On A Scale Of 1-10, Your Feelings On Guns Are....

[THUNDER HANDS]

1. All guns are EVIL and must be controlled and regulated, if not outright banned by the government.

to

10. Guns are a positive thing and a constitutional right that should not be taken away or infringed upon under any circumstances.


Lets say a 5 would be "guns are constitutionally protected, but I think they need to be some laws against them getting into the wrong hands."

On a scale of 1-10, what's your opinion on guns?

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

1. Let's put it this way

I don't want a society where the only people with guns are cops and criminals, because I don't really trust either side. Further, if someone decides they want to rob my house, I want them to at least stop and think that MAYBE there's a gun in there.

That said, assault rifles and armor piercing rounds are unnecessary, while also, waiting period isn't too much of a burden on anyone.

[mede8er]

33. Agree........

:thumbsup:

[sniffa]

2. what number for "guns make me horny"?

[tridim]

3. I'm buying my first gun soon,

but I still think they're evil. I'm very conflicted because I'm 99% sure I could never point a gun at a person and pull the trigger, but lately something is compelling me to exercise my 2nd amendment rights.

[Birthmark]

4. Guns are tools.

They are no more good or evil than circular saws or writing utensils.

[THUNDER HANDS]

7. maybe

But I've never seen anyone cut wood or write their name with a gun.

Outside of killing people, guns really don't have a purpose.

[Birthmark]

12. Then allow me to enlighten you!

Guns may be used for the hunting of game for food - which is not people...in the better parts of the world, anyway. They may be used for competitive purposes, target shooting and such. They may be used as protection from all manner of aggression, whether it's an aggressive animal or a murderous human. (Frequently, the mere presence of the gun is enough to stop the latter!) You'll note that only one of those alternatives involves "killing people."

Compare this with the lowly screwdriver, which has only two uses: Turning screws or stabbing (people). The screwdriver sounds much less versatile to me.

[BigMcLargehuge]

14. Hey, screwdrivers have more uses that that!!!!

I use them to scrape paint, as a makeshift hammer, to dig holes, like an awl....

[Birthmark]

17. See? Now you've enlightened me.

Sometimes the Internet is marginally useful. :)

[BigMcLargehuge]

18. you should see what I can do with a monkey wrench

actually, it's about the same as with a screwdriver... LOL

[porphyrian]

19. I just drink mine...

...oh, you meant the other kind.

[Frangible]

20. Guns don't kill people...

Bullets kill people. A gun is a 2 to 8 pound hunk of metal, wood and plastic that does nothing other than keep paper from blowing away. A PVC tube and nail perform the same function.

And really, don't have a purpose other than killing people? First off, that's perfectly fine for self defense. Secondly, there's hunting... and finally, target shooting. Need I mention we have an olympic shooting team, and shooting is an olympic sport? Forget about that? Oops.

[sendero]

11. Exactly...

.... and if you happen to need a certain tool and don't have it, you'll wish you did.

[LittleApple81]

5. WE SHOULD ALL VOTE FOR THE HEAVIEST GUNS WE CAN CARRY.

And I am a weakling...HATE GUNS...cannot shoot straight. But if it becomes a liberal issue, it will be defeated.

Seriously, with all these things that are happening now keep on happening, liberals MIGHT NEED guns to survive in the USA.

[Worst Username Ever]

6. Guns don't kill people

bullets do.

[skippysmom]

8. If people want to have guns

They can have them. I do believe however in licensing, background checks, etc.

Personally, they frighten me and I don't care to own one.

[porphyrian]

9. Guns are weapons, a subset of the group of tools...

...and, as such, they are neither good nor evil, though they are specifically designed to kill or maim, thus they have a generally "evil" purpose. A target pistol, designed solely for competition target shooting, is not designed for an "evil" purpose, though it could be used as such. The whole process of projecting human traits onto inanimate objects is silly in my book. We should spend more time examining the motives of the people who make and use tools whose primary purpose is destructive, rather than focusing on the tools themselves.


Edit: silly mistakes corrected

[MrBenchley]

10. My feelings are that "gun rights" is something ugly

hiding under another sheet...and not a very convincing one, at that.

