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Moonduck · 08-29-2004, 11:28 AM

I was raised around guns. When my grandmother on my Dad's side got the news that I was born (I was her first grandchild) she went out and bought a Colt Trooper II revolver in .22lr for me. She kept it until my family travelled to visit, and then she presented it to my parents for me. This was a tradition she kept up for every grandchild she had. No one thought this odd in the slightest, especially as my Dad grew up on a farm in a mountainous region of North Carolina, where guns are a daily part of life.

For as long as I can remember, I knew what guns were and what they did, and the consequences of misusing them. My parents did not go to any efforts to hide the guns, and I knew where they were. I was also under explicit instructions to never touch them unless there was a responsible adult in the room. I followed that advice explicitly until it was judged that I was safe enough with a gun to handle one on my own, sometime prior to my becoming a teenager.

My parents thought nothing of me strapping on a small caliber revolver and going horseback riding in the Apalachians by myself as a youngster. They knew that I was not going to do anything stupid with the gun, that the rattlesnake population was such that a gun was a necessity, and that the horse was perfectly capable of getting me out of any truly bad situation (she was one helluva good horse). The only living thing that I have ever put bullets into are snakes, rattlers and copperheads.

I have three kids now, and there are firearms in the house. My mother has decided to continue my grandmother's tradition, and has purchased a .22lr bolt-action rifle for all three kids, and we will teach them how to shoot when they are each old enough for it. I am of the considered and long-held opinion that the single most intelligent way to prevent accidents is education. Too many children grow up with a media-reinforced fascination for guns. As non-gun-owning parents are tepid to outright afraid of guns, they try to insulate their children away from the reality of them. As a result of fascination and prohibition, children are FAR more likely to want to satisfy their curiosity with a gun they might find. Ignorance and fasciantion is the source of child/gun accidents, not the gun.

Guns are inert tools of wood, plastic, and metal. Nothing more. Any tool can be misused, and guns are certainly not the most likely to be misused. Take a look at vehicluar accidents and homicides if you think guns are some pervasive menace insofar as tools are concerned.

As to the argument that people do not "need" guns, they also do not "need" televisions, nor cars with V-8's, nor computers, nor an awful lot of things. Trying to argue for gun control based on some perceived lack of need is as null-set useless as trying to argue that we should legislate computers out of common ownership because normal people do not need computers, only businesses do.

The argument that on militias are easily debunked if you read the Federalist papers and the various writings of the Framers of the Constitution. Jefferson in particular was very specific in why citizens should have the write to own firearms, and it had nothing to do with hunting or self-defense against wolves and wild cats. It had everything to do with self-defense against tyranny, and tyranny has not dissappeared from the face of the world since 1787. Frankly you could just as easily argue for the dissolution of the First Amendmant because it is no longer 1787, or the Fifth, the Eight, etc.

As to the correlation between guns and crime, there are numerous studies all over the place and showing all sorts of results. There was a very well-supported study published in book from recently that showed a direct relation between increased gun ownership and decreased crime. I hold both in basic contempt as statistics can be swayed and written to show any result you wish simply by monkeying with your control group and your questions, same as polling data. The bottom line is that you can go into police records anywhere that has CCW use wdespread and you will find an amazing lack of CCW holders involved in bad shoots. I personally police officers that call a CCW a "Good Guy Card" simply because they know exactly what a CCW holder has to go through to get a CCW, and the primary thing is showing that you are, in essence, a Good Guy.

In the end, Gun Control does nothing but restrict those who are likely to pay heed to the law anyway, and thus has zero effect on those whom Gun Control legislation is intended to affect. This will always be the case. Yes, greater availablility of guns will also have a corrospondignly greater incidence of gun-related accidents (can't have gun-related accidents sans guns), but the numbers on gun-related accidents are ever so much lower than so many other commonplace, and even rare, occurrences as to be insignificant (except for those involved of course). That we see them reported on the news is solely due to how sensational they are, how well they play on TV.

Guns are a fact of life in America, and a fact of life in most everywhere on the planet. The fact that you still see reports of shooting occurring in countries with pervasive gun bans are good examples that excessive Gun Control does nothing more than disarm those who are least likely to misuse a firearm.

