is cumbersome, though distinctly safer in practice.

Having explained the revolver was necessary, for the understanding of the photo below. Taken at the Montana State Fair sometime in the mid-1930's, it shows a man named Ed McGivern firing his revolver at 5 glass bottles thrown simultaneously into the air. The puffs of burst glass are clearly visible. He performed this feat repeatedly, rarely failing to hit all 5 targets, using 5 rounds loaded in his revolver. He was capable of firing those five rounds in 1/2 second. For comparison purposes, a Thompson submachine-gun fires at a rate of about 5 rounds per 1/2 second!

McGivern is the man at the left, wearing the light-colored hat. He accomplished the feat by simply pointing his arm, since no "aim" could be taken quickly enough. He likely was the best hand-gun shot who ever lived. Picture quality not great, but given it's age...... imp

 
One Additional Amazing Exhibition

On Dec. 11, 1906, a man, Ad Topperwein, employed by Winchester Repeating Arms Co. as an exhibition shooter, finished his task at the San Antonio Fairgrounds. He had used a Winchester .22 caliber rifle, firing at children's toy wooden blocks 2-1/4" across, which were flung into the air. The goal was 50,000 blocks, he had missed only 4! The "dead" blocks were stacked in a pile: 8 feet high and 30 feet in diameter! However, after the process of shooting at the blocks, one thrown into the air every four seconds for a week, 8 hours a day, Topperwein chose to better this, his own, world record, by continuing to shoot. When the fairgrounds closed on Dec. 15, 1906, he had shot at 72,500 wooden blocks, missing NINE! His record has never been broken. Below, he sits atop the mass of blocks.

 
Grumpy Ol' Man said:
Whether it be the high price of prescription drugs, the exhorbitant cost of military weapons, millions of dollars for a bridge to nowhere... or slaughter by firearm... our Country today is completely legislated by dollars. Whoever has the best paid lobbyists to make the largest campaign contributions to elected officials get the nod on legislation.
The gun lobby in America spends billions on "buying" Congressmen. Everything is done under the guise of the 2nd Amendment to our Constitution. The statement "a well regulated militia" has been interpreted that any and all gun laws are a restriction to the freedoms afforded under that Amendment. The gun lobby keeps the responsible gun owners fired up in order to keep the flow of firearms unrestricted, even to those who are mentally deranged. It IS a political issue that has seen 41 shooting on school campuses already this year. That is unacceptable, but will be ignored by the gun lobby.

As the President stated this afternoon, we need to look more at the gun laws of England and/or Australia. Won't happen as long as the dollars continue to be pumped into Congress. Students and other innocents will continue spilling their blood on classroom floors until some semblance of common sense overrides lobby dollars.

No one wants to take away the firearms of responsible owners. What is needed are a couple simple things. If you want to own a firearm in America, you sign authorization to have your HIPPA file opened. (HIPPA) is your private medical record file. If you have been treated for any mental disorder, you cannot own a firearm. Second, if you give/sell/bequeath a firearm to someone you know has had mental issues, you are culpable for any crimes committed with that firearm. Lastly, ALL firearm transactions should be required to have criminal background checks. Currently, private sales and sales at small-town gun shows are exempt for background checks.
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I have to say,Grumpy you make some very intelligent statements and I agree with you 100%. I wish you would run for President,you have my vote.
:encouragement:
 
imp said:
Warri, when I was a kid, the Old Man occasionally got a taste for rabbit stew. This would have been 1950-ish. Our butcher shop had a good supply of huge, whole (though skinned), frozen rabbits. They were being brought in, if I recall correctly, all the way from Australia, my Mother said. Was there some kind of gross overpopulation of rabbits back then, or was their origin fabled?

BTW, birds in flight are rarely shot at with single-projectile firearms. Shotguns are used, which throw an expanding "ball' of multiple tiny projectiles called "shot" (surprise!).

Only Henry Bowman shot at aerial objects using single-projectile firearms. imp
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In those days rabbits were in plague proportions and destroying good pasture land. Rabbits are not native to Australia but were imported by early English settlers who liked to shoot. They also imported foxes to hunt and both species became feral. The rabbits however were the biggest problem until the introduction of myxomatosis and later the khaleesi virus. Rabbits were trapped for food during the Great Depression and the skins were used to make felt hats. Ferrets were used to kill the young in the burrows and dynamite was used to blow up the burrows. A rabbit proof fence was built across much of Western Australia to stop their spread. They were a major economic pest.
 
