The FAST Approaching Gun Ban

[broncofan]

A football coach in Kansas is accosted by five or six irate parents after a game a few days ago. One of the mob lifted his shirt revealing a firearm. They proceeded to punch, kick and beat the coach until the coaches wife fired her gun into the air. The coach then scrambled to his car and retrieved his own gun. Of course ammosexuals are billing this as a case where a couple of good guys with guns saved a man from getting a beating. I just think people are lucky nobody got killed. This is incident is just an example of the fun activities you can look forward to as more and more people carry lethal weapons. I wondering how long before a referee is shot dead in the field.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/state...le2098586.html

The American dream. Honestly, since when did this country aspire to so little that people would celebrate such brazen stupidity? In an environment like that, how many children will grow up to be scientists or poets or develop a passion for history? How many will become abusive alcoholics?

If your first toy is a replica of a gun and your first field trip is to a gun range and your sweet sixteen is celebrated by firing a gun from a helicopter at a moose, what will you do for your 21st? Drink beer out of a moose carcass? Where does this lead? Pretty soon you find yourself claiming that when a man shoots a woman for knocking on his door it is a learning lesson all around. I have finally reached the age where I can say, "when I grew up, our learning lessons involved books and numbers...literature and algebra respectively." No cretins, no weapon flashing, no moose.

And yes, I am pouring on the liberal snobbery.

[yodajazz]

Here is an apparent case where a legal gun owner, Shaneen Allen, with a concealed carry permit, faces a mandatory three year sentence, for crossing into a state that does not have those laws. I know the answer, but I'll ask the question anyway. Where is the NRA and other gun advocates when such things happen to poor people, and people of color? The woman claims to have been robbed twice, in the previous year. When things like this happen, know that it must have been a person of color. Another question, what's with all the mandatory sentencing laws in this country? What about special circumstances? For example this woman, had no criminal record. What about the cost to her two children?

Doing some research, here is a current (9-18-14) article.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articl...rles-c-w-cooke

[yodajazz]

Follow up from an earlier post. Grand jury declines to indict police, who killed man in Walmart, even though they recognized he committed no crime. Earlier news report said, the victim was shot from the back, by the police.

http://wdtn.com/2014/09/24/walmart-g...ement-at-1130/

[fred41]

Just read this...figured I'd post it. I guess sometimes a firearm does come in handy:
http://nypost.com/2014/09/26/woman-b...r-in-oklahoma/

[fred41]

... Where is the NRA and other gun advocates when such things happen to poor people, and people of color? The woman claims to have been robbed twice, in the previous year. When things like this happen, know that it must have been a person of color. Another question, what's with all the mandatory sentencing laws in this country? What about special circumstances? For example this woman, had no criminal record. What about the cost to her two children?

Doing some research, here is a current (9-18-14) article.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articl...rles-c-w-cooke

I think you're attacking some of the wrong people in this case (especially while citing an article an article in "the national review"...what kind of a news organization do you think that is?)

Watch this interview and take notice of who she thanks ...and who she doesn't:



...glad to see there is finally a good outcome...but it should never have gone this far to begin with.

...and I know this is probably inappropriate to say, but I can't help myself: she's a total cutie pie.

[trish]

http://nyti.ms/1sDcyyi

[fred41]

http://nyti.ms/1sDcyyi

The nice thing is...I think those stats are starting to take hold. I know at least two people (both LE officers) who just got rid of their firearms after retirement. There was a time when that would be unheard of.

I think I've stated my personal views on this before. I'm not against people having guns depending on their personal situations...but I'm hardly a pro gun nut either. I'll occasionally print stories where a firearm came in handy...because those situations are rare, but in all fairness they do exist.

...but I'm old now, and some of my views have changed...some of them dramatically...and some by folks on this very forum. Unlike lots of people - I actually listen - and there are some excellent debaters here (I'm looking at you Trish ).

My job requires me to have a firearm (I'm not a cop though). I never bring it home. My life style doesn't really allow for it and I have way too many personal vices to make that a safe choice anyway. I honestly couldn't live with myself if I ever shot someone out of sheer stupidity. If I have a weapon after retirement, it will be because of where I chose to live...and it will be a rifle or a shotgun...and it will be locked up.

I've gotten myself out off hairy situations without one...and I would hate to think that I would have unnecessarily drew it when I didn't really need to if I had it on me. At this point in my life I would hate to rely on a concealed weapon when I don't really have to...it becomes a crutch.
I really, really do understand why some folks need one...I just don't want that to be me.

[fred41]

It's bad enough that I have a driver's license...I'm a horrible driver...lol.






....luckily though, I've been told I drive slower than most people's grandmothers.

[broncofan]

I think gun ownership is a paradigmatic collective action problem. You have ten people in a room and nobody is armed, everyone is safe. You introduce one gun and nine people feel unsafe. The next person to arm themselves feels much more secure, until everyone has a gun. Now you have ten people and ten guns. Is that room more or less safe than the room with ten people and zero guns?

I know some of you might say that we can't have that gun free room because some guns are already out there. That's true, but there are also police officers and others who might need guns as a necessity who provide some check to those criminals. And more guns equals more volatility and more paranoia that someone else has a gun.

This is even assuming that people are perfect gun owners and can handle them safely...you would still have less collective safety. What is fairly obvious is that most people aren't even safer as individuals when you give them a gun.

[trish]

My job requires me to have a firearm (I'm not a cop though). I never bring it home. My life style doesn't really allow for it and I have way too many personal vices to make that a safe choice anyway.

Okay, now you got me thinking your some sort of hard boiled, noir PI like Easy Rawlins. I can definitely understand that a firearm may be a necessary tool of one’s profession.

I'm looking at you Trish

Thanks for the kind words, Fred. I probably mentioned before that I too am the owner of several firearms, hunting rifles to be precise__gifts from my Dad. When I was growing up in rural Pennsylvania he’d take me hunting. We’d go for deer, rabbit, pheasant and turkey. I now live in the Midwest. My guns are in Dads gun safe in Pennsylvania. Until recently we’d hunt together on the few occasions I got home. But it’s not a rural as it used to be and it’s getting harder to find a safe place near home to hunt. Dad’s less interested in the sport these days and I was only interested in the opportunity to share something important with him. He’s seriously thinking of getting rid of his firearms, and he has my permission to sell or turn mine in as well.

I think gun ownership is a paradigmatic collective action problem. You have ten people in a room and nobody is armed, everyone is safe. You introduce one gun and nine people feel unsafe. The next person to arm themselves feels much more secure, until everyone has a gun. Now you have ten people and ten guns. Is that room more or less safe than the room with ten people and zero guns?

Nice characterization of the paradox, bronco. Those first few people who armed themselves only feel safer. They aren’t. What they really feel is not safer, but the thrill of power. The thrill of being a dangerous person to mess with. Without the gun, they don’t feel that. The right to play with dangerous toys in the public square is too often the right to put others at mortal risk for the sake of personal vanity.