Mayberry Machiavelli
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Wed Apr-18-07 11:01 PM
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What is it about firearms that promotes such heated argument and zealotry? |
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I'm not even debating the various well chewed over arguments here, I'm just trying to understand what it is about this topic.
Me: Shot pistols and M-16, range only, while in the military. Have never owned a gun and never intend to. I have no problem with other people owning guns. I don't feel particularly strongly about most gun control issues one way or another really, although it seems to me that requiring licensing of gun owners and registration of weapons owned is a good idea, considering that we as a society regulate automobile driving, distribution of prescription meds, and other potentially dangerous activities.
The main reason I personally am uninterested in having a firearm in my home is because I see its potential as a vehicle for a quick, irreversible suicide or homicide in a fit of depression or an angry argument to far outweigh its benefits as a means of protection. Not to mention the potential for simple accidental injury or death. That's just me.
I personally would be happy to concede many or most gun related political positions to "pro-gun" voters if it means more votes from Republican voters who would be predisposed to vote for Democratic candidates otherwise.
I enjoy violent shooter/war type computer games and have since adolescence, but as a person in real life, I am quite nonviolent.
My friends who own guns seem to all develop a tendency to own more and more of them over time, and become really preoccupied with them. I really don't know whether it's the seductive, potentially life-taking power of the weaponry, or what.
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Fresh_Start
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Wed Apr-18-07 11:05 PM
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1. no different than alcohol or smoking |
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a bunch of people think its a shame that their freedom to fuck up might be impaired to save innocent lives.
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ThomCat
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Wed Apr-18-07 11:08 PM
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2. Guns are a cultural fetish. |
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People invest far too much meaning and importance into them as a symbol.
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kiahzero
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Wed Apr-18-07 11:08 PM
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3. People don't want to die. |
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That's what makes it so heated on both sides.
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babylonsister
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Wed Apr-18-07 11:11 PM
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4. Good question and I haven't the slightest really. I knew a 'rabid' rethug/Navy man |
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who lived just outside of NYC, and had the same emotions as Charleston Heston. :shrug: I don't see the love, except when people actually use guns to eat the animals they shoot. I think survival warrants the use of guns, but anything else, I'm mystified.
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Rick Myers
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Wed Apr-18-07 11:16 PM
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5. The NRA is the problem! |
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They have the money and will not surrender one inch!!!
I have a handgun, and it does NOT preoccupy me. It is purely defensive, and ammo is not stored anywhere near it.
I don't argue PRO gun anything, I do NOT believe in consealed carry.
Owning a gun is not a POLITICAL issue to me. No one is trying to take away anyones guns.
No gun law could have stopped the horrible assault on VT, a campus I know very well...
In the end, you know the drill: 'guns don't kill people, ASSHOLES kill people.'
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sandnsea
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Wed Apr-18-07 11:17 PM
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I don't know any gun owners in real life who are as obsessive as the people online - although somebody must be showing up at NRA conventions. I guess the fear that killing won't solve every problem is too much for some people to handle.
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soothsayer
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Wed Apr-18-07 11:30 PM
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7. They're scary, and are used for killing. But until I trust the gov't (can't |
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really imagine ever doing that with ANY gov't), I support the right to own 'em. I'm afraid of them myself and don't own any, but I'd sure like the option.
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KAZ
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Wed Apr-18-07 11:31 PM
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8. It's fear, and a "consent of the governed" type of thing. |
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At least, this would be my basis, if I were a gun owner. BTW, I agree with your "uninterested" premises. They visualize protection of themselves and their family, by means of a firearm(do ya feel lucky punk). They also have a kind of "Red Dawn" thing going, in that they, and their 45, have chance against a marauding government. Kind of silly, but understandable.
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Rocknrule
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Wed Apr-18-07 11:43 PM
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9. Same reason people drive Hummers |
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