Would You Feel Safer With a Gun?

Don,
thanks you for your perspective. It makes good sense.
Trying to cover one's tracks means there is guilt and a cover-up doesn't erase the guilt.

I agree, if one has a gun, he/she should know how to use it and be prepared to take the consequences if/when it is used. Having a gun for show is nonsense.

Abe,

Owning a firearm is a tremendous responsibility, carrying one is a life and death responsibility and cannot be taken lightly!!!!

Don, I won't address your points one by one. I'll say only that your interpretations of my points are more narrow than the points themselves. Think in broader terms.

I don't carry because I understand the implications and consequences. But there's a piece at the ready next to my front door (except when my grandkids are here). The last time I used it was to shoot a rooster that was attacking my wife. Deadly force.

The gun nut fear of control, or at least their argument, is that if they are required to register their guns, the government will have a record of their ownership and will be able to use its force and that leverage to disarm the citizenry. Our founding fathers seem to have been thinking that far ahead. It would take a repeal of old number 2 for that to happen.

And, oh, yeah, carrying without a permit is not a felony in all jurisdictions. Only in the more civilized ones.

Well, I would feel much safer if nuts did not own guns.

Today at Walmart in my state a nut had a gun. Another nut in Detroit. Too many nuts with guns.

I think my perspective of owning a gun changed when I moved away from the USA. I think if/when I return I may feel the need to own one.

Feeling safe is not the owning of a gun. Feeling safe has to do with a number of environmental factors. Why would I want a gun when I feel safe where I live?
For some, it is a macho thing, a bragging right.

My neice just moved into a very large house. She proudly proclaimed that she was thankful for the right to have a gun so she could protect herself and her daughter. I sent her my private opinion, primarily being that a burglar who feels threatened has the edge. He has already shown his fearlessness by attempting a break-in. The risk to the inexperienced gun handler is the greatest.
Might be a better idea to have a safe room in the house to hide where a call for help communication device is installed.

When I lived in Beirut during the civil war, people roamed the streets carrying guns. I learned quickly that anyone carrying or owning a gun was in more danger than those without. A potential threat to a criminal is quickly eliminated. The only real threat was getting caught in a cross-fire or doing something foolish to cause retaliation.
If people want to use guns, Don can advise them on that. Perhaps they should consider joining the military. Basic training would likely kill their ambitions.

License to Kill?

Automobiles can kill as well as guns. With an automobile, it is clearly stated that having a driver’s license is a privilege,
not a right.New drivers first get a Lerner’s Permit and can drive only when accompanied by a Licensed Adult. They take a written test as well as a road test. When a License is issued, it is for a specific type of vehicle.
Even with a License, new drivers are often a hazard until they have experience driving over a period of time.

When someone gets a License for a Gun, why is there no requirement for a training course and to be tested for a specific weapon?

And what about the type of ammunition used? For those familiar with ammunition, they know that a shotgun shell has small beebies that spray the target. Bullets used with rifles have different tips. Some are soft tips, i.e., copper while others may have a steel tip. The soft tip will flatten when the target is hit and the damage is confined, intended to kill. A
steel tip can pass through the target and do damage beyond. I suppose that would be considered collateral damage, Oops.

Gun Control is not the question. The question is gun handling control. For what purpose is the gun required? What training is needed for that specific weapon?

There are restrictions attached to police officers who carry a gun. Even a prize fighter’s fists are considered deadly weapons when used outside the boxing ring. People are responsible for their actions and it takes training to use restraint as well as the proper handling of any deadly weapon. A car or truck can be a deadly weapon when not handled with safety.

To own a gun should be a privilege – not a right.
To gain that privilege one should prove competence with the weapon to be licensed. The gun owner must be
responsible for its use and storage to prevent unauthorized use. If one declares it is for hunting, for what kind of game? What bullets will be used? Have they received instructions on the safe handling and transport of the weapon?

How often have we heard? “It was an accident.” How many of these accidents could have been prevented? Dead is dead. It is no comfort to the family of the deceased person to hear that it was an accident. How many automobile accidents could be prevented? We know that driving impaired or too fast for conditions cause many accidents. There is no excuse for carelessness with driving or the careless handling of a gun.