Warrigal said:
In those days rabbits were in plague proportions and destroying good pasture land. Rabbits are not native to Australia but were imported by early English settlers who liked to shoot. They also imported foxes to hunt and both species became feral. The rabbits however were the biggest problem until the introduction of myxomatosis and later the khaleesi virus. Rabbits were trapped for food during the Great Depression and the skins were used to make felt hats. Ferrets were used to kill the young in the burrows and dynamite was used to blow up the burrows. A rabbit proof fence was built across much of Western Australia to stop their spread. They were a major economic pest.
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I thank you for that info! So, it was all true, storied though it seemed, 'twas hard to imagine an entire country overrun by rabbits, to us Chicagoans, who were overrun by quite a variety of other things! imp
 
imp said:
I thank you for that info! So, it was all true, storied though it seemed, 'twas hard to imagine an entire country overrun by rabbits, to us Chicagoans, who were overrun by quite a variety of other things! imp
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When I was growing up it was illegal to own a pair of rabbits.
 
Shalimar said:
Thanks for the correction Imp. Then there are different factors at work there. I shall endeavour to discover what they are.
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Maybe not necessarily a correction, Shali. We can only assume the validity of reporting is accurate to the letter, if we witness the data and facts ourselves. imp
 
Warrigal said:
When I was growing up it was illegal to own a pair of rabbits.
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Truly amazing! Even if they were stuffed? Could you own one rabbit? I had two in a hutch in the back yard as a kid, when the neighborhood erupted in the Cicero Race Riot of 1951. I was 9. During the unending commotion all night long, the frightened bunnies escaped. By that time in the fracas, National Guard Troops had "perimeterred" the area, our house included. At sunup, a pounding on our back door: young soldier, fully garbed as for warfare, held our two rabbits up to my Mother! He said they had noticed the hutch, spotted and caught the rabbits "out on Main Street". Actually 18th. Street. It was a frightening and ridiculous time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicero_race_riot_of_1951

imp
 
Debby said:
The problem I see with your statement is that it's not just the miscreants and maniacs who are getting weeded out. In some cases, it may be your best and your brightest as well.
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Very true, Debby! Facetiousness hidden within my posts often goes unnoticed. Best and brightest: Henry Gwynn-Jefferies Mosely, probably destined to become one of the 20th. Century's top Physicists, killed in action in Europe during WW-I. He had been placed in an infantry artillery unit, through the "wise-use" of available manpower, so moronic were the War schedulers. Mosely was British.

Rather off-topic. Sorry, I get carried away. imp
 
I don't remember the exact rules. I think it was illegal in some states to keep more than one domestic rabbit as a pet and feral rabbits were not allowed anywhere in Australia. Farmers were obliged to attempt to eradicate them and they employed trappers who sold the dead bunnies for meat. The cry of "rabbito" would bring housewives out on the street to buy a cheap feed for the family. One of our rugby league clubs is nicknamed the Rabbitos.

I just opened the link to the riot. Unbelievable.

It doesn't happen these days but in the early colonial days riots were dispersed by the reading of the Riot Act. Basically this said that people should disperse and go home immediately. If they did not a cannon would be fired into the crowd. It usually worked.
 
"I just opened the link to the riot. Unbelievable."

So glad you took the time! Try to imagine a neighborhood of European immigrants, all hard-working, family-raising, striving to fit in to American mores, confronted with it! The square city block in which our house sat, had been overrun by innumerable foot traffic for days, front lawns were gone, many out-of-state license plates were seen. My Dad, arriving home from work, had to prove residency. Several "punks" were bayonetted by troops. My Mother walked almost daily the 3 blocks from our home to the primary street of our suburb, Cermak Rd., and eventually became recognized as OK (she never had a D.L.). Most accounts indicate that the event was over in only a few days, but I recall at least 2 weeks of incessant noise, crowds of folks never before present, general mayhem. It may have been the single most informative circumstance to solidify this ex-Chicagoan's opinion against the "machine" prevalent there. imp
 

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