Guns

[Blindside]

Good.. I own 3 handguns and a couple of rifles.. Not sure if this was already mentioned but one of the main reasons that the US Mainland was not invaded during WW2 is because the enemy knew that a majority of Americans in the 1940's owned rifles or handguns. They knew Americans would join together and fight an invading enemy..

Or maybe because none of the Axis countries was set up to project force across the Atlantic/Pacific that way??? And the idea of Japan successfully establishing control and then maintaining a groundforce on the US mainland is laughable, and that has nothing to do with civilian arms.

Lamont

 

[Odin]

One could say that if there wasnt a tool in the first place then there would be less of a chance for an idiot to use it?

I personally dont like guns..and cant see any point in having one other then the whole 'well he has a gun so i need a gun to protect myself from his gun' idea which is a problem to late to correct.

 

[grydth]

Guns are neither good nor bad, they are inanimate objects. Much like a knife is neither good nor bad. It depends on the intent and user. I use a knife every day to do my job, so in that it is good. Terrorists used very similar kives in order to facilitate the murder of 3000 human beings.

I use a gun to develop the skills needed to save a life. Either my own or others. In that it is good. However there are some people who misuse them.

Like drunk drivers can misuse automobiles to produce a large number of fatalities. Yet automobiles are often used to transport people to the hospital or to their daily chores.

It is all in intent.

This person was squarely on target.

Anyone who would deride your gun as a "tool" could similarly label your katana, your wakizashi, your sai, your jo as "tools" and urge they be banned - for your own good of course.

Anyone contending that you should give up your right to use a firearm in self defense will next be legislating to close your dojo.

Personally, I like the fact that some thug with a smattering of training in MMA or whatever needs to be in fear that his intended prey will draw on him and blow his brains out. Tough world.

 

[bydand]

One could say that if there wasnt a tool in the first place then there would be less of a chance for an idiot to use it?

I personally dont like guns..and cant see any point in having one other then the whole 'well he has a gun so i need a gun to protect myself from his gun' idea which is a problem to late to correct.

Just as a different viewpoint here. Not knocking yours at all Odin (love the name by the way) but I have never thought of my gun ownership like this. I guess it is all in how close you are raised with them. Guns were always a part of my upbringing and always around the house, no mystery around them, no fasination with them really. It was never a thought to sneak a peak when the folks were not looking because all I had to do was ask and Dad (or Mom) would take me out shooting. It was never a matter of thinking I had to have them around to protect myself from somebody else with one. It was a matter of becoming more skilled at shooting them. I still look at my guns as a skill related item and activity, much the same as my Martial Arts. I shoot to better the last time I went out. If I put 10 rounds from my .270 in a spot you could cover with a dollar bill folded in half from 200 yards, I wanted to better that the next time I went out. I would hate to guess how many pounds of lead I have put down the barrel of my guns just for the shear joy of the bang, the recoil, the smell of burnt gunpowder, and watching a hole open up in my target downrange. One year I shot 12,500 rounds out of my .44 Mag; 15,000 out of my .357 Mag; 3250 out of my .270 Win; and a few thousand more out of the others I own, just for these reasons.

To protect myself? No, just for the fun! Some people like to sky-dive, some like to race (boats, cars, motorcycles, whatever), and some of us like to shoot.

 

[Odin]

Just as a different viewpoint here. Not knocking yours at all Odin (love the name by the way) but I have never thought of my gun ownership like this. I guess it is all in how close you are raised with them. Guns were always a part of my upbringing and always around the house, no mystery around them, no fasination with them really. It was never a thought to sneak a peak when the folks were not looking because all I had to do was ask and Dad (or Mom) would take me out shooting. It was never a matter of thinking I had to have them around to protect myself from somebody else with one. It was a matter of becoming more skilled at shooting them. I still look at my guns as a skill related item and activity, much the same as my Martial Arts. I shoot to better the last time I went out. If I put 10 rounds from my .270 in a spot you could cover with a dollar bill folded in half from 200 yards, I wanted to better that the next time I went out. I would hate to guess how many pounds of lead I have put down the barrel of my guns just for the shear joy of the bang, the recoil, the smell of burnt gunpowder, and watching a hole open up in my target downrange. One year I shot 12,500 rounds out of my .44 Mag; 15,000 out of my .357 Mag; 3250 out of my .270 Win; and a few thousand more out of the others I own, just for these reasons.

