[FreshChops]

I would want to admit that I'm caught up in the checkmate of owning a gun as a responsible citizen vs. the fact that criminals will if I'm armed or not.... and perhaps if I lived in a country with virtually no crime, a place of unlocked doors, I might not care to have one or not... but the reality is, I grew up with guns. I spent a lot of time shooting them as a kid, a lot of fun times and good memories.

I enjoy shooting them, I enjoy having them and as an adult now enjoy the piece of mind of having one within reach as I sleep. If my dog barks like someones inside or breaking in.... I'm armed while on the phone with 911. I can't imagine how you'd see a situation like that playing out for yourself, but I don't have a defeatist attitude and unlike you're worst case scenario examples, wouldn't hesitate to send bullets flying an intruders way if I felt myself or family threatened... speak for yourself. I have given you two examples of people who are alive today because they had a gun with them (brothers friend w/ the thief and the couple w/ escaped convict). Also, taking a concealed carry course I've heard it all. You've avoided acknowledging this and therefore the possible benefits. I know nobody or have even heard stories close to home of any accidental deaths or misuse of a firearm. This is the world I live in, it's where I draw my opinions from.

.... this is really about you forcing others to adapt for your insecurities.

I'm nervous every time I get on the road with all these insane americans as you deem them. I'm worried about them being drunk, talking on phones, putting on make-up, playing with radios or just not being competent to not kill me with there cars. the last thing I'm worried about is if they might accidentally kill me while neglectfully playing with a firearm. I look around to make sure they're paying attention to the road, not twirling guns on their fingertips.

I have a strong view about incompetent drivers, but yet I don't insist they regulate drivers and cars. I just mind my own and look out for my own. It's a crazy thing, this world, this country, but when you look at the big picture, it's not all about YOU.

[space]

my name is a killing word.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by ann ashtray

OK, this is going to sound like a stupid question...I get it...but honesty, how do you perceive things to be different if guns were suddenly unavailable to the general public?

its not about how do I perceive if, rather that largely the way things are in Los Angeles.

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

it is pretty hard to find guns in Los Angeles, as they closed up all the gunshops. Ten years ago there were still a lot of gun shops and street dealers would steal them from inventory shipments at the rail yard in san pedro, you could get brand new in the box nines on the block for dirt cheap. They still sold pistols at Wal-Mart and there were many many gun shops, gun shows, and gun traders. Now there are only a hand full of legitimate dealers in the area, and getting a gun out on the block is much more difficult than ever before, the kids are carrying rusty, beat up and (burned) straps that they keep shuffling around between em, where as they used to have nice shit.

While the murder rate is considerably down from the early-90s, it is still startling high for any place on earth, and that is WITH heavy gun control. I would say from the perspective of California, that gun control works, the problem is that we all have to be on the same page. With Arizona (who is so ironically crying over cartel violence while they are large contributor to all the cross border gun-running ) having such easy laws, a lot of these guns are coming still coming into Cali from there, the US needs to really get back on track.

I say FUCK IT and FUCK the SECOND AMMENDMENT, KILLING IS AGAINST THE CONSTITUTION TOO!!

fuck guns!

Originally Posted by FreshChops

You've avoided acknowledging this and therefore the possible benefits. I know nobody or have even heard stories close to home of any accidental deaths or misuse of a firearm. This is the world I live in, it's where I draw my opinions from.

.... this is really about you forcing others to adapt for your insecurities.
the last thing I'm worried about is if they might accidentally kill me while neglectfully playing with a firearm.

.

ahem
Carlos Vela, 17

Died June 1, 2009 at 7:53 p.m.
Carlos Vela, a 17-year-old Latino, was shot in the head in the 9600 block of Beverly Street in Bellflower. He died on Monday, June 1, according to the Los Angeles County coroner's office.
Vela was accidentally shot by his friend James Kempski, 17, of Bellflower.
Deputies searched for Kempski after he accidentally shot Vela to death and then disappeared. He was reportedly despondent about the shooting and still has a gun, officials said.
Kempski and Vela, of Lawndale, were playing with a handgun when it fired, Lt. Dan Rosenberg said.
Kempski's father called law enforcement personnel from Arizona, where he was traveling on business, to report that his son was distraught because he had accidentally shot his friend.
Det. Phil Martinez said the boy told his father that he was afraid that no one would believe him and that he wanted to kill himself.
Vela's mother, Aida Portillo, appeared on local television news broadcasts to beg Kempski to turn himself in.
Investigators believe that there were other people at the home when Vela was shot and that Kempski is with friends, Martinez said.
— Associated Press


