Why do we keep defending the rights of people in this country to bear fire-arms?
Why?
A handgun is of use for two things:
Shooting at targets and killing people.
I'm sick of this shit.
Unless you have a need to shoot at people to kill them (i.e. you are a cop) I don't understand why it's your right to carry one.
And if that makes me completely naive, well, so be it.
I've yet to get in a fight (hell, I'm 36 and have never as much slapped someone) but I have a set of friends who live half a mile from where a 70 something elderly woman lived by herself in her farmhouse that had been murdered two years ago, her fingers burned and cut off, and the body dumped in her farm field-they never found the killer and have no idea who it was. To this day, when her husband is working and she is home alone, my friend has a handgun in a holster-she hopes she never has to use it, but will not just curl up and die.
ReplyDeleteAfter the drunk guy tried kicking our door in ( a few weeks after a cop had been killed half a mile away when approaching a home to attempt to arrest a suspect) months ago, we were nervous, sounds woke us up constantly, and sleep came in bits and pieces for endless nights-like I said, I have never done so much as much as slap someone, but if someone manages to enter our home unwanted, the last resort would be my shotgun, but it is a resort. If they are willing to take my life, they put theirs on the table at the same time. I want nothing but to live my life for a long time with Miss A by my side while helping family, friends and neighbors when asked, and will do what I have to to protect that within reason. I do agree though, instead of debating points or trying to write your congressmen, it's far too easy to grab a gun and pull the trigger. I've lost a friend that way who had a child born with no father, and will never know the good man he was. The big quandary for me is, what do we do to protect ourselves and remove the guns from morons who should never have one at the same time?
I used to live right by that grocery store. I shopped there all the time after a full day teaching seventh grade.
ReplyDeleteYou can believe I never expected to get shot at.
I mean...what the fuck? What the hell is going to have to happen?
I'm naive, too. I just don't get it. I don't think I ever will.
ReplyDeleteThere is a wild west mentality still. Wing nuts will still find a way to do some off the way thing, even if guns were taken away.
ReplyDeleteI find it hard to understand the insistence on that so-called 'right' to bear arms, Ms Moon.
ReplyDeleteIn Australia we have no such right and I'm glad of it, especially when the news from America came in today. All those innocent people dead.
I'm with you all the way on this one Ms Moon.
man...bad news from the us...I couldnt agree with you more...
ReplyDeleteWe have a gun. We both have conceal and carry permits. I've never shot it except at targets and hope I never have to. When A and I are out on the road traveling we definitely carry it. I'm even happier I have it now that my new neighbor has his registered sex offender brother living with him; convicted of home invasions and rape plus multitudes of "sexual misconduct" charges.
ReplyDeleteThis world is crazy and unsafe...taking guns from everyone who owns legally doesn't punish the criminals. Just like drugs and everything else illegal, those wanting to obtain it will find a way.
jeeezeus Ms Moon- we dont watch much tv and pretty much never the news...Ive just sat down with a coffee and started reading about the shooting and that insane crosshairs map of palin and all this STUFF going on over there between the Reps and Democrats...absolutely insane...scary stuff...
ReplyDeleteMy aunts live there, one is friends with the wife of the judge who was shot, I learn from Facebook :(
ReplyDeleteAs to guns - maybe having one will save your life ... maybe it will get you shot when you wouldn't otherwise.
Our cops said no to guns when they were offered, as they knew it would mean that the criminals would then have to arm themselves, and more people would have to get shot on both sides of the divide. For years there was no gun crime, andI think this was a reason.
Now there are a lot of guns, but it's all connected with gang/drug crime - so in some ways it doesn't touch the people outside of that world. But .. who knows what's coming next.
I wouldn't have a gun, I must admit. I've no confidence that having one in the house would make me able to shoot an intruder or save me from their attack. More likely get me shot, I suspect.
However, I don't think there's any arguing against the commenters who've had the bad experiences and feel safer with a weapon. I suppose they live in more dangerous places than me and have a different ingrained attitude and experience.
I grew up in Tucson until I was 13, so I feel very fond for that place.
ReplyDeleteI also am glad that I am having the experience of living outside of my homeland. I second Jo's comments, I'm glad the cops here aren't armed with guns.
I don't think you're at all naive, Ms Moon
I'll be naive with you.
ReplyDeleteAmen, sista.
ReplyDeleteWell. A discussion like this started one of the most terrible fights I've ever had with my Mister. And we don't fight, you know? Very strong opinions. Very scary statistics.
ReplyDeleteIn the end, I'm rooting for this lady to make a full recovery. And I'm thinking of her husband and family and hoping they do too.
Hey all- I am not going to respond to each individual comment here because I know that each and every one of them is well-thought out and each commenter has a good reason for feeling the way he or she does.
ReplyDeleteIn a perfect world, NO ONE would have a hand gun. We don't live in that world. I understand that.
But I will say that for a very obviously disturbed person to be able to legally acquire a Glock is just wrong.
That is my thought on the matter.
P.S. It goes without saying that I love all of you for taking the time to say what you thought.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm saying it anyway.
Absolutely.
ReplyDeleteInterwebs or ignorance ate my comment last night. I'm just saying pshycho unstable nutjobs shouldn't have glocks. I think we should all have govt issued tazers.
