Is owning Guns good or bad?

[darkpenguin]

Oh and the car seat belt question was an analogy, even an idiot could have seen that coming a mile off!

 

[FFH]

Okay so I stand corrected...

Without a permit you can't have a concealed weapon, sorry...

NRA-ILA Gun Laws

 

[darkpenguin]

Hunting to me is fine, if not some populations would take off, and then there would be way to many, just like Deer in some area.

I'm sorry, too many deer? TO MANY???
Maybe we should start hunting humans too seeing as there are to many in the world!!!
What a ridiculous statement to make!

 

[FFH]

I'm sorry, too many deer? TO MANY???
Maybe we should start hunting humans too seeing as there are to many in the world!!!
What a ridiculous statement to make!

This gave me a good laugh

Deer hunting is really big here too and they say they are just thinning out the population of deer and another rationale hunter's have is that they won't last the winter anyway.

My father used to "bag" (kill) a buck each year and we would eat the meat for Sunday dinner and it sure was wild tasting meat that's for sure...

I never went deer hunting with my father despite him asking me each year. I used to say I was too busy with homework...

Just wasn't my thing...
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[darkpenguin]

This gave me a good laugh

Lol thankyou, don't get me wrong, I agree with hunting in the survival sense of it.
As long as all of what is hunted is going to get used but I can't abide hunting for keeping population down or if someone wants a 'nice' fur coat(eww!) or a wall peice.
Somehow I don't think that thats what animals are here for!

 

[FFH]

I don't know what the law is where you live but here in Texas if someone comes into your house; you have the legal right to kill them. No if ands or buts...One thing I like about Texas law. Does this mean if someone breaks into my house that I will kill them? That will depend on the circumstances...I will not hesitate if there is a question that my family is in danger. Like I said, I am extreme pacifist. I do not believe in harming anything unless you have Universally justified reasoning for doing so.

Okay thanks for the warning I'll make sure I knock before barging in on you...


Seriously that's good to know, but still there would have to be some fast and smart thinking before pulling the trigger.


Inside the home at least you could get the first shot in before he did, it sounds like, if he pulled a gun out or a knife, but outside the home he would have to take the first shot I think for you to legally shoot at him...

 

[XAAX]

Guns sicken me and so do the people who own them, I'm shocked that so many people that I have known and respected on here can loose all of my respect in just one thread!
Anyone who owns a gun has the blood of the victims of any gun crime on their hands!

Although I agree and would love to see weapons of any nature banned world wide, they are a necessary evil. I never felt that way until I had my own family. When it was just me I wasn't worried about someone coming into my home or pulling a gun on me. Now it is different. I am more than capable of defending myself against negative people. My wife on the other hand might not be able to without the use of a gun. As I have stated, I am against almost every kind of violence...Protection is different...I would rather my family be protected then something happen to them then me go to jail for what I would do to the party responsible...

 

[XAAX]

I'm sorry, too many deer? TO MANY???
Maybe we should start hunting humans too seeing as there are to many in the world!!!
What a ridiculous statement to make!

I am against any form of hunting unless you or your family are starving and have to survive. There is a problem with deer in Texas for example. Without hunting them they will over populate and starve, so what he said is correct. But what is missed in this statement is why. Man has taken the natural habitat away from these animals so there is less room for them to live. Once again, our solution to fix a problem that is our fault...

 

[Tigress]

I suppose that depends on the perspective, but I believe that ultimately, an eye for an eye isn't going to solve our problems. Gun violence has to, or should end somewhere, and it's for this reason that I'm not keen on gun ownership, an armed populace, or personally owning a gun.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Do you think owning guns is good or bad. (generally).

Would you personally ever own a gun? why?

Is an armed populace good or bad? Does it protect against despotism?

I think owning a gun depends on the person, as others have already stated.

I do plan on buying my own gun, as the ones I have were gifts, except for one, which was stolen from a drug lord, which I purchased from the guy that stole it, and resold for a nice profit.

The populace will arm itself one way or another. If thier are no guns, thier are always knives, and for the desperate, bows and arrows. If those aren't around, thier is always a good 'ole Lousville Slugger.

 

[XAAX]

but outside the home he would have to take the first shot I think for you to legally shoot at him...

Nope, Texas has some unique laws...Just have posted signs on your property that states No Trespassing. Then at night time, if someone comes on your property to cause anyone harm, steel your car, or break into your property, you can shoot them.

