I’m putting this in the pit, just because I see a potential deterioration happening fast, but maybe not.
The past little while, there have been a few threads about guns. Now, I’m a canuck. I have never seen a gun. I cannot imagine why in the world someone would need or want to own a gun. So weigh in, gun folks. Do you own a gun solely for hunting? What’s the facination?
IMHO, guns are completely unecessary and I can’t really even understand why people would want to hunt.
IMHO, guns are completely unecessary and I can’t really even understand why people would want to hunt.
In general people hunt because they want to eat. A good size dear can feed a family for quite a long time. There are a great many people in this country for whom buying food is a massive financial burden.
But most people, in my experience, who own guns do so because it’s enjoyable. Blowing shit up is fun. Seriously. Give it a try sometime.
They’re fun and they’re legal. I really don’t need any other justification other than that.
IMHO, an internet connection is completely unneccessary and I can’t really even understand why people would want to post messages electronically.
IMHO, cars are completely unneccessary and I can’t really even understand why people would want to drive rather than walk or ride a bike.
IMHO…never mind. You’re entitled to your opinion.
I don’t presently own a firearm. However, I have owned firearms in the past. I’ve lived in some very rough neighborhoods, and there were several occasions when I was glad to know that I had firepower available if I needed it.
Some gun control proposals seem eminently reasonable to me. I see no reason why guns shouldn’t be registered, why owners shouldn’t be tested to prove they know how to use, maintain and store weapons safely, or why they shouldn’t be required to have insurance on their weapons. But I am vehemently imposed to a total ban on all firearm ownership.
Of those who do propose a total ban, I ask a question. If the state can’t control illegal drugs, why do you assume they can control illegal firearms?
Sorry, guess I should have made things a bit more clear.
I have an uncle, he hunts all the time. He kills a deer every season, and my understanding is that it feeds his family. This I get. He has one gun, his hunting gun, under lock and key. He uses it to hunt. Nothing else. I get hunting for food, we are after all omnivorous, and while it may not be a prediliction of city dwellers, for my country living uncle, its a matter of cost and practicality.
That being said, people hunt for “fun”. This I don’t get.
And I really am looking for someone to explain to me what the draw of having a gun is, beyond “it’s fun and I can”… this is a rather juvenile response.
Anyone care to take on someone who is gun clueless, and rather heavily indoctrinated with anti-gun rhetoric and SERIOUSLY try to explain what the facination with guns is all about???
It’s a good question. I don’t support a total ban, but I tend to see nothing wrong with strict controls on gun ownership. Banning would just send it underground.
Do you think you could fend off an attacker with a bar of soap?
Honestly, guns are almost an anachronism now, and since the Great American Experiment is winding down anyway, I expect they’ll be banned soon enough.
There was a point in time when being an American meant being self-reliant. A pioneer. A person who cherished liberty, and was willing, even eager, to take risks — not just take risks, but take risks and fail — without any assurance of economic or social rescue. That was when Americans believed that being armed was a fundamental right: a man had need to protect himself, not just from other men, but from a tryannical government that would attempt to subdue him and take away from him his independence.
But now, government has weapons so destructive that those who fight for the Second Amendment might as well be fighting for the right to possess sling shots. It just doesn’t matter anymore. The only risk a man can possibly take these days, without OSHA, DOT, or ADJ (Acronym Du Jour) shoving a decapacitating net underneath him, is to question his government. He risks being labeled a terrorist and having his rights summarily removed by executive fiat.
That’s how I see it.
Are you seriously trying to tell me that the recent enthusiasm I’ve witnessed on these boards for guns is a result of some fear of attack?
I don’t buy it.
Informal poll - how many of the gun owners on the board have had occasion to use their gun for personal protection?
I don’t have a gun and I feel perfectly safe in my home.
I should probably mention that I owned firearms for no other purpose than self protection. I went target shooting not for fun but simply to maintain a minimally acceptable degee of skill with my weapons.
No, it’s not. It’s a perfectly valid response. Can you perfectly explain why you find the things you enjoy to be enjoyable? Of course not.
People have guns because shooting them is an enjoyable hobby. I don’t personally own a gun and I doubt I’m likely to (although those Cisco guns that unclviny linked to were admittedly something that might seriously tempt me), but I enjoy going down to the target range with a friend who owns a handgun or down to the clay range with a friend who owns a couple of shotguns.
As previously mentioned, there have been several times when I was glad to know that I had firearms available if I needed them.
