I usually don’t carry cash. When I am aware I’m carrying cash, there is a subtle difference in how I perceive the world than if I am not carrying cash. Now, sometimes I forget I’m carrying cash, and in those cases, it’s as if I am not.
I find it odd if anyone argues that they are not aware of carrying a gun. If you aren’t aware of it, you probably shouldn’t be carrying it. If you are aware of it, you are different.
And if someone needs to hang a picture or a common household task like that and gets out the tools, many times that person will think of other things that need doing while they have the tool out. When we have a hammer, we think of nails.
Sorry, but I can not get my head around this view.
The purpose of a vehicle is to move goods and people from one point to another. When used correctly, the opportunity for injury or death is minimal to almost non-existent. When used improperly, the misuse use of a vehicle can cause injury or even death. But its improper use does not alter its designed primary purpose.
The purpose of a firearm is to disable or kill another living thing. When used correctly, collateral damage is minimized, if not eliminated. When used incorrectly, the damage can be extensive. In either case, its use does not alter its designed primary purpose: to disable or kill.
FWIW, I do not own a firearm. I used to possess a federal LEO commission in a previous job, and had all the requisite training. I believe in the concept of the Second Amendment.
This thread strikes me very much like the anti-gay preachers who go on talking about how we need to suppress our gay impulses, never realizing that straight people don’t just don’t have those impulses. They’ve so repressed their own sexuality that they think everyone feels that way, it scares the hell out of them, and then they work against it.
I’ve been around guns my whole life and never once had an urge when holding one to even point it at someone, much less shoot someone. It’s just not a normal urge. I’m sure there are people who have urges to do so, or may fear they’d have those urges if they held a gun, and so they generalize and think most or all other people also have those urges and thus fear those people who carry thinking they have those urges. The thing is, I’ll think you’ve find that most people who carry don’t have those urges, otherwise we’d see a lot more of those people legally carrying doing something stupid. And, really, if you’re going to have that urge, maybe you just shouldn’t carry.
And it’s just like cars. Some people, have an urge to go faster and drive recklessly or drive drunk, but plenty of people don’t and will restrain themselves from driving if they’re drunk. If you can’t resist driving too fast or driving drunk, exercise some personal restraint and don’t drive, don’t blame the car when you get in a wreck because you were too stupid not to drive after 6 shots.
I think you may be on to something there, Blaster Master. I don’t get a rush of power when I pick up my pistol; truth to tell, I’m a bit scared of it. I feel like I’m handling a cobra. And I figure that’s a good thing, as it is a dangerous tool which could fatally bite me or someone else if I ever get careless and mishandle it. That sliver of fear keeps me careful.
I’ve never gotten a rush from driving my car fast, either, but I know some people do. So I suspect that there are differences in the way different people react. Certainly folks who think they may feel a power thrill from using or wearing a gun should abstain from anything other than target shooting (and they may not even want to do that).
And as for shooting someone… well, a few weekends ago I took a defensive gun usage course, part of which involved repeatedly pointing my gun (disabled with a barrel blocker so it couldn’t fire a live round) at another person and “firing” it. Even knowing the gun wasn’t going to do anything, it was hard to pull that trigger at first. The sensation was NOTHING like pointing the same gun at a target. Normally-socialized people find it hard to threaten others, much less hurt them!
Ta-Nahisi Coates has a couple of interesting blogposts up which are relevant to this discussion.
So very not so. In fact so very not ever even conceived. I, like a very many American gun owners, own firearms for sport and recreation. The concept of firing in anger as a possibility or reality has never occurred to me.
Do all car drivers have an awareness that running someone down in anger is a possibility? Are they all waiting for a suitable opportunity to manifest this in the material world?
Actually, I have my doubts as to how many really know that. Many firearms appear to be in the hands of people who can’t add two and two, if you know what I mean.
