What if America banned guns?

[Chan Island]

Chaos. We're talking about the only country on earth with more guns than people here.

Likely a civil war if your absurd scenario happened.

[Rojava Free State]

I seriously doubt there will be total gun prohibition in America within the lifetime of anyone reading this. At most, within a few decades there may come more restrictions on magazine capacity, longer waiting periods, and a universal system for background checks.

If we are going to entertain the fantastical notion of a gun ban happening in present day America, it's definitely going to be an unpleasant and violent hypothetical. There is more than one gun per person in America. If people were told to give up their firearms, tens of millions would refuse. If law enforcement tried to collect guns from the people who refused to surrender, I imagine more than 1000 law enforcement officers would be killed trying within a year. There would be domestic terrorist attacks, and while these attacks might be carried out by individuals or small groups, they would do significant damage. A total prohibition might even spark secessionist movements which may not ever win independence, but they wouldn't be a joke as they are in the real world. I also expect that several states would outright refuse to comply with federal law and that might even end up with governors and state congresses being removed by the feds which will spark even more violence and disorder.

It wouldn't be pretty.

Just ban the mass production, commercial sale, and importation of new firearms. And subsidise ammunition. Give it a couple of generations and the issue would pretty much sort itself out.

Have you ever heard of illegal weapons trafficking? How do you think the Irish Republican Army got a hold of assault rifles, explosives and surface to air missiles? All those things are banned in the UK

[Thermodolia]

Without guns white people will become as cucked as ordinary Chinese and non-Israeli Jews.

Believe me, you don't want to go down that route. It is hard (but still possible) for a disarmed culture (e.g. Jews) to be uncucked (e.g. establishing Israel) but it is extremely costly.

Oh go back to stormfront with your racist bullshit

[Diopolis]

The handful of police departments that don't mutiny find themselves outgunned. Enforcement claims hundreds of lives and the murder rate barely, if at all, changes.

[Hammer Britannia]

Just ban the mass production, commercial sale, and importation of new firearms. And subsidise ammunition. Give it a couple of generations and the issue would pretty much sort itself out.

Have you ever heard of illegal weapons trafficking? How do you think the Irish Republican Army got a hold of assault rifles, explosives and surface to air missiles? All those things are banned in the UK

Oh god, imagine a bunch of IRAs scattered across America.

[Thermodolia]

The handful of police departments that don't mutiny find themselves outgunned. Enforcement claims hundreds of lives and the murder rate barely, if at all, changes.

If the murder rate goes anywhere it’s up

[Fartsniffage]

Just ban the mass production, commercial sale, and importation of new firearms. And subsidise ammunition. Give it a couple of generations and the issue would pretty much sort itself out.

Have you ever heard of illegal weapons trafficking? How do you think the Irish Republican Army got a hold of assault rifles, explosives and surface to air missiles? All those things are banned in the UK

Every country on the planet has to deal with that, regardless of how permissive they are with gun laws.

And the IRA had state sponsors arming them.

[Page]

Have you ever heard of illegal weapons trafficking? How do you think the Irish Republican Army got a hold of assault rifles, explosives and surface to air missiles? All those things are banned in the UK

Every country on the planet has to deal with that, regardless of how permissive they are with gun laws.

And the IRA had state sponsors arming them.

I can think of quite a few countries that would sponsor illegal arms trafficking to a gun prohibitionist America knowing how deeply destabilizing it would be to keep the insurgents armed, because your rival being plagued with internal problems mean they aren't in a great position to resist your economic and territorial ambitions.

[Attempted Socialism]

Realistically, not much: Most of the hundreds of millions of guns would still be out there. A few might try to revolt and would realise that against a battletank or helicoptor, even AR15's are kind of useless. The real change would be institutionally and culturally down the road. With more than a gun per person on average, that's really the best to hope for.

[Diopolis]

The handful of police departments that don't mutiny find themselves outgunned. Enforcement claims hundreds of lives and the murder rate barely, if at all, changes.

If the murder rate goes anywhere it’s up

I'm skeptical that guns, in and of themselves, have much effect on the murder rate- I can't remember where I read it, but basically if you adjust for everything that makes the US different from Canada except guns per capita/gun ownership rate/gun laws, you come up with a murder rate for the US that's identical to Canada- although the idea that widespread firearms ownership or licensed concealed carry reduces the general crime rate has some evidence for it.

[Rojava Free State]

Have you ever heard of illegal weapons trafficking? How do you think the Irish Republican Army got a hold of assault rifles, explosives and surface to air missiles? All those things are banned in the UK

Oh god, imagine a bunch of IRAs scattered across America.

That's probably gonna be antifa and the three percenters and atomwaffen in the next two years

[Fartsniffage]

Every country on the planet has to deal with that, regardless of how permissive they are with gun laws.

And the IRA had state sponsors arming them.

I can think of quite a few countries that would sponsor illegal arms trafficking to a gun prohibitionist America knowing how deeply destabilizing it would be to keep the insurgents armed, because your rival being plagued with internal problems mean they aren't in a great position to resist your economic and territorial ambitions.

And you'll note that my plan allows for a very gradual reductions in the number of firearms in the US with no confiscations. It would give time for American society to adapt without large groups of people getting all upset.