Well, as far as I see it, that’s just responsible gun ownership - if you’re going to own the damn thing, you should at least know how to use it.
But seriously? Personal protection? Is America really that dangerous? I can’t think of a single person I’ve EVER known in Canada who keeps a gun for this reason.
I think Liberal’s analysis makes a lot of sense.
I can at least try to summarize my feeling beyong “I want/ I get” impulse.
That being said, perhaps it is because I’ve never held a gun much less shot one. I really, truly do fail to understand how it could be enjoyable to use recreationally something that is solely manufactured to kill, and usually to kill people. It’s a strange thing to me. I was hoping someone could elucidate the impulse.
See that part that I bolded in your statement?
I live in the US. I have a Constitutional right to own weapons. I really don’t need any reason whatsoever beyond “It’s fun, and I can”, regardless of how “juvenile” you think that is. I am not going to waste time debating with someone “heavily indoctrinated with anti-gun rhetoric”.
No, America isn’t really that dangerous, but there are many people here that have no problem hurting you, or someone else for your property. Or for no reason at all. IMO, you shouldn’t have to justify owning a gun for one peticular reason. Whether it’s for fun, self defense, or hunting… EITHER OF THEM ARE GOOD ENOUGH REASONS.
I’m a gun owner, hunter, and sport shooter.
Although I earn enough money to pay someone else to kill and prepare themeat my family eats, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with doing it myself as well. So when I hunt, I do it for food. I usually keep about twenty pounds of venison, and donate the rest to Hunters for the Hungry, a Virginia organization that will accept, process, and distribute game meat to the needy. I am thus feeding not only myself and my family, but others as well. While I enjoy the sport of hunting, I would never waste my kill.
I own several handguns, and I use them to practice target shooting. This, too, is fun. It’s a physical challenge - controlling a small machine to precisely deliver a tiny piece of metal to a target. I also have shot both trap and skeet with shotguns. Again, this is a physical challenge, as well as somewhat useful training for bird hunting.
Because I am confident and trained with my firearms, and always practice safety measures, whether in the woods with no on around or at the range, I am reasonably assured that no one will be injured inadvertantly as a result of my gun ownership – that is, I’ll never shoot someone accidentally because “I thought the gun was unloaded.” Every time I pick up a gun, I assume it’s loaded. Even if I’m the one that’s just unloaded it and placed it in front of me, and I know that no one’s touched it, the first thing I do when I pick up the automatic handgun is drop the magazine and cycle the action, and when I pick up the revolver, open the cylinder. I store my guns in a private club, in my own locker. Before I had a child, I kept them in the house, with trigger locks or, for a time, a gun safe.
These are the reasons I enjoy shooting and the precautions I take when shooting. Now, why shouldn’t I continue in this pursuit?
…as well as someone “…who is gun clueless” :rolleyes:
Um…I am pretty anti-gun only because the level of responsibility to take care of a gun is sorely absent in many, many people. Or perhaps I should say, I’m not anti-gun, but pro-education, pro- at least some laws restricting the sale & use, and and pro- appropriate safety measures taken. Simple ones. For example, if you buy a gun, you should be *required * to take a course on how to use the damn thing. And statistics should be shown to you on how many kids have played with their father’s guns and died so you at least lock it up or keep it away from the kids.
However, I will never stand up against gun rights. I’ll never come into a pro-gun thread and say anything. Why? Because I don’t see that there’s anything inherently wrong with owning a gun, per se. I might even buy one some day, probably a scattergun. Not to hunt, not to do anything but skeetshoot.
Why? Well, it’s fun. It never ever hurts to know how to use one. And Og forbid, the day may come when I have to use one. Why are you so anti-gun? If you don’t like them, don’t have one. If you have a problem with the way guns are bought/sold/used, lobby. Write letters. Even in Canada you can write letters.
Talking on a message board won’t get you anywhere.
Liberal,
What’s your timeline on “soon?” I realize that some states filled with liberalsl like MA, CA, MD, NY, NJ, IL continue to see draconian gun laws. But the non-renewal of the 1993 Assault Weapons Ban points towards an opening of gun freedoms. Not too mention new states starting or liberalizing concealed carry programs. Some even with Democratic support. Handguns are now legal in DC too.
Unless we see a national election that puts Democrats in control in both the Senate & House or a Democratic President, more gun control as a country wide initiative isn’t likely. Unless are foreign excursions in the Middle East get dramatically worse, I don’t see the Democrats coming into power.