Someone was creeping around outside our house

[Fenris]

Okay, first the door rang and someone knocked. My parents were already asleep and lumbered out of bed. There was no one there. There was a suspicious looking red Mazda parked outside the house. They stayed for a few minutes, until they caught sight of my father marching towards them in a pair of cargo shorts and boat shoes with no shirt on (it's 40 degrees out!) holding a Smith & Wesson 9mm automatic. They left in quite a hurry. Upon opening the front door we discovered a cold hamburger and a note. It was addressed to my sister.

Dear *******,

If you were a hamburger, you'd be a McSpecial.

I want to be your Grizzly Bear.

Only in fucking Texas.

[1a2b3c]

1. guns are bad

[woofless]

4. At least your reflexes are good.

I could see that knee jerk from here.

[FDRrocks]

5. Thats a pretty good position he has...

however relavent they are... Guns are inherently bad.

[DoNotRefill]

12. Metal is evil?

it's an inanimate object. The "bad" part comes from the user, not the tool. Tools just do what they were designed to do, the motivation comes from the mind of the person using the tool, not the tool itself.

[Guaranteed]

13. But the immediate availability leads to bad choices.

Not everyone is going to make the right choice, every time.

I'm actually against gun control, for the most part, but if someone gets a gun out, they had better damned well know EXACTLY what they're doing. AND, I'm totally against concealed weapons permits. That's just ridiculous. People walking around on the street with guns. Genius.

[DoNotRefill]

17. some facts for you:

According to the figures released by the DoJ in 1994 (under Clinton, so they should be relatively impartial), if you're attacked and offer no resistance while complying with your attacker, you have a 1:3 chance of being hurt. If you resist without a firearm (any other weapon or no weapon at all), you have a 1:2 chance of being hurt. If you resist with a firearm, you have a 1:5 chance of being hurt. Which odds do you prefer? 20%, 33%, or 50%? I'd rather have the 20% chance of being injured. That's why I carry a gun. And yes, I know exactly what I'm doing with a firearm.

[Guaranteed]

18. Whether that's true or not, it doesn't address what I'm talking about.

What I'm talking about is the fact that accidents happen, in the same way that the more cars there are out on the road, the more car accidents you're going to see. And as long as you keep your gun within your house, it's only your family who you're endangering, if you're not keeping it locked up correctly. HOWEVER, the second you start keeping it on your person, you have a very good chance of being irresponsible with it and hurting a total stranger.

Like, for example, I heard a story about someone who was stopped at a stop light, and got scared when they saw what looked to them to be a shady character walking up to their car. Now, a person with a gun might have pulled it out, being scared, and shot the person. Or, they might not have. And, of course, it turned out the person didn't mean them any harm.

But, if that happens one hundred times, how many times is that guy going to get shot when there is ready access to a gun? People just make mistakes sometimes.

It's also a matter of whether or not we're going to live in a reactionary society. If you want to be all stand-offish and take pre-cautions allowing for everyone being your enemy, you're going to end up with a lot of violence.

And, finally, if I ever saw a friend of mine just carrying around a gun, for no reason, I'd ask them what the hell they thought they were doing. It's just DANGEROUS. It's COMMON SENSE that you don't carry around a gun for no reason.


On edit: Your statistics look suspect, anyway.

[DoNotRefill]

19. would you care to qualify this?

"HOWEVER, the second you start keeping it on your person, you have a very good chance of being irresponsible with it and hurting a total stranger."

There are something like 300 million guns in the US. For the last year figures were released (2001), there were fewer than 1,000 accidental fireams deaths in the entire country. How is that a very good chance?

"Your statistics look suspect, anyway."

What looks suspect about them? I didn't just come up with the figures off the top of my head, those are the numbers put forth by a DoJ BJS statistician, when Clinton was in office. Do you need a full cite? Or is it that they're automatically suspect to you because they don't support your preconceived notions?

BTW, most defensive gun uses do NOT result in a shot being fired. Merely seeing a gun is often enough to frighten the attacker off. The main post in this thread should point that out to you. Kids see man with gun, and run away very quickly.

"And, finally, if I ever saw a friend of mine just carrying around a gun, for no reason, I'd ask them what the hell they thought they were doing. It's just DANGEROUS. It's COMMON SENSE that you don't carry around a gun for no reason."

Why is it dangerous? How dangerous is it? Can you give me some stats from an independent third party source without an iron in the fire? What about self-defense? Isn't that a valid reason? When you go into a restaurant or convenience store and see a cop there, do you become scared? After all, they carry guns, and according to you carrying guns is dangerous...or is their right to self-defense somehow superior to my right to self-defense? If so, what is your constitutional basis for that?

[Guaranteed]

26. Uh huh.

"There are something like 300 million guns in the US. For the last year figures were released (2001), there were fewer than 1,000 accidental fireams deaths in the entire country. How is that a very good chance?"

