Oops! Ignore the Ginger and Greg thing. It got tacked on from an email I copied. I previewed, too. Don’t know how that slipped in. :o
Men with little dicks seem to think a hand gun makes them a man and thus it is going to take generations before hand guns are banned.
Hand guns are unecessary. Anyone who claims hand guns are used for sport is lying. If it were for sport, a BB gun would be just fine.
Only reason to have a hand gun is to kill someone. I personally would be in no hurry to change the law if only the owners of handguns killed each other off.
Unfortunately, the little dick people keep shooting innocent bystanders without guns.
I can deal with a 12 year old, pimply faced smart ass with a fist or a knife.
I cannot deal with a 12 year old, pimply faced smart ass with a gun.
So - count me as an American against hand guns. Can’t think of a single good use for them other than shooting other owners of handguns.
(I am not totally anti-gun. If you want to have a rifle and go shoot some rats in the dump, fine with me.)
Count me in.
ban guns
If the little old ladies who fast-walk my neighborhood before dawn feel safer by carrying a pistol, I have no objection. Sure, they’d feel just as safe if they carried shotguns, but that’s a lot for a little old lady to carry on a long walk.
I have a handgun, which I shoot at the gun range. I rarely feel the need to carry it, though I have a permit to do so. I bought it new, so it’s registered to me.
Mrs. Nott has a handgun, too. I traded a guitar amp to a friend for it. We never got around to doing the paperwork for it so, officially, it’s still registered to him.
Mrs. Nott has no little dick to compensate for, and my dick-size needs no compensation. No, I won’t send you pictures.
There isn’t any such thing as a thread on the SDMB where only X are allowed to participate, X being any artitificially defined group. Any thread is open to any Doper who has an opinion on the subject under discussion. I understand what you’re trying to get at, Roger, but that isn’t even a poll.
You can express a yea or nay opinion, without going into long screeds about why you vote that way, but no limitions on who can express an opinion at all.
TVeblen
In that case, I don’t wish to see it made illegal for private citizens in the US to own handguns.
For the record I do not now nor have I ever owned a gun, and don’t plan on getting one anytime soon.
roger thornhill I have to say I find your political views interesting. You don’t get many Americans who believe in total handgun bans AND that evolution is a crock.
American here who doesn’t think Handguns should be banned. I do find it ironic that “handguns are only meant to kill” when they are much less powerful then rifles or shotguns.
Hmm, lets see, i’ve grown up around firearms (i’m 36), had the importance of firearm safety pounded into me since i was a kid, i’ve lived in Vermont (a state with no concealed-carry-permit requirements, i could walk down the street with a firearm in my pocket and it’d be perfectly legal), right now i have ohhh… 4 firearms within arms reach at the moment*…
how many people have i shot, or pointed a firearm at in my time on this planet?
none, zero, zilch, nada
do i carry concealed?
nope, too much of a responsibility and a headache, but i could if i wanted, i just don’t see the need
are firearms evil?
firearms are an inanimate object, a tool, nothing more, yes, they’re a dangerous tool, but they’re a tool, and like any tool, require proper training for safe operation, a firearm is no more evil than a car, or a toaster or a snowblower
are firearms (handguns, for example, as in the OP) designed for one purpose?
yes
is it to kill?
no
what is the purpose of firearms?
to propel a metal projectile (or cloud of projectiles in the case of a shotgun) at high speed down the barrel using an explosive propellant
it’s the person behind the trigger that determines whether the projectile is directed towards a paper or clay target, or a lifeform, so you might as well ask if people are evil
am i in favor of firearms safety training?
yes
am i in favor of further firearms restrictions/bans
no, firearms are inanimate objects, humans are the variables here
am i in favor of checking the records/backgrounds of potential firearms purchasers
yes
am i in favor of a mandatory waiting period
with the “instant”-check background checks, this isn’t really an issue anymore, but no i wouldn’t be opposed to waiting periods
should we have more anti-gun laws?
no, why don’t we enforce the ones we have now instead, adding more legistation does nothing if it’s not followed thru on
*within arms reach right now i have a Ruger Mark II .22 (target shooting), a Taurus 689 .357 Magnum (target shooting, a little more challenging than the Ruger), a Mossberg Model 500 12-gauge pump (skeet/trap shooting), and my family heirloom Parker VH grade side-by-side 12-gauge (built in the '30’s still shoots incredibly well, and the fit and finish is flawless, still as tight as the day it was built, this firearm’s worth anywhere from $1000 to $7000 depending on condition and demand
all firearms are unloaded, secured in a safe location and have trigger locks in placem if someone was to steal one of my firearms, they’d only be able to use it as a bludgeoning device
you’ll find my views aren’t that dissimilar from other responsible firearms owners…
Put me down as someone who doesn’t like handguns, finds them a little scary,can’t imagine wanting one and thinks society could benefit from stronger restrictions on who can own handguns and what kinds of handguns they can own. And some of the pro-gun people are really scary.
