Gun control conversation questions
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Up in arms
- In the USA alone, over 20,000 people a year are shot to death and countless are injured. What reaction does handgun violence cause in you?
- Have you ever had a gun pointed at you? Have you ever been shot at? Do you know anyone who has been in that kind of situation?
- How easy is it to buy a gun in your society? Could you go down to the local street market and get hold of one?
- Are there strict gun control laws in your country? How efficient do you think they are?
- Is there a difference between owning a handgun and owning any other kind of firearm?
- The National Rifle Association ran a campaign for many years based on the slogan that "guns don't kill people, it's people who kill people". What do you think of that argument?
- One argument used by the pro-gun lobby is that if guns are banned people will still kill others with baseball bats, hammers, kitchen knives or any other implement. Do you agree with that hypothesis? Why/why not?
- Another argument goes that if handguns were banned, alcoholic drinks and automobiles should also be banned to prevent drunk-driver deaths. What is your opinion?
- The right to bear arms is a much debated article in the US Constitution. When the Constitution was being drawn up, militias had been directly responsible for winning the War of Independence against the British. Do you think a new constitution would include such an article?
- Rather than banning guns outright, do you think better regulation would help reduce the number of gun-related deaths and injuries?
- Americans have consistently voted for responsible gun legislation but legislators' initiatives have equally consistently been overturned in the courts due to the power of lobbies. What do you think of this? Is the people's will inviolable?
- Supporters of guns sometimes claim that if everybody were armed then there would be less crime. What do you think of this argument?
