MovieChat Forums > American Guns (2011) Discussion > You Don't Know How Lucky You Are

You Don't Know How Lucky You Are

posted 12 years ago by timmytoo2001-2
18 replies | jump to latest

The first series of Gunsmoke ran here in the UK in back to back episodes last week and I watched all of them .I thought it was brilliant entertainment. What you have to realise is that here in the UK there are very strict laws about owning guns following a couple of bad incidents when shooters who owned guns perfectly legally went berserk and killed and wounded several people. I'm not going into whether or not letting the general population own guns or not is a good thing, but you can't just walk into a gunstore here and buy a gun just like that or go to a firing range, even our Olympic shooting teams now have to travel outside the UK to be able to practice legally.
To be able to watch people having so much fun with guns and blowing S**t up is just excellent. Even to a non-expert like me it's obvious that things are not what they seem in the show but, lighten up, it's not a documentary it's a made for TV entertainment show, and on that level it succeeds admirably.
Can't wait for series 2 to air over here. Meanwhile, Sons of Guns has just started here so I'll be watching that instead.

[–] xnobozos 12 years ago

As a life long shooter and gun collector I can appreciate your situation under the UK's unreasonable gun laws. While the Wyatt's live in the "wild" west state of what I believe is Colorado, I live in the "wild" east in the fascist state of New Jersey, which has the toughest state gun laws in the entire nation. Carrying a gun like the Wyatt's all do is strictly forbidden her, just buying a handgun can take months of waiting for approval. You cannot just walk into a gunshop here and buy a handgun like they do in most states, where they do an instant background check and if you pass you can go home with your new handgun. In New Jersey, you have to pay to apply for a permit, pay about $50. additionally for a finger print check, wait for months to get the permit and you can only buy one gun a month. I know this doesn't sound too difficult to someone from the UK, but for a US citizen, it's ridiculous.
One of my beefs with American Guns is the fact that they freely use high explosives to accentuate their target shooting. This is all BS. They're using demolition experts setting off high explosives with a switch, it's not the ammunition exploding. Sons of Guns is guilty of the same shameless exhibitions. Also, responsible shooters do not shoot at glass objects in a grassy field and leave the sharp shards for livestock and people to step on a 100 years from now.
I hope someday that the people of the UK can get some firearms freedoms back, in New Jersey we can always move to a different state.

[–] OldDood 12 years ago

I can understand your frustration living in N.J.
(Or ANY state that infringes on the 2nd Amendment)

I am THANKFUL that I live in Michigan.
We can purchase handguns the same day.
One way we can purchase a handgun is acquiring a 'Permit to Buy' at local law enforcement.(Police Station/Sheriff's Office)
You then have 10 days to use the Permit to Buy or it is void.

Another way is to apply for a CCW/CPL (Concealed Weapons Permit).
This will cost you approximately $135.00 for the class then IF you pass that (which should not be all that difficult) then you have to purchase the application for the permit to carry concealed.
That depends on the county you live in I believe.
(Some counties here it takes up to or even over a year to FINALLY get your permit to carry...where I live it took 4 weeks which is pretty average)
For me that was also $100.00 plus $10.00 for the photo for the Application to get a Concealed Weapons Permit...
Different counties may vary on that.

I tell people it basically costs you about $300.00 for all of it. (that would include the ammo you use in the CCW class)

Once you have your Concealed Weapons Permit then you can simply go into any gun store and purchase right on the spot.
No limit on the amount of guns you own/purchase as far as I know for Michigan either.
You then have 10 days to either mail in your registration for the purchase or take it in to the Police Station/Sheriff's Office depending on your county.
I personally take my registration straight away to the Police Station and hand it to the clerk.
I do not want the chance it may get lost in the mail and deal with that world of hurt later on...
(That would really suck...haha)

For me one of the best 'reasons' to acquire a CCW/CPL is for the 'Transportation' of my handguns.
If you do NOT have a CCW/CPL then you have to keep the guns unloaded and the ammo separated from the guns.
Either put the ammo inside the cab of the vehicle and the guns in the trunk.
Or lockable safes separating them.
With a CCW/CPL I can throw my range bag with X-amount of LOADED handguns anywhere in my vehicle.
As long as they are concealed.

