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What formed your perspective on guns?


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The gun thread has had some interesting debate, awesome points raised and links to some good statistics. With all those many pages of debate behind us, I thought it wise to start an entirely new thread for this discussion. I want to know what formed your perspective on guns. What are your experiences with them, either positive or negative and what role do they play in your life, if any.

 

I'm from "the south" in the U.S. and all of my family were hunters, my dad, both grandfathers, all of my uncles and cousins on both sides of the family. I got my first gun as a present from my dad when I was six. By age 12,(even though my dad and I stopped hunting by the time I was 10) I had four shotguns, two rifles and a handgun. I kept them all in my room and had ample ammunition for all. I also had airguns, a blowgun, bow and arrows with razor tips, throwing hatchet, knives and stars, hunting knives and a sword.

 

I was one seriously well armed kid! I was also an emotionally unstable kid and often suicidal, fortunately I'm still here. It has been over 20 years ago, but I still think about those days sometimes. I went so far as to load a gun, cock it and put it to my head, squeezing the trigger to see how far I could go without killing myself. I was a 9th grade dropout at the time. I remember the police coming to my house one day to escort me to school. It's good my brother didn't let them in the house, I was in my room with a loaded weapon ready to shoot them. Those were dark days for a 14 year old kid! Not sure why I'm sharing other than to foster a decent discussion on guns in our society.

 

I've been close to gun violence, starting with the painful memories of animals shot as a kid, especially the ones who didn't want to die, the ones who had to be shot again. My great grandfather on my dad's side shot himself in the head long before I was born. My own grandfather on my mother's side shot himself in the head when I was 18, we were pretty close before then. My uncle was murdered around the same time, although not buy gun, stabbed twice and then set on fire. Violence doesn't know many boundaries.

 

In second grade, my friend David didn't come to school one day. They found his body late that night in the woods near his house, he was 8 years old and had been shot in the chest. He and a 12 year old friend had taken a pistol, belonging to David's dad who was a police officer, but had moved to another city leaving behind one of his guns. The older kid wanted to "see what would happen" if he shot someone. David laid there in the woods all day with a bullet in his chest and died just before they found his body late that night.

 

As a teenager it got worse. A friend of a friend, who I had met a couple of times, a 15 year old girl, shot herself in the head behind the local post office. She was drunk and just out walking around with another friend who didn't even know she had a gun. She simply pulled it out and randomly ended her life.

 

When I was just a toddler, my family kept a foster child, a little girl. She was later adopted by a nice family who also adopted a brother for her. I found this out when I was around 12, recognizing her from old family photos, I realized she was in my class at school. I was also in the Boy Scouts at the time, and another character in this story Matt Miller, was one of our teenage group leaders. It would be several years later, but Matt Miller, enraged by a dispute over a girlfriend, would invite this girl's brother out in to the woods to ride his four wheeler motorcycle. Instead he filled his chest full of bullets with an AK-47. In an odd twist of fate, the victim's family including the sister/former foster child moved in next door to my family. We got to know his mother well and got to understand first hand some of her pain.

 

By age 18 I had sold all of my guns and haven't owned one in almost two decades. I have recently considered buying one, not out of fear, but out of practicality, or what I'm sure some of you will insist is just repressed fear. Where I live, pretty much everyone is armed. The police don't respond quickly and even a lot of them are not trustworthy. As the economic situation in this country declines every day, and I believe will continue to do so until the country is far different from what we know today, I expect a rise in crime and violence. We're already seeing a sharp increase in burglaries and robberies as a result of the economic situation. But this inclination to have a gun again is balanced by everything I said above. Have no idea where I will ultimately land as far as a decision.

 

Feel free to respond to anything I have said, but my main purpose in starting this thread is for you to share your perspective as I have done. Hopefully it will not devolve in to petit bickering.

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To be honest, I inherited my views about guns from my upbringing - what my parents opinions were. I don't think I will ever own a gun, but my opinion about gun control has changed over the last 8 years after seeing what the federal government is capable of.

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wow, thanks for sharing all of that....

 

I have nowhere near any of that kind of negative experience with guns but I know that I would not touch a gun if someone paid me..... like I said in the other thread my dad was/is a gun enthusiast and he would take us shooting with him as kids (at a range... he has never hunted).... so I have fired a gun many a time and I am not "afraid" of guns in the sense of I wouldn't know what to do with one if I were in a "position" to use one........ I don't know- I guess as a parent I feel like it is irresponsible to have a gun around the house. period. I mean, people put plugs in their electrical outlets so their kids don't stick their fingers in them but they have a fucking gun in their underwear drawer for "protection"?? give me a break. It is just against my personal nature to want to be around anything as destructive as a gun... I can't think of any situation where I would break down and buy one. My dad likes to preach this "armageddon" type theory of his that in the near future everyone is going to be holed up in their houses with guns and looting and raping are going to be a normal part of our daily existence.... it makes me mad that he pushes those views on me and tries to prey on my motherly instincts to protect my children. I sincerely don't agree with the idea of the world coming to that and I don't want to live my life in fear... I guess I do basically feel that owning a gun is just a way of giving in to that fear.

