Why? (Continued)

[JonC]

-we don't want to end up like you.

Now that is ironic. I don't mean any offense, but I can't tell you how many times I've heard (in conversation and in sermons) warnings about the direction our nation is going with the UK as its object lesson.

Given the timing of school shootings in the UK (your most severe was a decade before Virginia Tech), I suspect we will follow in more ways than one. I look for gun ownership to be stricter (and am in favor of some measures). We are just catching up (Christianity is declining while crime is rising).

 

[Matt Black]

Funny, it's the other way round from our perspective: we talk about "being a decade or two behind America"!

 

[Matt Black]

More seriously, why would it be the other way round, why wouldnt we follow you: your political, military, cultural etc reach and power are so much greater than ours.

 

[JonC]

Funny, it's the other way round from our perspective: we talk about "being a decade or two behind America"!

Really? That is interesting. In what ways do you view the UK as being a decade or so behind the US?

I think what influences my perspective most is the state of Christianity. At one time I think we could say that the UK was a Christian center, but for awhile it seems to have moved here. I don't think we can say that about America any more.

Regarding the shootings, you experienced a shooting worse than Columbine (on par, actually, with Sandy Hook in terms of deaths) over a decade before we did (in modern times, anyway). I would think that this helped develop more restrictive laws in the UK (I would have thought many of the discussions we are having here would have gone on decades ago there).

At one time, Great Britain was the dominant superpower. And now I see the US as declining from it's own position. In terms of politics, it seems that we are increasingly trying to adopt a more European system.

 

[Matt Black]

Things like: consumerism (in particular the rampant commercialisation and commoditization of society), level of violence, technological advances (for good and ill), societal polarisation (we're beginning to experience the same level of bitter culture wars that you've had for at least a generation) etc

 

[JonC]

Things like: consumerism (in particular the rampant commercialisation and commoditization of society), level of violence, technological advances (for good and ill), societal polarisation (we're beginning to experience the same level of bitter culture wars that you've had for at least a generation) etc

I could see that. But it's getting so that we are moving towards a singular market with a common culture. I'm not sure how much originates here and how much is a clash between cultures and ideas.

 

[thatbrian]

I agree with Martin: virtually no law-abiding person here wants to own a gun (outside of those who have one for sport) - we don't want to end up like you.

Of course not. You will lay down and die, as Islam walks over your dead bodies.

 

[Matt Black]

Another Islamaphobic post to ignore

 

[thatbrian]

My very British wife claims she had to come to America to meet a "real man". Her words, not mine.

 

[Martin Marprelate]

Given the timing of school shootings in the UK (your most severe was a decade before Virginia Tech),

On a point of fact, there has only ever been one school shooting in Britain; in Dunblane, Scotland in 1996.
FACT CHECK: No School Shootings in the United Kingdom Since Handguns Were Banned?

 

[JonC]

I want a google assistant wit

On a point of fact, there has only ever been one school shooting in Britain; in Dunblane, Scotland in 1996.
FACT CHECK: No School Shootings in the United Kingdom Since Handguns Were Banned?

Yes, that’s what I’m talking about.

The UK enacted laws after the killings in Hungerford. About a decade later the UK experienced a school shooting (Dunblane) along the lines the lines of Sandy Hook. The US would experience a shooting at Virginia Tech but not until over a decade later.

When people give up freedoms it is typically systematic and for a reason. The current gun control laws in the UK did not come into existence overnight. The UK did not look at the 1975 killings at a school in Burma and decide to tighten up the laws. It took a national tragedy at Hungerford to start really examining the laws, and then at Dunblane to really enact tougher laws. And still, even with this, assaults and attempted homicide increased. So dialogue (within the UK) about crime prevention continues.

 

[Adonia]

I agree with Martin: virtually no law-abiding person here wants to own a gun (outside of those who have one for sport) - we don't want to end up like you.

Too late, you are already like us when it comes to depraved violence. We might have our gun violence, but your acid attacks are particularly heinous.

 

[Adonia]

More seriously, why would it be the other way round, why wouldnt we follow you: your political, military, cultural etc reach and power are so much greater than ours.[/QUOTE

More seriously, why would it be the other way round, why wouldnt we follow you: your political, military, cultural etc reach and power are so much greater than ours.

Only now in this day and age. Your small island was once the premier imperialist nation in the world, transferring the wealth of other nations to your own, initially through military conquest and then by an economic monopoly. In the whole history of the world, no one did it better.

 

[JonC]

More importantly, they gave us Mary Poppins and Dr. Who.

 

[InTheLight]

My very British wife claims she had to come to America to meet a "real man". Her words, not mine.

Did she succeed?

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL

 

[carpro]

Phony stats, I fear. .

You wish.

 

[Rippon]

More guns =less deaths.

Strict gun control = higher murder rates.

Nine European nations with the strictest gun control have three times the murder rate than nine European countries with higher gun ownership.

There is a negative correlation between gun ownership and violent crime.

What percentage of NRA have been convicted of murder?

A)How many women in America have prevented sexual assault by the use of guns?

B)How many women in Europe, or specifically the UK, have prevented sexual assault by the use of guns?

A) tens of thousands
B) next to zero

 

[Earth Wind and Fire]

My very British wife claims she had to come to America to meet a "real man". Her words, not mine.

Oh really...has she found one yet?

 

[Earth Wind and Fire]

Only now in this day and age. Your small island was once the premier imperialist nation in the world, transferring the wealth of other nations to your own, initially through military conquest and then by an economic monopoly. In the whole history of the world, no one did it better.

An enviable position to be sure

 

[Earth Wind and Fire]

More importantly, they gave us Mary Poppins and Dr. Who.

And George Whitefield and CHS. But discussing past accomplishments by the past British does nothing to assuage this Mollock of gun violence in anyone’s schools today.
Sure our government is corrupt because we do not consider our own constitutional rights... and Jon is right, we have moved far away from God. So, what is this nation going to do now?