Stupid people shouldn't be able to own cars either, but they do. Forgive my cynicism, but I have difficulty believing a government could actually educate and train almost any applicant sufficiently to prevent accidental firearm murders.
The problem here is if you don't think that the government aren't capable of educating or training people in firearms then what makes you think they'll be at all competent in enforcing a ban?
I have no idea how competent a government would be in enforcing a ban. Probably not very good, given the number of unlicenced car drivers in many countries. You're still ascribing me preferences I don't have. From a previous post:
I think gun control in the US would cause more problems than it would solve.
I'm not really following this part:
From what I've seen American soldiers and police officers are worse than the gun owners that they're going to be banning. I shouldn't have to remind people about the infamous friendly fire incident which got British soldiers killed in Iraq which is why I am seriously staggered that anyone would suggest banning guns is going to achieve anything worthwhile.
Just to show I'm not hugely biased and just being anti-american the Tottenham riots which happened recently were supposedly started off by British police officers who were doing an arrest and ended up shooting the guy they were going to get, there was a big fuss about whether or not he resisted and stuff or did anything to deserve it. Which pretty much shows you that the idea that anyone has a right over other people to defend themselves or uphold the law with or without guns is just plain bullshit.
As far as I'm concerned the idea that police or government forces are some how 'morally' superior in enforcing this etc. is just silly loyalist propaganda.
I'm not sure this is a conversation you're having with me, or a chance to blow off steam on a topic about which you feel strongly. Fair enough! We all have our favourite rant topics
But I don't want to be dragged sideways into a conversation about things of which I know even less than the thread topic, and about which I have not yet formed an opinion.
Maybe you have misunderstood the general point I've been trying to make in this thread. A while after starting the thread I came to a conclusion: making arbitrary distinctions in the legality of weapons and
then rationalising those categories is pointless.