I have recently been watching a fair few pro-gun films and debates on you tube.
Most of them have this view: The Australian and British gun owners 'gave up' and that Americans would NEVER surrender their firearms.
The constant opinion voiced by American gun owners is that they would die rather than be disarmed.
Is this really true? If the US government banned semi auto long guns or all pistols tomorrow how many citizens would put their money where their mouth is?
We Brits and Australians tried to protest but were ignored,I know there are some Americans who would have it end in a seige (waco shows this) but would the average law abiding gun owner in the US throw away everything (job,family,liberty or even life) to prove a point or would they comply with the law even though they disagreed with it because they ARE law abiding?
I hope they would.As much as I want you guys to keep your freedoms,especially that of being armed I would hate to see numerous instances of law abiding family men(and women) becoming criminals and being locked away or worse.
So if you are a US citizen. What would you really do if you had 24hours to surrender your weapons?
I would like to know so I can decide whether all these 'from my dead hands' statements are just an emphasis of a peoples belief in something or whether common folk are latently suicidal and would throw away everything just because they have a bad government.????

I'm with the cold dead hands crowd here, as is the rest of the military and most of law enforcement. They'd never be able to take everyones guns at this point, because the muscle of the government (police and the military) are more often than not gun owners themselves.

Since the election last fall, gun and ammo sales have skyrocketed. What does that tell you?

Originally Posted by John M. Andresen

Since the election last fall, gun and ammo sales have skyrocketed. What does that tell you?

Tells me we should stop getting into wars, as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are what is driving up prices. I saw a report on this recently, It has nothing to do with gun-politics it has to do with economics, the Government is increasingly turned to civilian ammo makers to meet their increasing demand. More Demand mean supply goes down and therefore prices at the gunstore go up. There are other reasons too like price of raw materials going up and increasing shipping charges that are channeled back to the consumer.

I just don't think that it will ever get to the point that we will only have 24 hours to give up our guns.
And I am not a gun advocate either.

Originally Posted by John M. Andresen

Since the election last fall, gun and ammo sales have skyrocketed. What does that tell you?

It tells me that there is possibly an increase in hunting activities.

As for that situation? I'd probably give up the gun. Laws are laws.

We Brits and Australians tried to protest but were ignored,

Because popular opinion was for banning semi and full automatic weapons. People are still allowed to own pistols and low calibre rifles. Military weapons are just that, meant for use in the military or police forces.

Originally Posted by sven hassell

I have recently been watching a fair few pro-gun films and debates on you tube.
Most of them have this view: The Australian and British gun owners 'gave up'

WRONG!!!...

Australian gun owners were never given a chance to resist. Our Dictatorial Prime minister of the time and his sycophantic followers just made the decision for us, within a matter of weeks it was law.

However in view of the fact that Australia seems to mimic all US trends, and the writing was on the wall as far as people losing their respect for firearms and their safe use, maybe it will turn out to be in our best interests.

Never the less I feel that it was never properly thought through. e.g. A bloke I know quite well was forced to hand in a Trophy Shotgun that he won in competition worth many many thousands of dollars. He still has many shotguns and competes regularly. This man now nearly 80 years of age, was, and is no danger to the public. There would be thousands of similar cases, it was no more than government imposed vandalism.

Originally Posted by LanceKernal

I'm with the cold dead hands crowd here, as is the rest of the military and most of law enforcement. They'd never be able to take everyones guns at this point, because the muscle of the government (police and the military) are more often than not gun owners themselves.

If ever the time comes, your wish will be gladly enacted by those who enforce the law. I'm sure that in the cold hard light of day your opinion will change very quickly. It will only take one or two resisters being "fixed" by Swat teams and everyone will get religion on the matter.

Originally Posted by Wallabies

Because popular opinion was for banning semi and full automatic weapons. People are still allowed to own pistols and low calibre rifles. Military weapons are just that, meant for use in the military or police forces.

Bullsh!t,... there was only one State (SA) where fully automatic weapons were allowed, and there were so few of them, that 95% of the public were not even aware of the fact.

The banning calls, (initially for military style weapons) were by the collective State Police forces, Don Fleetwood a friend of mine was the Gun dealers representative at several meetings of State Police and the government of the day when this was all being talked about. His son Gary was the Australian President of the SSAA formany years and was, (last I heard) a pro gun lobbyist in Canberra.

