Why Americans Love Their Guns

[Nessie]

70 years ago? Try 20. The older kids did the same thing when I was in grade school, only you had to leave them in the principal's office. When I was In high school several guys brought their rifles in for wood shop to fit up the custom gun stocks they made for final projects.

No, not 70 years ago...he's 72 years old. Subtract about 15 years. He was describing what was probably early years of high school, or perhaps late middle school, in the mid-1950's. It was a teeny-tiny school in a teeny-tiny town surrounded by farms and when the boys wanted to go hunting, they'd take their guns to school so that they could run right out the door and get going right away.

20 years for you, huh? Just curious...what environment was your school in? City or country? Because...

My girlfriend who was on the rifle team took the picture. Nobody thought it was an issue at all in 1980 to have forty guys with guns at school.

Now that's interesting because I know that you and I are very close in age but no doubt about it, getting caught with a rifle at my school would get you kicked out! Maybe even arrested! In fact, even little pocket knives were technically contraband (although some kids, including me a couple times, carried one anyway, since they're useful and I find them sort of cute).

I can't remember much of a hunting culture around there. None of my little friends told me, "My daddy likes to hunt." I'm sure some folks did, just, it didn't exactly dominate the neighborhood culture.

Nessie

[Nessie]

kids are brought up there in very weird ways. It's like parents don't have the time to sit down and teach their kids right and wrong for fear of being classed as a demanding parent.

I have my own theory about that...I think the problem is that teenagers have been allowed, since around the 1950's, to develop an entire culture that's totally created and maintained by themselves. There are too many kids in the classes, not enough adults involved, and the parents both work and teen events and culture aren't integrated with that of their parents.

I have to say it: I graduated from high school in the late 1970's. And I found out that I had to unlearn every single social lesson I learnt while I was there. I didn't need trendy clothes any more to keep myself from being a nerd. Suddenly it no longer mattered if I didn't travel only with a group of friends because being a loner was being a geek, and I could stop worrying about not being able to get a boy friend to display on my arm to prove that I was attractive.

I even could openly enjoy any music I wanted. Like, it didn't HAVE to be a top rock band now.

What an awakening. Studying and good grades were not at all cool when I was in high school. But if I didn't show up on time and actually do my work...I'd be fired! End of income!

But the funny thing was, once I was rid of youth culture, I felt like a great load was lifted off my shoulders despite not being a slacker at work. Or maybe just pretending to slack off at school was more work than not slacking off at all ever was.

And that was just in the 70's. I think things are quite a bit worse now. Which, since they were bad enough then, is really, really bad.

Nessie

[Duncan Edwards]

This morning the World Health Organization announced a finding that alcohol abuse kills more than disease, accidents, and violence combined. I own guns but I've never taken a drink in all my 48 years. It seems to me that the smart thing to do would be to ban alcohol. In my view it serves no purpose but to num one's senses and invite trouble.

[jadokast98]

The fact is guns are only useful for one thing - killing. They're not tools like knives, they're weapons designed to stop something from living. Be that the police using them to stop criminals, hunters using them to kill animals. They're either used for killing or perfecting your skills to be able to kill.

There are other types of ammunition for shotguns that I would like to bring to light. I have had these types of rounds for a while just because of silly laws that protect the criminals and not regular people. "Less than Leathal" ammunition is what I am referring to.I have "Bean Bag" ammunition, a "Slug" that is made out of plastic, and a "BuckShot" also made from plastic. "Escalation of Force" needs to be proven on ocasion and having the ammunition spaced in my 12 gage house gun so that I have the least likely to cause death being the first round shot would be critical in a court of law. Also, pointing out to the criminal that he/ she needs to comply with my wish for them to leave needs to be accomplished, or they will be in such great pain they will want to die instead of being in custody of our local law enforcment.

Personally I find that the US has a very funny attitude towards life and death. Homicide figures are very high over there, they still have the death penalty, there's a general lack of empathy surrounding the ending of ones life. Which I find very odd considering the puritan state that modern America was founded on.

I am not chastising anybody but I am confused; are you asking us why criminals are attacking law abiding folks or what? There are two types of people, law abiding folks and those that will prey upon them. I just want to make sure that it's understood that anybody that prey's upon me is not going to get away with it. Perhaps you should go to the nearest correctional institiut and ask them why did the murderer kill. Go to the court house and ask the first offenders why they did they're crime.

I do not need anyones permission to defend myself, or another person. I do not need permission to protect my property, or anothers property. A saying in our Old West was "An armed society is a polite society".

