Toddler shoots mom in a Wal-Mart

[Woldan]

I've only fired a gun a few times in my life, but it's impossible not to feel the sense of power it gives you. You hold the gun in your hand and think, "Yeah, now I'm badass, now I'm powerful. No one better mess me; I'll shoot em' dead!"

Thats common amongst those with little experience, but that wears off once you get used to shooting guns, it least it did in my caseAfter a while you realize its little more than a device that accelerates a piece of led and copper to fast speeds, its no magic device that gives you the power of a god.

I also felt really awesome when I first drove a fast sports scar, but that wore off too. You get used to things and that helps you to behave and stay rational.

 

*correction* WTF. I just read it again, if you feel like shooting people while holding a gun there might be something wrong with you and it would be better to stay away.  I've never felt the temptation to kill somebody or to get in a situation where I might have to while holding a gun.       The day I do I sell my guns, thats for sure. 

Edited January 2, 2015 by Woldan

[ShadySands]

I never got the "power rush" either though maybe it's more common with certain personality types, I dunno. if I ever did I would also sell my guns as fast as I could.

 

That's not to say I'm not a weirdo because the going to the range and especially cleaning the weapons afterwards really relaxes me. I think it's the process and repetition

[500MetricTonnes]

 

I've only fired a gun a few times in my life, but it's impossible not to feel the sense of power it gives you. You hold the gun in your hand and think, "Yeah, now I'm badass, now I'm powerful. No one better mess me; I'll shoot em' dead!"

Thats common amongst those with little experience, but that wears off once you get used to shooting guns, it least it did in my caseAfter a while you realize its little more than a device that accelerates a piece of led and copper to fast speeds, its no magic device that gives you the power of a god.

I also felt really awesome when I first drove a fast sports scar, but that wore off too. You get used to things and that helps you to behave and stay rational.

 

*correction* WTF. I just read it again, if you feel like shooting people while holding a gun there might be something wrong with you and it would be better to stay away.  I've never felt the temptation to kill somebody or to get in a situation where I might have to while holding a gun.       The day I do I sell my guns, thats for sure. 

 

I'm not saying I wanted to shoot people, it's simply that, while holding a gun, I felt that if someone were to attack me, I would be able to stop him with far greater ease than if I were unarmed. There's a great line from the movie Shoot 'Em Up where a character explains that Americans like guns because they allow wimpy guys to feel like tough guys. Merely possessing such a weapon radically alters the power relationship between two people.

 

Homer wrote in The Odyssey, "The blade itself incites deeds to violence." In other words, the very presence of weapons serves to encourage their use. What do you think a society would look like if everyone were armed? I don't think "an armed society is a polite society." It'd be downright terrifying.

[Woldan]

There's a great line from the movie Shoot 'Em Up where a character explains that Americans like guns because they allow wimpy guys to feel like tough guys.

What a stupid quote, if anything a gun makes people equal, an attacker is far more likely to attack a physically weak opponent than an equal. If both the attacker and the victim is armed then it does not matter if you have been gifted with a strong physique or not. Also if the robber knows that the potential victim is armed he sure as hell will think again about robbing this person. No criminal wants to risk their life for a purse.

 

Making wimpy people feel powerful, thats a sad statement that tells a lot about the mental state of person saying it. Now I'd never want THAT person to have a gun.

 

In other words, the very presence of weapons serves to encourage their use. What do you think a society would look like if everyone were armed? I don't think "an armed society is a polite society." It'd be downright terrifying.

There is a town in north America where being armed is mandatory, you have to carry a gun. Its one of the places place with the lowest crime rate in the US, and crime decreased a LOT when this law took effect.

 

Also one would have to have a very low opinion about his fellow people to think that them being armed would end in terrifying results, or it is merely a reflection of what would happen if YOU were armed.

I know, if the people I know were armed nothing terrifying would happen. Also I know 50+ target shooters from the shooting range who are armed, and imagine that, they rational normal people.

 

What happened that you think your fellow people are so stupid and untrustworthy? Judging from what you wrote it sounds like you are terrified of armed people because the way you feel when being armed .

Edited January 2, 2015 by Woldan

[licketysplit]

Uhh...what town mandates you carry a firearm? Never heard of this. Mericans like guns because it's a deep tradition all the way back to our founding. We're closer to our frontier days than any European state, for instance. We also have some of the best and most accessible hunting in the world, so that accounts for many gun owners as well.

 

Still say we need better gun regulation. Better regulation and higher standards do not impinge on individual freedoms.

