Banning Weapons?

[Entice]

Note: This is just some idea that a fifteen-year-old thought up.

Why not ban weapons? Because things will eventually end up like this (yes, the articles about 4 years old but it's still relevant).

This made me think, 100 years from now are we going to be eating our food with plastic spoons? Are we going to ban all rope and sting to prevent strangling? Maybe people will decide to condition us against violence and we'll end up with a "Brave New World" like scenario. Sure we'd be safe, but have no freedom to even think independently. Do you think the movement will get that extreme? Or does it sound like a conspiracy theory to you?

[Korriken]

There will always be weapons. if all weapons were banned, you would have to ban the very dirt you walk on, the stones in your driveway, the bricks that make your house, all utensils, all cooking equipment, all of everything would have to be banned at that point.

the bleeding heart emotion slaves can TRY to ban every weapon, but once you ban something, something else will pop up. a clever individual can turn just about any mundane object into a weapon capable of dealing death with little or no modification.

even something as innocuous as a dowel rod can be made into a lethal weapon with some nails and a little duct tape. little clever thinking and you'll be punching holes into the people that piss you off.

anything that is flexible and sturdy, like shoe strings and guitar strings would make good strangulation devices.

As I said, there's no way to take weapons from an intelligent being that WANTS them. you can only stomp your feet and scream at the top of your lungs with your hands over your ears that banning weapons would bring an end to crime.

[Entice]

At 6/3/09 10:51 PM, Korriken wrote: Wall of text.

You're right of course, but will that stop them from trying?
And like I said they can always resort to brainwashing and stuff.

[Korriken]

At 6/3/09 10:54 PM, bgraybr wrote:

You're right of course, but will that stop them from trying?

Of course not. Logic is not something they make use of..... ever. It's all emotion, just like the people who support PETA despite the blatant hypocrisy that goes on.

And like I said they can always resort to brainwashing and stuff.

it would have to be mixed with healthy helpings of genocide of larger groups who refuse to submit to the brainwashing. it would be outright impossible to brainwash everything if large groups fight back.

[Tony-DarkGrave]

yeah and especially if you live in a nanny state like the UK (IE the source given in the OP post)

[Korriken]

At 6/3/09 11:12 PM, Dante-Son-Of-Sparda wrote: yeah and especially if you live in a nanny state like the UK (IE the source given in the OP post)

my favorite part is
"Kitchen knives can inflict appalling wounds"

yeah? so can broken glass. so can pretty much anything sharp, heavy, hot, or fast.. like my car!

[Tony-DarkGrave]

At 6/3/09 11:33 PM, Korriken wrote: like my car!

what about a 12 inch sex toy they can do some damage as a blunt weapon. BUT THOSE AREN'T ILIGEAL!!

[LardLord]

At 6/3/09 09:58 PM, bgraybr wrote: Maybe people will decide to condition us against violence and we'll end up with a "Brave New World" like scenario. Sure we'd be safe, but have no freedom to even think independently.

I've always thought of Brave New World as a Utopian possibility as opposed to a Dystopia. The people of the world were almost all happy with their lives, and free from a lot of the harm of disease and emotional problems, among others, due to social and genetic conditioning -- social classes being arbitrarily determined at birth in order to bring into the world all the necessary individuals to make everyone satisfied with life.

They also still had their own autonomy within the greater society created by the government, and even if they for some reason disagreed or disliked the mainstream society, they still had the option to go free of the government itself and live with the other outcast intellectuals on an island separate from the mainstream.

To me that sounds like a pleasant if not ideal world in which to live.

[dySWN]

How exactly do they plan on illegalizing my hands and feet?

[Shaggytheclown17]

At 6/3/09 09:58 PM, bgraybr wrote:

Note: This is just some idea that a fifteen-year-old thought up.

lol isn't that how everything here is?

This made me think, 100 years from now are we going to be eating our food with plastic spoons? Are we going to ban all rope and sting to prevent strangling? Maybe people will decide to condition us against violence and we'll end up with a "Brave New World" like scenario. Sure we'd be safe, but have no freedom to even think independently. Do you think the movement will get that extreme? Or does it sound like a conspiracy theory to you?

