Hey,
I’m not from the US but obviously hear lots about it through media and the Internet. I know a lot of debate happens about guns, the right to own a gun and the gun crime experienced. I obviously however do not have a personal experience of this.
From an outside perspective, I mostly hear the reasons for not introducing stricker laws to be protecting an amendment or “people kill people, not guns”.
I’m not here to judge, but personally those arguments feel pretty easy to counter-act.
So my question is, what is your reason for wanting to keep the freedom to own gun? What do you worry will happen if gun laws are tightened? And if your reason is “it’s one of our amendments”, why is it important that these are not changed?
Again, not here to judge at all, just interested in a different perspective
Update – It’s been really interesting to read all the comments. I will never be pro-gun but I respect everyone’s right to an opinon on this and also can understand why people feel so strongly about it.
Update 2 – I see a few posts about politics in the UK. I want to reiterate that I am not judging. Yes, I am not pro-gun but I am not automatically assuming any country that bans guns is ‘better’. The world is a shambles at the moment and each country has its own debates raging and disagreement of opinons.
Comments
1st, it is written in amendment 2 of our constitution. Every citizen has the right to defend themselves. The biggest drawback of gun laws is that criminals by definition, don’t obey the laws .
Tradition, culture, and sense of identity.
Remember, whereas men in Japan, Taiwan, or Korea see themselves as coming down from a long line of noble royal scholars, or where European men see themselves as coming down from a long line of lords or knights, North American men, especially U.S. North American men, see themselves as coming down from a very recent line of pioneers, adventurers, people who walked from St. Louis to Oregon, and men who shot bears and First Nations for land.
It’s tradition, culture, and sense of identity.
EDIT: Ah, yes. Thank you all. Your mileage may vary.
The reason the US will never have UK style restrictions on speech is because of our gun laws
Defense against a tyrannical government
Without getting into the law or the U.S. Constitution, my personal reason is because I am a woman and I want to be able to properly defend my home in case of intruders. I keep a pump-action shotgun in my house for home defense and a handgun in my car for defense while traveling. I’m not really interested in owning any other guns besides that.
In a rural area: wildlife. Sometimes the best way to scare off a mountain lion, bear, moose, coyote or other predator is a warning shot. Yelling, bear spray, and making yourself large work most of the time but sometimes it doesn’t.
In cities: break ins happen. Sometimes you want to take that shot to defend yourself.
Because white supremacists keep threatening to murder my family.
There are plenty of historical examples of what can happen when a government disarms their populace.
The founding fathers, after fighting off a tyrannical government to gain independence, wrote in the second amendment as a fail safe in case the government itself goes tyrannical or if we are attacked by another tyrannical government that attacks us
>What do you worry will happen if gun laws are tightened
The government has less restrictions to take away our rights. The first step of any tyrannical government is always to restrict or ban weaponry so that the people cannot defend themselves FROM the government
Not an American, but why let any government strip you of your rights (any rights). I’m not against various gun control measures, or restrictions. I mean, does Uncle Bob really need a .50 cal. But I can see the benefits of having ease of access to hand guns and hunting gear….
PewPewPewPewPew!
Because the only thing that truly matters in this world is the ability to project violent force. Literally every aspect of civilization and organized society derives from that reality.
Any contrary views represent wishful thinking.
“That rifle on the wall of the labourer’s cottage or working class flat is the symbol of democracy. It is our job to see that it stays there.”
George Orwell
I think it’s because most people already have guns, including the “bad guys” that can get them easily, so now they are in a situation where they need guns to protect themselves and their homes from other gun owners. It makes sense to me, if I lived in the US I would rather have a gun than not.
With no plan to significantly reduce the 400mm guns already in circulation (background checks on new guns don’t impact these, and bad actors can get them), some would argue you need a gun to defend yourself, notably in your own home.
Why are you people okay with someone telling you that your not allowed to protect yourself.
When it comes to rights, the burden of argument falls to the side that says one shouldn’t have them.
What is the argument against? That people can’t be trusted with them? Neither can governments. That’s the point.
Self defense is a big one. Criminals will be armed.
