Be forwarned of gungeon propaganda. If you post a gun control

[applegrove]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by obamanut2012 (a host of the General Discussion forum).

Last edited Mon Dec 24, 2012, 03:31 AM - Edit history (1)

thread the NRA types will attack your narrative that you 1) care 2) are informed. They attack and ridicule who you are this way. This is treating you like a scapegoat to flip the touchstones, that we use to identify ourseves, on us and any human being cannot stand that. Don't let them get away with such psychopathic type of bullying. Ignore those threads and continue to discuss the issue with like minded gun control advocates.

[patrice]

1. I cannot understand why any honest gun advocate would fight OPEN CARRY. It's like, this thing is

sooooooooooooo important and I neeeeeeeeeeeeed it so much, but it's supposed to be kept secret, so that illegal guns can be secret too.

That's NUTS.

[LAGC]

2. I don't understand it myself.

I'm pretty pro-gun, but the idea of advertising that you are packing heat seems kind of odd to me.

Not only does it freak some people out, but it also tells the bad guys who they need to shoot first if they are planning something.

Concealed-carry seems much more appropriate when packing in public, keep the bad guys guessing.

[Scootaloo]

6. Oh, I get it

It's all about actively hoping for a "situation" to arise so you can show off. I would wonder how exactly you're going to get your firearm out of that holster under your shoulder without getting shot, yourself, but since this is based on action movies more than reality, maybe they "bad guys" are busy monologuing or something.

it's a power fantasy, walking around thinking you're going to be the hero of an Uwe Boll film rather than just some dumb schmuck with a heightened chance of shooting his own testicles off.

Now I admit to not being a criminal mastermind like the ones you visualize yourself bagging at the supermarket checkout, but I would imagine the clear and obvious presence of a gun is probably a better deterrence than the vague paranoia that someone might be packing. Certain risk vs. possible risk, right?

[patrice]

13. You see, those of us who have chosen not to carry would like to preserve for ourselves only the

basis of those decisions. I want to be able to decide for me only whether I want to be around people who are carrying guns.

Now, people who have decided to carry guns are recognizing the rights of others to carry guns and all that that entails, so you should be able to live responsibly with the consequences, including the bad guys because if you made your decision to carry ir-respective of that possibility that was not a responsible decision. Freedom is not about there being NO consequences; it's about being able to recognize consequences and make your choices about them, so you claim your right to carry and its consequences and another aspect of freedom is that you don't inflict your consequences on others, advocates of carrying guns in public should not prevent the possibility for me to make my own choices about that by concealing their weapons (not to mention how concealed carry ENABLES all kinds of illegal gun behavior, so it mixes bad guys with the good guys). If gun advocates NEED that, then they are slaves of a type to a privilege, not a right, a privilege that they have not earned.

[patrice]

16. BTW, doesn't the argument that the bad guy is going to target you first NEGATE the whole "reason"

to carry a gun in the first place?

Please answer . . . make that a "pretty please".

[LAGC]

17. It all depends on who gets the drop on who first.

Obviously, if you're being robbed, and someone sticks a gun in your face before you have a chance to pull your carry piece, obviously it wouldn't be very wise to proceed to pull it out.

But most violent crimes don't involve guns, and you have a little time to react. So having a gun for self-defense gives you a superior advantage in most cases.

Of course, having a gun is no magic talisman. It is simply a tool. And there are no guarantees it will save your life, just the potential to even the odds a bit in most cases.

[backscatter712]

5. If you're not actively on the way to a sporting event, or hunting, why do you need to pack heat?

You don't need a gun when you're getting groceries.

At the bare minimum, it's time to have very stiff penalties for carrying weapons into bars, or carrying firearms while drunk. The NRA's fighting even that.

[Recursion]

7. Personally, I prefer people carry openly than concealed

I'd rather know who is armed than not. Then again, I'm also sympathetic to the concealed carry scenario of the substitute teacher with the violent ex who doesn't care about the restraining order. So I don't know.

I think some of this is what you're used to. I grew up carrying a gun on my grandfather's farm because there were cottonmouths and coyotes out there, and when you're going out to switch the emus' pasturage (yes, emus; rather popular in north Texas: good meat with almost no fat) you don't want to meet one of them without something to shoot it with. After that I was in the Marines, and that only added to the idea of a gun as something you use for work and have to spend an absurd amount of time cleaning. So, guns are about as "romantic" to me as a chainsaw or weedwhacker, and I associate them with heat, humidity, manual labor, and mosquitoes. So, I don't get the gun nuts' fetishization of them, nor do I get anti-gun people's visceral negative reaction to their mere presence (we had a shooting team in high school, for instance, and nobody seemed to mind). I also admit, as a cognitive bias, I have difficulty imagining a world without guns; sort of like a world without chainsaws, it seems like an interesting thought experiment but not something to be actively worked towards or even actively opposed because it's just a kind of silly idea.

I do enjoy target shooting; it's relaxing and reminds me of yoga (focus on posture and breathing; concentration on the moment at hand, etc.) but I don't think that particular habit of mine should be the basis for gun regulations (I could always just do yoga, though I don't like the pants).

All in all, I wish for two things:
1) That people who want to restrict gun access would learn enough about the subject to write laws that at least make sense (as a starting point, learn that the weapon Lanza used is legal under an assault weapons ban, and why)
2) That people who like guns would realize that images and descriptions of guns are very upsetting to some people on DU, and that we need to treat lightly about that.

[HiPointDem]

3. didn't a thread with a similar message get tombstoned earlier? i'll say what i said on that thread:

the gun people aren't the only people using attack, ridicule and bullying.

[quinnox]

4. I'm starting to smell a lot of desperation from the gun creeps

they know this latest news story is really harming their cause, and they are running for cover and will post any gobbledygook that they can come up with.

[Skittles]

10. CORRECT

and beware of cowards when they are REALLY skeered - that's when they become unhinged

[jody]

8. Excellent points, don't go to DU's Justice & Public Safety » Gun Control & RKBA (Group) unless you

are prepared with facts to argue against facts.

[Skittles]

9. still getting asked to define GUN NUT

I mean, enough already

[ileus]

11. yeah be careful of those NRA types...all none of them.

Sure you may fine a troll or two that support the NRA but they never last long. They're not regulars in the RKBA that's for sure.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

12. Dear Santa, all I want for Christmas is for gun threads to be located in GC&RKBA.

Thank you ever so much.

love,
Tuesday Afternoon

[jody]

14. If you get your wish, then many anti-gun DUers will remain ignorant and

incapable of contributing intelligent ideas toward finding a solution that prevents more mass murders.

IMO they will be just as complicit as bogeyman Wayne LaPierre and his evil NRA.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

15. how hard is it to find GC&RKBA? that they choose to remain willfully ignorant is their problem.

you can lead a horse to water but, you can't make 'em drink.

I know how to find GC&RKBA and I want my GD back.

and I want it now.

[Whovian]

18. Tell me about it. They are out in force now

as if they had been given marching orders or paychecks.