Sounds like a conspiricy to disarm the people so they wont be able to defend themselves against something like a "terrorist attack".

Even with that I really doubt they'll ever be at all successful giving alot of the examples people have explained, weapons can be made from anything n the only thing you need to beat a gun is a really really desperate person holding something that isn't a gun, a person desperate to protect himself n others, when you have that almost anything can be lethal.

[Tony-DarkGrave]

if they take asway your guns just use Improvised Weapons

[fatape]

I think the only weapons we should ban are ones which are useless for hunting or self defense and ones which like nukes cuase way to much destruction no matter how it's used.

[EggSnake]

We should all have our bodies cut off for our own safety. With a stiff paper towel.

[shortfusetemper]

Banning weapons doesn't mean that it makes someone somewhere will not able to create a weapon. Hell, a plastic spoon can be very deadly...

[Entice]

At 6/3/09 11:51 PM, LardLord wrote:

At 6/3/09 09:58 PM, bgraybr wrote: Maybe people will decide to condition us against violence and we'll end up with a "Brave New World" like scenario. Sure we'd be safe, but have no freedom to even think independently.

I've always thought of Brave New World as a Utopian possibility as opposed to a Dystopia. The people of the world were almost all happy with their lives, and free from a lot of the harm of disease and emotional problems, among others, due to social and genetic conditioning -- social classes being arbitrarily determined at birth in order to bring into the world all the necessary individuals to make everyone satisfied with life.

They also still had their own autonomy within the greater society created by the government, and even if they for some reason disagreed or disliked the mainstream society, they still had the option to go free of the government itself and live with the other outcast intellectuals on an island separate from the mainstream.

To me that sounds like a pleasant if not ideal world in which to live.

Not really, people were practically forced to be happy through conditioning and didn't have the freedom to choose. Sure people still had the freedom to leave, but it was more like "if you don't like how things are leave" than anything else.

I don't know about you, but its not a world I want to live in.

[Proteas]

At 6/3/09 10:51 PM, Korriken wrote: even something as innocuous as a dowel rod can be made into a lethal weapon with some nails and a little duct tape. little clever thinking and you'll be punching holes into the people that piss you off.

Nothing really clever about making a studded club, man... sharpening up a coin? That's clever.

But reading through that opening article, I chucked to myself over this little paragraph;

The researchers said a short pointed knife may cause a substantial superficial wound if used in an assault - but is unlikely to penetrate to inner organs.

They of course don't take into account that ANY knife right down to a paring knife is a deadly weapon if you hit an artery, or slice open somebody's throat with it.

[LardLord]

At 6/4/09 05:24 PM, bgraybr wrote: Not really, people were practically forced to be happy through conditioning and didn't have the freedom to choose. Sure people still had the freedom to leave, but it was more like "if you don't like how things are leave" than anything else.

I don't know about you, but its not a world I want to live in.

I dunno. When I read it I guess I kind of interpreted it a bit differently. It seemed to me that most people were perfectly content with their lives, and that regardless of the fact that the contentment was brought on by conditioning, they were perfectly happy to live out their lives in this manner without any kind of restraint or restriction placed upon them other than perhaps a reduced capacity to learn for those lower classes.

The upper classes, for the most part, seemed pleased to be able to substantively contribute to society as well, and I felt like the government itself was rather benevolent in its extending of out-of-country vacations and the ability to leave at any time to go and live on Outcast isle.

I think Huxley probably intended for it all to be a matter of personal interpretation, rather than a concrete, Ayn Rand-style advocacy for or against a particular way of life.

[SolInvictus]

At 6/4/09 07:32 PM, Proteas wrote: They of course don't take into account that ANY knife right down to a paring knife is a deadly weapon if you hit an artery, or slice open somebody's throat with it.

i'm still in shock that the "chefs" they consulted said there was no particular need for large pointed knives.