Police can take 30 minutes to an hour to show up. I don’t want to depend on someone else to save me in a serious situation. I’m still new and uncomfortable with carrying one around all the time but I’ve always carried a pocket knife since I was a teenager. I always bring my pistol with me when I go fishing out in the middle of nowhere in Florida because the closest first responders are like 45 minutes away and there’s little cell phone service. My friend was approached by 2 men while fishing alone in a remote location and he had to pull his out and tell them to gtf away and then he hurried and packed up and left. I only have 1 life and with important stuff like that you know, you read online and double check what the doctors plan is, you do your due diligence and I don’t want to solely rely on Superman to come and save me.
I did the whole boy scouts thing as a kid and always being prepared was constantly preached to you and so now as an adult there’s just some things I do to make myself a little more ready for things to go unexpectedly. I always have a tire inflator and jumper box in the car. I usually dont leave the house without a belt or a pocket knife. And sometimes I like to have a gun just in case.
Psychology Today: Fear and Anxiety Drive Conservatives’ Political Attitudes
That may have something to do with it.
The idea is one of self-preservation and self-defense.
Who should have guns??? When the government disarms I will too. I don’t trust any government.
Can we own and operate dangerous things?
Do I want to have school shooting? No. I want to address root causes of school shootings that protect my rights.
I’m not the biggest supported of the 2nd amendment, but a lot of the wwii vets said that if the cities they defended had guns, it wouldn’t have fallen so easy to the germans. That is at least one use case for the amendment. The appropriate one, at that.
I magine beer being illegal in almost every single country, and one, the US, has legal beer. Guns are like beer. Beer kills people, sometimes innocent ones, but beer is still good to have.
The right to keep and bear arms is inherent to us. Not just in the US, but for human beings everywhere. It is our right to defend ourselves. If you don’t have that right, it’s because your government infringed on it and took that right away from you.
That’s why the 2nd amendment is important, not because it gives us the right to have guns, but because it stops the government from infringing on that right.
Just like how the first amendment doesn’t give us free speech, we already had that. Rather, it stops the government from making laws that infringe on that right.
I live in Alaska. Without guns the bears would eat us and the moose would stomp us to death.
History as proven that right before a goverment goes full blown dictatorship and implement rash laws and punishment, / genocide they disarm the citizens.
The British deemed the American colonists as a threat and tried to disarm them and seize full control over the colonies. (American revolution).
Post WWI Germany disarmed its citizens to “stabilize the country” (kicks off WW2)
1911 turkey disarms citizens 1.5M killed.
1929: Russia; citizens disarmed – 20 million Russians murdered
1935: China; citizens disarmed – 20 million Chinese killed
1938: Germany; citizens disarmed – 6 million Jews murdered
1956: Cambodia; citizens disarmed – 1 million “intellectuals” killed
1964: Guatemala; citizens disarmed – 100,000 Mayan Indians massacred
1970: Uganda; citizens disarmed – 300,000 Christians put to death
I think the rawanda genocide in the 90s also had an attempt of citizens disarment as well
Gun ownership is MAINLY to protect yourself (the citizens) against the government.
Because our country was built on freedom. We have free speech too and that’s dangerous… should we take it away too?
I am not a warrior. I don’t desire to fight, I’m not skilled in combat and I want to be able to defend myself if someone tries to hurt/rob me. I have no desire to kill or even hurt anyone, but my desire to live is stronger. I can’t rely on anyone else to maintain these things for me and a firearm helps me even my odds a little. Crime, wild animals or whatever can be anywhere at any time, but police can’t.
I don’t believe most will understand as it can be subjective. But fuck the government, that’s why
I think the most important thing is self defense
Because it’s better to have it and not need it compared to needing it and not having it. It is our constitutional right to protect ourselves against all enemies either foreign or domestic
I got a questions for Americans. If right to own a gun against tyrannical government is so important, why are you against mandatory military service? Surely having knowledge of firearms and fitness would be more beneficial if it did arise?
I see alot mention Afghanistan and Vietnam. They were battle hardened over years of warfare. How are you gonna take up arms when you lack stamina and discipline to use it?