(this was a few blocks from my house)



by the way, its not about accidental shootings, its about shootings where people might have overreacted, and to my point, the people who steal guns from legit people with guns or the shady gun dealers who report them stolen or fake the paperwork and sell them on the street. and killing people, even in defense, is hardly a benefit.

[FreshChops]

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

its not about how do I perceive if, rather that largely the way things are in Los Angeles.

Los Angles isn't a fair evaluation because yeah, they eliminated public guns sales and all, but all around the same time that the fucking Terminator became governor! Coincidence, I think not.... Commando doesn't take no shit!

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by FreshChops

Los Angles isn't a fair evaluation because yeah, they eliminated public guns sales and all, but all around the same time that the fucking Terminator became governor! Coincidence, I think not.... Commando doesn't take no shit!

...

Originally Posted by SuchFriendsAreDangerous

LA has proven it, NO GUN SHOPS=NO GUNS, either street or otherwise.


I won't argue it, it is simply reality. I don't need to argue it, that is what California has done,and newsflash gun nuts, that shit is working. Gun violence is down EVERY year and I am thankful, cuz we got enough of that shit as it is

[FreshChops]

all the haters..... I wish you were there (I really do).
Don't knock it until you've tried it!

about 7 years ago at a gun fanatic friends range.....

 

 

 

 

[FreshChops]

 

 

 

[GeneticKiss]

All right, all right, all right, what's say we rewrite the 2nd Amendment for modern times?

Amendment the Second:

The right to bear arms shall not be not infringed for competant individuals over the age of minority who understand the gravity of firearms usage/ownership and demonstrate good judgement and safe handling of such arms.

Happy now?

[ploesj]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

i agree with that, that guns should be licensed the way you get one to drive a car (this would require study and passing an exam on gun safety).

the only problem with that is that this is enshrined in the american constitution as a right, so you can't put a license on a right. you only need permits for conceal carry (e.g., packing a gun under your jacket wherever you go). this varies again by state to state. in virginia i think now you can carry guns in the open.

while driving is a privilege and not a right, owning a gun is a right and not a privilege, by the law of this land. the only people who are barred from owning guns are convicted felons.

peculiar, huh? but it is what it is... changing that culture in a country of over 310,000,000 people would be extremely hard. remember than unlike your own country, this beast is made of 50 mini-countries (many bigger than whole european countries) plus a number of territories, over a huge chunk of land that would take you some 4 or 5 days to drive across.

that's true.

the overall reaction to people with guns here is: woaaah, seriously?

previously you could get certain types of hunting rifles without a permit, in one day, but they changed that law too and now you need a license for any type of gun you own.

i don't know anyone who owns a working gun (one person who collects WWI weapons, but he doesn't have any ammunition and most of them don't work anymore)

it's a huge difference in mentality and i agree that america is waaaay bigger, but don't you think it's better to maybe slowly try to change these ideas? not by just outlawing them right away, but by slowly making guns less acceptable in general.

[ploesj]

Originally Posted by FreshChops

and you've failed to illustrate how you would resolve the gun epidemic.... round up everyone's guns, one house at a time?

we had a 'period of amnesty' here, when people could bring in their illegal weapons without any consequenses. it worked pretty well, once the people were assured there wouldn't be any legal charges when they gave it up at that moment, but there would be charges if the guns were discovered later on (and serious consequenses)

[ploesj]

Originally Posted by FreshChops

also, in all honesty, don't you think that criminals, thugs and drug dealers will still have guns... obtained illegally no matter what? So now you've disarmed the law abiding citizens while criminal, who don't legally own their guns anyway will remain armed?

as i stated before, you are less likely to get hurt during a robbery if you don't resist, standing in front of someone with a weapon. just give him the money and he'll probably let you go. this guy is way better with guns than you are, and when he thinks you might try something to harm him, he won't hesitate to harm you.

