a reply to:
fiverx313
i myself am not for total eradication of gun ownership. but i can't help feel that something needs to be done to restrict these high firepower
situations we keep having.
First point:
You may not be for total firearm eradication, but understand that there are many voices who
are for total firearm eradication (except
for themselves of course). Most gun owners are gun owners because a firearm is a very useful tool in our situations, and those uses do not include the
intentional killing of another law-abiding person. As an example, since we are comparing different countries, the vast majority of the US is not in
cities. Where I live there is still the distinct possibility of encountering a rabid animal, for example.
Have you ever seen a rabid animal up close? It's not a pretty sight. Rabies takes over the brain before it causes death, turning the animal in
question into something akin to a zombie. A rabid rabbit will attack with extreme ferocity, and can pretty much rip a person's arm or leg to shreds
with those teeth. A punctured artery is far from unexpected in such an encounter and such can and often will lead to death from simply bleeding
out.
That's a
rabbit. Now consider a possum... teeth several inches long and a hide stronger than a black bear. Or a bobcat... extremely dangerous
but usually more afraid of people than people are of it. But when rabid, an animal knows no fear, only the desire to attack at all costs. There is no
running them off or wounding them so they retreat. It just don't happen; there is no higher brain function to consider self-preservation. And in both
cases, one bite and
you are infected. That's how rabies typically spreads: one rabid animal bites several more before they die and those then
go on to bite several more, and so on and so forth.
There is only one safe way to stop a rabid animal from attacking oneself and every other animal around: a firearm. Kill it before it can get close
enough to bite you.
And do not even bring up Animal Control. That does not exist here. The closest we have is calling the sheriff's office, whereupon you will be told to
shoot the animal. If you don't have a gun you will be told to stay inside. Depending on how busy they are, a deputy might show up in an hour or a day,
shoot the animal
with a gun and tell you to either arm yourself or move to a town because you are endangering yourself living in the
country.
That's one reason; there are many more. We have some animals here that can kill a person without being rabid. If not for the hunters, the local deer
population would explode and destroy all agriculture, before destroying themselves through over-population. And of course, there is always the
possibility that someone with criminal intent might wander out here from time to time... police response takes at least 15 minutes (which is getting
better lately... used to be more like 30 minutes to an hour), during which time one is at the mercy of the criminal who
does have a gun because
he doesn't follow laws by virtue of the fact he is a
criminal.
So any attempt at removing firearms is looked upon out here as both intrusive and ludicrous. That by necessity includes those who are partly in
agreement with the people who want us to die from attack or rabies.
Second point:
In my youth, one could walk out to the parking lot at the local high school and see pickup trucks with gun racks in the back window full of loaded
firearms. it was common for the cars to have a pistol or revolver under the driver's seat. All were loaded and ready to fire at a moment's notice, yet
the concept of a school shooting was unheard of.
Today, anyone even thinking openly about carrying a gun onto school property is likely to be expelled and arrested for felonious intent. Yet school
shootings are far too common. That flies in the face of any theory that gun control leads to less gun crime. So what has changed?
Education has changed. Back when guns were common and shootings were not, it was considered a parent's duty to teach their children about the safe and
reasonable use of firearms. Today, that is left up to "professionals" and most kids never get that education. The parents are simply so scared of guns
that they try to pretend they don't exist and preach about the evils of guns at every opportunity. This only makes a gun a taboo, and therefore
attractive, thing to have by the very kids who were intentionally never taught how to use (and when to not use) them.
Third point:
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results. Shootings typically occur in gun-free zones:
schools, the recent Fed-Ex shooting, post offices, government buildings, businesses which forbid firearms, etc. The most common areas suffering from
gun violence (and incidentally from violence period) are the same locations which have the strictest gun control laws: Chicago, New York, Los Angeles,
San Francisco. Why?
The answer, to anyone who even bothers to consider human behavior, should be obvious. Violence is perpetuated for one of three reasons: defense,
passion, and criminal intent. Defense is desirable if the intent is to minimize deaths. Passion is unavoidable; it simply is a fact of life that
people are sometimes passionate. Criminal intent is the issue, and criminals, by virtue of being criminals, do not obey laws. That's what makes them a
criminal. Criminals also do not wish to die, and despite anything anyone may tell you to the contrary, they typically understand that they might die
if they get shot. So it becomes obvious that a criminal who wishes to commit violence with a gun will do so in a location where they are the only ones
who have a gun.
And of course, even to those who are acting out of passion, not dying has some bearing on their actions. Otherwise, we can just forget making laws
altogether, since that is the exact reasoning behind making an action illegal: make people want to do it less because of the consequences.
We should just replace those "gun-free zone" signs at schools with "target acquisition site" signs instead. They would be more accurate.
And a final point on the tanks: it is actually legal to own a tank. One can actually buy tanks from military auctions and surplus. What is illegal are
the machine guns (full auto, actual machine guns) mounted on them and that great big gun sticking out of the turret. Privately purchased tanks have
that big turret barrel filled with concrete and the firing pin removed, and of course the machine guns are removed as well (unless one has a FFL at
time of purchase, of course).
TheRedneck