# Idiots With Guns **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 4, 2015, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-with-guns/716801 "2015-04-04T13:54:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-with-guns/716801/41 "2015-04-14T17:13:40Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > What a breathtakingly ignorant assertion. Sorry. They are of course also good for maiming people and animals. My bad! ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-with-guns/716801/42 "2015-04-14T17:17:13Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Sorry. They are of course also good for maiming people and animals. My bad! I think you should probably cut out the autoerotic strangulation. The repeated oxygen deprivation is, clearly, reducing your cognitive abilities. If you stop now, you might still test out as dull-normal. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-with-guns/716801/43 "2015-04-14T17:52:02Z")
That’s two references in a row to breath-taking, pup. Are you trying to tell us something? ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-with-guns/716801/44 "2015-04-14T17:56:43Z")
No. I just chose the words without noticing the apparent link. Good catch. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-with-guns/716801/45 "2015-04-14T18:58:48Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > That’s two references in a row to breath-taking, pup. Are you trying to tell us something? Wake up, _you Fool!_ He’s giving us clues to the conspiracy! The film _Top Gun_ featured a song called _You Take My Breath Away_, recorded by **Berlin**. Who in Berlin wanted to \*take guns away? \* ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-with-guns/716801/46 "2015-04-14T19:02:50Z")
> [@racepug](#): > > **1** ) Firearms are built for one purpose, and one purpose, only. What one purpose is that? Collectors items? Target shooting? Cowboy Action shooting? Olympic sports? Hunting? ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-with-guns/716801/47 "2015-04-14T19:19:23Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Wake up, _you Fool!_ He’s giving us clues to the conspiracy! > > The film _Top Gun_ featured a song called _You Take My Breath Away_, recorded by **Berlin**. Who in Berlin wanted to \*take guns away? \* The Weimar Republic? Certainly not Hitler, who repealed the gun control laws in effect when he took office. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-with-guns/716801/48 "2015-04-15T04:37:31Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Works in a lot of European countries. The same European countries that, when they’ve got their backs against the wall, facing an enemy they can’t defend against, call the USA to help them out? Those European countries? Or some other ones? ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-with-guns/716801/49 "2015-04-15T04:41:45Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > The only thing a gun is useful for is killing people and animals. That’s where the analogy to cars (used for transportation) and books (enlightening) breaks down. I don’t have to fire a gun to defend myself. Merely drawing it and announcing my intent to use it should be enough to get a bad guy out of my house. That’s another good use. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-with-guns/716801/50 "2015-04-15T04:58:00Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > I don’t have to fire a gun to defend myself. Merely drawing it and announcing my intent to use it should be enough to get a bad guy out of my house. > > That’s another good use. It’s probably more likely you’ll blow your own, or a loved one’s head off when you’re feeling sad. Or that the bad guy will steal it, than you’ll use it in self defense. Not that I think the OP’s video proves anything. I like guns. I shoot things. Pew pew. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-with-guns/716801/51 "2015-04-15T09:35:25Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > It’s probably more likely you’ll blow your own, or a loved one’s head off when you’re feeling sad. People who say shit like this really need to learn what “probability” actually is. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-with-guns/716801/52 "2015-04-15T14:54:04Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > Hmm, that might be awkward. How does that work? > Imagined scene: > _ **Red Neck Dumb Fuck** _: Hey Ellie May, try this! > > _ **RNDF’s Big-Titty GF** _: Uh, okay! That looks big and cool. Hey, watch me blow away our pickup truck on cinder blocks down yonder in the front yard! > > _ **RNDF** _: (giggling) Yuk yuk yuk! (as beer comes out his nose) > > _ **Una Persson** _: (to RNDF) Excuse me, red neck dumb fuck, but that isn’t safe. > (to RNDF’s BTGF) Excuse me, but you don’t really want to do that. You might get hurt, li’l lady. > > _ **RNDF’s BTGF** _: Don’t you tell me what I can and can’ts do! Who the fuck are you anyway? > > Then RNDF jumps off of pickup truck hood (the one that runs, not the one she’s about to shoot at), tosses beer can aside as he hitches up his jeans and brushes aside his flowing blond mullet, walks angrily toward Una Perssona with clenched fists as he belches… > So is that how it’s done? 😃 No, I say something like “hey, come on, that’s not cool. Teach her the right way to shoot, and instead of getting a laugh, maybe you’ll get her respect.” ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-with-guns/716801/53 "2015-04-15T15:11:03Z")