ReplyDeleteThat random home invasion crime shit freaks me OUT. But guns make my necks hairs stand up like spiders do since I had the babies, and I grew up with guns, used to go drinking and target shooting with friends for years. Hunting, fishing, farming types that have owned guns since we stole this land from the natives. So it's odd that they scare me so much now, but its a mommy thing. I wonder a lot how many lives would be saved if someone whipped out a gun and took down the psychos, but can you imagine the collateral damage and the potential for tragedy?
No good answers, my friend. I went a googling mass shootings, and per capita, we win, but it's a recurring problem all over the world. Many countries with gun bans still have crazy shooters, so maybe it's a more complicated equation than we know. But still, incoherent nutjob gets a glock?????
Had to whine on my own blog about this.
I don't understand all this either. Our society isn't exactly evolving, is it?
ReplyDeleteI've lived in Germany for the last 9 years. A couple of years ago, there was a shooting at a high school near Stuttgart. The german gov. responded by making already tight gun laws tighter. This may be random but last year there was an attack at a High School in our town of Ansbach by a student. Instead of a rifle or handgun, he brought an axe and some molotov cocktails. Kind of hard to kill or even hurt somebody with an axe when they keep moving around. The school didn't go up in flames and one student was slightly injured... I don't know about you but if the laws had not changed, many school children might have died that day.
ReplyDeleteAmericans have to understand that tighter gun laws don't mean they can't have weapons, they just have to go through a process of getting them and it is more than an insta-electronic FBI background check at your local Walmart.
I believe people should have the right to bear arms but as with automobiles, we don't let just any idiot drive a car; at least not without a little training. They have to pass a test, do a practical and show some basic common sense in order to get a fucking drivers license; and cars aren't even designed to kill living stuff.
I don't know when the American public is going to wake up and smell the blood on their hands for interpreting the 2nd amendment in such a stupid fundamental way; not to mention this is based on a document that was written over 200 years ago during a time of war before our nation even had an organized military.
How many nutjobs are we going to let purchase weapons with the intent to kill innocent people before we tighten up and regulate firearms more stringently? There are a lot of good upstanding people that own firearms and would, if they had to, abide by the law and go through a training and regisrtation process in order to retain their weapons. But only when the Government says Do It!
Foreigh countries have shown over and over again a much lower homicide and accidental death rate per capita due to firearms because they regulate this shit.
Sorry for the long post but as a dedicated American watching my beautiful country from afar for so long, I can't help but think we are a bunch of idiots for squandering the beauty of freedom because we are afraid of a little red tape and a little more beaucracy. These things are built to kill. My government wouldn't let me walk out of a store with a rocket launcher, would they? What's the difference?
I've lived in Germany for the last 9 years. A couple of years ago, there was a shooting at a high school near Stuttgart. The german gov. responded by making already tight gun laws tighter. This may be random but last year there was an attack at a High School in our town of Ansbach by a student. Instead of a rifle or handgun, he brought an axe and some molotov cocktails. Kind of hard to kill or even hurt somebody with an axe when they keep moving around. The school didn't go up in flames and one student was slightly injured... I don't know about you but if the laws had not changed, many school children might have died that day.
ReplyDeleteAmericans have to understand that tighter gun laws don't mean they can't have weapons, they just have to go through a process of getting them and it is more than an insta-electronic FBI background check at your local Walmart.
I believe people should have the right to bear arms but as with automobiles, we don't let just any idiot drive a car; at least not without a little training. They have to pass a test, do a practical and show some basic common sense in order to get a fucking drivers license; and cars aren't even designed to kill living stuff.
I don't know when the American public is going to wake up and smell the blood on their hands for interpreting the 2nd amendment in such a stupid fundamental way; not to mention this is based on a document that was written over 200 years ago during a time of war before our nation even had an organized military.
How many nutjobs are we going to let purchase weapons with the intent to kill innocent people before we tighten up and regulate firearms more stringently? There are a lot of good upstanding people that own firearms and would, if they had to, abide by the law and go through a training and regisrtation process in order to retain their weapons. But only when the Government says Do It!
Foreigh countries have shown over and over again a much lower homicide and accidental death rate per capita due to firearms because they regulate this shit.
Sorry for the long post but as a dedicated American watching my beautiful country from afar for so long, I can't help but think we are a bunch of idiots for squandering the beauty of freedom because we are afraid of a little red tape and a little more beaucracy. These things are built to kill. My government wouldn't let me walk out of a store with a rocket launcher, would they? What's the difference?
Scott- Thank-you. I think you have nailed it here in so many ways. Don't ever apologize for long comments, okay? Especially when they are this well-thought out.
ReplyDeleteI feel compelled to endorse what Scott has written here, Ms Moon and so eloquently. I share such thoughts, as do many Australians. We cannot understand why your government does not take a firm stand in gun control.
ReplyDeleteAfter the Martin Bryant massacre here in Tasmania many years ago when over thirty lives were lost despite our already firm gun controls, our government tightened ours even more stringently.
You cannot stop disturbed people entirely from making such attacks perhaps, but you can limit their capacity to do damage.
I know I'm preaching to the converted here, but if there enough Ms Moons out there, the situation might change.