People have a right to live and a right to defend that. Simple as
Freedom
Freedom…especially from oppressive governments. It’s not a matter of how deadly guns are, it’s a matter of how brutal a corrupt government can be. I hate to say we see it get worse every decade…
Have you seen what the hell is going on in Britain?
long story short our founding fathers wanted us to have weapons to keep the government inline. So if we wanted to we could host another revolution. Also one of the first things the British did when we started to get mad was lock up the gun powder
“If you hold a gun and I hold a gun, we can talk about the law. If you hold a knife and I hold a knife, we can talk about rules. If you come empty-handed and I come empty-handed, we can talk about reason. But if you hold a gun and I only have a knife, then the truth lies in your hand. If you have a gun and I have nothing, what you hold isn’t just a weapon, it’s my life”.
Better to not need it and have it
Once we start losing rights, it’s a slippery slope.
I’m currently thinking about getting a gun just because everyone has a gun and it seems like the whole country is about to head into chaos and I don’t want to be a Sitting Duck.
Besides the constitution and all that, I have one for the same reason I have a fire extinguisher. I’d rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.
I have always/only ever voted democrat or green party, I consider myself “left”. I own two firearms. One is for hunting because I value increasing my degree of self reliance and the other is because my 25 year old friend was murdered in her own home after a burglary gone wrong.
The first thing all tyrannical regimes do when assuming power is to disarm the population. The single greatest argument for the first amendment is to ensure the government can be held to account if they subvert democracy.
From what I’ve gathered it’s half self defense, half for the fun of it.
I used to think we should ban guns outside of law enforcement and that 2A activists were crazy. I really hated guns, especially after Sandy Hook.
I changed my mind.
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed”.
First and foremost, or Founding Fathers thought it was such a good idea that they made it a Right.
Second, there are many areas of this country where you SHOULD be armed all the time. I remember just last year talking to a guy in a farm supply store. He was a salesman and this store was his customer. I noticed he was wearing a pistol, as was I. So we struck up a conversion about guns. One of my first questions was why he chooses to carry a weapon. He said, “Mister, I live in Memphis (Tennessee). The gabs are so bad there that I won’t go to my damned mailbox without a weapon on my side. And my wife is the same way. “
Three: At least three times in the last year, I have had to pull my weapon to protect my home and family from drugged up idiots who feel they should be allowed to do whatever they want, wherever and whenever. Druggies will steal anything. So my house is surrounded by cameras and motion detectors that alert me to someone in my yard. I caught one guy under my car trying to saw off the catalytic convertor to sell for drugs. He’s now serving 15 years. But he would have gotten away if I had not put a bullet into the ground between his feet.
Mauve is not so bad wherever YOU are, and it’s not that way all over the U.S. But I am thankful that we have the right to bear arms. And I am grateful to see states gravitating towards Constitutional Carry, where you do not have to have a permit or even a reason to be carrying a weapon.
Even at that, I have always had a concealed carry permit. I have carried a weapon for about 50 years and I don’t intend to stop.
i do not want the government and military to be the only people who have guns
There’s really no magic button that can magically take away 100% of the populations guns with no exceptions. People like to parrot talking points on the internet with catchy slogans like “Ban the guns” without stopping to think about exactly just HOW one is supposed to implement such policies in 2025.
As an American, I’m honestly not so sure. I’ve fired a few guns over the years at a friend’s personal range, and while fun, I can’t say I’ve ever been in a situation where a Gun couldn’t do the same for me as my Pocket Knife, Pepper Spray, or Taser.
A lot of Americans will tell you it’s so they can resist an Authoritarian Government, but those same Americans SUPPORT the Authoritarian Government. so honestly, it baffles me.
Other countries don’t have our problems, and they don’t have widespread access to guns. Other countries don’t have to do Active Shooter Drills in their Schools.
It’s too late for gun control in the US. So many people, good and bad, have guns that owning a gun is much safer than not having one.
If the government has guns, citizens should have them to.
its an amendment and a right because the US is built upon the principle that you can use your right to bear arms to fight back against a tyrannical government that has gone rouge or that isn’t serving the people and cant be changed democratically. its how the US came to exist in the first place, we went to war with britain when we were their colony
>the right to own a gun and the gun crime experienced.
I just want to state that the majority of people committing gun related crimes against others are not legal gun owners.
