"Happiness is a Worn Gun".....a really balanced article about CCW from a writer for Harpers....

[Logical]

There is a link to the PDF of the article on the first post from a gun forum link below. I think both pro and non-pro gun posters on this forum will agree it is a balanced article. Mentions the good side and bad side of CCW.

http://www.bogley.com/forum/showthread.php?39993-Happiness-is-a-Worn-Gun

[RSillsbee]

1. Guess I missed the balanced part

I'm sorry but the tone of that article wasn't balanced it was decidedly anti. I don't even know where to start the guys depiction of his CCW class... Seriously? the cop tells you to murder a thief and "get your story straight"?

This is right up ther W/ the Brady's have "good intentions"

[Logical]

2. Wow, I thought he, who was anti-gun gave a good side of his experience....

He carried. Didn't like it but did not insult it. Maybe you are expecting too much from a former lefty who hated guns.
Many pro-gun sites also commented about him being fair. Not just me.

[RSillsbee]

5. Let me think

He's jealous of permit holders because they get to "play w/ their guns"?

All gun owners fantasize about their guns?

"you honor me by bringing your gun to my business'?

Both classes were less about self-defense than
about recruiting us into a culture animated by fear
of violent crime. In the Boulder class, we watched
lurid films of men in ski masks breaking into
homes occupied by terrifi ed women.
Balanced?

[Logical]

6. So you are saying he is lying? n-t

[RSillsbee]

10. Yup Yup Yup NT

[chibajoe]

12. You should read the whole article, all the way through to the end.

Yes, he is a Fudd and not one of us, but he does get "it". He hits all the clichés on both sides of the argument, and although he ultimately decides not to follow the "way of the gun", he does so as a conscious personal decision after throughly weighing both sides of the argument. and not because of some pre-programmed liberal bias. As an attempt to give someone who is not a gun person some insight into the mentality of those of us who do carry, I think this is about as fair and even an article as you are likely to read.

[GreenStormCloud]

3. I have read it before, just reread it and find it well balanced. N/T

[whoneedstickets]

4. If it doesn't gush nonsense about unassailable liberties...

..and taking up arms against the government, it's a prohi rant around this place.

[friendly_iconoclast]

13. On the contrary, I think the author described certain objectors to CC perfectly:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=118&topic_id=332576


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=118&topic_id=335504#335606

.....My friends who are appalled by the thought of widespread concealed weapons aren't impressed by this argument, or by the research demonstrating no ill effects of the shall-issue revolution. "I don't care," said one. "I don't feel safe knowing that people are walking around with guns. What about my right to feel safe? Doesn't that count for anything?"

Robert Bork tried out that argument in 1971, in defense of prosecuting such victimless crimes as drug abuse, writing in the Indiana Law Journal that “knowledge that an activity is taking place is a harm to those who find it profoundly immoral.”

It’s as bad an argument now as it was then. We may not like it that other people are doing things we revile—smoking pot, enjoying pornography, making gay love, or carrying a gun—but if we aren’t adversely affected by it, the Constitution and common decency argue for leaving it alone. My friend may feel less safe because people are wearing concealed guns, but the data suggest she isn't less safe....

At least Baum went out and got empirical evidence without automatically deciding beforehand.

[rl6214]

7. Well that piece sure hit every anti-gun talking point

I would say for every 5 pro gun points there were 10 anti gun points made.

Not anywhere near balanced.

[Logical]

8. I think the only balanced article you might like is in an NRA publications. n-t

[rl6214]

9. I don't think I have ever read an NRA publication

so you don't know what I would find balanced. It's funny you picked out my post about it being unbalanced.

[Hoyt]

11. That's pretty much reality. Except for the small percentage that can't leave home without a gun,

Most people really don't see the need for one, really don't want them around, and really can't understand what possesses someone to strap one to them on in public places.

[friendly_iconoclast]

14. And in what essentials do you differ from Pat Robertson?

I can see only two:

1. The subject(s) of your condemnation, and

2. He's actually got a TV show



Moralizing is moralizing, after all...

[DWC]

15. This is about as Fair and Balanced

as it is going to get.

well written. Well considered.

Rec the post. I am saving it to my favorites for future reference.

Semper Fi,

[Logical]

16. Thanks! n-t