Question for you US folks

[Liemann]

Hello, I've read the rules, and this Might be borderline for the political rule, if so I apologize, but I'll try asking it in as nonpolitical way as possible.
I'm from Sweden, and the only way to acquire guns here are for either hunting or sport. NOT for personal protection.

1. Do you Americans feel that guns for person protection are needed?

2. Why would anyone "need" an M4 or equivalent in their home?
It's my understanding that it's perfectly legal in the states to own assault rifles.

3. If the above statement is true (which I believe it is) where does the law draw the line? Obviously you can't own a grenade launcher for sporting purposes, but assault rifles seems fine. (biggest legal caliber, rate of fire etc)

I hope these are straight forward questions that don't anger the mods. If I did, just delete

Thank you.

[Chesten_Hesten]

1. Do you Americans feel that guns for person protection are needed?

Yes. I appreciate having the ability of choice on this matter.

2. Why would anyone "need" an M4 or equivalent in their home?
It's my understanding that it's perfectly legal in the states to own assault rifles.

Because it makes a damn fine deterant. Ex: as a person of criminal intent, would you be more likey to press you luck and charge a homeowner with a small handgun, an M4 rifle, or big-ass shotgun.

They'll all send you to the morgue, but the latter two have a bigger psychological impact on the criminal's choice of action. And if he does charge, I'd feel the odds even more stacked in my favor when I lit him up with the rifle or shotgun.

So again I appreciate having a choice of tools whith which I gain mechanical advantage for a given confrontation.

3. If the above statement is true (which I believe it is) where does the law draw the line?

So yes they have. Explosives are a controlled item. Silencers are a controlled item (although apparently these aren't so controlled in the UK? its illegal to have a silencer without a Federal permit in the States even if its on an ari rifle), as are machine guns.

Citizens are free to own semi-automatic rifles, and why not?

[Ifight4Beer]

Hey I heard Japan wouldn't try to raid Hawaii in WW2 and one of the main reasons was because they knew there were an average of 2 guns per person on the Island. Americans want to be able to protect ourselves. just think about, forign invasion, personal pertection, lawnessness breaks out, ALIEN INVASION! Were ready for it all, if we are armed.

[Liemann]

I was just reading about the Justin Eilers shooting.. He got mad and threw some plates, and his STEP FATHER pulls out a gun and KILLS him?
I understand this happens all the time in the US but too me it's just unreal..
Why would you shoot someone for disagreeing with you? I'm not saying every one in America are crazy gun loving sociopaths, but the statistics don't lie either.

I think it's all in your head that an assault rifle is more intimidating than a 9mm handgun. They will both kill you? And also, if it's for protection why do so many people die from "i was just protecting myself" type of gunshot wounds? Don't u know where to aim? Oh, here im rambling...

[jerrylundergard]

1) Hell yes. If someone breaks into my house or pulls a gun on me my life is now in that guys hands. Calling the cops wont diffuse the situation fast enough. The bad guy has brandished a weapon and no cop will make it in time. My thing is I want to win a gun fight but at the very worst I want to hit that guy with some bullets so he shows up in a hospital and is tagged even if I die. Ive got a concealed weapons permit and carry a 9mm with 16 bullets. I also carry pepper spray. My size and kung fu skillz arent good enough against multiple attackers or armed ones. So Ill take care of my own sercurity. Crime rates in the US are pretty high. Especially if you live in a "diverse" city.

2) I have an AK47 with around 10 30 round magazines filled up with some nice rounds for an intruder. A rifle bullet will stop an attacker better than a handgun round. The amount of damage that the bad guy will absorb with a 7.62x39 bullet is FAR worse than what my 9mm would do to him. If the home invaders come in a group or with multiple guns I can better handle the situation with my rifle. Also, I like to hunt and my AK47 can kill any animal I will encounter.

3) Americans can get lots of goodies if we have the proper permits. Im pretty sure shoulder fired RPGs and grenades would be harder to get permits for. Fully automatic rifles here require special permits but they can be had if you follow instructions and dont have legal troubles.

Funny side note about Sweden. I lived there for 3 years and had a seafood import/export biz. Our competition repeatedly threatened us with the hellz angels/bandidos. They have shot up other competitors and ruffed up others. It sucked pretty bad having to scrounge around to get ahold of shotguns to defend our bizness/homes. All the while we were doing that illegally and woulda been sent to jail. Sometimes the law isnt just...

[bubba]

protection, YES!!

you would want a gun if you lived in the the area i lived in or in any US city these days.(Crime)

[Chesten_Hesten]

I was just reading about the Justin Eilers shooting.. He got mad and threw some plates, and his STEP FATHER pulls out a gun and KILLS him?
I understand this happens all the time in the US but too me it's just unreal..
Why would you shoot someone for disagreeing with you? I'm not saying every one in America are crazy gun loving sociopaths, but the statistics don't lie either.

