Sredna said:
gemini86 said:
It's a really sad situation, and I'm not looking to start a flame war, or make this a political argument...BUT I just have to point out that the reports I've read so far all say he was using an automatic weapon, which are banned from all civilians in norway...so no, nobody LET this maniac have it...he got it on the black market.
This is not correct, sorry. It is possible to get a licence for an automatic weapon in very special cases.
The norwegian killer had a licence for his
half-automatic weapon for hunting roedeer.
You mean Semi-Automatic? (doing some research) okay, I'll buy it...seems the media (of course) reported without knowing all the details and maybe made some assumptions... Some are saying now that he was using a semi-automatic pistol and rifle. Wow, even easier to acquire, with or without a license. Now, after we completely ban guns from the law abiding population (people who don't break laws like stealing/buying illegal guns and murdering people with them), are we to trust the outlaws (people who don't obey the law, therefor laws don't apply to them) to NOT break the law and sell/buy guns illegally and NOT murder people or take advantage of a defenseless law-abiding people?
Sredna said:
Spiritworks said:
Sorry to hear of this happening. My heart goes out to all who have suffered a loss. I can't help but think, whenever I hear of a situation like this, what would be the outcome if more of the general population were trained and allowed to carry weapons. Surely losses would be minimized.
If everyone carries a gun, wouldn´t the accidential shootings greatly outnumber a single madman occasion like this?
In my opinion, no. As spiritworks said; Ideally, these people would be trained and qualified to handle a gun, which means they'd know how to NOT ALLOW the gun to be pointed at something that they do not intend to shoot. This would drastically reduce such "accidents". I don't like the word accidental... It implies that nobody was at fault.
At the beginning of the year, the state of Arizona passed law that allows every citizen to not only carry a firearm, but conceal it at their will, no license needed. If you do a search, you'll find out exactly how many additional "accidental" shootings have occurred as a result of this...
Sorry for the off-topic rant, I promise I will say no more about my views on gun laws in countries I don't live in.
PS. Anyone else think Anne Curry's interview with an Utoya survivor was teetering between awkward and borderline inappropriate, given what this poor girl had just been through?