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Michael I say get a gun and protect your stuff, but I also can't imagine you have anything worth stealing

 

You still in Pennsylvania? It's a good state for guns most definitely. Drop me a line, we should talk guns sometime.

 

 

I guess as far as my own experiences with guns... I too am from the "south." I'm from TX but the very suburban north part of it. There are only about 3 hunters within all of the extended family i've met. My dad is very uncomfortable with guns and does not own any but for some reason I've always been interested in them since I can remember. I remember around age 12 and renting these like gun encyclopedias from the library instead of going to the young adult section and renting novels. I like mechanisms, cars not so much but things like watches and firearms are functionally interesting. I like to take em apart and get them working which was a big motivation to buy my first gun later in life. In boy scouts we shot bb guns, rifles, shotguns, it was regulated and there was discipline. I also begged my dad into taking me to a local gun range on 3 separate occasions while I was growing up. There too there was discipline and rules, safety was the priority. My dad had a similar thing around the house. He wasn't a strict guy but there were boundaries and appropriate behavior expected. There was trouble if I got out of line and now that I think about it all of this structure is probably a factor in my gun worldview. Cant say I've had a bad experience or know of someone who has had a bad experience with guns. Automobiles on the other hand; i've got stories like everyone else. While in college gun ownership seemed pretty far off. As for the past few years I was still in the dorms and visiting my folks often, but once I got an apartment I was free to do what I wanted, and being the legal age to buy a handgun I went out and bought the one I had read about and admired for a long time. Bought a few more since then as well. I do my part to keep them in my possession, and be effective with them. My gun ownership is as much a joy as it is political. I'm not a supporter of the government and to me its only logical that if you dont believe in the force of the government and the police you have to take care of yourself. And besides the response time for the cops is over 5 minutes where I'm at and I'm very impatient.

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My opinion on guns is pretty well up in the air. I was raised into a hunting family and have used guns for those activities. They still fascinate me in a way, just like any weapon does. I don't have a desire to own one again because of the personal association I have with them being used for killing animals. Bad memories and such. However, I think it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to own one locked away and unloaded for some future emergency. I don't believe in having one loaded and ready, as that just ups your likelihood of shooting a family member or your child getting a hold of one.

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You forgot complete dismissal of other people points within the discussion on the list of things we did in the guns thread. That is alright, U.S. citizens forget that their government attempted genocide too.

My opinions come from my father being in the military and having guns all the time when I would see him. Also physics plays a key part of understanding firearms. When I look at a gun I see a tool. Not a killing machine or anything so crudely painted. If you eliminate the purpose of the tool you change the function of the tool.Like putting out light bulbs instead of shooting folks(simpsons). This would be neat to see.(seriously though)

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I have been around guns my entire life. My dad is a hunter along with most of his family. He taught my brother and I to shot. Over the years i have read all the pros and cons to gun ownership and gun control.

 

The opinion that I formed is this: I believe people need to start being responsible for them selves. I own guns; i have a responsibility to be safe with them. Keep them stored out of the reach of children. If i fail in that i need to be responsible for that. The gun is an inanimate object. It has no thought, no hate, no fear, and no intention. People have all of that. No matter how many laws are passed, no matter if guns are banned, you are still going to have the same thing: an inanimate object without will and people, who for some reason, continue to be irresponsible or choose to use the weapon with bad intent.

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The gun is an inanimate object. It has no thought, no hate, no fear, and no intention. People have all of that. No matter how many laws are passed, no matter if guns are banned, you are still going to have the same thing: an inanimate object without will and people, who for some reason, continue to be irresponsible or choose to use the weapon with bad intent.

 

Yes, an inanimate object. But those who always say this, always omit to say that it is POTENTIALLY HARMFUL.

A human also can be inanimate and pretty much inoffensive, more inoffensive than a wolf and most wild animals. But the finger of a human become a weapon when in synergy with the trigger of a gun. Remove the gun from the environment of humans, and you end up with the innofensive human.

 

I know we can't remove guns from the world (we could destroy all of them but it will never happen), but what we could do is to higher the prices so much that it becomes impossible for most people to buy them. Remember that joke by Chris Rock? Bullets should cost 5 grands each. Well, it could work.

It works for cigarettes. In Canada, there's so much taxes on packs of cigarettes that kids stopped to buy them and there's 50% less smokers. But now they buy small cigars, (sells raised by 300% or more, I don't remember) because it's a different law than for cigarettes and less taxes.

Also, the quantity and availability is important. Now, tofu and meat are about the same price per lb. But, there's like 5 packs of 500gr of tofu in the whole supermarket, while there's a 20 meters long fridge full of beef, chicken, etc, I don't know how many tons of meat it makes, but... switch the amount of meat for the amount of tofu available in food stores and only 5 persons will be able to buy beef, the thousand of others will have no choice but to eat tofu.