To protect myself? No, just for the fun! Some people like to sky-dive, some like to race (boats, cars, motorcycles, whatever), and some of us like to shoot.

I respect your view point, I just live in a country where having a gun is a serious offense, so I'venever been around them alot...and the ones I were around where in the hands of idoits.

 

[Cruentus]

I respect your view point, I just live in a country where having a gun is a serious offense, so I'venever been around them alot...and the ones I were around where in the hands of idoits.

You might be interested in reading some of the discussions here regarding "gun control" to get a handle on a different perspective. Often when people live in an area where something is highly regulated, they can't imagine what it would be like if there wasn't that regulation. Someone from Europe might have a hard time visualizing what it might be like if everyone could carry a gun; yet one only has to look at civilized areas where gun carry is allowed to see that life is fairly normal and safe, and that there isn't mayham in the streets because of relaxed regulations. Similarly, it might be very difficult for Americans to visualize what it would be like if there were no drinking age (here you have to be 21 to drink alcahol). It only takes an observation of places like in Europe to see that not only is there not this huge drinking problem among youths when regulation is relaxed, but that incidences of alcaholism and alcahol related deaths are actually lower in places where there is no minimum drinking age.

So it is good to look at different perspectives to really see the end results with stuff like this...

 

[Nobody]

I live in America, there is not a shooting range near here cause we don't need one. If you see an old fridge or old cars parked in a field you can go shot at them this is called a shooting range here.

 

[Callandor]

...shoot back!

 

[billybybose]

guns are like martial arts.tools used by people.also you need to practice to make them effective

 

[benj13bowlin]

Personally I can’t imagine not being allowed to own and carry a gun. I grew up on a ranch and I was shooting long before I could drive. I was raised with a lot of respect for guns and the importance of gun safety. I think that guns can be a very good thing, but like anything else they can be abused and without proper safety they can be very dangerous to everyone. Far more people die from automobile accidents every year than are injured by firearms.

http://www.theoclawyer.com/guns-dui.html
http://www.aim.org/media_monitor/A3247_0_2_0_C/

 

[Taiji_Mantis]

Are guns good or bad?
According to my Zen teacher, they would be neither... they would just be guns.

Now my philosophical stance is that I do not belive in committing violent acts. I am a practitioner of nonviolence (not to be confused with pacifism) who belives that as a matter of design there is still no answer to this question.

One could say that guns were designed to kill. Thus they are bad.
One could say guns were designed to protect. Thus they are good.

I own a glock.
Glocks were designed for one thing. Protection or killing--its your decision to make, not mine.

Personally I fall more towards the killing end and dont especially like the sense of power that comes with carry of a weapon, but I still own one and while I do not support CCW laws, I have a CCW.

Have I made myself a walking contradiction yet?
Or is this the sound of one hand clapping?

 

[jamz]

Guns are neither good or bad, they are just tools that one can do good or bad with.

Fortunately, there are more good people than bad people.

 

[navyvetcv60]

I voted GOOD, i have multiple firearms, for different applications, 1st, Pistols Colt Anaconda 44mag. 4'' barrel, & Springfield Armory Model #1911 45, these weapons are for personal protection when i go out and when i go hiking in the mountains.
2nd. Shotguns, Mossberg 20ga pump short barrel w/ pistol grips, this firearm is for Home defense.
3rd. Rifle, Springfield Armory Model # M1A ( Civilian version of the M14 ) i purchased this rifle for the main reason of strengthening our U.S. Constitution, if the "Well Regulated (Regulated meaning trained ) Militia" ever needs formed to take back our Government, I must have a weapon that can reach out and touch the Tyrants men, and a 7.62 x 51 round can sure do that.
God Bless Thomas Jefferson and the rest of our founding Fathers for giving us such a great gift and responsibility in the Bill Of Rights.