Also as someone who likes Dangerosa’s idea that guns should be registered, licensed and insured.
But someone who believes that citizesn should not be allowed to own handguns? No, that’s not me.
Running over a burgalar INSIDE your house isn’t easy either. Not that you couldn’t try.
:dubious: 1) I don’t think that there is a correlation between penis size and handgun ownership [or sports car ownership either]. 2) There are pure target shooting disciplines that use rimfire and centerfire rounds in handguns. None that use BBs, though there are air rifle and pistol sports that use pellets. 3) I doubt that you have seen a penis size study of “gun criminals.” 4)You severely underestimate the dangerousness of a knife.
The ‘small penis’ insult is practically one of DMark’s trademarks. He seems to use it in every gun thread.
Methinks he protests too much.
Now you are just joking right? No one misrepresents facts like that for real on this board.
Handguns are used for:
- Hunting (larger calibers mostly)
- Collecting as pieces of history.
- Target shooting. There are plenty of clubs devoted to this sport.
- Making it so that the victim(s) or innocent bystanders do not hurt or get killed without firing a shoot. It might keep the criminal from getting hurt or killed too.
Me
hi im not american but i wanted to post my view on this anyway.
surely if the guns if for sport then they should be stored safely at the club and far away from any ammo.
my girlfriend has just given a long lecture to me saying a lot of things which i wont post, but she did say sum good points.
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why do u need to practice shotting a gun? they were designed to kill!
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if the gun is for protection in your house, surely getting rid of all guns would mean there being no need for then at all. if you want protection the learn self defense, and if need be then house hold object can be used as your defense.
on the point of using guns for hunting, thats another debate on top of this, but surely we dont need to hunt anymore, as we have all our food processed for us and we dont need to hunt our food, therefor we are just unneccessarily killing animals.
Thanks for all the replies and the mature tone of most of the discussion. (Yes, I know it’s a poll, but if you really believe I’m not interested in opinions and ideas, then you don’t know me - as Veb says, no long screeds please - sometimes like friendships, the best ones happen when you’re not looking for one; ditto for deabtes, someone they’re better when you don’t sit down Python style and say “let’s have a debate”!)
To Laggers: Yes, I would wish for a (more or less) private-citizen total handgun ban, if I lived in the wonderful States. But re the evolution thing, I should make it clear that I don’t believe that evolution is a crock. Almost everyone who’s knowledge and wisdom (and life) I admire believes in common descent, so if anything I look at myself as the “crock”. (Not quite sure of the denotation and connotation of crock, by the way.)
Plus, disagreement about evolution should never lead to either coercion or violence (okay, violence is actually just coercion taken to another - usually physical - level, but it helps I think to make the distinction here).
Neither, of course, should disagreement about handguns. But the nature of the object at the centre of the latter disagreement (not inherently evil, by the way - I never so much as hinted at believing that) by its very nature is more likely to have a violent end.
This is not meant as an argument either against handguns or against rational discussion of handgun issues - I very much support such rational discussion, that’s the means of learning and progress in the Western world - but more as a call to exercise great care, honesty and maturity when discussing such an emotive issue.
The violence that has characterised the debate over abortion (ironically, in view of the pro-life stance of those who are anti abortions) should act as a cautionary tale of the path not ot take. And I’m anti abortion on demand. I just understand its my view and that it IS negotiable. Like almost everything in life.
Just wanted to pop in as an American who thinks the 2nd Amendment is, hmmm, “quaint.” (Gee, why does that phrase sound familiar?)
Anyway, handguns. Against them. Don’t think any private citizen should be allowed to own one.
Put me in the anti-handgun camp, too, please.
If guns are outlawed, then only outlaws will have guns. Which will certainly make it easier to tell the good guys from the bad guys.
Nah, just a feeble and childish attempt to portray all gun owners as having small penises to give us some sort of complex. Though, women don’t seem to have a problem with the lame attempt of insult. 
1.) You need to practice so the shot is accurate. You’re not going to be able to pick up a .30-.06 and drop a deer on your first try.
2.) Your girlfriend would have a gun as the only option of stopping me if I broke into your home. I’m 6’4" and weigh 250#. Does she honestly think she can overpower me? Even if she has a bat, you can bet I won’t start it all empty handed either.
Banning won’t work. Satellite piracy hardware and software are banned from the US, yet there are an awful lot of people that have them.