Much easier for me to throw my bag into my car and go to the range or up north to shoot.
My thinking is: What good is an UN-Loaded handgun...?
How can I defend my family or myself with an UN-Loaded gun?

Think OutSide of the 'Box'!

[–] Aikoman 12 years ago

Yeah, I live in PA, got my pistol in 20 minutes, no additional paperwork required. The C&C license is harder.

- I have a giant soap box and I intend to smash you with it.

[–] NoahBody 12 years ago

OldDood

I am THANKFUL that I live in Michigan.
We can purchase handguns the same day.
One way we can purchase a handgun is acquiring a 'Permit to Buy' at local law enforcement.(Police Station/Sheriff's Office)
You then have 10 days to use the Permit to Buy or it is void.

You're thankful that you have to get permission to exercise an "inalienable right"?

Do you have your permit to protect you from unreasonable searches as well?

[–] SonOfEvermore 12 years ago

Ugh. "UK's unreasonable gnu laws".

Seriously. People like this.

Which countries in the western world do you think have the highest murder rates? If you make people paranoid and tell them that they need to protect themselves, they'll buy guns. If you make the other side think they can rob people with guns. They'll rob people.

You guys see any problem here?

FFS.

[–] crotchrocket 12 years ago

What you have to realise is that here in the UK there are very strict laws about owning guns following a couple of bad incidents when shooters who owned guns perfectly legally went berserk and killed and wounded several people.

in some parts of the usa that happens literally every day

[–] xnobozos 12 years ago

I remember both the UK and the Australian massacres, we've had quite a few in this country also. However disarming the public hasn't helped either. It's a mindset type of thing. Back in the 1990s in Kansas City, a nutcase blew the front off of a federal courthouse and killed over 160 people using a rented truck and a load of farm fertilizer and diesel fuel. Guns and weapons WILL ALWAYS be available to those who really want them and are willing to pay for them. The gun murder rate in the UK is now 10 times the amount it was since the British government basically outlawed handguns and repeating rifles. The bad guys have nothing to be afraid of.

[–] jussa79 12 years ago

Timothy McVeigh blew up the federal building in Oklahoma City, not Kansas City.

[–] xnobozos 12 years ago

Sorry, got my city's mixed up.

[–] allan_mckie 12 years ago

I live in New Zealand and we have some odd gun laws, compared to the rest of you. In order to buy a hunting rifle, shotgun, or any ammunition, you need an A class licence. This requires a lockable safe of certain specifications and for you to have completed a Mountain Safety Council course on firearms safety, plus a bunch of money. That's your basic licence. However, if you want to purchase/possess pistols, then there are more hoops, You must belong to a suitable accredited pistol club for 6 months, do 12 shoots with that club in that 6 months, have suitable security (a proper [pistol safe), be approved by the club, be interviewed by an inspecting officer, approved by an executive officer of your club and pay a bunch of money. You then get issued a B endorsement on your licence. This then entitles you to buy a bunch of pistols. However, you can't just rock into a shop on a whim and get a pistol on the spot. You need to get a form from your club, fill it out with the *exact* description of the pistol you want to buy, then take that to the police, where they issue you a permit to procure. You then go to the gun shop (this can be by mail) and pay the money. You then own your shiny new pistol.
One thing that we don't have in NZ is gun crime by licenced gun owners. Only crims do bad things with guns.

In NZ, there is no such thing as any sort of carry. Defending yourself with anything more than mildly harsh words is frowned upon. If you shoot the man raping your 9yo daughter, you're a bigger criminal than he is, and you will face charges of some kind. Guns are purely for sport/hunting here.

An interesting story...A gun shop in Auckland (our biggest city) was going about it's normal business a few years back. Some mensa member walks in with a machete to rob the place. Through some inconceivably improbable accident of the universe, he gets shot in the stomach with a nice .45. The police descend. They arrest the store owner/shooter, and cart him off. The case drags on for several months, before finally someone has an attack of common sense and the police decide to withdraw charges. God knows what it did to the guys health, finances, family and business. I've been to the shop, seen the bullet hole that was left in a glass wall, seen the pistol, seen the empty casing....was cool.

