Pennsylvania Gun Laws

Lucid Lounge
1

I don’t want to start a political debate or anything, but I am very angry about this. My grandmother, who lives alone, is on mood altering medication, and has no firearm experience whatsoever, was able to purchase a handgun recently with only a 1-hour background check. She didn’t need a license, training, or anything other than her checkbook and an hour to spare.

Am I the only one who sees something severely wrong with this? Even if she did have training, she’s far too weak from her medications to use a gun correctly. Anyone can see that from just looking at her, gun store owners included. She’s going to end up killing someone or herself because Pennsylvania doesn’t feel it’s necessary to have anything but the most basic of gun control. You can even buy assault rifles here without even a license. This is insane.

The first opportunity I get, I’m giving up my citizenship and moving out of this country. I refuse to give any kind of support to a system that allows a heavily medicated, volatile-tempered, elderly woman to buy a gun with no mandatory training or even a waiting period.

I just had to get this off my chest, I am fuming here.

2

That is disturbing, and quite frightening to be honest. At the very least, Firearm Stores should ensure that the customer is mentally stable before giving them such a dangerous weapon.

Now if a mentally unstable elderly woman can get her hands on a Gun, then anyone can get their hands on a gun, quite easily I might add. I can only imagine what sort of crime is consequential of this carelessness.

Who runs these Gun Shops? They should be shot. >.<

3

Exactly. Look at how well Britain is doing, with their strict gun control. Only 50-something shootings last year, as opposed to America’s 11,000+ shootings. When I was homeless, I slept every night to the sound of gunfire. Now I know why.

We’re the only country that doesn’t end in -stan that thinks the world’s problems can be solved with hollowpoints, buckshot, and explosives. I always stood up for America, at least a little bit, but this is the straw that broke the camel’s back.

4

Owh! Rob, that is indeed… Well, hideous, quite frankly, it is obscene, and scary. :no: But I don’t think you should react that way, and just give up on the US. If there’s something that serious going on where you live, you should do your best to change it, go to a court and— :eh: OK. Actually, I don’t know how the legal system works there. But anyways, do something in order to get that criminal allowance changed.

I’m probably biased when it comes to this particular subject, as I’m a pacifist and a person who’s particularly opposed to the culture of violence in your country. I understand it has historical roots and that maintaining the right to carry weapons is a matter of honour in your society, but I just cannot approve of how things are dealt with there.

On the other hand—and even though I’m against nationalism in general—I don’t think you should give up your country that easily. Hell, I don’t see how that will ever change anything. And think of the many grannies and sociopaths and whatnot are getting their hands at weapons every day: this cannot be ignored or left behind, it must be changed.

Politics are treated in a most idiosyncratic way in America. From Alaska to Patagonia, we’re about 35 countries plus a bunch of dependencies: that’s a lot of people. And yet, nowhere I look at, people deal with politics as it is meant to be dealt with. Politics, in America, is a profession—it was, however, supposed to consist not of a career, but of a right, and moreover a duty.

Running away from your country would be assuming you have nothing to do with the guys who manage your country, that the country is not “of” the people or “by” the people and definitely not at all “for” the people. So what happened to the big project? To the whole “lets build a great thing, lets do it different” thing my Yank friends are so enthusiastic about, concerning their country? Do you think you should just give that away?

I say: if you’re so deeply radicalized by what’s happened, if you think it is to critical and obscene, you should try to change it: and not until you’re sure you’re completely out of control, not until you’re sure the Dream is a lie and politics are indeed no more than a career, should you seriously talk about abandoning your country.

My two cents.

5

For many, myself included(though you know full well my opinions on guns quite differ from mainstream, gun totin’ USA), it is not so much an issue of honor, but of freedom. Now of course there should be strict systems in place to make sure people like that, and many other strains of people do not get their hands on guns, and I would never buy/even touch a weapon, but I totally support the freedom of a sound minded, law abiding, person(white male landowner :tongue:), to own a gun. It is a matter of choice and freedom.

Woke up on the romantic side of the bed there, ol’ chap?
I’m all for not giving up and rather trying to change things, but our country is no longer of, for, or by the people. This “big thing we’re all building” has crumbled. The USA is still a functioning, prosporus, and powerful nation, yes, but the symbol of goodness, peace, and liberty it was supposed to be is gone.

6

DayLight’s right. It’d be great to start writing politicians, picketing the White House, and complaining to MSNBC while “Fight The Power” By Public Enemy plays in the background ( :razz: ), but the public opinion matters about as much as a fart in the wind these days. The government’s really got us by the glayvens here.

I might as well try to legalize a certain green plant while I’m at it, for all the good it’d do me.

7

Nationalism and patriotism are two different things. One can support their country also not at the expense of others.

8

Well, perhaps you’re looking at the situation the wrong way. I’d like a disclaimer first, to say that I am in no way in support of the current Pennsylvania gun laws, but I’d like to bring up a different view for the sake of… Well, not quite argument, but just for the sake of having a different view.

