"The people of Britain do not want it". I suppose you had a referendum then, before guns were restricted for the first time.
This country is a better place for it's firearms restrictions. I am in no position to say the same thing for America or Sweden. I don't know enough about those countries. Legalizing guns in Britain makes no sense at all. There is no point introducing another problem into our country. We already have enough problems without arming our citizens.
I have no idea if we held a referendum before restricting guns. If one was held now, it would be overwhelmingly against legalizing guns.
I was sarcastic. Of course it wasn't a referendum. The point is that most gun laws were introduced without ever asking the people about it. That was kind of why they were made.
Sweden's gun law sucks, but nothing compared to the that of the UK. And criminals who want guns have no problems getting them here.
Er, most laws IN GENERAL are introducdd without asking the people about it
And you think that's the way it should be? The Swiss had a referendum a while ago, but they voted to keep their guns, because they're among the few Europeans that still aren't total cunts.
That's a good question. If we have a referendum about every decision, then I can see 2 major problems.
One is that you would be having so many referenda that the vast majority of people would quickly lose interest in voting, and these referenda would be dominated by those people who had a real interest in that one issue, rather than being a true representation of the wishes of the people.
Another is that, the majority of important decisions require a lot of research into the subject. It is unlikely that the majority of people in this country would have the time, and intelligence to do the necessary research into these issues, and instead will simply be guided by whatever tabloid newspaper they read. This would probably have the effect of replacing our shitebag politicians, with even bigger shitebag media moguls. The populist vote will win, regardless of whether it's the right decision or not. You will surely see complete shitebags like Rupert Murdoch gaining more power as they are in the best position to influence the minds of the masses through their media empires.
Of course, on the other hand, leaving the decision making up to our politicians has very severe drawbacks as well. Look at the Iraq war for instance. There will be many more examples of our politicians ignoring the wishes of the people, and then getting it completely wrong.
I would probably just choose the system we have at the moment, although I do know that it is hugely flawed.