well well well... I've wondered if and when this debate would ever come up in here. Seems like where ever I hang out on the net it comes up sooner or later. And it's always clearly defined lines.
1) Law-abiding gun owners who have no intention of using thier guns for "evil" purposes and who have taken the time to learn proper firearm handling and educate thier families and friends to try and shatter some media created myths. We are a dying breed, and <Salute> all of us.
2) Members of the anti-gun establishment who believe guns are evil things that should be demolished as quickly as possible. These are the people that scream for government regulation because they are too scared or lazy to take personal responsibility for thier actions. They prefer to have Uncle Sam make everything they see as bad go away to make them safer (can we say San Angeles from Demolition Man?). Also included in this group are those who have had friends/loved one killed by a gun in the hands of a criminal, or a friend or loved one commited suicide with a firearm (was that the gun's fault?)
3) The "unwashed masses" who understand neither side of the arguement but are so terrorized by the moaning and screaming of the anti-gunners that they simply can not see past the balony that the anti-gunners spew. They are swayed by the sensationalism of the media reports incidents such as columbine or the shooting in the Perimeter Mall food court in Atlanta many year ago (who remembers that one? I was there).
4) The criminals who sit back and laugh thier arses off while group 2 terrorizes group 3 into seeing this from the anti-gunner point of view. The criminals dinnae care, they have thier guns (and you anti-gunners can't get them either, how's that make ya feel?) and they'd love to see nation-wide gun confiscation. It would mean that much more easy meat on the streets. Several years back a noted editor for one of the larger gun magazines interviewed some juvenille gangmembers who were in juvy hall. One question asked was "who do you pick as your targets?" and the gangmember answered "tourists". The next question, obviously, was "Why pick tourists?" and the gangmembers answer: "Because we know they aren't carrying a gun".
I remember back when Florida was considering passing its concealed carry laws. All the anti-gunners came crawling from thier cesspools screaming about vigilantes in the streets and how crime rates would sky rocket. Florida went ahead and passed the concealed carry law despite the crying of the vocal minority. And do you know what happened? Nope, crime rates dinnae sky rocket like the doom-sayers had predicted. They DROPPED.
Another 'for the record' for ya. Kinnesaw, Georgia. Fairly quiet small town not too far from Atlanta. Not alot of breakins in this town. There's an ordinence that requires every household to have a handgun on the premises (complete with guidelines for storage and educating the kids about the dangers of guns etc). Granted it's been goin on 7yr since a friend who lived there told me all about it, but I dinnae think it's changed. I'd be awfully surprised if it had.
Now, honestly, which group from above do you fall into?
I'm in group 1 and I'll proudly stand by all others in this group.
Hang pointed it out pretty succinctly:
A man with a gun is a citizen; a man without a gun is a subject.
Someone once invited me to what they called a "gun rally" around the time the "assualt weapons" ban was being considered. Not knowing this person all that well I thought it might have been an organized protest against the weapon ban. Boy was I in for a surprise. Here are these people (probably 60 or so total) gathered in a guy's yard on Lake Lanier with a BBQ setup and talking about how guns should be banned, confiscated and destroyed. Real quick I'm a stranger in a strange land, especially since I carrying my 1911A1 in condition 1 (yes, I'm licensed to carry in GA). They're letting everyone take a turn to relate thier thoughts (all basically the same things said in different order, parroting the media). The guy that invited me volunteered me to say something. Now these people had been talking about how guns kill people and obviously forgotten the human factor in the equation, so being the guy I am I wandered to the makeshift podium and stood there for a minute to let it get quite. Then I said "Gun bans are an evil thing" and reached under my jacket and pulled out the .45 and laid it on the table in front of God and everyone (couldna help but chuckle at the startled gasps etc). Then with my hands behind my back I commanded my gun to start killing people. It laid on the table and a couple of people actually dove for the deck. I yelled at the gun to kill people, but it just sat there. Then I reminded them of how it takes a person to pick the gun up, aim it, and squeeze the trigger in order for someone to die from a gunshot. Someone actually suggested that the gun wasn't loaded. I picked it up, aimed at a point on the ground about 4-5ft away, snicked off the safety and fired a round. Saftey on, laid the gun back on the table.
Guns do not kill people.
PEOPLE KILL PEOPLE. The gun is merely a tool, just like a hammer or a screwdriver or a saw. In the right hands a gun feeds people (some of us do actually still hunt for food ya know. Venison is mighty tasty) or protects the innocent. In the wrong hands guns are used to kill people.
In the hands of carpenter a hammer builds a house, shelter from the storm. In the hands of a homicidal maniac that same hammer bashes heads in. Here's an idea, let's ban hammers too
On the power/right thing, the 2nd ammendment is a part of the Bill of Rights (first 10 ammendments). It is most deffinately a right for the people to keep and bear arms.
Now it's been a good while since I've read the constitution of the US, but dinnae it somewhere include a provision for overthrow (armed if necessary) of the government, by the people, if the government becomes to tyrannical. I seem to recall something about that being a duty of the people in policing of the government.
The statistics Hang posted speak for themsevles. If you take out law enforcement, self defense, and suicide shootings, there are a number of other things that have higher death tolls than firearms (except for your criminals out there
).
Hang, if it ever gets that bad, stop at GON first. We can load up the arsenal and make sure we're well defended
Now I'm gonna go take a nap. Used up all my morning posting time
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Here's a debate on gun control from a UBB setup for a site dedicated to the playstation game GranTurismo and GranTurismo2
http://ubb.granturismo.com/Forum20/HTML/001421.html [This message has been edited by CavemanJ (edited 08-03-2000).]
