dagblog - Comments for "Blowing Gun Smoke"

To no-one in particular while

A Guy Called LULU — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 16:49:00 +0000

To no-one in particular while agreeing with DD. The campaign to restrict private gun ownership, which is seen by many as the first step in banning private gun ownership, is one of the most stupid ever mounted by liberals and taken up by the Democratic Party. [ Typos can be ironically funny. My first draft said "fist" step ]That is because it is a fight which will not be won because it cannot be won in America as we now know it. Under any conceivable authoritarian circumstance where it might be won it would be a fight which then should not be won.

Living among humans with all their various qualities ranging from wonderful through perverse and horrible is the source as well as the fact of the human condition. I maintain that I have the inalienable right to defend and protect myself from others who would unjustly attempt to inflict their will upon me or those, such as my family members, whose safety I take as my responsibility. There are such people. From that position I assert the right to stand on an even footing with what I see as the bad guys whenever possible. There are many bad guys who have guns which no change in the law will take from them.

I am both pro-life and pro-choice. I am not a saint so my life and my choices are more important and more defensible to me than yours are to me but I do grant you your choices in most cases. You who wish to can refuse to own a gun and can continue to try to deny my right to own one and I still will not try to intrude on your life with a gun. If you choose to be defenseless while hoping for the best I will hope it works out well for all of us. Meanwhile, the chances of you being harmed or of harming me by/with a vehicle, for instance, are many times greater than you or me being harmed by a law abiding citizen with a gun. The chances of the side wishing for what will be seen by so many as unreasonable gun restrictions losing an important election and suffering real consequences because they tilt at windmills are very real.

You make two good points. 1 -

Donal — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 12:23:21 +0000

In reply to I have heard this argument

You make two good points. 1 - Introducing firearms makes the situation more deadly. 2 - Simply having a gun doesn't protect you because you have to know how to use it, and be willing to use it.

In response to the first, I would point out that knives, chains and ropes can be awfully deadly, too, if the attacker has time and opportunity to use them.

I have no argument with the second, and in fact, it is my sense that when you own a gun, the gun starts to own you. You have to train with it, maintain good gun discipline when handling it, secure it when not in use, be situationally aware of threats, and constantly think about the prospects of using deadly power.

"I mean business."

Donal — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 11:57:02 +0000

In reply to Pure brilliance. The title, I

"I mean business."

The NRA won.The issue is now

Richard Day — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 04:59:17 +0000

In reply to Blowing Gun Smoke

The NRA won.

The issue is now in the details.

Most states have left the issue up to municipalities.

I don't know what to do. I really don't.

How do you stop gang members?

How do you keep twelve year olds from going into their daddy's gun cabinet?

The problem is that weak people can feel powerful with a piece of metal attached to their belts.

I have heard this argument

mageduley — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 04:15:03 +0000

In reply to Blowing Gun Smoke

I have heard this argument before Donal. And you are right that it does make some sense. The argument that sticks with me though is this: What if the robbers only had chains, ropes or even knives? What if the deliveryman's gun was exposed and taken from him? Now the robbers have a gun instead of just knives.

It is the same thing I think of when people have guns in the home for self defense. It can easily be taken from you if you are not experienced and fumbling. The attacker who was minimally armed is now deadly armed. Which is really the lesser threat?

I wonder what the statistics are of licensed gun owners accidental shootings vs ones used in self defense?

I am going to start carrying

tmccarthy0 — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 03:47:22 +0000

In reply to Blowing Gun Smoke

I am going to start carrying a shoulder fired rocket launcher everywhere I go.

Pure brilliance. The title, I

Michael Wolraich — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 02:45:17 +0000

In reply to Blowing Gun Smoke

Pure brilliance. The title, I mean.