"Guns entered national politics in the 1970s. What is called the gun rights movement sprang into motion against a waning civil rights movement and a growing push for women's rights. One organizer of gun rights from the early '70s put it bluntly when I interviewed him. Conservatives were taking a beating. Something was needed to "reverse the flow in the pipes" of the civil rights movement. The social movements based on the rights of women and minorities had bolstered the Democratic Party. Conservatives who had fought against the gains of civil rights and the Equal Rights Amendment needed to counter. Enter the gun.
And when the gun spoke, it championed the cause of conservative and libertarian America. A proxy politics, the gun rights movement is a potent reaction to the social and political agendas of what is perceived as "liberal America." It takes aim at a range of social solutions for crime, international conflict and personal security. In America, the gun has become a litmus test for political beliefs.
The beginnings of this movement were quiet. In the early '70s, the Young Americans for Freedom, a conservative political organization, started the Student's Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. From it sprang the Second Amendment Foundation and then Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. In those groups a righteous cause and a political vision was born. Guns began their career as key props in a changing political theater.
Within two years, the Gun Owners of America organization appeared with its leadership roots in the John Birch Society. Thirty years later, the group remains true to its mission, a watchdog group making sure the gun rights movement stays on course, fulfilling its reactionary conservative mandate. "

Worth noting that the GOA is headed by one Larry Pratt, a racist so virulent that even Pat Buchanan had to flee his company in public.

[One_Life_To_Give]

32. ????

Am I to beleive that Gun Rights became a issue without any new gun control legislation being discussed?

If these people are reacting to federal regulations of the 1930's then we might conclude that guns are a cover for racist policies.

[sweetheart]

13. The right to life supercedes the right to bear arms

The 2nd is overblown. When 1000's of people who would not be dead
are getting killed in the hidden war of american police state drugs
war... those people's right to life has been disregarded by a bunch
of nutters.

I frankly have no concern about guns. Rather i think they should
intensively regulate ammunition. A gun without bullets ain't worth
much except as a door stop or a club. Ammunition that will not
fire unless it has the same RIFD chip as the gun it was sold for,
and guns that will not fire unless they are "unlocked" by the person
to whom they are registered.

In rural areas where rattle snakes, bears and whatnot can actually
need a gun, why stop it? There comes a point where, if we regulate
bullets, that they'll run out.

I would support a total ban on handguns, as they have no use except
to kill people. You can use a shotgun to defend your bedroom, but
its a little unwieldly to take downtown. Also, keep them single
shot... nobody needs semiautomatic or automatic weapons for civilian
use.

[BigMcLargehuge]

15. if the gun toters can conceal (or not) and carry in public

I should be able to do the same with a live katana. I'm trained, I know how and when to use it, and it has the same characteristics as a gun, only at shorter range.

[sweetheart]

36. You can't?

I've carried me katana and used to practice IAI outdoors in empty
downtown manhattan plaza's with a sharpened blade... nobody said
a thing... then again, i was not wearing it on the subway... but
i take your point... the will to kill is the will to kill.. not the
weapon.

[BigMcLargehuge]

38. in NH the law is no blade larger than 4"

and the fine is something like 1000 bucks an inch after that.

I worry about taking my blade to class. it's sheathed, tied, and bagged in the trunk of my car, but it would still get me into trouble.

[LiberalManiacfromOC]

16. personally I hate guns and think they should be outlawed.

but I know that its unrealistic and unconstitutional. So, I believe in background checks and that kind of thing.

[gpandas]

21. eighteen votes for "okay sometimes"...

who would decide "sometimes"? owning guns is not the problem, shooting at people is the problem. why won't dems get off the bad idea of trying to circumvent the constitution? many-would-be-dem voters are put off by this non-issue. if guns were totally banned, then criminals would use knives or whatever their devious minds could concoct. murder,thievery, assault,rape, and most other crimes occurred long before the invention of guns. why not look at social institutions that create the need for the use of guns? why alienate so many voters?

[rman]

22. 2: guns are dangerous and must be controlled and regulated, but not banned

-

[Gregorian]

23. Cars are FAR worse.

Guns don't kill the entire human race.

[rman]

27. cars are not designed to kill though

-

[rman]

24. 2: guns are ok if and when their use is regulated

-

[rman]

26. which is similar to "Guns Are Okay Sometimes"

so all you voters for 5 should really have voted for 2.

[taxidriver]

25. damn, the wave of Gun threads is interesting. i guess it was inevitable.

for the record, i like guns and have several. and none of them have killed anyone yet.

