An omniscient deity has contacted you. She has done whatever is necessary to convince you she does know the future.
She tells you that if you continue to own guns, an innocent person will be killed by one of them some time in the future. It might be that you accidentally shoot someone, or the gun will be stolen and used in a shooting, or a kid gets a hold of it and shoots himself. This is all the info you get. If you decide to get rid of your guns, that person will not die, and you will be in no more or less personal danger than you currently are.
I would hope that the quoted part above would strongly tilt answers towards ‘yes’. I’d be more interested in what answers would be if no statement were made about this at all.
It depends on what “you will be in no more or less personal danger than you currently are” means.
If it means that my owning guns will have no effect on my personal safety, then yes, I would get rid of them - probably even if the deity/oracle never mentioned that an innocent person would die if I didn’t.
Then again, I’m not a hunter, and if I was, then I would have to think about it, although probably in the end, I would give them up (although not without knowing for a fact that someone innocent would die if I didn’t).
There is a whole bunch of possible answers to that. Take your pick.
#1
A large number of people died in the past in order to preserve my right to own and use guns. Why should one more person make any difference?
#2
A few things are more important than life itself. “Give me liberty, or give me death.”
#3
A question like this could just as easily be directed at “driving enthusiasts” or “voting enthusiasts.” Would you give up your driver’s license or your right to vote in such a hypothetical? I don’t think that I would.
#4
There are an awful lot of people in society, and only a very small percentage will make any noticeable difference, either good or bad. From a strictly objective point of view, it is extremely unlikely to matter whether any given person dies today or 40 years from now. But they WILL die at some point.
#5
Even if I gave up my guns, that innocent person might be killed in some other accident shortly thereafter. I think I would feel awfully foolish if that happened.
I have collected more than 50 firearms over the past three-plus decades. If anyone wants to crowdsource $50,000 and send it to me, I’ll take my collection to the Sheriff.
Of course! Assuming that I really believed this deity was legit in this hypothetical universe in which such things apparently exist, I’d toss all my guns in an industrial shredder in an instant to save a life.
However, said deity could be a lot more helpful, for example by saying “Make double certain your guns are locked up next week,” or “under no circumstances should you let your cousin Lester touch one…”
2nd, if I’m in “no less personal danger” than I currently am, why would I voluntarily give up any weapons?
If things were different, things would be different. Your scenario doesn’t make me feel any more or less safe than I was before I met the omniscient deity of your choosing.
Firearms only or are air guns included?
If I could at least ventilate some cans with a pellet gun once in a while I might be persuaded to part with the firearms. **IF **I considered this deity reliable.
I’d probably give my guns to one of my friends so I can still borrow them for three weeks in the fall for hunting season and a bird season. Of ciurse I’d need to borrow a bear gun for when I go fishing. There are also all of the trap shoots for work that I’ll need to get a gun for plus going shooting with the family for the holidays. They’ll be a couple of more days a year I’d need to borrow one for just going shooting randomly. But besides that I’d be happy to let him have my guns to save a life.
Of course if this is if I even touch a gun again an innocent person would die, I’d have to know more about the innocent person.
Sure, I’d give them up. But I’d check what political parties the deity has donated to first.
Let’s say an omniscient deity told you that, sometime in the next 30 years, you will be the victim of a violent crime and will die as a result. However, if you purchase a pistol, obtain a concealed carry permit, and make a habit of carrying it with you, you will be able to defend yourself and survive the attack unharmed. Would you purchase the gun?
Same question for the OP, but replace “voting” with gun ownership. At some point in the future, one of your votes will be the reason an innocent person dies. It could be that you participate in a one-vote election margin and the candidate who wins does something to cause the death, or it could be that driving to the polls at the date and time causes a fatal car accident – you aren’t told.
An omniscient deity with a dark and cruel sense of humor gives me certainty on only one specific piece of the cost benefit analysis. He gives me some vagueness on another piece. For all I know having the gun is net positive in saving innocent lives (while I either survive or am mortally wounded regardless of having a gun.)
Bad god. You’re on omniscient time out. Go to your room and think about what you hypothetically did.
Absolutely. I’m not anti gun in general. We have a shotgun and a. 22 in the house for livestock protection. I do find many gun nuts’ obsessions with these tools creepy as hell, but I would reluctantly carry if I knew it would save my life.
I’ll keep my gun.
Not having a weapon ( gun ) gun did not save my daughters life.
Not having a weapon ( gun ) did not keep one of my sisters from being raped.
Having a weapon ( gun ) has saved my life several times.
When I was in the military defending your right to make posts like this, it would have sucked not having a weapon.
I have never been stupid enough to believe this kind of thing and I am a born & bred Catholic. Those that make the claim that they would give up all their weapons because of this contact need to give up all weapons now with no deity contacting needed. They are way to dangerous to have a weapon.
I may chose to die for you but I will not die because of you.
How 'bout if an omniscient deity contacts you and HE tells you that if you continue to own your car someone will get killed by it? Are you willing to give up your car? How about if HE tells you that if you continue to own furniture someone will get hurt on it and die? Or if you continue to have a bathtub and a shower someone will get hurt in it and then die? Would you be willing to give those things up?
Like it’s hard to figure out where politically corrected Renee is coming from.
Are you trying to say that a gun is a “necessity” in the same way that a car is?
What “furniture” specifically? If you are just going to say furniture in general that would mean a life without beds, tables, sofas - a bare empty house? If you are talking about a specific item of furniture - say a dining room table, bunk beds, a children’s study table - I think absolutely I could make that sacrifice.
Bathtub and Shower? You need one or the other right, but I could quite easily give up one of the two if it stopped me being directly responsible for someone’s death.
No I’m not. It’s a hell of a lot MORE necessary when you need it. And Renee’s so called omniscient female deity is really the Devil. And if all these stinking bs’ing politicians, like the thing in the white house currently using the name Barak Hussein Obama, and Hillary and all the rest, and the Pope, hate guns so much, how about they set an example for us and get rid of all those armed to the teeth gunsels that surround them night and day protecting THEIR precious rear ends?