This may sound extreme but I lived in Philadelphia P.A. and there was a story that stuck out in my mind. A guy was breaking into a house and he fell through the sky light on the roof. The guy wasn't arrested. Thats one thing. The worst part is that he sued the guy who owned the house and won. That is so ridiculous I could not stand it. That would never happen here. When people break into a house in this state they know that they are on the loosing end of the law...

 

[FFH]

A guy was breaking into a house and he fell through the sky light on the roof. The guy wasn't arrested. Thats one thing. The worst part is that he sued the guy who owned the house and won. That is so ridiculous I could not stand it.

Yeah, now this is the stuff I'm talking about. It seems the law is backward in most states.

I'm sure if I shot someone breaking into my home, I would end up at least being sued by the family of the person I shot, if I injured or killed him...

Police officers are regularly sued here by the families of victims shot and killed in obviously dangerous shoot outs and the officer is taken off duty for quite some time until the matter is resolved.

I can't imagine if a civilian did the same thing a trained police officer had done...

The injured party or injured party's family would definitely mess with you for a long time. Better move because they know where you live too.

 

[Quoth The Raven]

yes well you may be the bright spark of the gun totting bunch but i wonder how many of your fellow gun owners keep their guns in pieces in a separate safe to the amunition?

oops sorry about using a general comment,i should have asked every member of the forum for their oppinion first, unfortunately not everyone was logged on, but the majority of those online were pro gun. so i worked withh what i had.

does G-D help those who help themselves to other peoples lives? and the next time you hear someone praying to him for protection, you can tell them to 'dry their eyes, he's not there to nanny them!'

Oh, meow.
Try again. I don't own a gun, but I did grow up around people who did.
And every member of the forum is unnecessary, but in a forum of almost 10,000 members, you could get just as representative sample as you've got in this thread by asking the opinions of random people in the street.
People can pray to god for protection all they like, but the simple fact that good people are out there getting killed on a regular basis would seem to indicate that his intervention is sketchy at best. Worked out quite well for the little Amish kiddies, didn't it. But then, while he's not saving the devout innocent we can claim that whole mysterious ways dealy, so it all comes out in the wash.
I dunno where you think I'm coming from, but I'm fairly certain it's a place of your own invention. People have been killing people since someone worked out how to heft a rock...the invention of guns didn't come with the previously unknown concept of murder on the side. People who want to kill other people will find another way, be it rat poison, smothering,stabbing,hiring some guys you work with to beat your husband to death with a length of pipe. Gun owner doesn't equal homocidal maniac, advocating responsible gun ownership doesn't equal a vote for gun toting rampage.
The thing I find most amusing about this - or would if it wasn't so sad - is that reactionary gun laws with blanket bans aren't based on the Mr Smiths of this world accidentally shooting their son when he came home late from the pub and broke in through the window cos he forgot his key, they're based on the type of people who always end up having guns that aren't legally registered, or even legally available. Somehow they manage to get them anyway. Those sort of people will ALWAYS manage to get them anyway.

 

[NoahideHiker]

This is crazy, given their purpose, how can so many religious people own so many guns! You can't justify it by saying 'it's ok if the person is sensible' even sensible people act irrationally under emotional stress. you could be the calmest peace loving person in the world, maybe never been in a fight in your life, loved and respected by everyone, then something happens and you reach for the gun. it was a one off, a momentary loss of control....but someone is left badly injured or worse. I wonder how many people have killed because of this scenario. Take america for instance, can you honestly deny the number of gun related deaths are related to your lax gun laws? This thread has seriously altered my perception of the people on RF, I thought this was a comunity of sensible people wanting a better world!

Let's try something here...

This is crazy, given their purpose, how can so many religious people own so many knives! You can't justify it by saying 'it's ok if the person is sensible' even sensible people act irrationally under emotional stress. you could be the calmest peace loving person in the world, maybe never been in a fight in your life, loved and respected by everyone, then something happens and you reach for the knife. it was a one off, a momentary loss of control....but someone is left badly injured or worse. I wonder how many people have killed because of this scenario.

The first murder in history was comitted with a rock. We gonna need to ban all rocks? The gun problem in America is dramatized and over bloated.

Take america for instance, can you honestly deny the number of gun related deaths are related to your lax gun laws?

