英语访谈对话 439 The Gun Debate

 　　Mark: Hey, Mike, how's it going?

　　Mike: Good, thanks
　　Mark: Mike I have a question for you. What do you think about the issue of guns? Do you think that people should have a right to own a gun or do you think that it should be illegal, that people should not be able to own guns?
　　Mike: Right, well, I think if there was a reason for it, like if it was the 1890's, let's say, and there was, you had to hunt for your dinner, then I could see the purpose or the point of having a gun, but I think in this day and age, again, being from Canada, I'm very much against ownership 1 of guns and I just see, you know, bad things happening when I see people with guns.
　　Mark: I definitely 2 see your point, and generally I'm a kind of liberal 3 person but when it comes to guns, I feel like it's sort of too late to make them illegal. In the Unites States, anyway, because if you take away the guns, you're really only taking away guns from the good people who actually register 4 their guns and make their guns legal, but the criminals, or the bad people, they will still have their guns because they're not going to turn their guns in legally anyway.
　　Mike: But if you punished people who had guns, in other words, if there were strict fines and those fines were enforced 5, you don't think that then people would, I mean, you know, turn in or, at least that violent gun crime would diminish 6 or decrease.
　　Mark: Again, I hear what you're saying but who is committing violent gun crime? It's not people who would actually turn in their guns. It's people who are already criminals, so if you take away the right to have a gun, let's say I have a family, and I just want a gun to protect my family in my house, but suddenly the law changes and it's illegal, then I give up my gun. Well, if someone comes in my house, and has a gun, I have no way of protecting myself, no way of protecting my family.
　　Mike: But isn't that what the police should be doing and taking care of, and with, sorry, but with less guns, wouldn't there be, it would be easier for the police to police the amount of guns that are out there, then if there was gun shots going off, because they know that there aren't guns around that area, they'd have a ... it's be easier for them to try to contain and control and capture 7 the people who are responsible.
　　Mark: That's a great idea, but there won't be a policeman at my house all the time, so at that moment, when someone does come into my house and I call the police maybe it takes too long for the police to get there.
　　Mike: I see. OK. Well. Interesting point.
　　Mark: Anyway, yeah, thanks.