[Keeping It Simple]

Originally Posted by radarmaker

Wrong. And I'm not talking about the relative merits of gun control on either side of the Atlantic.
You are completely and utterly failing to grasp the fundamental concept of a comparative ratio.

That would be you.

[ann ashtray]

The village idiot.

[Keeping It Simple]

I always laugh when the lunatical left in the US target pro gun movements when politically posturing, stating countries with strict gun laws have lower murder rates per 100,000 people. Yet I've just proved that if those very countries had the same population as the US, the murder rates of those countries would exceed the US, especially the UK.

In 1987 a man in Hungerford went on a gun rampage, killing 16 and wounding 15 people before killing himself. This led to even stricter gun laws in the UK. Yet nine years later a man in Dunblane went on a gun rampage killing 16 children and one adult before killing himself. And a taxi driver in Cumbria shot dead 12 people before killing himself in June of this year. Plus, of course, there was the Raoul Moat incident, in which he shot three people with a sawn off shotgun before being shot by armed police.

Those things prove strict gun laws do fuck all to prevent such incidents from happening.

[Keeping It Simple]

Originally Posted by ann ashtray

The village idiot.

Is that what they call radarmaker? We'd better be careful as he may go a gun rampage if he finds out that's what people call him.

[ann ashtray]

Originally Posted by Keeping It Simple

I always laugh when the lunatical left in the US target pro gun movements when politically posturing, stating countries with strict gun laws have lower murder rates per 100,000 people. Yet I've just proved that if those very countries had the same population as the US, the murder rates of those countries would exceed the US, especially the UK.

In 1987 a man in Hungerford went on a gun rampage, killing 16 and wounding 15 people before killing himself. This led to even stricter gun laws in the UK. Yet nine years later a man in Dunblane went on a gun rampage killing 16 children and one adult before killing himself. And a taxi driver in Cumbria shot dead 12 people before killing himself in June of this year. Plus, of course, there was the Raoul Moat incident, in which he shot three people with a sawn off shotgun before being shot by armed police.

Those things prove strict gun laws do fuck all to prevent such incidents from happening.

You make sense, sometimes.

[ploesj]

Originally Posted by Keeping It Simple

I always laugh when the lunatical left in the US target pro gun movements when politically posturing, stating countries with strict gun laws have lower murder rates per 100,000 people. Yet I've just proved that if those very countries had the same population as the US, the murder rates of those countries would exceed the US, especially the UK.

In 1987 a man in Hungerford went on a gun rampage, killing 16 and wounding 15 people before killing himself. This led to even stricter gun laws in the UK. Yet nine years later a man in Dunblane went on a gun rampage killing 16 children and one adult before killing himself. And a taxi driver in Cumbria shot dead 12 people before killing himself in June of this year. Plus, of course, there was the Raoul Moat incident, in which he shot three people with a sawn off shotgun before being shot by armed police.

Those things prove strict gun laws do fuck all to prevent such incidents from happening.

that type of events will always happen, in any society, no matter how illegal guns are. remember china? this year there was some kind of wave of lunatics going into schools and stabbing kids. you can't protect a society from insane people, but you can make it harder for them.

you only mention these kind of events as an example that strict gun laws don't work. but what abbout the gun-related accidents that happen to people, like even jon boy mentioned? don't you think those wouldn't happen as often if people weren't allowed to own guns?

oh and by the way, moat shot himself. cops didn't do it.

[Glice]

If someone breaks into my house, it's unlikely that I'd have time to make a reasoned shot at him with a gun; what's much more useful for burglaries is a baseball bat, which can be deployed much quicker and in short range. Unless you live in a palatial mansion.

[ann ashtray]

+ I think it's really cute how Knox thought she stumped me with the Charlie "race war" thing.

[ann ashtray]

+ a fall under that weird school of thought. That "i believe in evolution and the center of my brain is reptilian in nature" school of thought...

If I wake up and someone's in my casa that ain't (I say "ain't, so I'm def some redneck that loves budweiser) supposed to be there,,,,they fucking with my shit, I WANT them dead.