[DaveSZ]

28. If I'm in Alaska photographing bears

I want a gun just in case.

Don't ban them.

[OpSomBlood]

29. My vote was for 9.

I believe in "shall issue" (i.e., if you want one and are not a violent criminal or mentally ill you get one) state licenses for gun ownership. Such a license would include strict safety, handling and storage training and would completely cover the legality of gun use in self-defense.

However, I am completely against "style" bans on certain firearms or registration. The AWB is a joke and only serves to annoy law-abiding gun owners.

And by the way:

The Assault Weapons Ban has nothing to do with machine guns.
The Assault Weapons Ban has nothing to do with machine guns.
The Assault Weapons Ban has nothing to do with machine guns.
The Assault Weapons Ban has nothing to do with machine guns.
The Assault Weapons Ban has nothing to do with machine guns.

I feel that it's my civic duty to include that in all gun-related posts in the General forums, because it seems that most people honestly don't know that.

[Morning Dew]

30. I have owned guns in the past -

and most likely will again.

[mdmc]

31. A Bill of Rights purist here. Leftie too!

Guns are needed to overthrow an oppressive government.

[El Supremo]

34. If guns are evil then only evildoers will have guns. n/t

[Petrodollar Warfare]

35. Thomas Jefferson on 2nd Amendment

***These four quotes may be instructive, and IMO, are a reflection of common sense and the fear of tryanny that the founders had regarding a powerful, centralized government****

"One loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for them." --Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, 1796.

"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms..disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed one." - Thomas Jefferson quoting Cesare Beccaria, Criminologist in 1764.

(FWIW, the above rationale is still a prevalent belief in American socirty, 230 years later, at least for those who own arms

***Now comes the important part that reflects the sentiments of the Framers. Thomas Jefferson said the 1st Amendement was the *most important* right as it protects all of our other rights and freedoms. However, being an astute observer of human behavior, he and the founding fathers inserted the 2nd Amendment knowing that Despots and Kings will likely not respect the 1st Amendment, or any freedoms if they are allowed to get away with it. It was for these reasons that the 2nd Amendment was inserted as a mechanism for a "Disaster Recovery" plan or sorts...which is quite obvious when you read the following 2 quotes...***


"The beauty of the second amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it." -Thomas Jefferson

"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." -Thomas Jefferson


(Lastly, Hitler never invaded Switzerland because he was warned it would become a vicious "Little Porcupine" Why? 10+% of the nation's entire population was trained and armed. Here's some random info...)

Winston Churchill wrote in 1944: "Of all the neutrals Switzerland has the greatest right to distinction...She has been a democratic State, standing for freedom in self-defense among her mountains, and in thought, in spite of race, largely on our side."

That is why the Nazis despised Switzerland. Joseph Goebbels called Switzerland "this stinking little state" where "sentiment has turned very much against us." Adolf Hitler decided that "all the rubbish of small nations still existing in Europe must be liquidated," even if it meant he would later "be attacked as the 'Butcher of the Swiss.'"

The 1940 Nazi invasion plan, Operation Tannenbaum, was not executed, and SS Oberst Hermann Bohme's 1943 memorandum warned that an invasion of Switzerland would be too costly because every man was armed and trained to shoot. This did not stop the Gestapo from preparing lists of Swiss to be liquidated once the Nazis overran the country.

The other European nations were easily toppled and had little means to wage a partisan war against the occupation. Once their standing armies were defeated, the governments capitulated and the populaces were defenseless.

Only in Switzerland was the entire populace armed and prepared to wage a relentless guerrilla war against an invader. When the war began in 1939, Switzerland mobilized 435,000 citizen soldiers out of a population of 4.2 million. Production figures for Swiss service rifles, which had firepower equal to those of the Germans, demonstrate an ample supply of small arms. Swiss militiamen were instructed to disregard any alleged "official" surrender as enemy propaganda and, if necessary, to fight individually. This meant that a nation of sharpshooters would be sniping at German soldiers at long ranges from every mountain.

...Just thought some might find these historical facts interesting...

[mr blur]

37. I can't believe your country's obsession with guns

Get rid of them. Change the f***ing Constitution before you all kill each other and most of the rest of us too.

[Mr.Green93]

39. come and get them