How idiotic is that? That’s like saying Ecoli doesn’t kill people, spinach does. I guess the gun toters could take that pragmatic attitude a step further and say that it actually isn’t the gun or the people, it’s the bullet. People shot with a gun don’t die from the gunshot wounds, they die of lead poisoning.
Just last week some kid went into a school and began shooting an AK47. By the grace of God the weapon jammed after a single round. But there are two important words in that first sentence; KID and AK47. What’s a kid doing with artillery such as that? Where would he have gotten it?
Well, you say excusingly, he misappropriated it from his father’s arsenal. So the bottom line is that an irresponsible adult has an AK47. That doesn’t make me feel any better. What I’m wondering is why anyone has an AK47. What is the use? What is the need?
Can any Rambo wannabe fill in this blank: All I want for Christmas is an AK47 because_____________. If your answer is self protection wouldn’t it be safer just to dig a moat around your house?
Last year a kid in Pennsylvania took a gun from his fathers’ cabinet of war and killed his girlfriend’s parents. The kids made it as far as Indiana where they wrecked their car. The most telling information to come out of that horrible and needless tragedy was that the boy’s father owned 56 guns.
56! What need is there to possess 56 guns? Does it fill some macho void like a puny man buying a big, noisy truck or a 65 year old sporting a Corvette?
This may surprise you but I don’t endorse any gun control laws. I support a gun elimination law. Aside from a Constitutionally mandated armed militia I fail to see the need for any guns. I can hear the NRA now, going on and on about the rights of hunters.
Well, what about them? They aren’t hunters at all, they’re killers. But hunter has an innocuous, politically correct ring to it; killer doesn’t. Are the NRA lobbyists asking me about someone’s right to kill?
Girly men may buy oversized trucks and Corvettes but real men have the head of a deer hanging on their wall. Talk about a fish out of water. What’s a deer doing in the den? When asked, does the owner of such an obnoxious thing say he hunted it? No, he says he killed it.
Oh sure, there are all the joys of sitting around a Coleman lantern and saying ‘guy’ things. Eating canned food, drinking, and laughing at gas passed. Telling stories about the one that got away. But in the end the only joy in hunting is killing.
It’s fun to kill. Deer, squirrel, bird, anything; just kill. So maybe the title of this post should be changed. How about: Guns don’t kill, people who want to kill do.
If I were king of the world, or had a single wish from the genie out of the bottle, I would attach a huge electromagnet to a helicopter and fly all over the country picking up every single gun. Every single one. John Lennon didn’t have the market cornered on imagination. Imagine a world without guns.
No one will ever know if it was an intended suicide, or a childish prank that went horribly wrong. The thing is 15 year olds don't have good judgement. They are likely to pull stunts like this. If there was no gun would he be alive? I can't say for sure, because if it was a suicide, he might have found another way. I do know that if the gun hadn't been there, someone might have figured out that this young man needed help. It would not have been that easy.
Even some domestic arguments end up with shooings, not because the combatants really wanted to hurt the other person, but because the gun was too easy to grab. Anger driven manslaughter that would not have happened if no gun were available.
There was a time when we could not go to the store and buy our dinner. We had to shoot it, but times have changed. There isn't any real good excuse for owning a gun anymore. We no longer are forced to hunt to eat. Since hunting has now attained the status of sport rather than necessity, use a bow. Better yet, take up fishing.
Sherry
Killing as a sport. That's really pretty sad. My brother in Ohio took up the bow many years ago. He says it's more sport-like since he can't kill something from 1000 yards away with a super duper scope on top of a bazooka.
Good post in deed.
I have a large problem with guns. I myself do not own a gun, nor do I support guns in my house! My boyfriend however does own a gun, and it is placed properly at his father's house in Mississippi, far from the house we live in together in Tennessee.
The issue was brought up however just a few months ago, when he wanted his father to bring the gun to TN, and have it lodged in a closet in our home. I was outraged. I asked a few critical questions, and boyfriend and I actually had a debate the issue.
