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Showing posts with label Intelligence Squared. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Intelligence Squared. Show all posts
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Thursday, March 28, 2013
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I guess it depends which side of the Atlantic you're on. In the US gun control is a hot button issue; a freedom sown into the very fabric of the state. Gun ownership is mainstream culture; led by the NRA, an immensely powerful organisation that wielding formidable political power. If you're a politician that wants to tackle the gun lobby, you're going to have to consider the negative consequences to your political future. The flipside of this enthusiasm is the occasional pile of corpses shot to pieces by deranged gunmen. Recent events have made this debate is about as serious as it gets: one side seeing a uniquely American cultural institution under assault and the other terrified of the frequent, random atrocities that occur whenever a lunatic with a gun collection snaps.
But here in the UK we couldn't really give a toss. A series of gun control Acts in 1903, 1920, 1937, 1968 and 1997 has resulted in the UK having one of the lowest rate of homicide by gun in the world. There's no detectable pro-gun lobby in the UK and any politician seriously proposing to relax laws on gun control would either be trying to sabotage their election prospects or have gone utterly insane. As it stands, the vast majority of British citizens will never fire a gun in their life and have little desire to.
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