Bishops remain focused on 'responsible restrictions' on gun ownership

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Brendan said:
And what would prevent anyone from making their own guns.

I’ve made my own flintlocks from scratch, but there is very little reason that I could not build a WW II British Sten gun. They were designed to be built in garage shops.

Given a week, I could have a home built submachine gun in my hands, using tools I could get from any Home Depot and materials from there and the local scrap yard.

If someone had more metal working experience than a hobbyist such as I ( perhaps someone who worked in a auto body shop) and access to a basic metal press, they could turn out several an hour.

So the criminals will be doing more than fitfully trying to reload, they would be spraying the area with full auto fire.
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Where’s the salivate smiley?
 
Padre4103 said:
My compliments, a man who can actually use the rationality that makes us in the image of God! I do not understand people who blame an inanimate piece of metal for the evil in the hearts of men! The fact of the matter is that the MORAL TEACHING of the Church admits a right, and duty, to defend yourself–guns make this possible for the weak!

Its great to speak about this duty, that a Father has to his family, in ABSTRACT, but what do you tell a man whose family is endangered by armed militants? I was speaking to an African Catholic the other day who was telling me about the violence he is experiencing from the radicalized (by Arab Muslims driven from the Middle East by the US) Muslims in his county. Firearms are illegal, but the Muslims are passing them out at Mosque. Another Genocide waiting to happen, the usual result of gun control historically speaking.

I would augment point 4) by pointing out if I wanted a gun for a mass murder I would take it from a cop, unless we are proposing the disarming of the Police. Also, this whole debate is so 20th century. In the 1940s Polish resistance fighters fashioned machine guns underground with no specialized tools, today with C&C machines and computer assisted manufacturing anyone who wants an illicit gun can literally make one.

Finally, one should note that the most deadly school massacre in US history occured in Bath, MI, in 1927. The Assault Weapons of choice, a car and gasoline.
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Well said, can’t really add anything to it!
 
ajecphotos said:
Doesnt it state to turn the other cheek when being hit?

Gun culture in the US is terrible.
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I would guess that you have very little understanding of the “gun culture” in the U.S. The average AR-15 owner is in their mid thirties, politically conservative, with at least some college and above-average income.

The “criminal culture” does not make access to guns a priority – in fact, they are happier with strict gun laws being in place, as it means they are less likely to run into an armed target. Crime rates in the UK (essentially disarmed) vs. crime rates in the US are also enlightening: nationmaster.com/compare/United-Kingdom/United-States/Crime

Gun control does not correlate to a decrease in crime rates.
 
Glomung said:
My idea, let folks have any gun they want, as long as it is single shot.
The hunters can hunt. The sharpshooters can shoot. The criminals will just have to fumble around with handfulls of ammo as they fitfully try to reload.
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Are you okay with the police and military operating under this restriction?
 
pnewton said:
I would like to think pretty much all Christians think this way. I really never meant to imply otherwise, as I relate to your post and agree with you. It may be more paricular to my circle that the temptation for vengence over justice is strong. I understand the “Guns and Ammo” crowd that enjoys the hobby. This stuff is fun, even though self-defense is serious business. Maybe it is just me and my own areas of temptations of departing from justice and stepping over the line. Heavens knows it is a constant temptation for me here.
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I’ve heard a lot of people make statements to the effect of “I don’t want to carry a gun, with my temper, I’d be inclined to use it.” Usually people who make that statement would be the ones least likely to pull it out and start blasting away randomly. Carrying around a weapon is actually a rather sobering responsibility, as it is relatively easy to lose the right to carry, among other things.
 
I skipped a number of pages in this thread because its so long but I would like to know some things.

How are criminals getting their guns? Is it from stealing guns from legitimate gun owners? Are they getting access to it from the manufacturers of guns by means of theft? Is it from “loopholes” from the private sale of guns? Is it from improper storage on the part of law abiding citizens?
 
JMJSHJ said:
Is it from “loopholes” from the private sale of guns? Is it from improper storage on the part of law abiding citizens?
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How do you define “improper storage”. Thieves love gun safes, all the expensive stuff is one spot that only takes a few minutes to break into. Or you just pick up the the entire safe toss it on the back of a pickup ant open it at you leasure at home.

Source for weapons:

firearmsid.com/feature%20articles/0900guic/guns%20used%20in%20crime.htm
According to the 1991 Survey of State Prison Inmates, among those inmates who possessed a handgun, 9% had acquired it through theft and 28% had acquired it through an illegal market such as a drug dealer or fence. Of all inmates, 10% had stolen at least one gun, and 11% had sold or traded stolen guns.
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Studies of adult and juvenile offenders that the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services conducted in 1992 and 1993 found that 15% of the adult offenders and 19% of the juvenile offenders had stolen guns; 16% of the adults and 24% of the juveniles had kept a stolen gun; and 20% of the adults and 30% of the juveniles had sold or traded a stolen gun.
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From a sample of juvenile inmates in four States, Sheley and Wright found that more than 50% had stolen a gun at least once in their lives and 24% had stolen their most recently obtained handgun. They concluded that theft and burglary were the original, not always the proximate, source of many guns acquired by the juveniles.
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SamH said:
How do you define “improper storage”. Thieves love gun safes, all the expensive stuff is one spot that only takes a few minutes to break into. Or you just pick up the the entire safe toss it on the back of a pickup ant open it at you leasure at home.