The story goes much like this:
me: Why do you feel the need to have an automatic rifle in the house?
boyfriend: Because it will protect us.
me: Protect us from what?
boyfriend: From people breaking in and attempting to hurt you.
me: And you don't think that having a gun in the house would make that situation worse?
boyfriend: We'll talk about it later.
Needless to say there still isn't a gun in the house. I fear that having a gun will turn an ugly situation worse. In the case of a break-in or a robbery, most criminals will get what they come for with no injury to the owners. If the owners begin to resist the theft then there is a fight and often the owners will be harmed.
Another issue is that I stay at the house alone often. I have no idea how to use a gun! If I was to go and get the gun during a theft then I would only be doing so for show...to inflict fear. Then I would be standing gun to gun with someone who no doubt knows how to use the damn thing...well you get the picture.
I agree with you one hundred percent! No guns! No guns! No guns!
Good post!
Nik
I extend kudos to you for being so politically involved as your refreshing posts point out. Lots of folks your age don't give a hoot and that's bad for our country. Young people are our future and need to be heard from. OBTW: are you going to vote for Ford?
Guns have fer sher escalated violence / killing in general. If an individual were to assault a school and take hostages armed only with knives, it would end quickly and would be much less deadly than those involving guns. Fewer children would kill themselves accidentally - - it takes some bad luck to accidentally kill yourself with a knife, but it's fairly easy with a gun. Few angry spouses would kill their partners - - again, it's a different game when you use a knife and get the blood and gore of your victim on you. I'm a fan of going back to the battle-ax and broadsword for war as well - - if you're going to kill for the sake of killing, then get in there and get yer hands dirty.
Gun control. Absolutely.
BUT - - hunting isn't just a sport, particularly in rural areas of the country (consider places like Appalachia). Hunting is done for meat, not for a head on the wall; hunting can be essential for control of game populations whose natural predators have been diminished (sadly, by humans with guns). Regulated hunting in a system that punishes POACHERS is necessary. Maybe the compromise is to return hunting to a bow-and-arrow event - - done right, it can be humane.
One of the conflicts for me in this is that I'm a carnivore - - I eat meat (after years of vegetarianism, that left me kinda anemic). The meat I buy at the grocery store comes from animals that are kept in massive, filthy, cramped feedlots - - it can't be a happy existence for those creatures. The game that my wasband brought home from an elk hunt was from an animal that had lived a free existence; John was grateful for the meat that it provided; he only took what we could use and absolutely no more. He used guns primarily, sometimes bow and arrow.
You're dead-on about guns being a large portion of the violence problem - - but I'm not sure hunting fits in that broad category of social ill. We might be more consistent as a species if we ate the humans that we killed, too.........
returning to those more primitive ways would cut down on war in general, don’t cha think? So would two world leaders settling their difficulties on a jousting field. A giant leap backward could really be a giant leap forward.
The maintenance and management of feed animals is most atrocious, especially veal. I also agree there is a difference between hunting for food and killing just to kill. The depletion of predators at the hands of humans raises the chicken/egg controversy.
Your mentioning poachers reminds me of a little story. There was an old codger standing before a judge out in Pendleton, Oregon. He was charged with killing and eating a spotted owl. The judge announced that since it was the fellows first violation, and he may have needed the food, he would suspend his sentence and settle for a $50. fine.
The man thanked the judge and headed for the door. On his way the judge jokingly asked him, out of curiosity, if spotted owl tasted like chicken. “Oh no”, the codger said, “it tasted more like bald eagle”
Thanks for dropping by, Valk, I always enjoy hearing your perspectives.
Gun owners aren’t evil bastards, Chris, but their guns are. Many likeable people, like yourself, possess artillery. At the same time nothing but evil comes out of the end of a gun barrel. I do appreciate your attitude that if we pass that magnet over your place you will let loose willingly.
