I don’t think so.
I suppose in the abstract sense, having some practical knowledge in any subject is better than not having it. That doesn’t automatically make it necessary or useful to enrich one’s life, nor does it guarantee that the time spend acquiring basic knowledge in one field couldn’t be better spent learning something else.
Anyway, it’s one afternoon in a kid’s life. I doubt it’ll make any measurable difference in itself. If the kid follows up and spends more time practicing with and using guns, then his risk of getting killed with one or killing someone else with one (accidentally, by suicide or by homicide) increases, I gather, but we all gotta die of something, sooner or later.
My post had nothing to do with whether or not I own a gun, and everything to do with the vain posture that knowing how to operate a gun automatically makes one responsible with it. Can’t you address that instead of calling me names?
I guess it’s possible for Scumpup to do so… uncharacteristic, perhaps.
Check again.
Meh. Ekers, you are to humor as Coors Light is to beer.
Did you read your own post? It would seem not. Maybe you are thinking of some other post you made somewhere else on some other day.
Tells Coors Light that; they might send you a case in gratitude for the endorsement.
Adam Lanza’s mother did exactly what you describe, shepherding her son through the basics of gun ownership and sharing the joy of putting holes in those things over there. To her, it did not seem terribly risky to teach Adam about guns and to put them within easy reach of him — but she was his mother, which is the kind of relationship that can blind a person to another person’s flaws, just as you might miss or ignore potential issues your nephew may have (not that I am saying he does).
Knowing how to safely operate a firearm is but a small part of responsible gun ownership. There is this other “wisdom” thing, which tends to be rather elusive (ask that American Sniper dumbfuck). From what I have observed, firearms have the opposite effect of instilling wisdom in people, and I have yet to observe any exceptions.
Not only did I read it, I’ll repeat it: Learning how to handle a gun does not automatically make a gun owner act responsibly with it. By that definition, Adam Lanza was a responsible gun owner. His mother got him trained by a certified instructor and they both dutifully practiced at gun ranges. They were textbook examples of “responsible gun owners”. Not only that, she took up guns for security!! They were a poster family for the NRA and everything it stands for. What could possibly go wrong?
(And what eschereal said.)
Ludicrous.
Who said anything about being responsible? Knowledge is one thing and responsibility is another.
Well, you’ve shown us your “knowledge”, and how you’ve taken responsibility for it, haven’t you? :rolleyes:
Are you demonstrating responsibilty, then, by not owning a gun? Serving as an example, as it were? It must be terrible, for you and ElvisL1ves, living in a world where literally everyone around you is liable to snap and start killing at any moment. It must be even more terrible when you are also “potentially another Adam Lanza.”
How so?
Everything you said implied “responsible”: “It’s good to know the basics, how to ensure a gun is safe and unloaded, how to safely handle a gun…” Why else would it be good to know that stuff if not for an implied responsibility on the part of the gun owner?
Everything you said there is the justification gun owners use to claim they’re responsible gun owners.
Thank you, that’s my point. If you really believe that (and for the sake of this point, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt), please tell all the gun owners who pat themselves on the back for being responsible just because they know how to handle a gun. You know, the ones who disown a spree shooter as one of their own even though he’d been one of them all along and carried out his killings with an expert knowledge of his weapons. The ones who oppose gun control because safety courses apparently turn gun owners into model citizens.
Okay, you win. You have demeaned and ridiculed me into buying a gun and taking a safety course that will guarantee I’ll never be a threat to anyone. Except for those who demeaned and ridiculed me.
(That was just a joke in case you’re quaking in your boots at the thought of a pansy-ass fraidy-cat coming after you.)
No one is a criminal until they are.
This is going well.
This isn’t Minority Report, you can’t judge someone for what they could, or might, someday do.
Does this include you? How far are you to be trusted?