We do not have lax gun laws. We have many many laws which attempt to control our access to fire arms. And time and again it shows gun control doesn't work. Quite the opposite it costs lives because the people who need them the most can't have them. My home state is a good example. We finally got a law passed that allowed everyone who recieved training and a background check to carry a gun concealed. There have been hardly any instances of CCW carriers getting in trouble and crime is down.

This thread has seriously altered my perception of the people on RF, I thought this was a comunity of sensible people wanting a better world!

Yes, this is disappointing that you would see me any differently than I have always shown you. I do believe you may have been a bit biased in your views of guns as you assume a sensible person could not own a gun.

 

[michel]

Jonny inspired this thread with his becoming a man thread... and I happened to have purchased another gun yesterday (I have many).

QUESTIONS: (pick any or all)

Do you think owning guns is good or bad. (generally).

BAD

Would you personally ever own a gun? why?

Never,because I see no use for one. I am not in the least interested in joining a gun clud (which is the only circumstance in which I could immagine anyone ever wanting to buy a gun).

Is an armed populace good or bad? Does it protect against despotism?

I hardly think that a gun is the way to express political expression; rather than protection from despotism, I see weapons as a means to anarchy.

Ugh! I know my views won't be popular, but that is what I think.

This article: http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/02/18/london.shootings.reut/

Excerpts:- "Overall gun-related crime, including air weapons, fell 6 percent in 2005/06 from the previous period.
But the fact that all three of those killed this month in the sprawling capital were under 17 has shocked the country."
<------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------->
"The issue here is the circumstances they grow up in, the broken families -- and that's not confined to any one sector of society -- and the massively rife drug culture," said Conservative home affairs spokesman David Davis.
"That isn't just black youngsters, it's black, brown, white, Asian, Caribbean, you name it," he told Sky television. "The problems have been growing for a decade ... and they've only reacted when we've had a headline."

What if guns were made legal? - don't let's fool ourselves...........

 

[darkpenguin]

Personaly I see no good from guns, even using them in protection and war there is no honour with them. They are all too easy to use (talking from experience).
At least when protection and war were done with swords and even bows and arrows there was skill there, you actually had to think what you were doing instead of shooting of a gun which any idiot could do!

 

[SoyLeche]

Oh and the car seat belt question was an analogy, even an idiot could have seen that coming a mile off!

It wasn't an analogy yet. If the answer had been "yes" - then I would have turned it into one. If the answer had been "no" there would have been no reason to. At that point it was just a question - one that still hasn't been answered BTW.

 

[SoyLeche]

My father used to "bag" (kill) a buck each year and we would eat the meat for Sunday dinner and it sure was wild tasting meat that's for sure...

You should go for elk then. It tastes much less wild, and it's a very lean meat too (for the ground meat they usually have to add cow fat to it so that it will have some fat to cook in).

 

[SoyLeche]

Also, I should probably reiterate my position. If I were to get a gun it would be a hunting rifle. These are not a good weapon to use to defend your home with - way too much range on those things to be firing in any even semi-residential area.

IF I were to get a gun to protect my home with it would probably be a shotgun. I'm not anticipating getting one of those any time soon though.

I have no qualms about using a gun in defense of myself or my family though.

I do think I need to get myself a good bat to keep in my bedroom though....

 

[kateyes]

Jonny inspired this thread with his becoming a man thread... and I happened to have purchased another gun yesterday (I have many).

QUESTIONS: (pick any or all)

Do you think owning guns is good or bad. (generally).

Would you personally ever own a gun? why?

Is an armed populace good or bad? Does it protect against despotism?

I do own a shotgun--I use it for shooting skeet(and no a skeet never did anything to deserve shooting)--Other members of my family own guns--some were inherited, some were purchased--we do not own hand guns--the guns my brothers and father own are used for hunting--as children are born and express interest--thier first step before they are even allowed to touch the guns are gun safety classes. I think owning a gun comes with responsibilities to make sure it is secure and doesn't end up in the hands of someone who would abuse the ownership or misuse the gun.

Since it is a right currently guaranteed by the Constitution of the US-I guess I don't have issues with an armed populace--I don't think gun ownership has anything to do with protections against despotism. I am not in favor of just anyone willy-nilly being granted concealed weapon permits. I have known some people that it freaked me out when I found out they had applied for a weapon permit, primarily because I did not trust thier judgement regarding it's use. The scary part was that most of them were granted the permit.