General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsGuns, what are they good for?
This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by Omaha Steve (a host of the General Discussion forum).
I am a 66-year-old Southern white male who has no interest in guns. I don't understand what these gun nuts see in the damn things. What are they good for? The only thing you can use them for is to shoot somebody. There's target practice, but that's not a use, it's just practice. There's self-defense, but in my 66 years on the planet there has not been one single time when I ever had need of a gun for that purpose. Shucks, if I had one, I'd be much more likely to accidentally shoot myself or somebody else. (My mother had two of her siblings killed in domestic gun accidents, one of them when she was a little girl and another one before she was even born.) You can go hunting, but that has no appeal for me. I have no desire to shoot critters and make them suffer and die, and I frankly wonder about the mentality of people who like to do things like that. So what the hell are guns good for? The damn things are totally useless, it seems to me. And the way these guns nuts practically worship the things is frankly perplexing to me. -- Ron
P.S. -- If this looks familiar to you, it's because I posted it about three weeks ago on Thom Hartmann's site.
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TipTok
(2,474 posts)Hoyt
(54,770 posts)enough for gun fanciers.
TipTok
(2,474 posts)Don't have to be prepared for everything from volcanoes to asteroids but nothing wrong with carrying convenient tools that could potentially be useful.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)TipTok
(2,474 posts)There are times when it is absolutely appropriate and even morally mandated and necessary to shoot someone.
The odds don't matter. I hope I never have to shoot anyone again. It costs nothing to be prepared and could cost everything if you aren't.
CompanyFirstSergeant
(1,558 posts)...one prepares to stop illegal activity such as deadly physical force by using the minimum possible force in return, only if one is the non-aggressor and makes a reasonable effort to withdraw from the conflict, if possible.
If that means shooting the person, so be it.
TipTok
(2,474 posts)Press Virginia
(2,329 posts)to do anything that might save our lives or the lives of those we love.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)George Zman with some of his "art work."
http://a2.img.talkingpointsmemo.com/image/upload/c_fill,fl_keep_iptc,g_faces,h_365,w_652/taq1xbmeat6hcaiwqkgq.jpg
Press Virginia
(2,329 posts)against someone who is armed? Drop to your knees and grovel?
I may not be able to successfully defend myself but I'm not going to prepare myself to be a victim.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)mostly bullies who will slink off when confronted. Anyone that needs a gun to go to the store, has a deep sense of insecurity and likely paranoia.
You ought to try it sometimes. Heck, even the darling of the gun crowd -- Zman -- trained in self-defense without a gun. Of course, he carried in case he intimindated/bullied someone who took it to him.
Most situations can be avoided just by being aware. You ought to wean yourself off the need for cold steel in your pants.
CompanyFirstSergeant
(1,558 posts)....be like me, a boring looking person who minds his own business and never killed anything other than flies and poison ivy.
CompanyFirstSergeant
(1,558 posts)Very welcoming to all viewpoints, a rarity these days, it would seem.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1172
Don't go to that other place (gun control activism) most everyone is banned there except the moderator, I suspect.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)other base traits.
Heck, right about the time george zimmerman murdered an unarmed teen, the discussion in the Gungeon was what to do and say to law enforcement if you mess up, like shooting an unarmed teen with your precious daily carry.
CompanyFirstSergeant
(1,558 posts)Lots of debate and tolerance for both sides.
Come over and bash a gun owner.
We can take it.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)Gungeon won't let me post there, which is fine. Called too many gunners racist during the zman debate. My experience is that most gun fanciers are white guys afraid of POC. But, gunners don't like hearing that, or acknowledging that going to any gun show, gun store, range, etc., is likely to be evidence of the lack of diversity among that bunch.
CompanyFirstSergeant
(1,558 posts)....Then why, pray tell, did I work in East New York/City Line for 20 years.....?
Never did figure that out.
Oh, because I didn't concern myself with what color my students were....
Yes, that's it!!!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_New_York,_Brooklyn
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)
Ever seen a graduating class of Ayoob Massad's training course on "Combat Shooting." In addition to lacking much diversity, you have to wonder why the hell someone in America needs a combat shooting course.
CompanyFirstSergeant
(1,558 posts)....buying guns, yes, mostly white.
Do you read minds? Do you know what they hate or do not hate?
Why do they need a combat course for... cops take privately held courses, as do security officers, military and, yes, civilians.
Nascar - who needs to go around in circles? Cars have accidents, ban it?
NBA - who needs to bounce and then throw a ball? Balls go into the stands, ban it?
NFL - who needs to wrestle in the mud and snow? Kids get broken collar bones, ban it?
East New York, Brooklyn is one of the most violent neighborhoods in the nation.
EDIT TO KEEP UP WITH YOUR EDIT: No, I don't like the meaning of the Confederate flag.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)
hack89
(39,171 posts)how does that fit into you world view?
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)CompanyFirstSergeant
(1,558 posts)Me, I prefer Mature....
Duckhunter935
(16,974 posts)All should look at the respect shown to other viewpoints by the RKBA supporters in that group
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)" everyone is banned there except the moderator, I suspect..."
I too suspect only that which validates my biases-- much more convenient for the undisciplined mind.
CompanyFirstSergeant
(1,558 posts)...not a statement of fact.
Humor.
It's called humor.
Relax.
TipTok
(2,474 posts)
Bonx
(2,053 posts)"I don't want or need one. So why do you ?"
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)CompanyFirstSergeant
(1,558 posts)...K-frame revolvers are too big to fit inside a waistband.
jmg257
(11,996 posts)Well a person does need to know his limitations.
Growing up around them, I never had much worry about being able to use one safely, you learned that one early on. Easier then doing lots of tough things - like raising kids - those rascals have minds of their own!
Always found shooting guns a blast - whether target, plinking, and/or skeet shooting. Like shooting hoops or playing catch, just another way to challenge oneself (and family/friends) to get better, have some fun, etc.
Initech
(100,070 posts)/Simpsons answer 
Brickbat
(19,339 posts)I'm getting the feeling you're not actually interested in hearing responses from people who might have answers, and that their answers, because you find them perplexing and difficult to understand, are somehow invalid. And the way you openly wonder about my "mentality" makes me think you're really not interested in a discussion at all.
Throd
(7,208 posts)ProgressiveEconomist
(5,818 posts)"defensive gun use".
Google that phrase and you'll hit widely disparate estimates of the extent to which gun owners "hit the jackpot" and shoot or ward off criminals intent on harming them.
Most of the definitions of "defensive gun use" used in biased and bogus surveys are completely worthless for distinguishing actual crime prevention from intimidating somebody who disagrees with you.
My philosophy is that very few people set out intending to cause anybody else harm, but that many, many people have been misguided or deluded by errant cultural forces and superstitions. IMO, people who waste hundreds or thousands of dollars on "defensive" weapons are like lottery addicts, pouring more and more money down a huge drain in pursuit of something that's just not going to happen in a thousand years. Much more likely than the actual chance for "defensive gun use" is losing a child to careless weapons storage, shooting oneself or somebody else by accident, killing or maiming somebody out of momentary anger, or committing suicide by pressing one button.
Duckhunter935
(16,974 posts)hack89
(39,171 posts)
hughee99
(16,113 posts)Personally, there's a whole bunch of things I don't understand why people would want or need, like cigarettes, jewelry, pet cats, skinny jeans, or a beard.
Omaha Steve
(99,628 posts)There are a couple guns groups you can post this in.
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