Some Americans have spent a fortune on their guns, will the government buy them for what they paid one wonders

Originally Posted by mmarsh

Tells me we should stop getting into wars, as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are what is driving up prices. I saw a report on this recently, It has nothing to do with gun-politics it has to do with economics, the Government is increasingly turned to civilian ammo makers to meet their increasing demand. More Demand mean supply goes down and therefore prices at the gunstore go up. There are other reasons too like price of raw materials going up and increasing shipping charges that are channeled back to the consumer.

Mmarsh.....

The war has a small reason for the current increase in ammunition prices going up.

Calibers like 5.56x45mm, 9x19mm, and .50 BMG have gone up because many civilian contractors are supply ammo to the government. But those are the only calibers. Also the Government contracts a lot of foreign companies to produce ammo. Most ammo right now being used by our troops are produced in two locations. Lake City Arsenal with is run by Remington Arms and IMI of Israel. IMI is also a major player in the civilian market. They produce brass and ammo for Winchester. They make it and slap Winchester's name on it.

But since the elections. The sale of firearms and ammo have syrocketed. Back in Jan 6th, 09. The BATFE annouced the FFL can use copied blank Form 4473s. Never in the history has BATFE allowed this. What is Form 4473? It the BATFE form used to run the background for National Crime Information Center. So many firearms are being sold that BATFE cannot print enough of them.

Also if you look at BATFE records. Sales have jumped up to such a high level that it's not even funny.

Ammo companies can't keep ammunition up to production since it's being purchased that fast. A box of .380 Auto (9x17mm Krutz) is the hardest thing to find right now. .380 Auto is a small compact round for concealed carry pistols. It's what the Walther PPK and other small compact guns are chambered in. It's not a police service cartridge in America and it's not used by US Armed Forces. But it's the hottest selling thing right now along with pistols chambered in it. Why? Because it's small, lightweight, and most novice gun owners don't find the cartridge's recoil that bad.

Companies like Colt, S&W, DPMS, CMMG, Armalite, Noveske, Del-Ton Inc., Bushmaster, Robison Arms, Sig Sauer, Aresnal, and Century Arms can't make enough AR-15s, Sig 556s, XCRs, and AK pattern rifles. All listed companies are not government contractors (Military). Colt no longer makes rifles for the Military. FN Herstal makes the 20 inch service rifle and Saber Defense makes the M4 Carbine. Saber Defense started life making M4s for the private commerical market.

Armalite is back ordered by 200,000 rifles.

This is straight from Del-Ton Inc. website

Since the election we have been overwhelmed with orders, phone calls and emails. Please allow at least 12-16 weeks for all orders to ship.

Orders are being processed in the order they were received.

We are increasing inventory levels and production to meet the demands.

Please email any questions you have regarding orders already placed with your order number in the subject line.

Thanks!

We appreciate your business and your patience!

From CMMG's website

Due to increased demand, CMMG cannot specify a delivery time on any merchandise. Orders are being filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Merchandise on our site should be considered -OUT OF STOCK- and will be delivered as inventory allows. We value your business and appreciate your patience.

Pending orders and back orders will be charged when the order is put into production. Once you have been charged for your order you can expect it to ship in four to five weeks.We cannot estimate individual turn around times, so please do not ask.

The chart is only for backgrounds. Multiple firearms can be purchased under one background check so this is only the number of backgrounds.... not total amount sold.

As for the culture itself....

Yes, American's are different. It's in our history. Our nation was founded by Settlers armed with privately owned firearms. Our Independence was won by citizens armed with privately owned firearms. Even during WWII, Americans donated privately owned firearms to the British Homeguard because they needed arms to fight against a possible Nazi Invasion.

It's in our Constitution.

2nd Amendment
A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

It doesn't mean hunting firearms or sport. It means that we (the people) have to right to own and bear arms of equal strength and use as a common soldier of our period. We have the right to keep ourselves safe from a number of threats including a despotic government, foreign invasion, criminal threats, and so on.

Though the use of the militia has changed. The meaning has not. The National Guard has evolved into the current militia but even under the US Code (Federal Law) the National Guard is only the Organized militia.

§ 311. Militia: composition and classes

(a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.

(b) The classes of the militia are—
(1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and
(2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.

So even with the National Guard. There is still the unorganized militia which is us (the people).

So in the end some will simply bow down and cave in.... others will hide their arms like a moonshiner, others will fight to the death for their rights. Canada has outlawed a number of firearms and has also pushed for registration of arms and that is a major failure. Many citizens have simply not turned in their arms or registered them.

I believe the same will happen in the USA if UK/Aus/Canadian type bans are pushed through.