First off, according to Michael Moore, well over 10,000 people are killed every year in the U.S. by firearms. Some of them are accidental, and some are accidental and deliberate simultaneously, I'm sure. Again, they're just simple mistakes. They meant to shoot the guy, but they didn't mean to shoot THAT guy. Or, they meant to shoot the guy, but they thought the guy was going to hurt them. Or, they thought the gun wasn't loaded. Or, they were just trying to "wing" the guy. Or....whatever.

Secondly, you're still not understanding that I'm arguing that people shouldn't be allowed to CARRY guns. At the moment, most places don't allow it. So any "lack" of deaths can be attributed to the fact that your plan hasn't been put into effect. I'm not against guns. I'm against people CARRYING GUNS, because it is dangerous. I don't need statistics to "back it up." It's true, and you know it. You don't walk around town with a fricking gun in your pocket.

You've had training in handling guns, right? Your dad taught you how guns weren't toys to be played with, right? That you're always supposed to keep them unloaded, with the action open, and the safety on? Why the hell would you think it's alright to be carrying a loaded gun around town then???

Just for the record, I don't have an "iron in the fire." I have no political agenda that I'm pushing here. I'm a big supporter of the 2nd Amendment. But, it can be taken too far. People start thinking it's cool to be carrying guns around town, and we're gonna be having people getting shot all the time. FORGET it. NO WAY.

And, yes, I DO feel uncomfortable around cops. And it IS because of their guns. However, they are there to protect us, and I accept the fact that they have guns. Apparently, they're not good enough for you, though. If everyone took your attitude, we wouldn't even need cops, would we?

[Interrobang]

20. A tool which exists for no other purpose than to kill human beings...

...is, one might argue, a bad tool.

What the heck is that note supposed to mean, anyway?

[DoNotRefill]

21. there are lots of things you can do with guns...

that doesn't involve killing human beings. Examples include hunting, collecting, recreational shooting, Olympic-level target shooting, et cetera. Many guns are specifically designed with exactly these uses in mind. Guns all have ONE thing in common. They are designed to accellerate small bits of metal up to very high speed with a large degree of precision. The uses that is put to is a matter of the people with the guns, not the guns themselves.

What note?

[TexasMexican]

25. why would that make it...

a bad tool? Arguably there are some humans that need to be killed.

[TexasMexican]

24. maybe he thinks gunpowder...

is a tool of the devil or something.

Dont know why he would blame guns though, they arent made from gunpowder.

[Elidor]

9. Big stick go boom!

Bad! Very bad! :evilgrin:

[Ellen Forradalom]

2. Sounds like a King of the Hill plotline

I could imagine that note addressed to Luanne.

[TXvote]

7. King Of The Hill IS A Reality Show

No, really. I swear. And it's not just Arlen either.


Peace,
Teresa
www.votervirgin.com

[GOPisEvil]

23. Are you kidding? I can spot King of the Hill types a mile away.

They're EVERYWHERE in TX. The previous poster is correct. It's reality TV.

[BurntIceCubeTray]

3. Guns are more likely to get a family member hurt

Better to call 911.

[toddzilla]

6. an ex friend of mine almost shot his brother

because he was locked out of the house and was coming in through the window late at night so as not to wake anyone. this same guy shot a hole through the floor accidentally while messing with one of his "home defense" guns. wonder why he's an ex-friend?

[1a2b3c]

8. Damn i should have thought of that one.

[DoNotRefill]

11. Ummm...care to elaborate on that?

guns are more likely to be used for suicide if they're available. That's where the bulk of the occurences come from for the statistic you so obiquely quoted.

[Elidor]

10. Ah, young love. It's all so...touching.

Who knew we had such a poet in Texas?

If you were a hamburger...

[gate of the sun]

14. when I got married about a month ago

we were at a hotel and my 19 daughter was left alone and someone tried to break in.....she didn't call the cops got so freaked out someone picked her up and she left..... I was kindof mad because if they were watching someone could've broken in.....when my daughter came back the next day the door was standing wide open....but no thing was gone.

[Sting]

15. man, that sucks.

Having people creeping outside your house at night time can be creepy.

Guns may be bad, but it's the user of the gun who gives it a bad name. Bad people will do bad things with it. I think it's great to have a gun in the house (when it's properly locked up and out of reach of children) in case you get into circumstances you were just in. When I was growing up, my dad always kept a loaded 20 gauge and a .22 handy in case crap like that happened.

[politicat]

16. Does she know who it is?

That's stalking, Fenris. I know TX has some problems about the whole concept, but this might be a good time to get Officer Friendly to go talk to Griz there.

Contrary to popular opinion, stalking is not romantic.

And what is it with you people that you take a post that is about stalking and turn it into a gun no gun thread? Ja-eez! The gun is not the main character here!!

Politicat (who wonders if this is what causes SAT scores to be so low; textual analysis is definitely on the wane.)

[dolo amber]

22. No kidding

Knee-jerk, much? Jeebus Harry Christ, people! :eyes:

Glad you and yours are ok, Fenris. Be safe. :)