Imagine a helpless person walking down the street late at night. Let’s call this person “A”. Now, imagine a mugger walking down the same street. Let’s call this person “B”. Now, imagine person A being mugged by person B. Fine. Simple enough.

Now add guns to the equation. What if person A has a gun while person B doesn’t? What if person B has a gun while person A doesn’t? What if both persons have guns?

Now, consider how much more likely it is that person B has a gun than person A in a state with tougher gun laws. Maybe at first glance, it might seem less likely that person B has a gun than person A. However, one has to remember the interesting “black market” that could easily put a gun into person B’s hands. Person A, on the other hand, might not look to get a gun legally because it takes too much time. Additionally, person A probably won’t go to the black market to buy a gun if person A is a well-to-do citizen.

It’s a theoretical situation, but maybe tougher gun laws are more effective in pushing a black market. Maybe by having Pennsylvania gun laws in place as they are, it’s better to be able to have many more individuals registered in a database instead.

Of course, there is the obvious trade-off of registration vs. guns getting into the hands of the wrong people. And I believe that we need to keep guns out of the hands of wrong people. Maybe it’s not that the government in Pennsylvania is ignorant (and that’s a BIG maybe), but maybe they just don’t have their priorities straight.

I don’t believe that what they’re doing is right, but I just decided that I’d offer an alternate explanation.

9

For self-defense, a knife is usually enough. Unless you have a gun pointed at you.

10

It’s not so much that it dosen’t matter, I think, but that it is severly distorted and manipulated. Many people whose minds have not been manipulated revert to complaciency(kinda like me…), and that dosent leave many people left…

:yay: :thumbs: :yay:

And I would feel terrible taking a gun out of person A’s hands and into person B’s hands(i’d feel great taking them from both though), but the laws should at least be tough enough to keep person C, the elderly and mentally unstable person, away from weapons.

11

Ne0, you do make a good point. I’d even say that’s an almost acceptable reason to make the laws so lax. But the thing is, in PA, registration is optional for most guns. Only time a handgun requires registration here is if you want to conceal it, and obviously the type of person who would take advantage of that fact won’t apply for a concealed weapon registration. So in essence, gun shops in PA are akin to a legal black market.

2 years ago there was a heavily armed standoff in the city where I lived (scary as hell too, I walked right past it as it was going on), and you’d think THAT would have raised a few eyebrows amongst the stuffed shirts, but nope. These guys won’t budge until it affects them personally.

I’ve always agreed with the right to bear arms, but the more I look into the local laws, the more flabbergasted I get.

12

I found this for you if you haven’t seen it yet. It looks like that there are a lot of gun problems there.
bradycampaign.org/legislatio … .php?st=pa

I live in Florida, and there arn’t as many things under FL in that website.

I hope it could help you

13

:open_mouth: There’s not even any anti-trafficking measures?? Thanks, Spud, I didn’t know about some of this.

14

ur welcome :content:

actually i think guns r worse in fl. I hear stuff in the news about guns all the time. It’s scary :sad:
there was a shoot out at a Wal-Mart by my school.
and my neighbor was robbed by gunpoint.

I don’t know when this was recorded but, I also found this.

The Firearms Death Rate for your state was about 10 per 100,000. (mine was a little worse.)

I got it from statemaster.com/red/graph/cr … er-100-000

15

Florida is pretty bad. Of course, the news stations tend to only focus on the bad news, so I’m sure a lot of what I’ve heard is just media hype.

16

I live in Florida as well, and in my local area, usually all the bad things that happen are caused by kids who PRETEND to have guns. (last year’s news, if you heard) Although, I don’t live anywhere near Miami. (just an assumption)

And I’m not sticking up for these laws, but I though I should put in my 2 cents:***

“They” did the same thing with alcohol in either the 19th or early 20th century. (sorry, I can’t quite remember) The smuggling and black market problems became too huge for the government to handle, so they had to make alcohol legal again.

And there’s always the worry that by taking weapons away from the people, the government would have even MORE power. The people would be left without even basic defenses. That’s why we have the right to bear arms in our legal system, in case some president wanted to be a dictator sometime in the future.***

***Not my exact beliefs. Just what I’ve heard people say.

EDIT: Whoa. Posted at the same time as someone else. Cool. :content:

17

After seeing that list, I have to agree with you (even more) about the ridiculousness of the gun laws in Pennsylvania. It’s as if they’re just handing them out as they can. God! What the heck can’t you do with a gun there?!

20th century. 1920s-ish. Repealed by FDR. Black markets for alcohol were called speakeasies, I believe. :wink:

EDIT: Whoa. Posted at the same time as someone else. Cool. :content:

18

:tongue: Thanks for that history. I haven’t taken US History yet… :hide:

But the almost total freedom guns are sold with, how are we suppose to cope without having to get guns ourselves? :scared: I mean, where does it stop?

19

You hit the nail right on the head. It doesn’t stop. It’s a perpetual loop of “well, if they get a gun, so do I!” and “If they get to shoot people in self-defense, so do I!”

No wonder our forefathers called America a “brotherhood”, we act like a bunch of siblings trying to one-up each other.

20

Except, real brothers don’t mean to kill each other. :eh: