I'm going to take this gun control argument

[MikeWaters]

Originally Posted by il Padrino Ute

Mike, you'll be happy to know that I have a concealed weapon permit.

Are you sure you fit the criteria?

Those of you that are upstanding citizens, with good moral judgment, who believe in a free society free from murder and other crimes.[1][2]

[1] properly store guns
[2] not prone to suicide

[SoonerCoug]

I shot a BB gun once. It didn't do anything for me. I have been living gun-free ever since, and I feel pretty darn safe.

I was robbed at gunpoint on my mission once. I just dropped my backpack and ran away when I saw the guy starting to pull the gun out. I thought I was going to get shot, and I thought it'd be better to be a moving target. Very scary. I'd argue that if I had had a gun and pulled it out, the chances of me getting shot would have increased.

[MikeWaters]

Originally Posted by SoonerCoug

I shot a BB gun once. It didn't do anything for me. I have been living gun-free ever since, and I feel pretty darn safe.

I was robbed at gunpoint on my mission once. I just dropped my backpack and ran away when I saw the guy starting to pull the gun out. I thought I was going to get shot, and I thought it'd be better to be a moving target. Very scary. I'd argue that if I had had a gun and pulled it out, the chances of me getting shot would have increased.

If you think you would be worse off having a gun when you are about to be shot, you are probably right. Instead of just being dead, you will be shamed and dead.

I imagine that the Swiss citizen who doesn't own a gun probably doesn't feel at personal greater risk from outside attack than anyone else in the country.

All able-bodied males from 20 to 42 years of age are required to keep rifles or handguns at home.

http://johnrlott.tripod.com/swissgunlaws.html

However, he benefits from the fact that others do own them. It's like herd immunity. If you don't get your polio vaccine, you are highly unlikely to get polio in this country. But eventually you get to the point (and I don't know where that point is) where a decreased percentage of vaccinated persons leads to a wide-spread outbreak of disease. The protection you were afforded by others taking on the risk of a vaccine, is now gone.

This is why you never see a sign in someone's yard that says "Gun Free Home". Even the anti-gunners know the value of herd immunity oh so well.

[SeattleUte]

Mike, I assume you meant you're NOT advocating vigilantiism.

The folks in the nice homes in New Orleans out of the floodplain who didn't get flooded and wanted to stay there found weapons were indispensible.

[MikeWaters]

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

Mike, I assume you meant you're NOT advocating vigilantiism.

The folks in the nice homes in New Orleans out of the floodplain who didn't get flooded and wanted to stay there found weapons were indispensible.

Yes, good catch. I am not advocating vigilantism.

[SeattleUte]

Originally Posted by SoonerCoug

I shot a BB gun once. It didn't do anything for me. I have been living gun-free ever since, and I feel pretty darn safe.

Whether or not this is true, I don't like the attitude. It reminds me of moral vegetarians. You think you've reached an exalted moral state when really the conditions that allow you to live this way have nothing to do with you, they're a fluke, completely at odds with 99.9999999% of human history and recurring exigencies in the most of the world outside the wealthiest countries. Indeed the very ethos that enabled the temporary luxury of eschewing guns is irreconsilable with the one you are now espousing. You are free to turn your nose up at guns precisely because your ancestors were expert at wielding weapons and killing with them. Your self-satisfied piety is false and delusional and the secure conditions you now take for granted are ephemeral.

[Archaea]

Wow, Seattle and Mike on the right side of the same issue. When will that happen again.

And Sooner and woot on the wrong side again.

Having concealed weapons requires practice boys and girls. Make certain you make your weekly trek to the gun range. Our neighbors are lucky enough he built a gun ruan underneath his garage and driveway. It's a cool thing to have.

So who has a nine millimeter or a forty caliber?

Do you have buckshot in your shotguns?

What sort of gun safes do you have? I recommend a battery operated key coded one.

Do your rifles have scopes?

[woot]

Originally Posted by Archaea

Wow, Seattle and Mike on the right side of the same issue. When will that happen again.

And Sooner and woot on the wrong side again.

Having concealed weapons requires practice boys and girls. Make certain you make your weekly trek to the gun range. Our neighbors are lucky enough he built a gun ruan underneath his garage and driveway. It's a cool thing to have.

So who has a nine millimeter or a forty caliber?

Do you have buckshot in your shotguns?

What sort of gun safes do you have? I recommend a battery operated key coded one.

Do your rifles have scopes?

I haven't taken a position on this issue, but I've quite clearly expressed that I at least sympathize with Mike's side, so clearly you're wrong as usual. Your insistence on the sort of binary thinking that requires pigeonholing me into one side or the other once again demonstrates your general thoughtlessness.

[SeattleUte]

Originally Posted by Archaea

Wow, Seattle and Mike on the right side of the same issue. When will that happen again.

And Sooner and woot on the wrong side again.

Having concealed weapons requires practice boys and girls. Make certain you make your weekly trek to the gun range. Our neighbors are lucky enough he built a gun ruan underneath his garage and driveway. It's a cool thing to have.

So who has a nine millimeter or a forty caliber?

Do you have buckshot in your shotguns?

What sort of gun safes do you have? I recommend a battery operated key coded one.

Do your rifles have scopes?

Waters and I mostly share the same beliefs, which is why his unremitting hostility toward me is so puzzling.

[SoonerCoug]

I didn't say you guys were wrong for loving guns.

I'm saying that guns don't appeal to me personally. You can do whatever you want with your guns in the privacy of your own homes.