Folks in Belize figure out laws prohibiting guns & ammo are bad

http://amandala.com.bz/news/publisher-193/

I saw a story some days ago where a nursing mother with a two-month-old baby got remanded to prison because the police found a bullet in her home. The whole family was taken away to jail. I really thought we had found a way to take the fangs out of our stupid gun laws, but the vicious predator, made in the U.S.A., is still with us.

In these modern, urbanized societies, we live in large groups of human beings. We have laws and regulations which guide and govern our individual conduct, and these laws and regulations exist so as to reduce the amount of friction among us; laws and regulations are supposed to facilitate us in our daily interactions with each other.

Some of these laws and regulations are relics from the time when Belize was British Honduras, which is to say, a colony of Great Britain. Other laws and regulations were products of our government’s need to cater to the priorities of the mighty United States of America, our new bosses. Belize’s police department is absolutely “gung-ho” about chasing down weed and weed smokers. Even our army is enlisted in this “anti-herbs” campaign. The Belize war against weed is in fulfillment of an agenda made in Washington, D. C.

The gun and ammunition laws were passed, our legislators said, to make it difficult for our gangs to obtain the guns and bullets they need to rob law-abiding citizens and to murder each other. These laws were first introduced about twenty years ago, and I think they have been amended once or twice. Today, all of us Belizeans know that these are laws which are abysmal failures, if we are to judge failure or success on the basis of the original intent of the laws.

What the guns laws have succeeded in doing is to intimidate and victimize innocent citizens who live in certain targeted neighborhoods. The laws are draconian, and they have contributed to the ever-growing sense in the Belizean people that we are not in control of our own destiny.

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There's a fair amount of anti-American sentiment which may or may not be warranted. Let's all agree to skip over it and focus on the gun rights stuff.

They passed laws to prevent gangs from getting guns and bullets (sic) [cartridges] needed to rob law-abiding citizens. Seems they, like most other politicians, forgot that criminals, by definition, do not obey the laws. I'm not going to get into why anybody would want to stop gang members from murdering each other, unless it was a problem of bodies in the street impeding the morning commute.

Today, all of us Belizeans know that these are laws which are abysmal failures, if we are to judge failure or success on the basis of the original intent of the laws.

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What a novel idea - reviewing laws to see if they are working as they were intended to! I wonder if anybody else anywhere else is considering doing that?

stay safe.

The 1994 federal AWB had a sunset clause and it was not re-approved.

As for brits..make your own guns and ammo can still be found.

davidmcbeth said:

The 1994 federal AWB had a sunset clause and it was not re-approved.

As for brits..make your own guns and ammo can still be found.

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Annnnnnnnd Captain Irrelevant once more weighs in with utterly unrelated scat.

Unless, of course, he can demonstrate how the United State's 1994 AWB has anything connecting it to the gun laws and current situation in Belize. Anybody want to bet he can? Anybody? Bueller?

As for the situation faced by the inhabitants of (formerly)Great Britain - not much relelavance or relationship there, given how long ago Belize was cut loose as a colony to become an independent nation.

stay safe.

skidmark said:

Annnnnnnnd Captain Irrelevant once more weighs in with utterly unrelated scat.

Unless, of course, he can demonstrate how the United State's 1994 AWB has anything connecting it to the gun laws and current situation in Belize. Anybody want to bet he can? Anybody? Bueller?

As for the situation faced by the inhabitants of (formerly)Great Britain - not much relelavance or relationship there, given how long ago Belize was cut loose as a colony to become an independent nation.

stay safe.

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Ms. Col. I-cannot-read posts again ! Hooray ! Suggest u re-read the post and see where the AWB is a relevant response to the OP's post. If you cannot see that then that itself is pretty sad.

Belize has been and still is highly popular with American ex-pats in that mainly, English is the language of choice there, so Belize has been the place to go for Americans wanting to live in a "tropical community" with no need to learn some other language. One can continue to be and act like an American with no interest/pressure whatsoever in assimilating into a foreign culture -- because everyone around you is also an American (maybe a few also English speaking UK subjects also, for good measure). ;-)

Even the government of Belize cooperates to some extent to make moving there easier.

Not sure how many of the transplants (to Belize) are LIBERALS though -- THEY should agree and support any anti-gun laws Belize has -- but any CONSERVATIVES who believe being armed for self-defense is a RIGHT might want to look elsewhere for their ex-pat home. I know I did.

That's one BIG reason no other foreign country on Earth is entirely suitable for me if I were to decide to live elsewhere other than America (even if my retirement $$ goes WAY farther elsewhere): No other country in the world is even close to America's "gun rights." And that's ALSO a big reason for those of us here to fight the taking away of same. Better yet, SOME DAY even repealing all the INFRINGEMENTS that have happened over the decades.

But for now, NO other country compares to America gun-rights-wise -- MAINLY thanks to our 2nd Amendment, which again no other country has -- so calls for "America to be like all the other civilized/Western nations of the world" and dump its "primitive/uncivilized gun cluture" ("be like everyone else") need to be treated with the utter contempt they deserve and resisted -- at least in the voting booth...unless push comes to shove and more "affirmative action" needs to be applied. ;-)

So I'll have to pass on Belize...

Besides, they build some multi-million $$ homes almost ON the beach (how stupid is that), and said home is about 1-3 feet (maybe) above sea level. Even a small storm will wash the whole place away.

Hmmm...I wonder how much home insurance (hurricane/flood/tsunami) down there costs?

davidmcbeth said:

Ms. Col. I-cannot-read posts again ! Hooray ! Suggest u re-read the post and see where the AWB is a relevant response to the OP's post. If you cannot see that then that itself is pretty sad.

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What? THe AWB makes one style of gun double-nasty bad without actually doing anything it was supposed to. Belize bans all guns & ammo without doing what it was supposed to. They are both bans. Is that it? They both didn't/don't work. Is that it?

Being similar is not being relevant.

But I'm such a Sad Sack that I just cannot grasp your claim of relevance, so how about spelling it out in really short words used in really short sentences so that even I could see how the AWB really is relevant?

stay safe.

cloudcroft said:

....Besides, they build some multi-million $$ homes almost ON the beach (how stupid is that), and said home is about 1-3 feet (maybe) above sea level. Even a small storm will wash the whole place away.

Hmmm...I wonder how much home insurance (hurricane/flood/tsunami) down there costs?

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I bet if you look deep into the Cromibus bill that my US Rep Pete 'Secure-the-border' Sessions, as chmn of the House Rules Cmte, is going to bring to the floor today, replete with full funding for Obamacare, support for the Preezy's illegal offer for Illegals Amnesty - with a $1 billion housewarming gift, full funding for the IRS, and $250 million in budget more for the EPA than even Obama asked-for, ....way down buried in some arcane provision, regards some OPIC or trade agreement, ....you will find US taxpayer funding for a Belizian economic development subsidy that offers all NY hedge-fund built homes on the beach.....complete hurricane insurance for $250/per million......

PS - and they can't have any assault weapons on premises, per Washington DC regulations....

skidmark said:

What? THe AWB makes one style of gun double-nasty bad without actually doing anything it was supposed to. Belize bans all guns & ammo without doing what it was supposed to. They are both bans. Is that it? They both didn't/don't work. Is that it?

Being similar is not being relevant.

But I'm such a Sad Sack that I just cannot grasp your claim of relevance, so how about spelling it out in really short words used in really short sentences so that even I could see how the AWB really is relevant?

stay safe.

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"What a novel idea - reviewing laws to see if they are working as they were intended to!" > Mod edited.

Your words. Perhaps you meant something different? Oh well, you are entitled you your opinion.

lets move on