[TheMason]

At 6/4/09 11:20 AM, fatape wrote: I think the only weapons we should ban are ones which are useless for hunting or self defense ...

Examples? And are you really basing this on anything...or are you just making an unsubstantiated "common sense" assumption?

[Psycho-Medic]

At 6/5/09 04:33 AM, TheMason wrote:

At 6/4/09 11:20 AM, fatape wrote: I think the only weapons we should ban are ones which are useless for hunting or self defense ...

Examples? And are you really basing this on anything...or are you just making an unsubstantiated "common sense" assumption?

Obviously just the scary looking ones, they are the most evil.
http://geekpolitics.com/top-40-reasons-t o-support-gun-control/
(Read the link before you post, it's not what you think.)

[RubberTrucky]

In that view, why do we ban any weaponry at all? Why can't I carry a kalashnikov or a heavy mahinegun and some spike bombs at my place?
Why can't I wave heavy weaponry at public places?

[aviewaskewed]

Prohibitions don't tend to work. You wind up criminalizing something to make it go away and what usually winds up happening is not only does it NOT go away, but you strengthen criminal organizations who now can control the distribution (if not the production) of said prohibited product.

I think it's best to just realize that something is dangerous in the wrong hands (weapons) and instead of prohibiting them, try as hard as possible to make sure they don't get into dangerous hands to begin with.

[RubberTrucky]

At 6/5/09 08:17 PM, aviewaskewed wrote: try as hard as possible to make sure they don't get into dangerous hands to begin with.

Yeah, obvious it would be stupid to forbid things and then allow it to be accessed easily.

[Jon-86]

At 6/3/09 11:40 PM, Dante-Son-Of-Sparda wrote: what about a 12 inch sex toy they can do some damage as a blunt weapon. BUT THOSE AREN'T ILIGEAL!!

You have watched "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" too many times!

[JackNapier099]

The only weapons that should be banned are the ones by the military whose only goal is to produce indiscriminate casualties. Like flechette shells.

[Proteas]

At 6/5/09 09:34 PM, JackNapier099 wrote: Like flechette shells.

Why? Is there a rampant use of flechettes in crime, which would neccesitate the banning thereof?

How exactly are you going to regulate something like this, when all you have to do is hand load a shotgun shell with finishing nails or sewing needles and BOOM, you've got a flechette round?

[corando]

To ban weapon would make alot of other problems appear.
Dont think we should ban weapon, but we could stop selling heavy weapons to private person.
Heard about a bank robbery where the thieves had large heavy guns (cant say more about the guns sorry) and the police that came had only pistols.
Easy to see the problem

[Psycho-Medic]

I heard about a bank robbery where lome lady used a bow and arrow. "Put the bow and arrow down and come out of the building!" I thought it was a bit funny.

[Proteas]

At 6/6/09 01:28 PM, corando wrote: Easy to see the problem

Yeah; you're trying to recommend a change to public policy when you don't know enough about the situation to have an educated opinion on the matter.

[TheMason]

At 6/6/09 01:28 PM, corando wrote: Dont think we should ban weapon, but we could stop selling heavy weapons to private person.
Heard about a bank robbery where the thieves had large heavy guns (cant say more about the guns sorry) and the police that came had only pistols.
Easy to see the problem

Is it really?

You're probably talking about late 1990s N. Hollywood Shoot-out were two robbers wearing body armor and armed with illegally modified assault rifle clones fired over 3,000 rounds when police tried to arrest them.

Guess what? The only two people to die were the criminals. One shot himself and the other died by Cop.

Furthermore, they used military ammo which made the injuries they caused less severe. The truth is military ammo is about the least lethal ammo on the market.

Furthermore, "heavy" firearms are ill-suited for crime. You need something light and concealable. This is why over 70% of crime is committed with handguns, 18% with shotguns and 2-5% using rifles (of all types).

So the problem is clear...you need policy aimed at eliminating/reducing the root causes of crime (education, jobs). Banning weapons that are not used in crime based only upon the fact that they are scary looking and the military uses them...is not good public policy.