OBTW: I agree with the NRA bumper sticker that says if guns were outlawed only outlaws would have guns. But then we’d know who the outlaws were, eh?
OBTW: Throngs of defenseless animals thank you for not killing them.
Looking back on it now, I'm glad I didn't have a gun.
I dont believe in guns....unless I am staring at the barrel of one, which has happened. That's why I do not carry one now, because had I had it that day, I would not be blogging now. I can protect myself, but I will always try to reason first. This is a really tough subject for me, because I sometimes feel victimized because of my race, but the older I get, the more I think that in lots of places, Whites might feel the very same way.
I posted a BIG comment to your comment on my blog about the UN topic, much there I discussed as I did/do not want to bring a battle of obscenties the offspring of my crass nature here to your blog my friend :)
Please stop by that post as I also commented about my take on guns there as well as other things...
Hope all is well with you, also hope the BIG Magnet does NOT pass over my house, well not even my hood...
Peace~
Reba
I honestly can’t imagine what it would be like to have grown up as a black man. I do know the racialism many of us struggled against in the sixties is still around. I’m not telling you anything here that you don’t already know.
It’s sad that in these times you would continue to feel any victimization because of your race, sad but true. Whites may experience the same sorts of feelings on occasion but with nothing near the regularity.
Thanks for dropping in, sir, I truly appreciate hearing from you.
Unfortunately, in the spirit of fairness, the magnet must pass over your house as well. All houses, all ‘hoods, all guns.
Now in schools it is well known that the kids who shoot their classmates and/or teachers were verbally, psychologically and/or physically abused in some way, shape or form, it was up to the point where they felt killing was the only reaction. In schools they need to start in kindergarden teaching self-esteem and manners and kindness and respect toward others, it should be taught along with the three R's and all the way through school, geez why not it would create a much healthier society, right? A lot of violence stems from the way people have been treated negatively in society. Now, yes there are people who are severely mentally ill...I am thinking of that 20 something year old guy in New Orleans who just killed himself by jumping out of the 7th story window of a luxury hotel and he left behind a note or notes detailing how he had stabbed or beaten to death ( I forget which ) his g/f and then he dismembered her and cooked her arms and legs in the oven of their apartment and put her decapitated head in a pot of water on the stove and cooked it. And he said in the note he killed himself because it was the right thing to do since he himself took a life. He I believe was totally insane. And here on LI some lunatic stabbed his innocent neighbor and dismembered her and drove around with her head in his trunk, there are lots of insane people who for whatever reason do not have a moral conscience or they ignore it.
But you know responsible gun owners teach their children to not touch and to respect the guns they own, as well as they lock them up really well. Look at all the police officers who have guns under lock and key and their kids do not touch those weapons ever.
But no way will getting rid of guns stop people from murdering and severely hurting others. There are plenty of ways to kill besides shooting the victim.
But it’s pollyanna-ish to say that if we get to kids early enough and teach them respect for others and tolerance that bullies will go away. There will always be bullies from the local kindergarten to the White House.
Responsible parents? There are millions of them and many own guns as well. But what about the irresponsible ones? Where did that kid get an AK47, Donut? And if you say he got it from his dad’s arsenal, and admit that was an irresponsible parent, then I will ask you what that irresponsible parent might do with that damn thing if someone pisses him off?
Speaking of Pollyanna, none bigger than me, eh? As if we could pass a magnet or, as Big Chris suggested, have a voluntary turn-in of guns. But it would be a start. Oh, but if I were king.
My warmest greetings, Donut, I love you and missed you.
