I appreciate your comments, although I do not agree completely.  Problem is, when you receive a specific threat, it's a little late for training, getting a permit, and purchasing a gun.  Patience is a virtue.  So is preparedness.

My feelings about gun ownership were formed in AZ when I worked in a school there, decades ago, before the current spate of school shootings. Parents were pushing handguns on children as young as 14, to take to school. I had a conversation with one veteran, a self-described "gun nut" who described how she kept her gun loaded with bullets with scooped-out tips in case she needed to fire into a crowd (again, her words) after an evildoer, a feat that I believe even military snipers hesitate to attempt. The household accidents, and the self-justifications, and the drunken accidents, and the waving guns at strangers---I've never seen anything like it. And I've never seen anything to make me think I want to share that kind of life. Incidentally, as a brown-skinned person, I've never been as scared anywhere as in AZ.

I appreciate your comments, although I do not agree completely.  Problem is, when you receive a specific threat, it's a little late for training, getting a permit, and purchasing a gun.  Patience is a virtue.  So is preparedness.

I've lived in red states all my life. I walked into a pawn shop and walked out with a loaded firearm in less than two hours. That was twenty-some years ago. The situation has not changed since then or else things have gotten easier if anything. I keep my guns in a safe place. I have misgivings about them. I'd prefer to sell them now, but the pawn shop offered some piddling amount, less than fifty dollars I believe. Maybe one day, I will be able to get a decent price. On the other hand, if society collapses, say, in the event of nuclear war, I guess those things will be worth a great deal.

My feelings about gun ownership were formed in AZ when I worked in a school there, decades ago, before the current spate of school shootings. Parents were pushing handguns on children as young as 14, to take to school. I had a conversation with one veteran, a self-described "gun nut" who described how she kept her gun loaded with bullets with scooped-out tips in case she needed to fire into a crowd (again, her words) after an evildoer, a feat that I believe even military snipers hesitate to attempt. The household accidents, and the self-justifications, and the drunken accidents, and the waving guns at strangers---I've never seen anything like it. And I've never seen anything to make me think I want to share that kind of life. Incidentally, as a brown-skinned person, I've never been as scared anywhere as in AZ.

Yes I think that some people are drawn to the power. I say it's nice to live in a society where we have the option of not using, not carrying, not courting disaster.

If it is one thing I am unflinchingly passionate about, it is the 2nd Amendment and my right to own a firearm as I see fit. 

I don't really have any "practical" reason to own a gun now, yet I keep two handguns in my apartment. Why? Because it is my constitutional right, and in the 1/1,000,000 chance sometimes decides to try and rob me I'll have something to protect myself with. I also like how just the fact that I own a gun pisses off anti-2nd Amendment jerkoffs. My dad is the same way, and owns a small arsenal of all different kinds of firearms. Most of them he hasn't touched in years, but he keeps them because he likes them and simply for the fact he can. 

Guns aren't dangerous, just stupid people. How come the news never publishes stories when a law-abiding citizen uses his firearm in the defense of himself or others? I can't stand people who try to push their ridiculous anti-gun views on people. It is the only amendment in the bill of rights that seems to be fair game in rolling back and restricting. Free speech (hate speech to be specific) has been the cause of untold violence in this country, yet we protect it like gold, as we should. The 2nd Amendment deserves the same vigilance. 

If it is one thing I am unflinchingly passionate about, it is the 2nd Amendment and my right to own a firearm as I see fit. 

 

I don't really have any "practical" reason to own a gun now, yet I keep two handguns in my apartment. Why? Because it is my constitutional right, and in the 1/1,000,000 chance sometimes decides to try and rob me I'll have something to protect myself with. I also like how just the fact that I own a gun pisses off anti-2nd Amendment jerkoffs. My dad is the same way, and owns a small arsenal of all different kinds of firearms. Most of them he hasn't touched in years, but he keeps them because he likes them and simply for the fact he can. 

 

Guns aren't dangerous, just stupid people. How come the news never publishes stories when a law-abiding citizen uses his firearm in the defense of himself or others? I can't stand people who try to push their ridiculous anti-gun views on people. It is the only amendment in the bill of rights that seems to be fair game in rolling back and restricting. Free speech (hate speech to be specific) has been the cause of untold violence in this country, yet we protect it like gold, as we should. The 2nd Amendment deserves the same vigilance. 

Guns are dangerous and should be viewed with respect and fear. One needn't be sober, calm, fully awake, sane, or skilled to pull a trigger. The gun wants you to kill a human being. That is what it is designed for. That is what is shown on television. Killing is glamorous, manly, and heroic in the fantasies on film. In reality, one can spend the remainder of one's natural life in a maximum security prison. Then there is the guilt, if one has a conscience, and the loss of respect, the loss of friendships, the loss of dreams and hopes. There is relentless hate from the family and friends of the murdered one. All of that is a heavy burden for any soul to carry, and that is why guns should be respected and feared by those who have them.

I have read repeatedly, though I do not have a link to, that statistics show that using a firearm normally causes harm to bystanders or the person with the gun, rather than the person who was perpetrating a crime. That is why we see so few stories about folks that stave off others heroically or help other heroically with their firearms. If there were, I'm sure the NRA would be trumpeting them.

I'm fine with people owning firearms. I do think there should be mandatory training and licensing, much like we do with cars. Because cars, at least, have the primary function of transportation, where guns are to kill, to inspire fear and intimidate.

I have read repeatedly, though I do not have a link to, that statistics show that using a firearm normally causes harm to bystanders or the person with the gun, rather than the person who was perpetrating a crime. That is why we see so few stories about folks that stave off others heroically or help other heroically with their firearms. If there were, I'm sure the NRA would be trumpeting them.

 

I'm fine with people owning firearms. I do think there should be mandatory training and licensing, much like we do with cars. Because cars, at least, have the primary function of transportation, where guns are to kill, to inspire fear and intimidate.

I'm always a bit surprised how gun owners seem so aggrieved, like a persecuted minority, as though the U.S. is hounding them from door to door. There is all of this anger and indignation at the mere thought that guns are dangerous. The lady doth protest too much.