Edited January 2, 2015 by licketysplit

[Woldan]

Still say we need better gun regulation. Better regulation and higher standards do not impinge on individual freedoms.

 

What do you mean with better regulation and higher standards? 

Edited January 2, 2015 by Woldan

[licketysplit]

 

Still say we need better gun regulation. Better regulation and higher standards do not impinge on individual freedoms.

 

What do you mean with better regulation and higher standards? 

 

 

 

 

More thorough background checks with a long waiting period to purchase a gun. Higher restrictions on concealed carry. Mandatory safety storage protocol. No 12 yr olds shooting Uzis. That sort of thing.

[Woldan]

More thorough background checks with a long waiting period to purchase a gun.

The black market has a zero-day waiting period.

Higher restrictions on concealed carry.

What kind of restrictions?

Mandatory safety storage protocol.

Impossible to make the police check firearm owners for proper storage.

 

Uhh...what town mandates you carry a firearm? Never heard of this

Not carrying but owning a gun. Kenensaw, Georgia, its crime rate is 85% below that of the rest of the US.

 

''In order to provide for the emergency management of the city (60.000 inhabitants) , and further in order to provide for and protect the safety, security and general welfare of the city and its inhabitants, every head of household residing in the city limits is required to maintain a firearm, together with ammunition therefore.'' (Except the disabled and mentally ill)

 

So much for ''terrifying'' results. The majority of people isn't insane nor untrustworthy, who would have guessed.

Edited January 2, 2015 by Woldan

[licketysplit]

I'm sure Adam Lanza, a dopey middle class teenager, had deep connections to the black market, and if his mother's arsenal was properly locked up he could have easily obtained those weapons. On a serious note, no civilian needs to own automatic weapons. Period.

 

What kind of restrictions on concealed carry? Less concealed carry. If you're using a gun as a deterrent to crime, what better way than to show it? Most folks who want to conceal it are up to no good.

 

It's impossible to make the police check every house for meth too, but it's still illegal.

 

 

Woldan, all of this is the same narrative we've been hearing from the NRA for 20 years. To them, nothing can be done to improve gun safety, reduce gun crime or prevent gun accidents. Because reasons.

Edited January 2, 2015 by licketysplit

[Woldan]

On a serious note, no one needs to own automatic weapons. Period.

Are you going to be the one who decides what we need and what we don't need? Let me tell you, a world where we only own what we need would be a awful place. Thats a horrible argument.

What do you really need? Only a handful of things. Certainly not the computer you're typing on right now.

 

What kind of restrictions on concealed carry? Less concealed carry. If you're using a gun as a deterrent to crime, what better way than to show it?

If you pass a law that concealed carry is permitted for everyone you have to assume everyone is armed, no need to show it because yoo know it. And some states allow open carry, its just that, some people hate guns and assume that an armed person is up to no good, so thats why its concealed carry. Especially nowadays with terrorism in everybody's back of the minds.

 

Most folks who want to conceal it are up to no good.

You can speak for most folks? Are you psychic?

 

It's impossible to make the police check every house for meth too, but it's still illegal.

Passing a law that the police cannot check?

 

Woldan, all of this is the same narrative we've been hearing form the NRA for 20 years. To them, nothing can be done to improve gun safety, reduce gun crime or prevent gun accidents. Because reasons.

They're saying that there can't be much done to prevent crime committed with legal weapons, nothing short of a ban which is definitely the wrong way. And I tend to agree, focus your energy on illegal weapons instead, thats what 99% of crimes are commited with. Edited January 2, 2015 by Woldan

[Zoraptor]

Proper storage is a requirement, checked by police at the same time as a firearms licence is issued/ renewed*, here. It is of course possible to ignore the rules when the policeman isn't actively checking but that's an argument that literally everything is pointless legality wise- speed limits? pointless, people may only adhere to them when a policeman is actively checking. You have to store the gun in a secure, unfireable state with no magazine/ bolt present and a trigger lock or similar; ammunition and said bolt/ magazine must be kept separate and also locked away. That has two purposes, it makes it far more difficult to steal a workable gun and it makes it far harder to do spur of the moment stupid stuff, especially suicide, because you typically have to get three different, locked, pieces of equipment.

 

*not always a sworn officer, last guy we had was retired and doing it for an income top up plus tea and biscuits. They also do an interview at the same time, plus you have to have two character references and no significant criminal record. The interview is pretty laughable from both sides, on one it's pretty much "is X a drug addict or an axe murderer" on the other it's "are you a drug addict or axe murderer".