Well you know there is another threat in society...ohh yes I think you know what it is...farts...what about walk by fartings...have you ever been the victim of that? Have you ever been minding your own business in K-Mart when an octogenerian walks by and cuts one? Oh yes I have been victimized by that...yes and that octogenerian acted like I did it, ever been falsely accused of a crime? Ever had your fellow K-Marters shun you, treat you like you were the scourge of society, because of one loud poot? Have you ever been in the intimate act of love making and you, or your partner suddenly did a butt bomb? Have you been so enraged that you told them to get out and go home and never return or were you on the recieving end, so to speak? Lagniappe.... farts are a real threat to our well-being and to our way of life, do I blame the parents...yes if they serve broccoli and cheddar soup. Do I blame society, of course...it is society that causes the build up of gas and then the tragic release of it on unsuspecting innocent victims. Do I blame our butts and intestines, definitely that is where most of the blame lays, er lies. I want to start my own ass roots oops typo... grassroots bowel movement, um grassroots movement where farts will be banned and anyone found to be having farts will be sent away for life and do hard time. I say make them go out in a field and vaccum the air of cow gases, that'll teach them. Will you join hands with me, oh can you pull my finger...and shout from the top of your lungs, "Give a hoot, don't butt toot!" this was a PSA from F.A.R.T.S. Fannies Are Releasing Toxic Substances.
If your brother manages a buck I hope he shares it with you. That’s what brothers are for, especially brothers coming from homes where there are strong family values such as Wisconsin.
I've been busted a few times but this is one time I will say thanks. I'll come see what foolish words a left somewhere. Thanks again.
I am forever grateful that I have no child rearing responsibilities any more. I imagine they are too! Raising children these days must require a Herculean effort. It seems a bit extreme but in the case of firearms maybe you would have to ask.
It was hard for my parents, even harder for me and even harder for you. Imagine how hard it's going to be for your children when their turn comes.
This is logic of a fearful person.
Hunters are killers. Obviously you don't eat any meat or use any animal product. If you don't eat meat, you are a vegetarian. That is ok, but hey, are you saying people shouldn't eat meat?
Hunting is an integral part of human history and survival. It is not sport in any sense, but based on the amount of meat consumed in this country, there are a lot of killers out there. I suppose a machine that does the killing and processing is ok. After all, machines don't kill animals, people do.
Fat Freddy
We have: Knives, guns, cars, E coli, ingestion, logic, fearful people, hunters, killers, meat, animal products, vegetarians, history, meat consumption, machines and processing.
All of these topics would make for a good post (I chose guns) but trying to cover them all in a single comment would be entirely too lengthy and would probably end up in point/counterpoint. What would be the use in that, Fred? Would you mind returning and making a more succinct point?
I truly appreciate conflicting points of view but in this case there’s just too many all at once.
I posted a comment to you on my blog a few mins ago :)
Been thinking about something...
Now in my opinion there is ONE way NOT having a gun in hand could be efficacious...
In a/the heated moment of anger, as IF you knifed someone they may not croak, if you beat someone they may not croak, if you shoot someone they will probably croak *shrugs*
Yes, I have shot at people, many times, I have had to in my life, I cannot/will not lie, would i do it again IF I had to, yes I would...
However in a fit of rage a trigger is so damn easy to pull and *you cannot take it back* that is the only reason I can see as a good reason...
Every, and I mean EVERY 14 year old in my hood carries one, they have to, sounds ignorant for me to state that my friend but I am being honest here. This is scary, very scary...
As I have said many times over these are very scary time my friend indeed...
If the BIG magnet passed over it would have to TAKE ALL of them, spare no one, not even the frigging cops, then I would surrender mine as well...
OK got that out WHEW!!!
Are you a vegetarian?
Your logic is my topic. Or lack of logic, more truly.
To be more succint, the logic you portray is that the tool (gun) does the killing. Which is beside the point. Without a human with intent the tool does nothing and no one gets hurt.
You used the spinach/ecoli analogy, which is truly off the mark and triggered my comments about vegetarianism. Except of course we kill the spinach to survive. The ecoli is the killer in this case, but it does not use a gun. Maybe you are saying ecoli should be given to those who use guns and maybe hunters?
