Gun Hating Slaves

[myselftheother]

In response to Lightbringer's suggestion that somebody start a thread that has this header, I'd like to open the thread with this statement.

I truly believe that guns do have a purpose in this world. Whether for hunting, killing your neighbor, shooting crows off the wires, or just protecting your home from killer zombie crackheaded zombies...guns do have a place in society.

Ok, sorry for sounding glib about an issue some of you take very seriously. Guns, gun control, illegal firearms, the right to bear, the reality of the right to bear arms....guns for hunting, assault rifles, sport, etc....all the issues surrounding whether or not we should be armed to the teeth like our American neighbors with whatever will do the job. Truth is, what are you propagators of arms really on about? Are we about to be attacked? Is there a menace that we really ought to be ready for? Is it realistic? Seriously. Do you really need to have a firearm?

I would love to hear real answers, serious answers and not some psycho babble about terrorists and crack heads raping your spouse. Let's live in reality and really have a conversation about this....without attacking and insulting each other.....and be adult about it.

And, please....no words with more than 3 syllables.

And no quotes, links or hyperbole

 

[LightBearer]

"Among the many misdeeds of British rule in India, history will look
upon the Act depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest." Ghandi

Thats for you Fudd...

 

[oppai]

Guns are just items without thought. They can kill but so can many other things, guns are just more efficient at it. The issue is not really guns (although I strongly believe in a certain amount of gun control ie. full auto/clip size/ammo types etc), the issue is the people who can get access to guns and what their intentions/uses will be. Guns do not decide to kill someone, or shoot at something, there is always a finger behind that trigger and that finger is controlled by a brain (sometimes a very small small distorted brain).

I can't say how many times I have talked to people who say that when they hold/carry/shoot they feel empowered. This is not the right attitude in my opinion. The first time I handled a gun and shot I felt humbled.

 

[HankQuinlan]

The right to protect your family seems like a perfectly worthy objective.

The problem is, for every person that has successfully used a firearm to protect their family, property, etc, there are many many more cases where they are:
- stolen, adding to the guns criminals have on the streets
- used to kill your family members, or your friends with whom you have a drunken argument
- taken from you by intruders and used against you
- played with by children, with disastrous results.

If you keep your guns properly unloaded and stored so that they are safe from intruders and from your children, they are not going to be a lot of help to whack an intruder in the middle of the night.

If you are going to make firearms accessible to the general population, it should be after proper training. The Swiss require all eligible people to take militia training and issue them with military rifles for which they are responsible, not to any yahoo that wants to play Charles Bronson or has fantasies of "Red Dawn."

They have an armed population that is perfectly capable of defending themselves against tyranny, and they have very little gun crime.

 

[myselftheother]

The right to protect your family seems like a perfectly worthy objective.

The problem is, for every person that has successfully used a firearm to protect their family, property, etc, there are many many more cases where they are:
- stolen, adding to the guns criminals have on the streets
- used to kill your family members, or your friends with whom you have a drunken argument
- taken from you by intruders and used against you
- played with by children, with disastrous results.

If you keep your guns properly unloaded and stored so that they are safe from intruders and from your children, they are not going to be a lot of help to whack an intruder in the middle of the night.

If you are going to make firearms accessible to the general population, it should be after proper training. The Swiss require all eligible people to take militia training and issue them with military rifles for which they are responsible, not to any yahoo that wants to play Charles Bronson or has fantasies of "Red Dawn."

They have an armed population that is perfectly capable of defending themselves against tyranny, and they have very little gun crime.

And that's how to do it properly. It is unfortunate that after all the tragedies and the Mclovins of the world that people still get killed by accident, in the heat of passion, by intent and by circumstance.

 

[oppai]

The right to protect your family seems like a perfectly worthy objective.

The problem is, for every person that has successfully used a firearm to protect their family, property, etc, there are many many more cases where they are:
- stolen, adding to the guns criminals have on the streets
- used to kill your family members, or your friends with whom you have a drunken argument
- taken from you by intruders and used against you
- played with by children, with disastrous results.

If you keep your guns properly unloaded and stored so that they are safe from intruders and from your children, they are not going to be a lot of help to whack an intruder in the middle of the night.

If you are going to make firearms accessible to the general population, it should be after proper training. The Swiss require all eligible people to take militia training and issue them with military rifles for which they are responsible, not to any yahoo that wants to play Charles Bronson or has fantasies of "Red Dawn."

They have an armed population that is perfectly capable of defending themselves against tyranny, and they have very little gun crime.

True, at the moment swiss crime is about 1/4 that of Canada. But Swiss crime is highly on the rise, mostly due (their explanation) to foreigners living in Switzerland. Basically the result of more poor people being there.

 

[LightBearer]

The right to protect your family seems like a perfectly worthy objective.

The problem is, for every person that has successfully used a firearm to protect their family, property, etc, there are many many more cases where they are:
- stolen, adding to the guns criminals have on the streets
- used to kill your family members, or your friends with whom you have a drunken argument
- taken from you by intruders and used against you
- played with by children, with disastrous results.

If you keep your guns properly unloaded and stored so that they are safe from intruders and from your children, they are not going to be a lot of help to whack an intruder in the middle of the night.

If you are going to make firearms accessible to the general population, it should be after proper training. The Swiss require all eligible people to take militia training and issue them with military rifles for which they are responsible, not to any yahoo that wants to play Charles Bronson or has fantasies of "Red Dawn."

They have an armed population that is perfectly capable of defending themselves against tyranny, and they have very little gun crime.

Up here its the law to keep handguns in a locked case with a trigger lock and riffles in a locked case.

 

[Krustee]

Maybe he was referring to the practice of amputation to increase a child's' take on the streets while begging?

sorry that was a horrible joke!

xoxo
Nina

No more Slumdog for you!

 

[wess]

Up here its the law to keep handguns in a locked case with a trigger lock and riffles in a locked case.

You need to belong to a gun club to own a pistol too.

All these laws just raise the price of black market guns. The higher the stakes in the gun trade the more money there is to make.

 

[Lesbian Hunter]

And, please....no words with more than 3 syllables.

If we did that we'd have you beat and we wouldn't want that to happen Jethro.

 

[CODe333]

Each of the following statements is true:

Firearms can be used to commit crimes and often are.
Firearms can be used to prevent crimes and often do.
Many crimes are committed without the use of firearms.
Many crimes are prevented without the use of firearms.

What kind of social policies or practices can societies employ that take into account the realities expressed by all four statements without neglecting the valuable truths expressed by each of them? No easy answer is forthcoming. Some thoughtful ideas have been expressed here on this thread.

I find it interesting to compare and contrast how people approach the issue of gun control with their approach to the control of cannabis. The social policies advocated by different parts of the social spectrum seem to break down roughly as follows:

Conservatives: yes to guns, no to cannabis
Liberals: no to guns, yes to cannabis
Libertarians: yes to guns, yes to cannabis
Spiritual idealists: no to guns, no to cannabis

Personally I like to say yes to both guns and cannabis because it offers really interesting social possibilities unavailable to the other groups. For example it allows me to go out hunting spiritual idealists with my conservative associates and then get wasted later with my liberal friends and lovers. I know it sounds cruel but it works for all parties involved. Conservatives get to release their secret antisocial desires, liberals get to do a lot of hand wringing and scolding. Now it may seem the spiritual idealists get the shitty end of the stick but they really seem to get off on the whole martyrdom thing, so they too get their payoff.

I suspect that unless the general level of civility and consciousness is raised a bit across the board we’ll all wind up in one of those social meltdowns that thin the herd from time to time. Damn, I think I just heard one of my libertarian buddies loading his rifle.