Of course you will still be able to unlawfully obtain firearms if they are outlawed. It would be harder to obtain them, however.

I wonder how many people protect themselves (or others) successfully from harm IN VIRTUE of having a firearm compared to how many people are accidentally shot / unnecessarily harmed from all the LAWFULLY OWNED firearms out there? I guess I'd want to know the empirical facts on that before deciding whether it is better to let people buy guns lawfully or not.

> Guns are also used for protection, and that was why we have a Constitutional right to them.

Yeah. So i guess I'd want to see the stats on whether lawful gun ownership is resulting in more protection or more danger to the citizens of the country.

> Guns are also used for hunting.

Yeah. this is a bit of a seperate rant but i don't think that we should allow our preference for hunting to override the animals preference (much stronger than ours) to remain alive.

I accept that sometimes we may need to control animal populations for the good of the ecosystem but recreational hunting / hunting for food is something that i struggle with as well...

I find the constitution to be interesting. I've been learning a little about australias... NZ doesn't have a constitution. the treaty of waitangi (partnership between indegenous peoples (maori) and immigrants) is the founding document. i think the rest of the laws... were english initially and then we just have our different bills passed through parliament.