Or to threaten, to be fair. The police go armed in hopes that they’ll never have to draw, and if they do they’ll never have to fire; that just being armed will be enough. (That really only works for the police, though, because the most powerful weapon a cop carries is the badge, which signifies that he’s got the whole force and the whole state backing him up.)
As an Unarmed American I admit I truly can’t describe why I would feel a need to carry a firearm going about my day much less how that would affect my personality that day.
But since one of most commonly cited reasons for gun ownership is the exhilaration in using one its difficult for me to believe that doesn’t come into play at all. Akin to a Harley owner declaring he never thinks about riding and only keeps his hog in the garage for cleaning.
You’re seeing the Moron Effect in action. We never notice all the millions and millions of people who use dangerous tools like guns and cars properly, because their safe use doesn’t draw attention to itself. We DO notice the small percentage of idiots who shoot at their neighbor because the neighbor’s dog took a dump on their lawn, or who drive 60 miles an hour down the interstate while text messaging and eating a cheeseburger.
Some people just have to learn obvious truths the hard way. I don’t feel sorry for them, but I do feel sorry for their victims.
Well, and again to be fair, that depends on what you mean by “using one.” The exhiliration Human Action describes in post #14 is strictly a firing-range thing.
I think.
I wouldn’t call it exhilaration, as it’s a calm, almost meditative state.
For clarity, here are the three ways I use my firearms:
Firing my rifles or pistols at paper targets downrange. I find this calming, as it induces an inward focus: breath control, trigger control, smoothness. The challenge is to group the shots as tightly as possible. One twitch and the group is ruined.
Firing my shotguns at clay pigeons. This is more like a traditional sport: heart rate a little elevated, conscious of my score, conscious of the clays remaining, etc. It’s competitive, head to head, and exuberant. A good shot pleases me, a miss displeases me; firing the shotgun isn’t innately pleasurable. I feel the exact same way as hitting or missing a shot in basketball. If I could bring some of the calmness from the rifle range to the clay range, I’d be a lot better at hitting clays, I’m sure.
Carrying my handguns, concealed (one at a time, but I switch between three based on clothing and such). I think little to nothing of it: the pistol is simply there. I am sometimes aware of its weight and position, depending if I’m sitting, standing, etc. The pistol is there if I need it. If all goes to plan and I’m not unlucky, I’ll never draw it in anger, let alone fire it. To purchase the pistol and the ammunition I use to stay in practice cost me a few thousand dollars. If I never need the pistol, it’s a reasonable price to pay. Other than money, carrying costs me nothing. If I DO need the pistol, I suspect that in that moment it’d be priceless to me. NOT carrying could cost me dearly. Much like a smoke alarm, I’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
That is my thinking and experience on the matter. I’ve fired long guns for 18 years, owned them for ten. For handguns, I’ve fired them for 16 years, owned them for seven. I’ve carried concealed for six years.
ETA: It’s worth noting that none of those uses involve physical danger to myself. Drawing the weapon in anger wouldn’t be exhilarating, it’d be terrifying, I’m sure, to be done as a last resort in the face of an immediate threat to one’s life.
This is just more nonsense. The idea that people may be influenced by mass media depicting grotesque, inhumane violence is dismissed out of hand, but the theory that a gun in the possession of somebody makes them want to use it is posited as a plausible explanation for gun violence. As always, it all depends on whose ox is being gored.
I used to carry a gun for a living, armed security. Firing it in anger was never a possibility. Being ready to use it to defend my life, or the life of a third party was always in my mind (and I had to a couple of times), but anger didn’t enter into it. Never had to shoot anyone, thank god, because most people will stop or at least run away when you point a gun at them.
I agree - there’s even a well known saying “when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail” - obviously, that’s not literally true, but I do believe that ownership of a tool can change the way you see the world - you see this with people that buy 3D printers or laser cutters, or whatever - they start seeing a 3D-printed, laser-cut solution to problems more often than they would otherwise - sometimes, this solution is less optimal than the one they’d have chosen (and are still quite capable of engineering) without the tool.