The United States was born out of war with a tyrannical monarchy. Americans fought for our freedom, to become our own country, with guns. When the country was divided resulting in the Civil War in the 1860s, there was tragic amount of bloodshed but the country was reunited with guns. Countless countries that have been taken over by dictators in the 1800s, 1900s and 2000s, who have done so by disarming their populace first, then oppress and crush their citizens. An armed populace is not easily oppressed and always has the option coupled with the means to overthrow their own tyrannical government so they can put into place a government that works for the people. Defense of our lives and the lives of our loved ones is our God-given right, and it is enshrined in the US Constitution’s Bill of Rights, that the government shall not take that right from us. It’s called the Second Amendment. These are some of the major reasons why it is so entrenched in American culture to defend the right to keep and bear arms.
OP, it goes back to American history and our war of independence. One of the ways the British Monarchy at the time tried to control the people is by limiting who could have arms. Some of our Bill of Rights is based on our experiences during the Revolutionary War and the injustices leading up to it. Note that the right to bear arms is our 2nd amendment, listed after only one other – free speech, freedom of religion, etc. An armed citizenry is the best protection against government tyranny, which is why tyrants throughout history have worked to disarm the populace.
America is only 249 years old. The revolution and our independence is still a very strong part of our national culture. Many of us can trace our ancestry to people who fought in the war, adding to the high value placed on maintaining our independence.
Because the US has been in a constant state of tyranny for several generations, and the threat of a jack boot breaking through your door is very real. Also crime is very high, and no American trusts those same jack boots to actually defend them, so a citizen is in charge of his own defense.
And also, deep down, we all know what has to be done, eventually.
The largest issue is the unlawful individuals are going to get guns either way.
If you remove the right to own weapons the only people you are disarming is lawful individuals.
Bad people will get guns no matter the law, I’d like to have one too
The USA was birthed by kicking out a King and creating a country for the people by the people. Owning guns gave us this birth right and guns are needs to protect it.
We protect ourselves not our Government.
My handgun is for bears, as I solo hike in the mountains a lot. My AR15 is for our growing Gestapo problems 👍
Read up on the American Revolutionary war.
The first ten amendments to the US Constitution (including the 2nd which is what guarantees the right to bear arms) was written in the aftermath of that, and one of the things the British army tried to do was confiscate the weapons of the rebels.
There is a lot more to it, and the WP article is as good as any other place to start
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
Google wounded knee masacure.
Holy hell there’s a lot to this.
I’ll ignore (for the most part) the legal aspect of it.
For starters, American gun culture has its roots in the way the British colonized the Americas. The Spanish and Portuguese colonies held the land for the crown. But the English colonials owned their lands. Because they owned the land they had to be self sufficient and defend it. You needed guns for both.
The idea of self sufficiency and taking care of your own is very important in American culture. Even today most people just feel part of having a place of your own is being able to protect it. To do that you need a gun.
More recently our culture has seen just how little the police actually do in regards to protecting us. They are at best note takers for insurance after the fact. Usually they are much worse and just looking for reasons to jamb people up. If you want protection, you have to do it yourself. The best tool for that is a gun.
So basically it’s deeply rooted in our culture, it’s part of what makes our houses feel complete and it is what we have when no other help is coming.
The founding fathers gave us the right to protect us from the government. It’s that simple. They had just came through a horrible experience of a despot who would enslave and a war to end his rule. The only thing that saved them was their personal weapons. If the constitution failed to save us, then we would have what we need to try again. Those who would strip us of our rights are the same as that despot king.
We will need them again someday.
So I can protect myself
One of the reasons Russia has never tried to invade mainland USA is the guns per capita
If for no other reason than to protect ourselves from the corrupt government that we have .
Because we have a constitution. Something you wouldn’t understand if you don’t have one. 🤟🏼
My biggest concern about gun control laws is restricting law abiding citizens from being able to obtain a gun in which they could use to protect themselves in the event that those who do not follow laws obtain guns.
Criminals do not follow laws. Therefore, gun restrictions will only apply to law abiding citizens. The mere idea of restricting gun rights would prevent shootings is idiotic, because of the quantity of guns in the US, not to mention the ghost guns that are totally unregistered, and undocumented.
Do I think a mental health background check is a good idea? Absolutely.
