Why are people so paranoid about guns

Guns are inherently dangerous weapons...and I'm rightfully paranoid about people who perform unsafe gun handling at our gun range; so much that you need eyes in the back of your head.

originally posted by: Moresby
People are paranoid about guns for the same reason they're paranoid about a lot of this. They don't know anything about them.

Most people who are paranoid about guns have never even held a gun. Let alone fired one.

If they had they'd realize that guns are just a tool. And that more gun education would be much more valuable than more gun control.

If all Americans were required to learn basic gun safety, I bet it would have a much more dramatic effect on gun violence than more gun control.

government only has the power to regulate and punish
It is not government's place to control every aspect of our lives which may place us in danger.
We should stop trusting in government to be the corrective force for our society's problems.
This is the real cause of our dissatisfaction with government, for we're asking things of it which take more and more liberty in exchange for increasingly disappointing results.

The left is paranoid because their entire philosophy is to hand responsibility for their lives to someone else. They are also afraid of themselves, and by projection, anyone but a nanny state having power.

a reply to: itsallintheegg

The ones that are paranoid seem to fall into three groups. And note, I'm not saying that all antis are paranoid.

The first are the ones that have absolutely zero exposure to firearms except for what the media tells them. Given the media's anti-gun crusade and all the misinformation and flat-out lies...particularly from the foreign media...their fear of guns and gun owners, if irrational, is also understandable. Their entire exposure is nothing but negative.

The second group are the ones guilty of projection. They clearly don't trust themselves to act responsibly or with enough self control to own a firearm safely, so they don't believe anyone else can possibly act in a reasonable, rational, responsible manner with a firearm, either. The funny thing is, these people sort of make a good case that some people shouldn't be able to own a firearm. Ironically, though, they're holding themselves up as the example.

The third group? These are the ones with paranoid delusions that the whole world is out to get them. To them, all of those 100 million American gun owners are homicidal maniacs just waiting to snap and commit mass murders. Its no wonder they're absolutely terrified of guns and gun owners, considering the fantasy land they've built for themselves. Never mind that the statistics prove that their fears are FAR from being reality.

There are other types, but these are the three types that you run into most often.

originally posted by: Mianeye
a reply to: itsallintheegg

This is the reason.

SOURCE

GUN VIOLENCE ARCHIVE 2015 TOLL OF GUN VIOLENCE
Total Number of Incidents 49,501
Number of Deaths 12,532
Number of Injuries 25,302
Number of Children (age 0-11) Killed/Injured 656
Number of Teens (age 12-17) Killed/Injured 2,482
Mass Shooting 315
Officer Involved Incident 4,121
Home Invasion 2,136
Defensive Use 1,167
Accidental Shooting 1,791

Which can be interpreted a hundred and one different ways. Also, gonna call BS on your "Defensive Use" number. The lowest numbers estimated (since Obamas DOJ conveniently hasn't done a true in depth study on) is well over 50,000.

At that, even using your inflated and biased-ly interpereted gun death numbers, you are 4x more likely to die because of medical negligence or malpractice than you are from a gun. And children are a magnitude of order higher more likely to drown than to be shot.

not make such a big issue out of it by playing it over and over

Innocent people being killed needlessly is a big deal- a very big deal, and the fact that gun fanatics like yourself show that you don't give a damn just makes it more obvious that guns are a disease in our society.

I've mentioned this before, and like it as a punishment option for gun owners in that it would tighten the proper storage belt.

Stiff penalties and/or jail in certain circumstances where your unattended, unsecured weapon is stolen. I'm not talking about stolen off you when knocked out from behind or similar, or busted out of your locked safe with power tools. I mean jail or fine the F out of the people who don't use gun safes at all and just toss their stupid lovey weapon where ever. Those are the people who don't take ownership seriously, and do "ruin it" for responsible people.

If you can't prove your weapon was forcibly taken from you under duress, you are effectively contributing to the illegal weapon problem. Someone stole it from your night stand while you were out bar-hopping? Never mind the other crap the burglar took, WTF was a projectile weapon doing in there unsecured & therefore free for the ultra-easy taking without you there in the first place? People who think that is safe storage are the ones that need cracked down on.

originally posted by: Erno86
Guns are inherently dangerous weapons...and I'm rightfully paranoid about people who perform unsafe gun handling at our gun range; so much that you need eyes in the back of your head.

I took gun safety classes at the age of 12 for hunting at the local police station, which had a free class.

And all my life since have known how to safely handle any firearm.
I remember going to the gun range with an SKS rifle and 3 handguns and remember the gun range employees watching me like a hawk. They were impressed by how I handled the weapons with the business ends of the firearms always pointing totally away from anyone and pointing either downrange, or at the ground. Never towards anyone or myself.

Did people you saw not control their weapons and allow them to haphazardly be aimed towards others?

a reply to: NateTheAnimator

Perhaps if you executed THEM too their relatives would do a better job looking after them.
Even if they are cured they would have to realize the horror of their acts and would seek death.

a reply to: Nyiah

Although I am completely in favor of using a gun safe, I have an issue with this argument. The reason? If you lock your doors when you leave your home, you should have a reasonable expectation that your possessions...whatever they may be...are secure. With your doors locked, no one can just walk into your home and steal your firearms without first committing a criminal act. If someone breaks into your home, the consequences that follow are the responsibility of that person, not the homeowner.

If you want more people to use a gun safe, which, again, I agree is a good idea, the answer isn't to punish them when their property is stolen by some cretin. Instead, provide them some kind of positive incentive to purchase a safe, such as a partial tax writeoff or a subsidy.