Source for weapons:

firearmsid.com/feature%20articles/0900guic/guns%20used%20in%20crime.htm
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I would define Improper storage as a person who owns multiple weapons and they are left lying around that anybody can pick up and use. What you are describing I would not classify as improper storage as how could one expect a law abiding citizen to do more than have a safe.
 
SamH said:
How do you define “improper storage”. Thieves love gun safes, all the expensive stuff is one spot that only takes a few minutes to break into. Or you just pick up the the entire safe toss it on the back of a pickup ant open it at you leasure at home.

Source for weapons:

firearmsid.com/feature%20articles/0900guic/guns%20used%20in%20crime.htm
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Aren’t gun safes really to keep your inquisitive children safe, rather than prevent thefts?

The reason I use trigger locks is to make sure my kids can’t do anything stupid. Not to stop a bad guy from using my gun.

In the same way I store my ammo in a different location from the guns. Because one day one child may find a way to open the gun safe and undo a trigger lock…

And yes, you should train your kids in firearms safety . I train them to make their beds and tidy their rooms too, but… kids are kids.
 
Personally, I think assault rifles and guns like that should be banned. Even if you use them for self defense, I think they’re way too much to use for that.
 
triumphguy said:
Aren’t gun safes really to keep your inquisitive children safe, rather than prevent thefts?

The reason I use trigger locks is to make sure my kids can’t do anything stupid. Not to stop a bad guy from using my gun.

In the same way I store my ammo in a different location from the guns. Because one day one child may find a way to open the gun safe and undo a trigger lock…

And yes, you should train your kids in firearms safety . I train them to make their beds and tidy their rooms too, but… kids are kids.
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You should watch security footage of home invasions, they’re very fast and often very violent. They don’t knock and wait outside for you to fiddle with your locks.
 
pnewton said:
One small addition I would like to add that one only has aduty to defend oneself when it is the context of defense of society. He may have a duty, a grave duty, to defend.

Note the context of defending the community. Police and soldiers can not be pacifist in defense of the community. It is a derilection of their duty. For others, peace and non-violence is a legitimate choice.
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I am responsible for the defense of my family and myself, should my lack of a badge or camouflage be a valid excuse to disarm me?
 
triumphguy said:
Aren’t gun safes really to keep your inquisitive children safe, rather than prevent thefts?.
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No, some look like bank safes. Those generally have a fireproof rating as well.

I have a steel gun cabinet. Those are not the inch thick steel of a full safe. It’s more of 16 gauge steel. I also have those for theft protection more so than child protection.

If it was just child protection, I probably would have just gone with trigger locks.
 
tsb37 said:
Personally, I think assault rifles and guns like that should be banned. Even if you use them for self defense, I think they’re way too much to use for that.
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the penetration of a rifle far exceeds any handgun.
that is unless one is using rounds designed for pelts. These rounds are explosive and do not over penetrate. By explosive the bullets fragment easliy.
take a .357 with 160 grain bullet compared to a .223 with a 50 grain bullet.
At 200yrds away the .223 bullet has the same energy and yet more speed than the .357 has at the end of it’s barrel.
i do agree there really is no need for assult rifles for self/home defense.
 
Geist said:
You should watch security footage of home invasions, they’re very fast and often very violent. They don’t knock and wait outside for you to fiddle with your locks.
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And truimphguy is following the law in his country regarding safe storage of firearms.
That’s why i keep a 8 inch double edge dagger on our headboard.
Yep there’s no law on how one stores knives and such.
 
fbl9 said:
And truimphguy is following the law in his country regarding safe storage of firearms.
That’s why i keep a 8 inch double edge dagger on our headboard.
Yep there’s no law on how one stores knives and such.
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True.

And I might do something similar - just in case of you want to invade my home:D
 
Maybe if we could get humans to not want to murder each other, we would not need ‘gun laws’ that nobody obeys…

My father has said MANY times “locks only keep honest people out.” The same may be said for gun laws. They are only effective against persons predisposed to obeying the law in the first place. I don’t understand why more people don’t see this… All that will come of this, is guns taken away from law abiding citizens and making them less able to defend themselves. Unless the government doesn’t care about us being murdered by insane machine gun weilding crazies, and is afraid of something else… But that’s another topic (probably better suited for a different forum).
 
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