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Originally Posted by nezmot
The problem I have with many of the pro-gun arguments is the idea that around every corner is some violent criminal intent on holding them up at gun-point. Thankfully, I've never been witness to any kind of violent crime whatsoever - I walk through city streets with an overall feeling of safety. Not so the gun lobby. To them, walking through the city is like asking to become a victim. It's this evident (and in my <b>opinion</b>, irrational) fear, and the feeling that one needs to protect oneself from some unseen criminal threat that I find slightly worrying. Is it paranoia? Maybe, maybe not - but it just doesn't seem healthy. Maybe I'm naive, but as I said, I have never been witness to a violent crime, and nor have any of my friends or family (with the possible exception of drunken brawls at the end of an evening) - In my world, it's just not something I spend any great time thinking about. |
There are people everywhere that have this idea in their head that 'crime like that doesn't happen in my neighborhood' or 'It could never happen to me'. So because thats the idea that travel around in a lot of peoples thoughts, it's probably natural at that point to think that those who do worry about becoming a crime victim are simply 'paranoid' or too fearful for their own good. Because it hasn't happened doesn't mean that it will never happen.
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Originally Posted by nezmot
The typical pro-gun answer would be something along the lines of describing some far-out situation (let's say, terrorists spraying a mall with AK47 fire) and pointing out that if some people had concealed weapons, that we'd all be safe. Well perhaps you're right. But I just don't believe that 'terrorists' give a damn about my poxy out-of the way mall, much less travel all the way over there to start firing at random consumers.
So - generally then - and if this upsets people I'm sorry, but it's the true opinion I have about those who obsess over their weapons - it seems to me that the pro-gun lobby are generally more fearful than the rest of us, which in turn, because of all the guns that are more readily available to all (and are more easily stolen for example), puts them in the hands of those who might use them for criminal intent.
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First, I'm not saying that more guns in the streets is going to make all crime go away. There will always be crime.
Second, George Hennard wasn't a terrorist. He was just a man that snapped. And he may not have cared about going to a mall with an AK-47, but what he did care about was being able to kill as many people as he could, as easy as he could, before anyone could stop him. At that point, he didn't care about breaking a silly gun control law, but what he did care about was finding as many 'sitting ducks' as he could.
I'm sure that most of those people sitting in lubys enjoying lunch/dinner weren't fearful of anything. After all, there were laws made to keep people from carrying weapons out in public. Well, that didn't work out very well, did it? But if one or two people in that restaruant had been carrying, 22 people would not have died that day.
There will always be a way for a criminal to get a gun easily. Gun control has not worked in D.C. or chicago, that should be evident. It's not going to work anywhere else.
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Originally Posted by nezmot
The concealed carry thing only applies to people who are willing to brandish a weapon and perform a 'hold up'. In a concealed carry culture, the criminal, if he wants to get away with it, is encouraged to shoot first, and not spare anyone's life - and that does not make me feel any more secure - and it wouldn't do, whether I had a gun or not.
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Again, misconceptions. Because you've got this idea that only criminals would carry a gun, therefore, anyone that wants to carry a gun would be a criminal.
You say that criminals will only be encouraged to shoot first if everyone is carrying.
60% of convicted felons admitted that they avoided committing crimes when they
knew the victim was armed. 40% of convicted felons admitted that they avoided
committing crimes when they thought the victim might be armed.
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Originally Posted by nezmot
So finally then - would I ever own a gun? Yes. If I felt I lived in a violent area where there was no law enforcement, and I might have to hold-out against attackers. But we're talking Afghanistan, or central Africa. Not suburban USA. Is America really that dangerous? Is America really that lawless? Are Americans really that afraid of one another that they feel the need to protect themselves with lethal weapons?
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remember new orleans? post katrina? how about the L.A. riots? do you remember whose stores survived? It was shop owners banding together with their guns and keeping the rioters/looters away. Thats suburban usa, not africa or afghanistan.