…so a lot of people when arguing for the regulation of guns tend to bring up a lot of statistics. They talk about how violence is down where guns are banned. They talk about how criminals lack access to firearms (which isn’t true by definition of the “criminal” black market). They talk about how accidents don’t happen and how people have better things to spend their money on…
…but I think this line of thinking goes to show what gun ownership is really about - burden of proof. That is opponents to gun ownership believe in general that discourse should revolve around probabilistic thinking, and people are obligated to assume the risk of things going wrong. Anyone (especially weak people) who believes in necessitarian or certainty based thinking is obligated to endure being harassed, potentially to the point of needing technological assistance (such as guns) to defend oneself.
For example, let’s say for sake of argument that indeed, violence rates do go down, but they don’t hit zero. After all, we live in an imperfect world.
What do we tell the remaining victims? Do we tell them their dignity is obligated to endure being sacrificed for the sake of social progress?
I’m not sure how this is a consistent stance. If we say people are not qualitatively important enough to deserve the right to secure themselves as they see fit, how are we as fellow people entitled to security?
At that, given the probabilistic opposition to necessitarian discourse, why is any gun ownership opponent entitled to security at all?
I’d think they’d at least be entitled to as much social security as they paid in, besides that, I pretty much agree with your post. If the whole world wants to put down it’s guns they can, and if they want to trust me not to shoot them, they’re probably safe to do that because it’s not likely that I will, but I would rather keep mine for the additional assurance it gives me regarding my own safety.
This is going to receive some flak, but we are entitled by prudence. My neighbor is important enough to protect himself from an intruder, but not wipe out the whole block. What he sees fit is secondary to what is prudent.
No that’s a horrible plan. Realize that gun ownership isn’t based on permission, and get one yourself and be safe. When you say, “let’s just allow”, who are you talking about? Who decides who gets a gun in the world? Not under the law, but in the actual world the way it actually is?
No matter how i look at the issue, the idea that anyone, much less everyone, has the specific RIGHT to posess and use guns makes no practical sense, notwithstanding the Second Amendment - which is the relic of a bygone world.
How is it in any way rational for someone concerned about their own personal safety to want to live in a world where MORE people, as opposed to fewer people, carry and use firearms, particularly assault-style weapons?
I’m saying opinions and theories aside…how do you take away all the guns without someone else then having them? Melt them all down? Then a guy makes a new one and then what? If you don’t have a gun and you try to take his and he doesn’t wanna give it to you…?
i understand that we will never rid the world of guns or gun violence, and i understand that it is impossible to keep guns from ever getting into the wrong hands. But that doesn’t mean that the sensible thing for everyone to do is go and get a gun in order to protect themselves against all the other people who went out and got guns. All that does is lead to a proliferation of guns, which makes the world less safe for everyone, including the people that already have guns.
All that does is lead to the proliferation of guns which makes the world less safe for everyone?
What about the people who went and got guns and can now defend themselves? Are you telling me that a gun doesn’t make a person safer from being attacked or victimized?
i know a guy who has a concealed carry permit. Awesome guy, all around. Funniest thing, he got mugged. Two dudes came up behind him and one of them put him in a sleeper hold while the other grabbed his wallet, ipod, and phone. He wasn’t carrying any of his weapons at the time, but even he admits that it wouldn’t have helped him if he had been. Think about it, they still would have taken all his shit, the only difference is they would have also gotten his gun and been able to use it to take other people’s shit.
Ok check this out, I’m not talking about your friend. I’m saying that if that happened and he didn’t have a gun, then no one knows what would have happened, even him. And if he did have a gun, and he got robbed by 2 guys, then it’s totally user error. The gun did it’s job. This proves that guns don’t kill people all by themselves actually…
Talking about another kind of person now. You know how some people when they drive are just unable to really pay attention? Or they just aren’t as sharp as they should be when they’re walking around places like at a store you see them going back and fourth to the same section to get different things and it’s just so bad you can see that they’re not very smart. Like maybe they have a useful job and they have a good family and morals and all that, maybe they even have lots of information and data in their heads there and can answer lots of trivia questions, but they’re just not as quick as they need to be in situations where they are required to think on their feet?
If you’re that kind of person, then sure…maybe you don’t need a gun. Maybe it creates a circumstance for you that makes it more of a liability than you’d like.
But I"m not like that at all. I am actually very quick on my feet. I do very well under pressure both mental and physical. I’m so sharp as a matter of fact, that I have to consume a tremendous amount of weed just so slow myself down the something near the pace of the world around me as I see it. It’s crazy. It’s like I can see the future sometimes, but only about 10-20 seconds into it, and I’m not sure but I know it’s going to be 1 of 2 or 3 things that can happen and I can prepare myself mentally for either in a matter of seconds. I feed on stress. That being the case, I feel pretty safe that no one will be able to sneak up behind me AT ALL ever. I’ve been looking over my shoulder since I was a little kid.
Think about it man. Taking my gun from under my car seat, or the one from inside my pants would basically cast me into a state of full blown paranoia. Something beyond entertaining thoughts of shit hitting the fan. I would probably start having panic attacks and become a hermit, or have to start taking some kind of medication. I dunno man I just don’t know how I’d feel walking around unarmed. At the very least even when I can’t carry a gun I keep a can of mace and a knife.
Somehow i’m not convinced that how smart or quick on their feet a person is has anything to do with whether or not they need a gun.
As for taking your guns, while i accept that you would feel defenseless without them, i don’t think that alone is reason enough why you need to carry them around. I think a can of mace and a knife would suffice under most normal circumstances. Fact is, you’re not likely to get away with killing a classroom full of children or a theatre full of movie goers using a can of mace and a knife.
i live, work, and walk around all day in the inner city, i probably run a far greater risk of getting shot than most gun ownership advocates. The thing is, i realize that carrying a gun isn’t going to protect me - the circumstances under which most people are shot by criminals in the area where i live (and there are a lot of gun-related homocides in the area where i live) are circumstances wherein the victim had no opportunity to shoot back. People get shot collateraly, they get shot from behind, they get shot assasination style while sitting in their cars or when answering a doorbell. It’s not a fucking movie, where two people stand at opposite ends of the alley and test who’s quicker on the draw, or where criminals spend a noisy minute-and-a-half breaking down your front door, providing you with ample time to grab and point your gun. It doesn’t work that way. This whole get-a-gun-and-shoot-them-before-they-shoot-you is SHEER fantasy.