[Rojava Free State]

Have you ever heard of illegal weapons trafficking? How do you think the Irish Republican Army got a hold of assault rifles, explosives and surface to air missiles? All those things are banned in the UK

Every country on the planet has to deal with that, regardless of how permissive they are with gun laws.

And the IRA had state sponsors arming them.

You think another country somewhere wouldn't love to arm extremist groups in america?

[An Alan Smithee Nation]

It wouldn't be the end of the world and you would get used to it.

There’s 600 million guns in the US according to conservative estimates. Other estimates put the number around 900 million.

That’s roughly 1.5 to almost 3 guns per person in the US. There is no way in hell that you could ban guns in the US. Not to mention that many Americans would literally die to keep their guns

America - "We can win the war on drugs", "We can defeat terrorism", "We can stop illegal immigration", "Get rid of guns? No that's just not possible".

[Rojava Free State]

If the murder rate goes anywhere it’s up

I'm skeptical that guns, in and of themselves, have much effect on the murder rate- I can't remember where I read it, but basically if you adjust for everything that makes the US different from Canada except guns per capita/gun ownership rate/gun laws, you come up with a murder rate for the US that's identical to Canada- although the idea that widespread firearms ownership or licensed concealed carry reduces the general crime rate has some evidence for it.

There are actually less gun owners per capita in Latin America than in the US but the murder rate is higher there

[Rojava Free State]

There’s 600 million guns in the US according to conservative estimates. Other estimates put the number around 900 million.

That’s roughly 1.5 to almost 3 guns per person in the US. There is no way in hell that you could ban guns in the US. Not to mention that many Americans would literally die to keep their guns

America - "We can win the war on drugs", "We can defeat terrorism", "We can stop illegal immigration", "Get rid of guns? No that's just not possible".

Personally I think the war on terror, drugs, illegal immigration and guns as well are all wars we are destined to lose

[Page]

There’s 600 million guns in the US according to conservative estimates. Other estimates put the number around 900 million.

That’s roughly 1.5 to almost 3 guns per person in the US. There is no way in hell that you could ban guns in the US. Not to mention that many Americans would literally die to keep their guns

America - "We can win the war on drugs", "We can defeat terrorism", "We can stop illegal immigration", "Get rid of guns? No that's just not possible".

No informed person thinks there will ever be an America without millions of drug users, millions of undocumented immigrants, and millions of guns. All of these are here to stay and to think otherwise is to live in a fantasy.

[Proctopeo]

I can think of quite a few countries that would sponsor illegal arms trafficking to a gun prohibitionist America knowing how deeply destabilizing it would be to keep the insurgents armed, because your rival being plagued with internal problems mean they aren't in a great position to resist your economic and territorial ambitions.

And you'll note that my plan allows for a very gradual reductions in the number of firearms in the US with no confiscations. It would give time for American society to adapt without large groups of people getting all upset.

A ban like that would still make a HUGE amount of people upset. There'd be less violence, definitely, but the ban wouldn't last long and the political careers of many of its supporters would be basically over, and those who remain wouldn't be very well-received by fellow government officials.

[Fartsniffage]

And you'll note that my plan allows for a very gradual reductions in the number of firearms in the US with no confiscations. It would give time for American society to adapt without large groups of people getting all upset.

A ban like that would still make a HUGE amount of people upset. There'd be less violence, definitely, but the ban wouldn't last long and the political careers of many of its supporters would be basically over, and those who remain wouldn't be very well-received by fellow government officials.

I never said it would be easy. But it's the only practical way I can think of to reduce the number of firearms that doesn't result in a shit ton of dead people.

[The Sherpa Empire]

If they ban guns, I'm keeping my musket anyway.

[Hammer Britannia]

There’s 600 million guns in the US according to conservative estimates. Other estimates put the number around 900 million.

That’s roughly 1.5 to almost 3 guns per person in the US. There is no way in hell that you could ban guns in the US. Not to mention that many Americans would literally die to keep their guns

America - "We can win the war on drugs", "We can defeat terrorism", "We can stop illegal immigration", "Get rid of guns? No that's just not possible".

Yeah, they're all impossible.

[Fartsniffage]

America - "We can win the war on drugs", "We can defeat terrorism", "We can stop illegal immigration", "Get rid of guns? No that's just not possible".

Yeah, they're all impossible.

Of course. But the goal is to reduce the issue as much as possible.

[Thermodolia]

There’s 600 million guns in the US according to conservative estimates. Other estimates put the number around 900 million.

That’s roughly 1.5 to almost 3 guns per person in the US. There is no way in hell that you could ban guns in the US. Not to mention that many Americans would literally die to keep their guns

America - "We can win the war on drugs", "We can defeat terrorism", "We can stop illegal immigration", "Get rid of guns? No that's just not possible".

We haven’t done any of the first three though

[Kernen]

If banning guns would be such a bloody affair, perhaps grabbers should stop grabbing.

[Thermodolia]

If the murder rate goes anywhere it’s up

I'm skeptical that guns, in and of themselves, have much effect on the murder rate- I can't remember where I read it, but basically if you adjust for everything that makes the US different from Canada except guns per capita/gun ownership rate/gun laws, you come up with a murder rate for the US that's identical to Canada- although the idea that widespread firearms ownership or licensed concealed carry reduces the general crime rate has some evidence for it.

Cops getting killed are still counted as murders. Which would rise drastically if we had an all encompassing gun ban. Hence murders would rise