 

[elder999]

God Bless Thomas Jefferson and the rest of our founding Fathers for giving us such a great gift and responsibility in the Bill Of Rights.

No.Mr. Jefferson and the other Founders would surely disagree.

 

[Blindside]

God Bless Thomas Jefferson and the rest of our founding Fathers for giving us such a great gift and responsibility in the Bill Of Rights.

They would probably say that "they" didn't give us the "gift" it is a natural right.

Lamont

 

[myusername]

I've voted that guns are bad, but that is because anything that can end a life (human or animal) with the tiniest of effort has to be bad. For the same reason I would vote that most weapons are bad. It appears that most people are voting about gun control and the right to carry a gun rather than wether guns are a good or bad invention.

As for gun control my answer is a little hypocritical and complicated! I would say that if I were in the US I would certainly own a gun and argue for my right to own one. It's not a case of wether guns are good or bad it's about recognising that guns exist and criminals own and use them. If I were to move to the USA I would buy one very quickly and also look forward to practicisng in a shooting range.

My answer is hypocritical because I live in the UK but I am content with the gun control in my country. If people were to campaign for UK citizens to own guns I would campaign against it. I feel that in the UK gun ownership would just increase accidental deaths, suicides and would have a detrimental impact on society because that is not a part of our current generations culture.

So in summary, I feel that one could never honestly call any weapon designed for killing or maiming another human being good but I understand and would advocate the need and desire to own one if you are living in a culture where gun ownership rights have long been established.

 

[searcher]

I voted GOOD!!! Just the fact that I can vote good is a pretty good reason for me to vote that way. If it were not for my guns and those of other good, law abiding, gun owners, we would not have these rights. We would be enslaved by the ones we have elected to office. I need my guns to protect the rights of the liberals to complain about my ownership of a firearm.

If you don't like my guns, then move to China, the UK, or some other screwed up country. Yes, it is MO that if you can't own a firearm, then your country is screwed up.

 

[myusername]

If you don't like my guns, then move to China, the UK, or some other screwed up country. Yes, it is MO that if you can't own a firearm, then your country is screwed up.

Ouch! That was pretty harsh! I could suggest that a country that denies healthcare to the poor and uninsured, or still has the death penalty, or allows the teaching of creationism as fact in some schools as pretty screwed up but I better not or you might shoot me!

Please realise that no country is perfect and most governments are screwed up in some way. Your statement is a bit pot calling the kettle black.

 

[KenpoTex]

I've voted that guns are bad, but that is because anything that can end a life (human or animal) with the tiniest of effort has to be bad. For the same reason I would vote that most weapons are bad.

WTF??? So what about cars? rocks? claw-hammers? kitchen knives? crickett bats?

Your post is one of the most idiotic I've ever seen on this forum.

 

[myusername]

WTF??? So what about cars? rocks? claw-hammers? kitchen knives? crickett bats?

Your post is one of the most idiotic I've ever seen on this forum.

Well Captain Clever.... cars are an invention that are designed primarily for transport, rocks aren't an invention, claw hammers are designed for building and DIY, kitchen knives were invented for cooking and cricket bats are designed for playing Cricket. Although all of the various objects you have mentioned can be used for killing, none of them were invented with that in mind. I do not think that it takes a genius to understand that the point I was making in my original post is that anything that is designed for killing and ending life can not ethically and morally be classified as good. That belief has nothing to do whatsoever with gun control

If you got down of that high horse for one second and read my post properly you would have noted that I was not arguing against your precious right to carry firearms, in fact, if you were able to read, you would see that I was saying the exact oposite. Just because something may be necessary does not mean it is good or wholesome.

Your post is one of the most rude and ignorant I've ever seen on this forum.