I think it's all in your head that an assault rifle is more intimidating than a 9mm handgun. They will both kill you? And also, if it's for protection why do so many people die from "i was just protecting myself" type of gunshot wounds? Don't u know where to aim? Oh, here im rambling...

I read that Eilers was going berzerk or something, and was shot. Most of the self defense laws read that its from the perspective of the person attacted, (i.e. did you fear for your life) Was the step father charged or released?

And no these things don't happen all the time in America.

Assault rifles are far more intimidating that handguns. Especially from the business end. They offer much more mechanical advantage in a fight.

As to the last question, In texas at least its illegal to shoot to wound someone. You can shoot to kill, or shoot with intent to stop. But if you say i shot him in the leg to wound him, you'll be arrsted. Symantics you see, but that's the law. Its like a sword, you don't pull it unless you intend to kill....

[Liemann]

Originally Posted by jerrylundergard

1) Hell yes. If someone breaks into my house or pulls a gun on me my life is now in that guys hands. Calling the cops wont diffuse the situation fast enough. The bad guy has brandished a weapon and no cop will make it in time. My thing is I want to win a gun fight but at the very worst I want to hit that guy with some bullets so he shows up in a hospital and is tagged even if I die. Ive got a concealed weapons permit and carry a 9mm with 16 bullets. I also carry pepper spray. My size and kung fu skillz arent good enough against multiple attackers or armed ones. So Ill take care of my own sercurity. Crime rates in the US are pretty high. Especially if you live in a "diverse" city.

I guess I can accept that. Especially if you have been checked into so that they don't give guns too people with a violent past.

Originally Posted by jerrylundergard

2) I have an AK47 with around 10 30 round magazines filled up with some nice rounds for an intruder. A rifle bullet will stop an attacker better than a handgun round. The amount of damage that the bad guy will absorb with a 7.62x39 bullet is FAR worse than what my 9mm would do to him. If the home invaders come in a group or with multiple guns I can better handle the situation with my rifle. Also, I like to hunt and my AK47 can kill any animal I will encounter.

I didn't carry that much ammo in the military lol..
Well it's for protection not killing? A 9mm will do just fine imo. AK to hunt? That sounds very sketchy.. For one thing in Sweden u can't hunt with fully automatic weapons, and secondly AK47 is a military weapon, which i don't think is even possible to own personally in Sweden.

Originally Posted by jerrylundergard

3) Americans can get lots of goodies if we have the proper permits. Im pretty sure shoulder fired RPGs and grenades would be harder to get permits for. Fully automatic rifles here require special permits but they can be had if you follow instructions and dont have legal troubles.

Well clearly these permits can't be very strict?

Originally Posted by jerrylundergard

Funny side note about Sweden. I lived there for 3 years and had a seafood import/export biz. Our competition repeatedly threatened us with the hellz angels/bandidos. They have shot up other competitors and ruffed up others. It sucked pretty bad having to scrounge around to get ahold of shotguns to defend our bizness/homes. All the while we were doing that illegally and woulda been sent to jail. Sometimes the law isnt just...

How odd, since they are rival gangs. Either way, it's VERY rare you hear anything about them on the news. I think it used to be worse. I'm pretty young, so I can't really recall news events from mid 90s and back.

[Ifight4Beer]

Hey if my step dad went crazy and killed me I think I would rather him shoot me than grab a meat cleaver and go to town on me. Pluss what if the Nazies take over your goverment and want to genisi your race of people? what will your familey fight back with??

[Liemann]

Originally Posted by Chesten_Hesten

I read that Eilers was going berzerk or something, and was shot. Most of the self defense laws read that its from the perspective of the person attacted, (i.e. did you fear for your life) Was the step father charged or released?

And no these things don't happen all the time in America.

Assault rifles are far more intimidating that handguns. Especially from the business end. They offer much more mechanical advantage in a fight.

As to the last question, In texas at least its illegal to shoot to wound someone. You can shoot to kill, or shoot with intent to stop. But if you say i shot him in the leg to wound him, you'll be arrsted. Symantics you see, but that's the law. Its like a sword, you don't pull it unless you intend to kill....

Wow, those are some f'kd up laws from my point of view. Well, Texas have lots of weird laws..Whats the difference between "wounding" and "intent too stop" ? The whole point is to for example shot in the leg to.. guess what.. stop!

I could see a scenario played out like this.. Someone tries to rob me but i pull out my gun, and he pulls out his, and i shot him in the leg, takes his gun away and later tells the cops "i shot him in the leg, nobody deserves to die" *cop goes crazy* you did what son?! Didn't shoot to kill, eh? You're under arrest!

In Sweden the self defense laws are much different.. When it comes too "Most of the self defense laws read that its from the perspective of the person attacted, (i.e. did you fear for your life)"

In case of Eilers, as far as I've read and understood he was just throwing plates. If someone told a Swedish court he feared for his life when a plate came flying he'd be charged with manslaughter so quickly.

There's also a law which states that you should not use more force than necessery. As with the Eilers example. Shooting someone in the chest when the throws dinner plates at you, would definatly be considered excessive force.