Why do you need a gun?

Although I agree with your civility comment, I don’t see why any explanation is necessary other than the Second Amendment. I don’t have to explain why I can express my views freely other than to say that I have freedom of speech. I don’t have to explain why putting the 10 commandments in a classroom is a bad idea other than to say that it violates the separation of church and state.

With respect to the magazines, one logical question those of us on the other side is asking is why do we tolerate 100 round clips? Is there a practical use, other than mass murder? If not, then what is the logic for not banning them? Presenting such logic would serve you better than saying that no controls are ever to be thought about.

Legislating against the mags is silly anyway - it’s up there with taxing everyone 30% of the Powerball jackpot to make sure you collect from the winner. As high profile as such shootings are, they’re exceedingly rare - more children die from pool drownings and people just shrug about those. And as far as I know, not once has someone headed out for a shooting spree with one gunand one high-cap clip - they always have multiple guns in addtion to multiple clips, so reload times aren’t a big factor, and are rarely any factor at all.

I wasn’t aware of any “civil debate” going on, just a bunch of people publishing hit lists of gun owners and comparing anyone who owns so much as a revolver to Alex Jones.

The logic in not banning them is that it then draws a bright line that can then continue to be revised downward. If you ban 100 round magazines, someone will eventually commit a crime with a 99 round one. Do you then ban 99’s? Lather, rinse, repeat. Some might call this paranoia but IMO, it’s the same reason that we shouldn’t define life as beginning at X number of days after conception or restrict abortion to a predefined number of trimesters.

Despite the incident I mentioned above, this describes me pretty well too. I have around 17 guns of various manufacture and caliber but only 2 are dedicated to personal protection. We have an extensive cattle ranch that supports a lot of wild game, plus I’m on a deer lease. I may be after anything from prairie dogs (holes can break horse leg) to mule deer and from quail to geese. Plus I throw a lot of clays and really enjoy long range target shooting. Responsible gun use is a big part of my life and I simply enjoy the everlovin’ heck out of it.

Because there has been 13,462 gun threads since 9 this morning. Plus all the other ones since the Sandy Hook shooting. Everything has been said by both sides. Anyone starting another one is doing it just to dig at the gun advocates.

That’s great, I agree, but why did you enter a thread that was (politely) asking for explanations if you feel you don’t have to?

Nobody just shrugs about kids drowning in pools. Many local governments have enacted life-saving legislation, such as requiring fences around pools with gates that automatically close and latch. Public (and often private) communal pools are required to have lifeguards on duty at all times. The government spends tax dollars maintaining a website about pool safety.

Let us assume that there is a number X such that there is no legitimate use of having a clip with X rounds for a civilian. If the limit on legal magazines is set at X-1, and we seem to think it’s a reasonable number, why the paranoia? I get tired of hearing “We know it’s a slippery slope fallacy, but our side believes it so we can’t tolerate a single restriction.”

I can give you a reason, I have to others many times. I’ll try again so you can tell me why my reasons are not worthy. I shoot competitively: IPSCC, IDPA, and three gun. In each of those competitions there are stages that require hi cap mags as well as reloads. Purely recreation, safe, and not killing anyone. I shoot at my own range and probably shoot and reload tens of thousands of round of ammunition every year.

In addition, should I ever be in a situation where I needed to defend myself or my family, It is my opinion, and my right that I don’t need to limited in how many rounds I can carry because BobLibDem doesn’t agree. I want to have more firepower than the threat that I am facing. Simple as that.

I answered that in post 19.

My apologies, I missed that post. I’d say you weren’t one of the posters who BobLibDem was talking about then.

Meh. There is no right to recreation enshrined in the Constitution.

Your chances of getting involved in a Dirty Harry shootout are somewhere between diddly and squat.

I missed the front page stories, presidential addresses, and legislation demanding no one own a pool deep enough for a schoolkid to drown in. If the death toll is higher, why isn’t the profile higher, the effort higher? The efforts seem pretty passive compared to the reaction to Sandy Hook.

Thanks for playing.

Last March in a gun thread I posted this

Literally a few days after posting that, in the same thread, I posted this:

That’s the exact reason I own a gun. I was telling a buddy about that one and he handed me one of his guns. I plan to get a smaller one that I can carry on me for when I’m at work later at night and it’s dark out or I’m walking from my building to my car at night with cash (it’s often dark when I’m going to the bank). Need might be the wrong word, but it’s why I have one. I also couple it with other things. I pay attention to my surroundings. For example, when we get closer to closing time, I try to notice if there’s more cars in the parking lot then customers in the store or people that have been in the parking lot for far too long. When I walk out the back door, I take a glance around before I shut it behind me and lock myself out (at which point I would have to get a key to get back in if someone were to come after me). I read the emails and faxes I get from the police about crimes in the area. When strings of crimes are targeting businesses similar to mine, we ask the police to help us out, and they always do. They take a drive through our lot once an hour or so and sit in the lot (or across the street) whenever possible for the last 5 minutes before we close to make sure we all get out okay. I make sure all my managers have cell phones and know how to get a hold of the police…but all of this, doesn’t stop someone from running in the front door with a gun and asking for all the cash from the register.

Got a cite for any of this? If you’re referring to the Journal News or Gawker list of registered gun-owners in New York, calling them “hit-lists” is a huge stretch. In fact, I don’t understand why gun owners wouldn’t want people to know their packing–isn’t that their whole argument about guns being a crime deterrent?

I personally haven’t heard anyone compare general gun owners to Alex Jones, but it’s good you recognize that he’s unhinged (or, at least, a PR liability for the pro-gun crowd). But let’s stop kidding ourselves; recognizing the anger, paranoia, and distrust that is rampant in some of the gun culture isn’t meant as an insult, but a statement of fact.

[QUOTE=Drunky Smurf]
Because there has been 13,462 gun threads since 9 this morning. Plus all the other ones since the Sandy Hook shooting. Everything has been said by both sides. Anyone starting another one is doing it just to dig at the gun advocates.
[/quote]

The OP asked a simple question and his obvious deference recognized the sensitivity of the issue. If someone politely asked me why I needed or utilized my right to free speech, I’d have no problem politely answering the question. I take the OP at his word until something he/she writes proves otherwise, and IMO it seems excessively defensive to blame him/her because the number of gun threads has increased.

And yet there is the right to keep and bear arms. Which is it, must we only do what the Constitution says, or can we ignore it and substitute our own thinking when needed?

But the question isn’t whether or not you have a right to own a gun-it’s why you, personally, need a gun. I believe I have a right to own a gun, but at this point in time I do not feel I need a gun. Being a voluntary poll, no one is being forced to answer this question, but if you wish toanswer the question, you may. Your choice.

To actually answer the OP - I bought a gun mostly for fun. But I do consider it part of my “collapse of society emergency kit”.

There is a genuine possibility of a breakdown in law and order due to natural disaster, economic collapse, etc., and if such a thing were to happen, I will be glad that I have a gun and at least a few hundred rounds of ammunition stashed away.

I am also not opposed to the idea of carrying the gun in my Jeep while I explore remote, out-of-the-way places in the mountains, but I’ve never bothered.

I live in an upscale apartment complex in a safe part of town and I think the risk of anyone breaking into my apartment is negligibly low, so I intentionally keep the gun somewhere where it is hard to get to. If I lived in a rural area far from other people’s houses, I’d probably keep it loaded in my desk, next to my bedroom.