British and World: Right to Bear Arms Now!

Okay, first off, I am very much swimming against the cultural tide here in this country; also, what with the majority of my views being left/liberal to some degree, this could be interpreted as a contradiction.

I say no. Gun rights should be a liberal issue, no matter how ridiculous that seems. The classic political spectrum says liberals focus on personal freedom, whereas conservatives focus on economic freedom (low taxes, etc.)

(Images: Ar-15 and Mossberg 500, top; below, Barrett .50 cal (1/2 inch, in other words) being fired. All guns legal from US citizens, images found on Creative Commons. Guns are cool. Admit it, you want one.)

The Right to Bear Arms, or the Right to Self-Defence, should be an example of personal freedom that libs would support, but unfortunately no. They have priotitised the right to be free from the 'dangerous' legal gun owners.

(Image: Scanning for knives. George Orwell's 1984 anyone? This is NOT AN AIRPORT this is a train station.)

I understand why someone would be pro-gun control. The aim of this idea is to minimise gun deaths. As seen from evidence of comparisons between gun death rates around the world, it works, in the sense that countries with fewer guns (both legal/illegal) have fewer gun deaths.

What the numbers don't say, however, is that, in societies without guns, many principles and values have been lost, and the balance of power between criminal and citizen has been affected.

I don't want to be an alarmist, but Britain has in some ways descended into lawlessness among its young people in the last few years. Overall crime is down, but violent crime, particularly knife and gun crime, is up.

(Images: what's wrong with British society? The weapons, or the attitude?)

I personally have heard stories and rumours about people who could source illegal guns from someone or other, so it doesn't surprise me that (apparently) one in eight British men claim to be able to source a gun if they really wanted to.

(Image: Now that's the kind of thinking I can get behind!)

I'd like the Brady campaign to pay a visit to our towns and cities, where violent savages will use any weapon they have, whether it's a gun, a knife or their feet.

Also, what the numbers and reports don't tell is the fear, sometimes bordering on paranoia, that has taken control of our culture. Guns and knives, and those who own them, are the subject of hatred, misunderstanding and ignorance in our culture. (I carry a knife...when I'm making a sandwich, lol) Most legal weapon owners want to defend themselves and their families, nothing more.

(Image: Do you believe gun ownership is freedom from fear? I don't totally agree...but I think we are both less vulnerable and less fearful with guns than without.)

(Image: Shooting, in America, is often a community event that brings people together...)

(...and not just the guys! Also, guns give women, the elderly, the weak etc. a fair chance against the typical violent male offender.)

In America, a Vice-Presifential candidate can be portrayed as a good, gun-toting, patriotic hunter.

In Britain, one photo of Katy Perry holding a knife and she is condemned to tabloid hell. (even though some people had common sense)

(Image: The Sun (UK tabloid) gave, in my opinion, a ridiculously over-the-top reaction to Katy Perry, a woman who I now have huge respect for. She mocked their paranoid anti-weapon message and made them look silly doing so. And The Sun is owned by --drum roll-- Rupert Murdoch, the one-man media plague, so victory all around!)

Banning weapons does not work because criminals are criminals and will arm themeslves illegally anyway. But instead, we seem to have decided banning guns is not enough, and that Airsoft Guns need banning. What the hell is going on!?

To win the war on crime, and especially to combat the power which criminals hold over citizens in gun-control societies, we need to level the playing field and give law-abiding people the chance to defend themselves, because policing can't do it alone.

The Silent Majority, the success of gun control is a lie. It's time to take back our freedoms.