Quote Originally Posted by One from the Vaults View Post
Actually they usually aren't. Here in Toronto, where most of our firearms are from across the American border, there was a gang bust last year in which 120 gang members were arrested. They seized 10 kilos of cocaine, some heroin, some marijuana... and a grand total of 20 firearms, which included a couple AKs. So... 20 guns per 120 gang members. In a city that's right near the American border, with the largest relevant difference being that on this side of the border, there's gun control.

If 120 members of a single gang in your city were arrested, how many guns do you think would be found when their homes are searched? Think gun availability would factor into it at all?
[/politics]

Let's measure the ratio of armed criminals to defenseless victims in your country. Also, excluding firearms, what would be your preferred method of defense if the gang with the 20 guns attacked you? Hand-to-hand combat, perchance? Here in the US, armed murderers like to target childrens' schools and colleges (see Virginia Tech Massacre, Columbine, etc.), because they are "gun-free zones". That translates to a free-for-all for any coward with a gun -- he can't get hurt, because he's just mowing down a bunch of soft targets. And that's why school/college shootings swiftly go up and up in body count, before somebody finally manages to be able to incapacitate the killer. And often, it simply ends in suicide, or the killer simply running out of bullets because he didn't expect such luck as no one having a gun. Calling the police during a mass shooting gets the guy with the chalk out there -- statistics show they rarely can show up in time to stop an in-progress shooting, and even when they do, several victims have already been shot to death.

Gun control is good in theory. In real life, it's a different story. Deaths from violent crime are statistically lower where there is limited or no gun control, because the would-be offenders know that they could be picking on the wrong guy or girl at any given time. Again, in theory, gun control makes sense. In real life, it translates to "Guns are for criminals."