[Mynock]

20 years for you, huh? Just curious...what environment was your school in? City or country? Because...

It was and still is a rural community. Elementry had maybe 300 kids all together, high school maybe a thousand of us.
I think that community has alot to do with violence in general. When you know not only you're neighbor but everyone within 10 miles of you by their first name, it's kind of hard to A: Rob them and not get caught and B: Rob them and be able to look them in the eye the next time you see them.

This morning the World Health Organization announced a finding that alcohol abuse kills more than disease, accidents, and violence combined. I own guns but I've never taken a drink in all my 48 years. It seems to me that the smart thing to do would be to ban alcohol. In my view it serves no purpose but to num one's senses and invite trouble.

There's an idea. We got the Mafia the first time. Wonder what Prohibition II would lead to....

[Nessie]

20 years for you, huh? Just curious...what environment was your school in? City or country? Because...

It was and still is a rural community. Elementry had maybe 300 kids all together, high school maybe a thousand of us.
I think that community has alot to do with violence in general. When you know not only you're neighbor but everyone within 10 miles of you by their first name, it's kind of hard to A: Rob them and not get caught and B: Rob them and be able to look them in the eye the next time you see them.

Yup, that makes sense.

As a suburban-close-to-a-city kind of kid, we didn't get that kind of freedom. My graduating class had 900+ kids in it and coming down the hill during the outdoor ceremony, we were a huge mass of flowing robes.

Nessie

[Nessie]

This morning the World Health Organization announced a finding that alcohol abuse kills more than disease, accidents, and violence combined. I own guns but I've never taken a drink in all my 48 years. It seems to me that the smart thing to do would be to ban alcohol. In my view it serves no purpose but to num one's senses and invite trouble.

Prohibition certainly didn't work well and I rather doubt that if it's tried again, it'll go over in America any better than banning guns. More Americans love beer than love guns.

I actually don't believe that alcohol should be banned again...it is not always bad. Just, it wasn't so great for me.

One thing's for sure. Having a few cold ones won't improve your score out on the ol' target range. And as for self-defense, being staggering-drunk in public is an invitation to get yourself mugged and your wallet stolen!

Nessie

[nachtjaeger]

To me, my guns have three purposes.

The first is the "sport and recreation" purpose. When I occasionally hunt, or when my daughter and I shoot different rounds at water-filled milk jugs to see the relative kinetic energy, that's just good fun.

The second is the "home defense" purpose. Here, a gun is like an escape ladder or a fire extinguisher. You sincerely hope you never need it- but when you do, if it's locked away in a box in the basement, it does you zero good. That's the trick- storing your weapons so that you can get at them quickly when needed, but so that curious small fingers can't.

The third is perhaps the most important. Back in the 1980s, the political party in power in New York decided to site the state's low level radioactive waste dump in a small, rural county of the opposite political party. The State Police responded to peaceful protests with arrests, and even nightsticks. But the governor at the time, realizing that if he moved forward he'd be facing armed insurrection, wisely backed down. Not a shot fired, not a drop of blood spilled- but just the existence of an armed populace kept the government in check. That is why we Americans love our guns.

[MuddyEddie]

To me, my guns have three purposes... The first is the "sport and recreation" purpose.

That's my favourite! Plus it helps me to release tension! Taking a couple of hard drives from a dead computer out and blowing them away with my .308 not only lowers my blood pressure, it also renders all the data on those drives useless to anyone trying to spy on me!

The second is the "home defense" purpose.

I keep my .45 next to my bed. Since I live alone I don't worry about prying fingers. But, for those times when I do have visitors, I have a lock-box that can be easily activated by a couple quick button presses.

The third is perhaps the most important... (J)ust the existence of an armed populace kept the government in check.

It's the old saying; "The second amendment exists to protect the first amendment."

I've been around guns all my life. I've used them for hunting and for target shooting hundreds, if not thousands, of times. Only once did I ever see anything even close to a "mishap". That was when a shotgun, pointed safely in the air, was accidentally discharged by a button on someone's jacket. It snagged the trigger, firing the gun. Thankfully the person with the gun knew all about gun safety, and as I said, had the gun pointed safely in the air. Why? Because the gun was not being pointed at a target. There are four rules of gun safety that I've taught many people, this person included:

Rule #1: Treat the gun as if it's always loaded.
Rule #2: Never point the gun at something that you do not want to destroy.
Rule #3: Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on the target. (Or, "Keep your booger hook off the bang switch!")
Rule #4: Always be sure of your target *AND* what's behind it.

And I will not go shooting with anybody that refuses to abide by each and every one of those rules.

Eddie