They'll be pissed off at first and some might try to start a revolution because they would be angry without their meat. But nations can be shaped many ways, according to what grand makers decide what's best for them. Humanity created medias, then it's the medias that creates humanity and shape it.

Make tofu ads instead of McDo ads, people will change. Samething with guns. Promote yoga and transcendental meditation in school instead of allowing the NRA conferences in cities and making Hollywood movies promoting guns.

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Now, tofu and meat are about the same price per lb. But, there's like 5 packs of 500gr of tofu in the whole supermarket, while there's a 20 meters long fridge full of beef, chicken, etc, I don't know how many tons of meat it makes, but... switch the amount of meat for the amount of tofu available in food stores and only 5 persons will be able to buy beef, the thousand of others will have no choice but to eat tofu.

 

This analogy doesn't make any sense. You would be forcing people to eat tofu by making meat unavailable (not that I think that's a bad idea). Right now nobody is forced to eat meat because of a lack of tofu. So there are five blocks in the store, a lot of stores end up throwing some or all of that out unsold. If the five blocks were bought first thing in the morning when they opened tomorrow, they would get another five blocks or maybe 10, and when those 10 were gone, they would get 20. Soon they would have to scale down the meat section to make room for the tofu. It's called supply and demand, people aren't eating meat because there are no other choices.

 

Oh, now proceed with the gun disucssion.

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The gun is an inanimate object. It has no thought, no hate, no fear, and no intention. People have all of that. No matter how many laws are passed, no matter if guns are banned, you are still going to have the same thing: an inanimate object without will and people, who for some reason, continue to be irresponsible or choose to use the weapon with bad intent.

 

Yes, an inanimate object. But those who always say this, always omit to say that it is POTENTIALLY HARMFUL.

A human also can be inanimate and pretty much inoffensive, more inoffensive than a wolf and most wild animals. But the finger of a human become a weapon when in synergy with the trigger of a gun. Remove the gun from the environment of humans, and you end up with the innofensive human.

 

A human can make anything potentially harmful. You can kill someone with your bare hands.

 

Listen, i would love for people to stop hurting each other, but it's not going to happen whether guns are around or not.

 

I am of the opinion that if guns are banned or made harder to get, it will only affect the people buying them legally. Not people getting them illegally in the first place.

 

If someone wants you dead, they will find a way to do it. They don't need a gun.

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That's why I'm saying the people need to change mentality, so they won't feel the need to kill each others with guns or knifes or with bare hands. This change must come from the inside (to evolve spiritually) but it may take a thousand years. We can accelerate this process by redefining our culture and medias. Like I said, it's the governments and big lobbys with medias that shape us.

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Like I said, it's the governments and big lobbys with medias that shape us.

 

Speak for yourself.

 

From the kind of things I say, do I look like if I shaped by W.Bush and mainstream medias ? I don't think so! But most people are. I don't even have a tv (more precisely, I don't receive the channels). If mainstream medias affects me, it does the opposite thing it's been designed for, it builds me a shell to become even more reluctant to those.

 

Paragon x wrote:

"A human can make anything potentially harmful. You can kill someone with your bare hands. "

 

Most people don't know how to kill with bare hands (at least not in a minute and in normal circunstances), most people are affraid to just being involved in a fight and will rather run away. But the most coward person is able to pull a gun from his pocket and aim it at someone else.

Honnestly, are you really saying that bare hands could cause as much damage and as many dead people than guns?

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From the kind of things I say, do I look like if I shaped by W.Bush and mainstream medias ? I don't think so! But most people are. I don't even have a tv (more precisely, I don't receive the channels). If mainstream medias affects me, it does the opposite thing it's been designed for, it builds me a shell to become even more reluctant to those.

 

That's cool man, especially the tv part. I really appreciate how much thought you give things. I've come to think of you as something of an online brother, albeit an annoying brother sometimes. Hopefully we'll get a chance to hang out some time, I think we'd actually get along pretty well. And when we didn't, we could just solve it with a wrestling match or insulting each other's mothers.

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Like I said, it's the governments and big lobbys with medias that shape us.

 

Speak for yourself.

 

From the kind of things I say, do I look like if I shaped by W.Bush and mainstream medias ? I don't think so! But most people are. I don't even have a tv (more precisely, I don't receive the channels). If mainstream medias affects me, it does the opposite thing it's been designed for, it builds me a shell to become even more reluctant to those.

 

Paragon x wrote:

"A human can make anything potentially harmful. You can kill someone with your bare hands. "

 

Most people don't know how to kill with bare hands (at least not in a minute and in normal circunstances), most people are affraid to just being involved in a fight and will rather run away. But the most coward person is able to pull a gun from his pocket and aim it at someone else.

Honnestly, are you really saying that bare hands could cause as much damage and as many dead people than guns?

 

 

No - I am saying that a person has the will not the gun.

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