Should Blind and Visually Impaired people be allowed to own guns?

[bossy22]

I'm talking just ownership, not using them (though that is another discussion).

My Opinion- Yes, absolutely. If we are going to allow sane sighted adults to own firearms there is no reason to allow sane visually impaired adult to own one as well. Sight is not necessary to own an object. We let blind people own cars (but not drive them on public roads), we let blind people people take custody of young children, so why do so many object to blind people owning firearms? Is owning a firearm harder than taking care of a young child?

[bravenak]

1. No.

They can't see where they are shooting, and I don't want to be collateral damage from a blind person shooting without aiming. Cheney could see and he still shot some guy in the face.

[Hangingon]

2. So they can't own cars, planes and boats.

[bravenak]

5. Yes they can.

They just can't drive them. Or fly them. Or sail them.
Guns are for shooting, no one will hold your gun with you and help you shoot it everytime. They are dangerous weapons made for the purpose of killing living things. If you can't see the animal to hunt, you need not be shooting/keeping dangerous weapons.
If a blind person wants to be a collector, I have no objection. Blind people can collect cars too. Just can't get a license to drive them, and driving/operating a motor vehicle while blind is negligent.
Operating/shooting a weapon while blind is negligent.

But I wouldn't advise a blind person to have any guns. How would they know what's missing, when it went missing, who stole it. The weapon could be used to kill someone and be traced back to a blind person who can't describe the thief, if they even realize yet that it's stolen. Terrible dilemma.

[bossy22]

7. So blind people can't figure out a way to store their weapons safely?

is that what you are saying?

Some how blind individuals can raise kids who wind up to become successful adults- i'm sure they can figure out a way to secure a weapon properly. Unless you believe being blind also makes them unable to handle their own affairs and we need to treat them like children? Is that what you believe?

[bravenak]

9. Did I say that?

Nope.

[oldhippie]

3. Reading comprehension FAIL

The OP said nothing about shooting. It specifically said ownership, NOT using them.

Missed that, did ya'?

[bravenak]

4. Don't want them having bullets then.

Why have a gun you can't see? If somebody steals it, how will you know if you are blind? It's a dangerous weapon, and could get into the hands of a criminal who can see.
Or a blind person will decide to shoot the weapon they bought.
If they're not young to use it, and can't see it, and can't be sure that they always have it under control, then they should not purchase it.
Makes no sense.

[bossy22]

6. Maybe they like to collect guns?

Why do we allow blind people to have children if they can never see them? How would a blind parent know a child might be sick if they can't see whats happening to the child?

The arguments above and you the ones you make are no different than the arguments that here made 50-100 years ago to deprive visually impaired adults of many of their rights. Do you not think blind adults realize they are blind? Do you not think they realize the limitations of not being able to see? You assume they are children- unable to understand that firing a gun without being able to see where you are aiming is unsafe? It's people with your beliefs that are the reason why only 20% of capable visually impaired adults in this country are employed full time. It's why we still treat those unable to see as if they are children or mentally deficient. It's an extremely sick view and very hurtful to those who know of someone or is a person who suffers from such a disability

I'm sorry, this hits very close to home

[bravenak]

8. Blind people can hear their kids. Not the same. People are not Guns. And kids are not owned.

Cant call out to your gun to make sure it's there.
Blind people can do everything I can do besides see.
If I put my gun on a shelf up high in a box I can glance up there 100 times a day and see that it's still where it's supposed to be. If I leave my house I can look up when I get back and see that it's still there. If I misplaced it, I can tear the house apart a find it, and report it missing if it's not there.
If I couldn't see my gun, I wouldn't keep it. I don't want some kids breaking into my house an getting possession of a weapon, without me being able to notice it immediately and report it.
I'd even be able to give descriptions of strangers who were hanging around near my house, and perhaps lead the cops to their house.
That's why I don't think it's a good idea.

[bossy22]

15. Some how blind people manage to live completely independent lives

and end up becoming successful members of society as well. Could it be that maybe they have figured out ways of keeping track of things without the aid of sight? This is a common misconception held by sighted people- that some how things we require site for cannot be done without sight- you are mistaken though. I know blind people that can tell you where everything is in their house at any moment, they can tell what item you picked up and put down just by the sound it made.

[bravenak]

16. You can't keep track of stolen things.

If they are home they can tell what's going on. If they are robbed while they are gone and don't check on their guns constantly, they won't know when they went missing.
Keeping a collection presents even more problems.
I really don't like people who aren't trained on the use and safety of firearms to keep them at home or at all. If they can take a course for firearms and pass it, I would say fine. That goes for everyone else in the world. I don't want untrained people running around with guns, blind or not.

[Hangingon]

10. So far, this poster has had to back track every thing they posted..

[NYC_SKP]

11. Yes. Also, deaf and/or mute people are to enjoy Freedom of Speech.

And your comparison to child rearing is provocative.

I personally don't care for the idea that people should have as many kids as they want, with no limitations on age or ability.

It's a hot mess, but my position is the minority view among the left wing.

[bossy22]

13. Up until the 1920's

forced sterilization of blind people was actually considered a reasonable idea (I don't know if it was ever widely implemented but plenty of people advocated it).

It all came back to the concept that blind people were unable to understand their own limitations- essentially they were just big "children" that society needed to take care of. Even up until the 1950's- formal education beyond the very basics was considered a big waste of time. Now visually impaired individuals are graduating law school and entering the work force as professionals with high skill abilities.

[NYC_SKP]

14. Yes. California, Indiana, Virginia, and Nazi Germany all had eugenics programs.

By the time the Model Law was published in 1914, twelve states had enacted sterilization laws.

Virginia under renewed pressure to give reparations for those sterilized under state law

The deaf and blind were included among those deemed in need of sterilization in 1933 Nazi Germany.

Those were times, places, and characteristics of governments that treated their people as less than capable of caring for themselves, where government wasn't to be questioned and where far too many people acquiesced.

I hope we never go back.

[NYC_SKP]

12. NB: The man in the news is legally, not totally, blind.

I'm not even sure of how blind he is, but it matters not.

They are his property, to have, to use, to keep and to store safely, we would hope.

I'd rather he sell them, but he's the owner. The legal owner.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-blind-man-gun-hearing-20140220,0,2973261.story

[ileus]

17. I wear corrective lenses...if given the opportunity

most all 2A regressives would love to see any law passed to get firearms away from legal citizens.

[Eleanors38]

18. Certainly. Ray Charles owned cars. And drove them.