Do I think proper storage of firearms when not in use is essential? Absolutely.
Do I think gun owners who allow someone other than them to use/possess their firearm should be charged with a felony and be held accountable for any murder/injury caused? Absolutely.
Agree to disagree.
I have guns for the same reason I have a fire extinguishers. Much better to have and never use than the other way around.
Oh the whole topic went off the rails ages ago.
It’s no longer a logical issue, it’s an emotional issue, and carrying a weapon is a security blanket for insecure folks, necessary for some folks like a short woman in a bad area, kinda sorta reasonable for folks that hunt a lot, an unfortunate tool for bullies, and a thousand other things to various groups.
When I was growing up pop had a FFL and dealt with all sorts from law enforcement to the prepper wackaloons. I’ve seen pretty much the whole spectrum of gun owners up close and the whole situation is a slow motion train wreck.
I have one to protect myself when the government collapses. Democrat here and honestly I still hate that people own guns and if I didn’t feel that there was a chance of a collapse I wouldn’t even own one
I’m a gun owner. I’m also pretty liberal and support significantly stricter gun laws. What it boils down to is that a ton of people own guns–if someone else with bad intentions is easily able to get a firearm, I want to be able to defend family and property with one as well. With that said, I wish they didn’t exist and I wish I didn’t have to worry about someone I love being shot for no reason.
The US has never managed to get drugs off the street…
To think they could reasonably disarm every criminal is both naive and ignorant.
Being armed is the best way to defend yourself against someone who is at least as deadly as yourself.
I’m a Cuban born now US citizen, when Fidel Castro did his revolution he bought some of the first rifles he used to start it, and the first thing he did after winning was taking our guns always talking about you are safe now and don’t need them, 60 something years later max thousand of dead, imprisoned and refugees his regime is still in power because only the military has weapons, any protest is violently terminated and protestors put in jail or worse.
The Second Amendment was designed to allow citizens to resist a potential tyrannical government. If the government takes away your right to self-defense, it’s a lot easier to take away all your other rights. Every authoritarian regime begins by disarming the citizenry. This is the most important reason, by far.
The gun is the great equalizer. It doesn’t matter how much bigger or stronger someone is. If anyone wants to hurt you, you have the power to defend yourself. Firearms are great for women in this regard.
There are over 60,000 defensive uses of firearms every year. Some studies report astronomically higher numbers as well. It’s hard to pinpoint how many lives are saved from these defensive actions, but it’s potentially as high as 2 million. 60k at the very least, of course. Comparatively, there are ~18,000 gun homicides per year. Not to mention the fact that 50-75% of gun crime is committed with illegally obtained firearms. This means that repealing the Second Amendment and taking the guns away from law-abiding citizens would drastically increase homicide rates. Let’s say all 60k of those defensive uses of firearms were potential gun homicides with only one victim so we can reduce everything by 50% by taking away the guns to be as generous to the anti-gun argument as possible. This means that at a bare minimum, you still have the 9,000 gun homicides plus 30,000 more from removing the people’s right to self-defense. 39,000 more than doubles the previous number of gun homicides. That’s the best case scenario. Worst case scenario is upwards of 1.5 million. Americans are much safer with their law-abiding neighbors owning firearms.
By and large, because we want to be sure we can protect ourselves from those who mean us harm and make sure they know we can.
Also, guns are fucking awesome.
There are still places in the US where a firearm is a necessity.
The second amendment gives you the right to bear arms. The first amendment gives you the freedom of speech. I wish more Americans would be more vocal about the first amendment than they are about the second amendment. Our freedom of speech is now being squashed are we speak.
Their history and try changing any culture by force, yea good luck. Also it is useful for civilians to protect themselves and against the government if needed.
All opinions and politics aside, it’s a right enshrined in the Constitution, and has as much importance, legally, as the freedom of speech, judicial process, and even equall rights to vote. The basic purpose of the right to ‘bare arms’ is to keep the power with the people, ensuring the government can’t take away any of the other rights.
It’s a sparsely-populated country with many dangerous regions, whether due to nature or criminality, where the cops are known for incompetence, the government is known for overreach, and the culture emphasises individuality.
It’s to keep the government in check.