08-29-2004, 11:28 AM	#55 (permalink)
Moonduck Junkie Location: SE USA	I was raised around guns. When my grandmother on my Dad's side got the news that I was born (I was her first grandchild) she went out and bought a Colt Trooper II revolver in .22lr for me. She kept it until my family travelled to visit, and then she presented it to my parents for me. This was a tradition she kept up for every grandchild she had. No one thought this odd in the slightest, especially as my Dad grew up on a farm in a mountainous region of North Carolina, where guns are a daily part of life. For as long as I can remember, I knew what guns were and what they did, and the consequences of misusing them. My parents did not go to any efforts to hide the guns, and I knew where they were. I was also under explicit instructions to never touch them unless there was a responsible adult in the room. I followed that advice explicitly until it was judged that I was safe enough with a gun to handle one on my own, sometime prior to my becoming a teenager. My parents thought nothing of me strapping on a small caliber revolver and going horseback riding in the Apalachians by myself as a youngster. They knew that I was not going to do anything stupid with the gun, that the rattlesnake population was such that a gun was a necessity, and that the horse was perfectly capable of getting me out of any truly bad situation (she was one helluva good horse). The only living thing that I have ever put bullets into are snakes, rattlers and copperheads. I have three kids now, and there are firearms in the house. My mother has decided to continue my grandmother's tradition, and has purchased a .22lr bolt-action rifle for all three kids, and we will teach them how to shoot when they are each old enough for it. I am of the considered and long-held opinion that the single most intelligent way to prevent accidents is education. Too many children grow up with a media-reinforced fascination for guns. As non-gun-owning parents are tepid to outright afraid of guns, they try to insulate their children away from the reality of them. As a result of fascination and prohibition, children are FAR more likely to want to satisfy their curiosity with a gun they might find. Ignorance and fasciantion is the source of child/gun accidents, not the gun. Guns are inert tools of wood, plastic, and metal. Nothing more. Any tool can be misused, and guns are certainly not the most likely to be misused. Take a look at vehicluar accidents and homicides if you think guns are some pervasive menace insofar as tools are concerned. As to the argument that people do not "need" guns, they also do not "need" televisions, nor cars with V-8's, nor computers, nor an awful lot of things. Trying to argue for gun control based on some perceived lack of need is as null-set useless as trying to argue that we should legislate computers out of common ownership because normal people do not need computers, only businesses do. The argument that on militias are easily debunked if you read the Federalist papers and the various writings of the Framers of the Constitution. Jefferson in particular was very specific in why citizens should have the write to own firearms, and it had nothing to do with hunting or self-defense against wolves and wild cats. It had everything to do with self-defense against tyranny, and tyranny has not dissappeared from the face of the world since 1787. Frankly you could just as easily argue for the dissolution of the First Amendmant because it is no longer 1787, or the Fifth, the Eight, etc. As to the correlation between guns and crime, there are numerous studies all over the place and showing all sorts of results. There was a very well-supported study published in book from recently that showed a direct relation between increased gun ownership and decreased crime. I hold both in basic contempt as statistics can be swayed and written to show any result you wish simply by monkeying with your control group and your questions, same as polling data. The bottom line is that you can go into police records anywhere that has CCW use wdespread and you will find an amazing lack of CCW holders involved in bad shoots. I personally police officers that call a CCW a "Good Guy Card" simply because they know exactly what a CCW holder has to go through to get a CCW, and the primary thing is showing that you are, in essence, a Good Guy. In the end, Gun Control does nothing but restrict those who are likely to pay heed to the law anyway, and thus has zero effect on those whom Gun Control legislation is intended to affect. This will always be the case. Yes, greater availablility of guns will also have a corrospondignly greater incidence of gun-related accidents (can't have gun-related accidents sans guns), but the numbers on gun-related accidents are ever so much lower than so many other commonplace, and even rare, occurrences as to be insignificant (except for those involved of course). That we see them reported on the news is solely due to how sensational they are, how well they play on TV. Guns are a fact of life in America, and a fact of life in most everywhere on the planet. The fact that you still see reports of shooting occurring in countries with pervasive gun bans are good examples that excessive Gun Control does nothing more than disarm those who are least likely to misuse a firearm.