> [@Bullitt](#): > > The same European countries that, when they’ve got their backs against the wall, facing an enemy they can’t defend against, call the USA to help them out? > > Those European countries? Or some other ones? Generally speaking, I was under the impression that those calls were to the US military. Not a random selection of gun owning civilians. And, again generally speaking, we tend to ask for help in things like devastating multinational wars, and not, say, policing actions. So yes, works for European countries. ---
**Author:** ![Kiber](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kiber/32/317_2.png) [@Kiber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiber)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-with-guns/716801/54 "2015-04-15T15:29:17Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > People who say shit like this really need to learn what “probability” actually is. Well - from [here](http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-04-12/gun-owners-face-much-higher-murder-risks-researchers-said-then-nra-silenced-them), we see some actual data, including the following: > [@](#): > > Rivara, a professor of pediatrics and epidemiology at the University of Washington at Seattle Children’s Hospital, discovered that having a gun in the home is associated with a threefold increase in the risk of a homicide. And also this: > [@](#): > > “The most common reason that people have a gun is because they have it for home protection,” he says. “Unfortunately, the data indicates that having a gun is associated with both an increased risk of homicide, but even more importantly, an increased risk of suicide. We know that, for example, if there’s a gun in the home, the risk of suicide among adolescents and young adults increases tenfold.” The above was from peer reviewed researched sponsored by the CDC - back before the NRA got funding for gun violence research pulled. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-with-guns/716801/55 "2015-04-15T15:42:48Z")
> [@Una\_Persson](#): > > No, I say something like “hey, come on, that’s not cool. Teach her the right way to shoot, and instead of getting a laugh, maybe you’ll get her respect.” Cool. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-with-guns/716801/56 "2015-04-15T17:08:53Z")
> [@Kiber](#): > > Well - from [here](http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-04-12/gun-owners-face-much-higher-murder-risks-researchers-said-then-nra-silenced-them), we see some actual data, including the following: > > And also this: > > The above was from peer reviewed researched sponsored by the CDC - back before the NRA got funding for gun violence research pulled. We have discussed those before and they are more or less meaningless. For example, one of the reasons why you have a gun in the home for protection is that you live in a high crime neighborhood or that you are worried about a imminent threat . It was also a study with only 420 cases, in 1993. \*First, our study was restricted to homicides occurring in the home of the victim. The dynamics of homicides occurring in other locations (such as bars, retail establishments, or the street) may be quite different… Third, it is possible that reverse causation accounted for some of the association we observed between gun ownership and homicide – i.e., in a limited number of cases, people may have acquired a gun in response to a specific threat. If the source of that threat subsequently caused the homicide, the link between guns in the home and homicide may be due at least in part to the failure of these weapons to provide adequate protection from the assailants. \* ---
**Author:** ![Kiber](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kiber/32/317_2.png) [@Kiber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiber)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-with-guns/716801/57 "2015-04-15T17:47:40Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > We have discussed those before and they are more or less meaningless. For example, one of the reasons why you have a gun in the home for protection is that you live in a high crime neighborhood or that you are worried about a imminent threat . It was also a study with only 420 cases, in 1993. You’d think with such an obviously flawed study floating around, the NRA would have been pushing the CDC to fund more research to shed light on the true value of gun ownership. Instead - they fought to suppress any research for the next 2 decades. One wonders why . . . . ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-with-guns/716801/58 "2015-04-15T18:06:01Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > We have discussed those before and they are more or less meaningless. So you say, but you’re an imbecile, so there’s that. Handwaving doesn’t undo empiricism. Empiricism counters empiricism, and one side in this debate has been exceptionally anti-empiricism. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-with-guns/716801/59 "2015-04-15T19:03:57Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > One great policy for preventing this sort of thing is to ban the use of guns, The easiest thing to do would be to ban idiots like you from having access to the internet and the world outside of your basement so your tiny little brain wouldn’t have to be confronted with such horrible things such as freedom. ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bruce\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-with-guns/716801/60 "2015-04-15T21:22:31Z")
[Here](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=q9ZEbyDee8A) is the counter YouTube video to the OP. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-with-guns/716801.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/idiots-with-guns/716801.md?page=4)