Apparently, your agenda is to ban guns and stop hunting. A lot of people agree with you. In this country, even more do not.
Hunting is not sport, but it is killing.
Guns are dangerous, but not anywhere as dangerous as cars which kill 50,000 people per year. Yet the law focuses on the driver, especially intoxicated drivers. Why not ban cars?
Hunters are practising what humans have done for a long time in order to survive. Do most of us need to hunt nowadays? Of course not. We can get someone else to do the killing for us.
There are many hunters who do not use guns.
The reason people keep guns in this country is the law allows. Why does the law allow?
Killing is necessary for human survival. We just don't think so much about killing spinach, or oats for that matter.
Even though you can't see it for the guns, there is humor in you subject and logic.
I am not laughing at you. I am laughing. I laugh because it is so sad that so many people use pretzel logic to analyze truly important subjects.
This is a free country, and I fully respect your right to your opinion. I truly enjoy the dialogue with those who have opposing views.
Keep blogging and try this on:
In races, even today, it is the gun that sets the racer free.
Well how about this? Suppose we let you goodfellas keep your arsenals but replace your bullets and missiles with those little red flags that come out of the barrel and say BANG. If you used a cap gun you could still hear a noise too. They’re reusable, Fred.
I hear what you are saying about hunters and I anticipate your post about that very thing. So the only reason people keep guns is because the law allows it? Your follow up to that question is almost rhetorical, Fred, the law allows many things which aren’t particularly good for us, e.g. alcohol.
I don’t mind your laughing at me, heck lots of folks do. I am happy that you are laughing at all. What’s wrong with a good laugh? Oh. I get it! You mean the starters pistol at track meets. Well you are right on the mark, so to speak, there. But that isn’t a real bullet is it?
i suppose if the warmongers couldnt have their guns, they'd figure out some other killing device to play with.
then we'd have to write blogs about that. sad, huh
There's no guns in the Bible. Not one.
Perhaps it's the root cause, which is peoples' sins leading to murder, that needs to be addressed--not guns.
On the other hand, I have a fear of handguns and semi-automatics. Those seem to me to be designed for the sole purpose of killing humans. My initial fear of handguns was only made worse after having been in an armed robbery in the 80s.
I don't know what the solution to the violence is, or when thug life mentality became so rampant and dare I say acceptable in some communities... but I have to agree with Big Chris that if all the guns were taken away, only the criminals would be armed. I do not personally own a gun, for the record. :) -Six
Good luck on any crusade to encourage people to look closely at their sins. This country could legislate gun control but it could never legislate morality.
Geez. When did this thug mentality begin. It’s sure around and seems to be growing by leaps and bounds. Was it fostered in movies, television, music, video games? Heck, maybe frequenting a hockey game might elevate ones propensity to thuggery.
MEMO TO SIX FOOT & BIG CHRIS: The criminals are already armed.
Thank you for your input and I’m pleased to meet you.
Your points are well taken and in the end I’m with you. It’s in the hands of one greater than us all. Thanks for peeking in, your comments are always appreciated around here. Pleased to meet you.
Good post; raises some interesting points.
I'm struggling with this one. I grew up in Montana, hunted and fished throughout my formative years. We moved from Montana when I was 14. I haven't hunted since then and I am 59. Nor do I presently own a firearm of any kind. That said, I cannot carry the "ban guns" banner like so many do. Trite though it may be, "when the guns are outlawed, only the outlaws will have guns." And, one of the first steps in Nazi Germany was to ban the private ownership of guns. Ditto the Soviet Union. I cannot see the sense in owning 20 guns or 50 guns or an AK47 or any other fully automatic weapon. Yet, I have a small collection of knives and some people cannot see the sense in that.
I will give this some thought, perhaps even post something on it. It remains, for me, an issue of freedom and that's the direction I'll probably take. If you're interested, please aheck my blog.
Thanks.
writer