Now that is something I didn't know, thanks Rip for the info.
sorry Rip, just saw your last post as I posted mine. Yes it does look like media bias. Media should be impartial and shouldn't have agendas attached, but it seems sometimes it does. I wish I could get FOX news at 5:00 am here. Pls ignore the rest of my post if necessary, it's only about gun control and my personal take
As for gun control, we don't have concealed cary in Hawaii, and I heard our laws are pretty strict. We had a bad shooting a little while ago involving a disgruntled employee of Xerox that ended in seven deaths I think. I remember seeing one of the victims come to my workplace to fix our machine when I was in college. My father knew one of the victims too, since he worked in the document reproduction dept of KPMG. The suspect is now in prison. Typical of these incidences is the debate about gun control and concealed carry that rage immediately after the incident. However, due to the culture here in Hawaii, I definitely doubt concealed carry will happen. It just feels to me that most people here wouldn't be ready for that kind of responsibility. Not because of any particular faults, but more likely due to the amount of exposure to firearms average people have here. I know there are countries in Europe where people can own "assault weapons," and even silencers for them (from the hkpro.com board), and considering the differences in society and culture I don't think it would work here in Hawaii anyway. Immediately after the WTC attacks though, there were people who previously never considered buying firearms actually changing their minds and getting a weapon (though not for concealed carry obviously).
Personally, I was in my high school Rifle Team for all four years (we shot .22 rimfire match rifles at US Army 3-position targets for 50 ft. distance). When I hear about people with "sniper weapons," I don't immediately envision some wacko who wants to hole him/herself up in some high place and start randomly shooting at people. It's about a sport, long range shooting. I don't know how it feels to shoot a well balanced and prepped match rifle with match ammo at a target 600m away and get groups only a couple inches in diameter, but from my few years on the rifle team I think I'd enjoy it. I'm sure not everyone feels the same though (not speaking about anyone on this board), and I think they should be taught that not everyone who feels the need to kit themselves out with a custom high powered rifle is a threat to society. I would personally not dream of hurting other people because of my own problems. Currently, I try to fill my marksmanship urges through archery. Got myself an olympic style recurve, some arrows, and now a pretty good sight. One day dream of being able to get consistent groups at 70m (never tried that range yet b/c I only got myself a sight last week). Hm.. how would you describe the long range shooting sport and it's feel without a firearm or something construed as dangerous? How about being able to shoot baskets from 3/4 court all day? Or being able to hit holes in one or second-shot holes (Eagle? )?
Sorry for straying from the thread and rambling, but I guess it kinda has something to do with everything here. I don't think concealed carry would work everywhere, but I'm against complete gun control. A lot of it has to do with how people are brought up (to control and manage their rage, be considerate of others, how firearms are viewed, etc.). Revealing yourself as a gun owner shouldn't result in the other person taking a step back away from you.
mauser
(who may get brave enough to try out his new sight this weekend)