[–] HugsFromLV426 12 years ago

People seem to ignore the obvious negative to the right to bear arms.

The negative being that we are subjected to fake POS shows like American Guns and Sons of Guns.

[–] Sgt_G 12 years ago

One thing that we don't have in NZ is gun crime by licensed gun owners. Only criminals do bad things with guns.

It's rare to have registered guns owners commit crimes here in the USA, too, but our liberal left don't want people to know that fact.

[–] HugsFromLV426 12 years ago

allan:

"I live in New Zealand and we have some odd gun laws, compared to the rest of you."

As a gun owner living in the U.S., I have to say that I don't find the conditions in your first paragraph too unreasonable. Unfortunately, over here the debate on gun rights has become so polarized as to be an all-or-nothing question in the eyes of many.

Again, let me stress that I am a gun owner and believe in the right to bear arms. The problem is that anyone without a felony record or a documented history of severe mental illness can get a gun very quickly; within three to seven days in most cases. This allows inexperienced and untrained people to own weapons and often carry them in public. I have a concealed weapons permit and I can tell you that the required training is a joke. If you don't fall asleep during the classroom session or don't accidentally shoot yourself with any of the 10 rounds you are required to fire, you get your license. Many gun owners then don't fire their weapon for years at a time, and forget even the minimal instruction they received, leading to accidental shootings when the gun is finally used, since no repeat training is required. The lack of required security also contributes to stolen guns being used in crimes by those who could not legally purchase one due to prior criminal records.

Also, there are usually only vague requirements about gun storage; generally that children must not have access.

Since the anti-gun groups are often very vocal that NO guns (or at least no handguns) should be owned by civilians, the gun rights groups will oppose even common sense regulations in fear of a slippery-slope scenaraio that will lead to unreasonable restrictions such as outright bans.

As to this comment: "Defending yourself with anything more than mildly harsh words is frowned upon. If you shoot the man raping your 9yo daughter, you're a bigger criminal than he is, and you will face charges of some kind. Guns are purely for sport/hunting here." I hope you are exagerating. We sometimes grant too much leeway to the person who uses a gun to defend himself, but no system is perfect.

[–] uberfox 11 years ago

He was not joking and if you think that's bad you should see England.

[–] silverr8c 10 years ago

I was lucky to be able to cary a gun when I lived in NY because I was a cop, I believe all honest law abiding citizens should be able to own a gun and even though I was entitled to own a gun in NY as a privilege of being a retired LEO the privilege should be a right. It took me a few years to escape from NY and move to SC and I love it here. WE can buy guns here without a permit but need a permit to carry (I can carry in all 50 states because of HR-218 but I also took the time and trouble to get a SC permit). One big benefit of living in a free state such as SC is that we can own machine guns which was the first gun I bought after I moved here.

By the way if you ever visit the USA and want to see what it is like to shoot a gun I invite you to visit the range with me. There are a few conditions, one is you have to buy the ammo because it is hard to find (I believe thee POTUS caused a shortage) second you need to be able to prove you can handle a gun safely.

[–] uberfox 10 years ago

The states is lucky over that.

Here in England its illegal to have *any* weapon even pepper spray is illegal.....

And you go to prison if you fight back and defend yourself......

My friend got 2 years in prison because he was taking money out of an ATM machine with his bank account when a thug came out of nowhere and smashed him in head with a chunk of a wood. He was instantly blined in the attack but was able to get hold of his attacker and just kept punching him to prevent him from escaping.

The police arrived and arrested my mate for all kinds of insane charges and the criminal literally got a slap on wrist....

[–] silverr8c 10 years ago

I have read stories about justice in England and in my opinion the privileged rich seem to be the only ones that are worthy enough to be allowed to defend themselves. The poor working guy pays high taxes so the the people that are born into wealth can have armed guards provided by the government to protect them.

The FBI's records show the the states with the worst crime are also the states with the most restrictive gun laws

[–] danzig138-668-939218 8 years ago

The FBI's records show the the states with the worst crime are also the states with the most restrictive gun laws

You're either misinformed or lying, because that statement is false.

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WORDS MEAN THINGS! Also, before you come to bitch about a plot hole, rewatch the show/movie.