SubJeff on 20/2/2008 at 18:07
Bombs are harder to make and knives harder to use. If this weren't true we'd see alot more bombings and mass knifings.
mopgoblin on 20/2/2008 at 19:12
What are you saying here? Bombs are harder to make than guns or knives? Anyone with basic knowledge of physics and chemistry should be able to make a reasonably effective bomb.
june gloom on 20/2/2008 at 21:14
And with a little help from the internet and your local hardware store, (
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/03/high_school_stu.html) you can make a freaking fusion reactor in your backyard. Imagine that with some effort (and a lot of money- uranium don't come cheap), one could make a nuclear bomb- albeit, most likely a "gun"-type (that is, a piece of the fissionable material is fired at a larger piece, as opposed to the "implosion" method where a ball of nuclear material (always plutonium) is compressed to many times its original density by chemical explosives surrounding it.) A very unlikely scenario, but (
http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2006/1219bomb.shtml) some nuclear scientists think there's at least a 10% chance of it happening. Scary, huh? I mean granted, this isn't your average pipe bomb we're talking about, you'll need more knowledge than your 10th grade chemistry text, but still...
SubJeff on 20/2/2008 at 21:23
Oh come on guys. Are you saying that if criminals can't get guns they'll resort to making or importing all sorts of badass bombs? Come on.
june gloom on 20/2/2008 at 21:36
I doubt the average criminal would have the foreknowledge, technical skill, or financial backing to make a nuclear bomb, no. But the fact that a backyard bomb is an entirely plausible scenario brings to light the fact that making a regular old pipebomb isn't exactly, well, nuclear science. If someone wanted to blow something up, a few twenties here and there to get the materials and maybe a copy of the Anarchist Cookbook and you've got yourself the capability to make a big bang, maybe involving the car of the person you want dead. These ain't firecrackers, unnastand?
It just goes back to the point I've been making- people are going to be horrible to each other any way they possibly can. Guns, no guns, some guns, all guns. It doesn't. Fucking. Matter. As has been stated above, a lot of gun crime is pre-meditated. A gang hit? Pre-meditated. School shooting? Premeditated. It goes on and on. I would wager that much of what isn't considered pre-meditated is actually stuff such as knifings or physical assault with fists or a blunt instrument (such as a bar fight gone bad.) So, if a person who is seriously planning to kill someone doesn't have access to a gun, he'll find some other way to do it. Like bomb the guy's car, for example.
SubJeff on 20/2/2008 at 21:59
So your logic is: we shouldn't bother trying to cut down on gun crime by tightening the firearms laws because people can make car bombs easily enough anyway.
Right.
Oh, and smoking is bad mmmmmk in the mix too. Nice.
catbarf on 20/2/2008 at 22:04
Quote Posted by Subjective Effect
Bombs are harder to make
Made me laugh. So a fertilizer bomb is harder to make than a working firearm now, is it?
Quote Posted by Subjective Effect
If this weren't true we'd see alot more bombings
Or, perhaps because of the availability of firearms, people who
would build a bomb instead use a gun.
mopgoblin on 20/2/2008 at 22:13
Quote Posted by Subjective Effect
Oh come on guys. Are you saying that if criminals can't get guns they'll resort to making or importing all sorts of badass bombs? Come on.
If I recall correctly, a gang up in Auckland were making crude (but quite functional) shotguns out of metal pipes a few years back. Making a bomb would be pretty similar in terms of difficulty, and there are plenty of people with more relevant knowledge and skill than the typical gang member.
june gloom on 20/2/2008 at 22:22
Quote Posted by Subjective Effect
So your logic is: we shouldn't bother trying to cut down on gun crime by tightening the firearms laws because people can make car bombs easily enough anyway.
No, my logic is that violent crime will not be cut down significantly by merely removing guns from the equation. "Gun crime" is a term invented by gun control enthusiasts who try to make it seem like a violent crime that involved a firearm is somehow different from any other violent crime. Violent crime is violent crime, period. Gun control doesn't make anyone safer. All the promises of the gun ban crowd since the Gun Control Act of 1968 have proven to be completely empty.
catbarf on 20/2/2008 at 22:29
Quote Posted by mopgoblin
If I recall correctly, a gang up in Auckland were making crude (but quite functional) shotguns out of metal pipes a few years back.
That would take quite a bit of skill to perform. A bomb is simple. Very simple. Any kind of firearm, on the other hand, is going to require lots of expertise and specialized tools to work with all the fiddly bits needed to have more than a tube that goes bang.
