A World with no guns

[Globber]

There has been a lot of Buzz about gun control recently, but What if guns were not only illegal, but not a viable option for anyone to use?

What if there were a technology that rendered all guns,explosives, etc. useless???

Would this create a stable geopolitical climate where nations would have no way to attack the other and there would be global peace?

OR

Would a world where might makes right ruled, where there is not deterrent to war or violent crime, turning into something like the ancient world, with no equalizers for the weak???

Also, would a modern army be willing to throw itself against a wall of bayonets and blades?? Or has thought reached far enough that men would not be willing to throw themselves towards death??

I'm leaning towards chaos, as human greed will never really be conquered. But that's the pessimist side.

What do you think??

 

[VoodooAce]

I don't think much would change.

There would still be nationalists. There would still be conflict. People would still use religion as an excuse to kill.

Guns and explosives don't ALLOW us to kill. They just allow us to kill people hundreds of times faster.

Were there no explosives, wars would either be less bloody or just last that much longer, depending.....

 

[BlueMonday]

If we didn't have gunpowder we'd just go back to swords, spears, and bows. The gun -fundamentally- doesn't change anything. And like I said in the other topic: I'd rather be shot then stabbed (knives do ten times the damage a .45 caliber bullet does).

 

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by VoodooAce
Were there no explosives, wars would either be less bloody

I don't see how this part of the post follows given even a cursory look at history.

 

[Flatlander Fox]

Without guns, there would be no computers...

Given the technology of defending yourself against bigger, nastier brutes in short order (Guns), I am pretty sure that we have more than enough time to experiment with technology.

In short, guns allowed us to come out of the Dark Ages. We didn't have to carry around those heavy swords, and people were able to defend themselves more efficiently, which gave them time to experiment and discover new technology.

I am sure that man will always find a way to kill each other, that's just the way it is.
Sticks and rocks, trained dogs (which double as Lunch) were the caveman way... No matter the obstacle, man will find a way.

 

[VoodooAce]

I wrote:

"Were there no explosives, wars would either be less bloody or just last that much longer,"

Originally posted by DinoDoc


I don't see how this part of the post follows given even a cursory look at history.

What? You don't think wars have become more bloody with the invent of explosives???

More bloody meaning more casualties?

BTW, I disagree with your theory Flatlander. I believe we'd have been just fine without ways to knock each other off with greater efficiency. Who knows, though.

I'd rather get shot, too, than stabbed. Just different degrees of 'suck' to choose from.

But if a disgruntled employee who just got layed off is going to come looking for revenge, I'd rather he came looking with a knife rather than a gun for all sorts of obvious reasons.

 

[Flatlander Fox]

When people discovered farming as an alternative to hunter/gathering, the technological advances abounded.

It amounts to the fact that there would be very little in terms of technological advances if the "Might makes Right" way of life were still in play.

And believe me, if there were no guns, that would be the case.

At least with a weapon such as a gun, you are able to defend yourself from everybody, regardless of size or motivations.

Which makes everybody a bit more peaceful. No longer can I come into your house and kill you, rape your wife and sell your children into slavery just because I am bigger than you and better trained with my sword/crossbow/mace.

Which makes your life better too. Now you can go to your office and discover Sanitation, which will make all of our lives better.

We came out of the dark ages because of gunpowder, I would shudder to think where we would be without it.

 

[Magnus]

Anyone remember the ill-fated Kellogg-Briand Pact?

 

[joespaniel]

Interesting idea for a thread, but purely speculative.

Just as with anything else, once you have them, there is no going back.

Guns are no exception.

Just for the record, after being discharged from the Army, I sold my own personal guns back to a liscensed dealer, and havent owned one since.

I havent needed one yet...

 

[Knight-Dragon]

Well, I have never touched a gun ever, living here; so I'm about as close as you can get to the ideal world portrayed in this thread. Not that I need to, even the police here carry only light handguns. Guns (and weopans generally) are outlawed here, in S'pore and M'sia.

 

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by VoodooAce
What? You don't think wars have become more bloody with the invent of explosives???

Considering the fact that we had both artilery and biological weapons before the invention of gun powder, I fail to see how war could get less bloody.

 

[Morgasshk]

Less bloody i'd have to agree... when looking at a modern day warfield you see lots of holes and some parts of blown up people... Way back when there was fields littered with bodies and parts and lots of blood....

The explosives just dissipate the blood more effectively!




But anyway... Think about it like this... Big plank of wood with a large rusty nail sticking out of it....

no reason, just think about it because it sounds funny...

:crazyeyes

If there is no guns then people will just think of a way around them or the aliens will eat us!

Morgasshk.

(Look, i'm allowed to be stupid from time to time (even quite often!)

 

[VoodooAce]

Originally posted by DinoDoc


Considering the fact that we had both artilery and biological weapons before the invention of gun powder, I fail to see how war could get less bloody.

Easy.

Explosives...

That's why they use it...

 

[allhailIndia]

It is an offshoot of the Theory of Evolution that the guy with the biggest gun survives and gets all the gals to further his race

Besides, imagine James Bond with a knife!!

 

[knowltok2]

I read a short story once about this. I think it was by Harry Turtledove. In it an alien species comes in and drops an explosion inhibitor. They then remove all uranium from the planet. This is circa 1951. No guns, no cars, no nukes, etc. The alien logic is that we are getting close to destroying ourselves. When they return in twenty years to refresh the inhibitor they find a much greener world. A small profesional army is fighting bandits in the ruins of Europe, and they can see the piles of skulls from the sky.

This story of course includes the elimination of the cumbustion engine, and is only a story, but I think it illustrates the fact that we tread on very dangerous ground if we want to rip something as ingrained in our lives as guns out of society.

And yes, wars would be less bloody, but they would likely last longer. Compare 100 years war with WWII.

 

[Mr Spice]

Originally posted by Flatlander Fox
We came out of the dark ages because of gunpowder, I would shudder to think where we would be without it.

About the Dark Ages:

As you all very well know, this is the term for the period of time between two golden ages in European history, namely the era of Greek culture (ending with the fall of Rome) and the Renaissance.

The Renaissance is the time period when we, the descendents of the Germanic tribes who brought down Rome, rediscovered Greek culture and, so to speak, picked up where Greeks and Romans left us.

So the reason why we "came out of" the Dark Ages is that we had become civiliced enough to care about Greek philosophy and science, not that we accuired gunpowder.

 

[Magnus]

In my opinion the 'Dark Ages' ended due to the 1. Black Death which essentially ended serfdom by removing surplus population required for an agrarian system of government 2. the rise of the bourgeosie and mercantilism, and 3. the fall of Constantinopolis to the Turk.

What gunpowder did was allow the fledgling nation-states of Europe to field larger, conscripted armies, as it is MUCH easier to point a gun and shoot it than to leran fencing, equestrian battle tactics and bowman skills (plus armor was no longer much help against the gun). the cost per soldier became cheaper thus standing armies became feasible in Europe for the first time since Rome - this helped weaken the landed gentry and as a result weakened feudalism and helped the centralized state.

 

[FullofHoles]

message erased it looks like I had my facts wrong