Joe90 wrote:
I live in the UK, and here we can't just purchase a gun. It's a good job though, otherwise people would just be running amok with guns.
People
are "running amok" with firearms in the United Kingdom. It is just that they are disguised or hidden. Every reported shooting in the United Kingdom proves that firearms are plentiful. One of the world's fantasies is the notion that island nations can prohibit certain people, things and ideas at their shores. Meanwhile, the royals have one of the world's largest arsenals. I would be more concerned about them.
Alternatively, many nations haven't a problem with illegal firearms precisely because their populace have plenty of legal firearms. Criminals know and admit this, and tend to avoid places where owners of legal firearms are abundant. Governments may then turn their attention to more weighty matters like lowering taxes and creating jobs.
By way of example, my state government allows legal concealed and unconcealed firearms within its government offices. Our state's largest newspaper published a 2007 color image of me testifying at a Utah Senate Education Standing Committee hearing about legalizing firearms at college and university dormitories. I supported an amendment which provided for students to opt out of living with an armed student if they chose to do so. Such a creative and simple solution, and the amendment was adopted!
While an openly gay senator, who was an acquaintance of mine, asked if I was concerned about possibly causing fear among members of the committee and other citizens sitting in the audience. I reminded him that the Utah Legislature had adopted a rule years before which allowed legislators and any other individual in the Capitol Building to possess a legal firearm. When he pressed the point, I asked him if anyone had left the hearing or voiced concern. He admitted that no one seemed to care. I noticed other legislators smiling apparently because I had "schooled" my senator friend about a matter he invited.