I was hoping it wouldn't happen but I heard way too many platitudes from Ken about the second amendment and criminals getting guns. My feeling is if you have to use the same old arguments over and over to defend your point of view, it's time for a revision.

If you hear the same counterargument over and over, he doesn't need a revision -- you need a response. No one in this episode gives a good answer to it.

http://www.reason.com/news/show/28582.html
Gun Control's Twisted Outcome

Restricting firearms has helped make England more crime-ridden than the U.S.

and well have we learned nothing from the "war on drugs"? banning something doesn't make it disappear. It just makes sure the law abiding do not have them. That woman was just pathetic, crying like that after shooting a gun once. She's obviously seriously impaired, like a person who survived a plane crash traumatized so much that they campaign against all airliners.

btw if you've been following british media over the last couple years and much more so during the last couple weeks theres been mass knife hysteria going on there. There are calls for random searches and harsher penalties just for carrying a knife. I guess they haven't learned their lesson, they are disarming their public, making them easy targets for much crime, and the people that would be criminals are never affected and just become more brazen. the poor defenseless sheep like public then become hysterical with fear and give the government ever more power and control. but no amount of spending is going to give you a personal police officer, more likely than not they are there just to deal with you after the fact, if you were lucky enough to survive. such is the reality that the people in the uk do not want to face.

All you anti-gun folks are gonna feel pretty stupid when the apocalypse happens and the bloodthirsty dead rise to walk the earth, indiscriminately murdering every living person. So you keep your knives and bats and other close combat weapons and see how long you survive. I'll be in my well stocked, well armed survivalist compound. We'll see how long it takes you to come running.

About the University of Utah segment:

The 30 Days piece didn't mention that the campus administration actually had banned guns on campus for a long time (since 1977). The conservative state legislature threatened to withhold state funding for the University unless they revoked the ban, which the administration refused to do. The State Supreme court ultimately ruled in 2006 that the ban violated state law, and thus guns were again allowed on campus.

guys, dont forget, freedom costs a buck o' five.

i really wish someone would go on this show and actually know how to argue. it seems like when there is a controversial subject the producers find a very non controversial person to go on the show and it does a disservice to the topic.

case in point - guns dont kill people, people kill people ... WITH GUNS! Yes, 'criminals' will always manage to get guns but if there were no guns for everyone (japan) then it would be harder for those criminals to get guns. while thats an extreme example the point is that alot of these arguments (on the show) never go more than skin deep. also if people kill people with guns and you cant regulate people (before the fact - really) then you should regulate guns to stop people from getting killed.

i dont really care about this topic either way, i just wish the show would find better people.

Sorry only people gun bans keep guns out of their hands are the law abiding ones. It does not stop the criminals. Look at the cities with the stringent control bans and they are the ones with highest rates of crime especially shootings. WONDER WHY?
We had a shooting on our campus. Its a GUN FREE ZONE. Guess who did the shooting? It was 2 guys intent on shooting someone. The GUN FREE ZONE SIGNS did NOTHING!

Well this turned into a train wreck rather quickly...

I think the episode did a good job at showing the mentalities on both sides of the debate. It was a difficult line to walk and I think the show did it well. I think your review while a bit biased was fair to the show except when you say that you "didn't feel much was accomplished". Someone who associated the sound of a gunshot with a child or friend being killed to being able to competently use a firearm is quite an accomplishment.

My best friend was shot and killed in front of me when I was a teenager after a short argument in the parking lot of a gas station in an "ok" part of town. I can see how his parents could agree with the Cease Fire folks (his sister grew to be very anti-gun) as they have all been irreparably scarred by a tragic and horrible event. However, I take issue with the one lady's argument that she is working to protect others and the gun owner only looks out for him/herself. She is clearly doing this for herself, I imagine as a parent (which I am as well) that there is a tremendous amount of guilt and blame associated with the loss of a child and it seems to me that this has manifested itself in a vehement objection to the role of firearms in society.

I am curious about one portion of your review Paul, and that is why did you find the portion about legal carry on campus in Utah disturbing? Why would you make the leap from "he has a gun" to "he's so scary I wouldn't ask for a pencil"? I mean if you're bat shit crazy (like I think we can agree anyone who walks on campus and kills 30+ people is) are more rules and regulations going to stop you from acting our your paranoid schizo fantasies? Would the knowledge that students may be armed deter said batshit crazy person from trying it on campus?

Japan has outlawed guns and recent attacks on a number of random people have involved knives. Should they now ban knives?

I had a sporting interest (through Boy Scouts since my parents were very anti-gun) in firearms before my friend was shot and killed. Now I have an understanding that a firearm is a tool that can be used by criminals (or said batshit crazy person) to kill someone I care about or can be used by myself in order to protect someone I care about. Laws that restrict one's ability to do the latter (like the DC handgun ban that was overturned after the recent decision in DC v Heller by the US Supreme Court) do little to stop the former.

StillBash...are you kidding me? Why don't you admit already that you wish you could live here? Tell me where you're from so I can bash your country. Douchebag.

Oh, and a 'live feed' from the darwin awards? Please explain the 'live' part to me because I think I'm missing something here. Why are you even reading TV Squad? You like American entertainment?

Sorry I keep laughing because I can't get the image of seat belt campaigns out of my mind I saw in 2006 when I was in the US the last time.

I mean in a country where putting a helmet on while riding your motorcycle is by many considered a fashion statement it's kind of funny to see people arguing about gun control.

To me this is all a little bit like watching a live feed of the Darwin Awards.

You guys don't have health insurance, a minimum wage that hasn't been raised since 1997, fast food companies supplying your children's school cafeterias, the highest obesity rate of all the first world countries, 300 million citizens and 2.5 million of those incarcerated. The largest amount of live atomic bombs in the world. You didn't sign the Kyoto protocol. You started a war without reasons.

Just keep your guns as long as you promise not to use your a-bombs on us I'm fine with you guys killing each other, driving yourself to death, eating yourself to death, dying because of the lack of health insurance, starving to death, getting killed in a senseless war et cetera et cetera.

The sheer insanity of all these things is mind blowing.

I really wonder why, with all these guns, nobody ever staged a revolution against the establishment, against government.

Oh wait. 2.5 million people in jail. I get it.

"I guess the question is how many people have been killed by a motorcycle being ridden by someone else?"

Or have killed themselves on purpose on that motorcycle. 55% of all (33,000) gun deaths in the U.S. per year are suicides. Guns have the highest success rate when attempting suicide (90%) and public health studies show that the mere presence of a gun in the house raises the likelihood of a suicide attempt. The recent ruling on the DC gun ban featured numerous suicidology experts pleading for the ban to be held up for fear that it could cause a rise in suicide rates.