Guns and their control

[apiaryist]

I'm curious as to where everyone stands on this and why. Do you own a gun? If no, would you ever consider buying one? Why? Why not?

[Jessica]

I don't like guns at all, but I do believe strongly that Americans should have the right to own a reasonable type and amount of guns. No Ak-47s, dude. That is stupid.

Having see a lot of guns in my relatives houses, I have to say that they always stink of patriarchal fear.

[Pdyx]

I recognize that in this community, and perhaps many others, I may be in the minority on this, but I almost commented on that other thread about the SWAT team if the question about founding fathers and owning AK-47s was rhetorical or not.

I don't own any guns, I've never shot a gun, but I'm okay with people being able to own AK-47s.

I'm not sure the founding fathers envisioned the invention of such weaponry, but I do think the point was to not let only certain segments of society (the government, particularly) own weaponry. That would be my thought. Perhaps that wasn't even their intention, but I tend to think that's okay. I haven't spent hours thinking about this, and I'm guessing there should be checks and balances on ownership of high-tech weaponry, but it's the way I lean.

Do I like the fact that such things exist? No. I tend towards pacifism. I'm more leery of gun control than I am of people owning guns.

The wording of that amendment is so strange, though.

[vine311]

I love guns. All of them. I've shot many of them in my lifetime. I do not own any presently but I have owned many in the past. I am a very safe and responsible person around guns. Gun safety was beaten into me from a very early age. I think any person should be able to own any type of gun they want as long as they go through the proper channels to obtain them. Background checks, waiting periods and safety/certification courses are fine with me.

I should also mention that I don't really like hunting. I don't want to kill anything with a gun, but I'll be damned if target shooting and plinking isn't fun as hell.

Edit: The only reason I don't still own my guns now is that I pawned them off long ago to pay rent when I was a very poor waiter. I can't really justify the expense of buying any new ones since I only use them for target practice and I can rent guns at any of the ranges in town.

[kbadr]

I am intrigued by and fear guns in the same way that I fear the edge of a cliff. I know that one false slip could end the game.

I went target shooting once. It was fun.

We should be allowed to own guns for the same reason that the colonists owned weapons. I think it is optimistic and naive to assume that the present state of government will exist forever. Governments change and sometimes revolution brings it.

Also, a gun is a tool. An object, like a knife, a hammer or a car. They can all be used to take life, so that should not be the standard that is used to abolish something.

I have considered owning a gun, but I've always been self-aware enough to realize that possessing both a firearm and ammunition is probably a bad idea for me.

[sara farr]

I am a Texan. I have a heritage of guns in my family. When I was a kid (10/11) I went out to the country where my grandfather lived and we would occasionally shoot cans or something inanimate. Later, as a young adult, my dad took me out skeet shooting with him, his friends and their kids. I know how to shoot, but I don't REALLY like it. Its kind of fun, but its loud and the kick can hurt your shoulder (earplugs and a shoulder pad help these things). It was fun testing my skill, being outside & socializing with my dad & grandfather. I could have had just as much fun just walking through the woods and chucking rocks at stuff.

When I lived in Minneapolis, I went on a "date" with a guy who took me out shooting targets in the country. It was weird. He had some historic guns and some automatic weapons (rapid fire pistols) and you could tell he got REALLY charged up by getting to shoot stuff with them. I thought it was more creepy to know this side of him than it was fun to shoot stuff.

I don't think people should be allowed to have automatic weapons. I do think guns (and other weapons... swords, crossbows, etc.) should be locked up in a safe. I don't think people should keep guns under their bed for protection as they usually end up in the wrong hands or doing more harm than good.

[Marc Majcher]

Yep. Got a bunch of 'em. A couple of pistols, a couple of shotguns, and I actually just acquired a new semi-automatic rifle and like a thousand rounds of ammo on election night. I have them because I like having them - it's fun to go target shooting and whatnot, it's fun to take them apart and clean them and put them back together, and I keep all but one of them locked up until there's an outing (or a zombie apocalypse). And like the guy says, it's always better to have a gun and not need one than to need a gun and not have one.

I'm not really a shooty type of guy - I've had guns pointed at me, and I'm pretty sure that having one on me at the time would have made the situation any better - but I'm all for whoever owning whatever, with enough checks to keep most of the crazies out of the loop. And really, you'd probably be surprised at the number of weapons like the AK-47 are out there, in the hands of regular citizens. Crazies and bad guys are going to get their hands on hardware regardless of the law. And as for the founding fathers, I bet they'd agree that if the cops have machine guns, then we should get them, too. Because that amendment up there isn't about hunting.

[DollarBill]

Yeah, I have family that lived 30 to 45 minutes away (at 60mph) from the nearest town with a police station. They used their guns for killing their dinner some days, and even more frequently they used them for target practice. Thank goodness they never actually had to USE them for security, but they needed to own them for that purpose because they were much too far away from prompt law enforcement help.

Also, the people who say that the amendment is outdated because the government isn't going to abuse their power the way they did when it was written need only to look back 65 years or so to the internment of the Japanese during world war two for an example of "scary" levels of oppression.

[kaci_beeler]

I am not a fan of guns.

[foshizzle]

I have a handgun an heirloom shotgun, and a hunting rifle. I sold my old shotgun and another hunting rifle when I left Alaska. The long guns are stored at my Moms house, since any hunting I would do would be in Alabama over Christmas or Thanksgiving break.

I'm a pretty big believer in the right to own a gun. Any gun. Not that it should be easy. Texas requires a training class for a concealed carry permit. Most states do not. I find that to be problematic.

[Matt]

Personally, I'd rather that guns were not ubiquitous as they are. Sadly, I see no way to put that particular genie back in the bottle without making the situation worse. So, I'm all for gun control that doesn't forcibly remove guns that are already out there (which wouldn't work), but provides an incentive for people to own/use them responsibly. If you have an unlocked gun (and ammo) in a place where a kid can use it, I don't know of any reasonable excuse that would make that ok.

[spantell]

Interesting.

I hate guns. While I was never into Barbies, I certainly had no interest in playing with toy guns as a kid, whereas it seems that all my friends with boys, no matter how not into them they (the parents) are, say their boys play with them.

[arthursimone]

Texas requires a training class for a concealed carry permit. Most states do not. I find that to be problematic.

I don't like guns, but I'm fine with them when such classes are required. I'm baffled that we live in a country where there are so many conditions for operating a vehicle (test for license, insurance, inspections, etc.) than for owning a gun. Not just for concealed carry permits- basic ownership.

[Jeff]

I've killed three rabbits. I stopped doing that when I was 13. These days, I really don't want a gun until the undesirable moment when I actually need one.

[DollarBill]

Okay... two people voted that guns are "evil" which is, BY DEFINITION, impossible.

I'd just like to express that I hate when anyone calls any inanimate thing "evil". That's impossible. "Evil" is something that only a being with the capacity for cognizant thought can be. An evil person can kill you with a gun or a car or their bare hands. A good person can save your life with any of those things. Money is not evil. Guns are not evil. Even killer robots (unless they sentient and comprehend emotion) are not evil.