A License should mean one is capable of handling the object for which the License is issued.

Good thoughts, Abe.

Abe,

I know we don't aways agree on this issue, but I have to say that I agree that the same restrictions should be put on owning a gun as there are for the carrying of a gun. You can not get a permit to carry without passing a firearms training course, the same should be true for purchasing a firearm. Currently most states just require a background check and those are full of holes.

D. J. (Don) Stephens wrote:

You can not get a permit to carry without passing a firearms training course,

That's not quite how it works everywhere. I was at a gun show this past weekend. They were issuing concealed weapons carry permits. You can get one for the asking. There was a long line of people who wanted one. The "training course" consisted of standing in position about three feet from a bale of straw, being handed a loaded handgun, and firing at a target on the bale. If you hit the target, you qualified.

And in Arizona, you don't even have to do that. No permit required.

The scary part was the long line of applicants. Some of them looked like they shouldn't be allowed to have sharp implements.

Al,

How frightening! No wonder incidents abound.

I just received this by email:

Hello,

There are some things we should all be able to agree on - and one of
them is that rights always come with responsibilities, and that the
mentally unstable shouldn't be able to buy guns.

Anyone that wants to purchase a gun in this country should be required
to pass a simple background check. However, our patchwork of gun laws
is rife with loopholes and too many dangerous people fall through the
cracks. The result is that powerful weapons still end up in the hands of
dangerous, unstable people.

A coalition of our nation’s mayors is pushing to fix the system. Mayors
know the problem better than anyone - they have to deal with gun
violence on our streets every day. So my friend Tom Menino, the mayor
of Boston, and Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York, joined forces
with 550 other mayors in our country to form Mayors Against Illegal
Guns. They have a comprehensive plan to keep illegal guns off of our
streets and fix our broken background system.

Today, at an event with Martin Luther King III and 34 victims of gun
violence, they will be unveiling their common-sense plan to close the
loopholes. They need you to add your voice to theirs to make sure the
folks in Washington know that you are demanding that we have a real
system that keeps guns out of the hands of unstable people.

Please
click here and join with them in demanding we do what common sense says
we can do to make sure the next Jared Loughner won’t be able to buy
guns.

Look, this isn’t about taking guns away from anyone who wants to buy
them legally. It’s simply a plan to fix the system we have so that it
respects the rights of stable, law abiding citizens but keeps guns out
of the hands of those who shouldn’t have them.

Previous tragedies, from the Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King
assassination in the 60’s, to the mass shootings on the Long Island
Railroad in the early 90’s, have pushed our nation to look deeply at gun
violence -- to update laws with common sense -- and we owe it to
ourselves to do the same now.

So please click here to join our nation’s mayors in demanding common sense action.

Thank you.

It's too bad the mentally unstable are so sneaky.

In this country the laws are such that they must committ themselves--unless they are a threat to themselves or someone else.

Too often they are spotted too late. After they have killed, everyone says they were sick--very sad!

Have you ever tried to get a mentally unstable person to seek medical help? If they don't realize that they need the help, they are not amenable to seeking any.

Many people who abuse alcohol and drive could be in that mentally unstable category; yet, they don't believe they have a problem, even after the limit on DUI's and even incarceration!!!

Those who abuse drugs, likewise. Their minds seem to tell them it is the rest of us who are unstable and they are the sane ones, with purpose.

Al,

What state was just handing them out for the asking? I have permits for 34 states and had to show my training certificate or proof of my Army training for everyone of them. Arizona has an open carry policy, but you need permit to carry concealed.

D. J. (Don) Stephens wrote:

Al,

What state was just handing them out for the asking?

Florida. The training certificate is a joke. They give you one after that test I described earlier. Prove you can hit a bale of hay from three feet.

D. J. (Don) Stephens wrote:

I have permits for 34 states and had to show my training certificate or proof of my Army training for everyone of them. Arizona has an open carry policy, but you need permit to carry concealed.

Not any more thanks to Governor Brewer.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/articles/2010/04/16/20100416arizona-concealed-weapons-bill16-ON.html

Arizona sounds like a great place to stay far away from.